The Way of Being
Path templates
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© Anil Mitra, 1986 – 2024
Contents
About the templates
The
templates
General
Everyday
template
About the
template
First
things
Affirmation
Dedication
Realization
Other
activities
Planning
(everyday)
Universal
template
About the
template
Being in
the world
Ideas
Becoming—immersive
and instrumental
Being in
the universe
Planning
(universal)
The Way of Being
Path templates
The templates are in-process—so
far, they are templates for the templates—further concrete options are to be
incorporated; see planning for the templates.
They are designed as an
improvement on the older templates, templates
and dedication.
They are a supplement to a plain
version of the way of being, which
grounds and explains the templates and their form.
Currently, the templates
reproduce the templates in the plain version; later, at least one of the
following will be done (i) eliminate the templates in the plain version and
refer to this document (ii) change the templates here to be tailored to use,
with automation.
The templates are available as a
printable microsoft
word and pdf documents.
There are two complementary templates—everyday and universal.
Both attend to the immediate and the ultimate, the
individual and the universal.
Their foci are—
1. The everyday
template focuses on the immediate, the individual, and the communal.
2. The
universal template focuses on the ultimate, the communal, shared action,
and peak being (Brahman).
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Everyday
template
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Main
activities
1. Numbered main options
Details of the options
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The template is designed to be adaptable to life
situation, interest, being at home vs away, and choice of activities
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(preparing
for the day)
1. On
waking
Set attitude for the day+—limitlessness,
dedication and affirmation, relationships.
Reset
attitude if in doubt, insecurity, or pain—meditate – accept, reflect,
breathe; exercise (hatha yoga) in nature
“Every being
is all being.
The void,
the universe, and all beings are one.
Tat tvam
asi—
‘Thou art
that’ “.
“We dedicate
our lives to (the way of) being,
To living in
the immediate and ultimate as one;
To its
shared discovery and realization,
Under the
pure and pragmatic dimensions of being;
To shedding
the bonds of limited self,
So that so
the path is flow, relative to force;
To realizing
the ultimate in this life and beyond.”
Review the day, life, path of
realization
2. Rise
before the sun
Greet others
Coffee in nature
Set times for optional
activities
Breakfast
Short walk
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(activities
especially for the way of being)
3. Foundation
For realization—study,
experience, reflect, critique, synthesize, write, publish, advertise
For living—ground, below
4. Ground
Material—finance, place to live,
place to retreat
Discipline—balance moving
forward with waiting for aware readiness, flexible routine, minimize
diversion
Relationships—attention to
others, shared attention to all activities of mutual need and interest
Empowerment—self (attitude,
meditation), engage with the world, consultation on needs
School—school is a focus, yet
energy of youth through early retirement may make it possible to include
other activities
Work—see comments in the
previous item
Retirement—an opportunity to
focus on relationships with persons, nature, society, and the universe
Late retirement through death—continuation
of retirement activities at a level that matches lesser capacity balanced
with an awareness of the magic of being, awareness and acceptance of death
as real but not necessarily as absolute (for those—but not only those—who
regard death as absolute, an existential attitude may be adopted)
Adaptability—adapting and
learning how to adapt to changing circumstance of self and world, e.g., in
relationships, school to work to retirement to late retirement through
death, and the losses and gains involved
Note—of course existential and
learning-from attitudes to death are appropriate at all aware phases of
life
5. Directed
realization
The day—physical yoga;
meditation – emptying; mindful – on awareness, living, the real,
realization
Immersion, home—nature, societies
with culture (languages), meditation as portals to the universal
Immersion, away—items above –
travel, journey, exploration; solo and shared
Instrumental—science,
technology (AI), politics, economics, communal spirituality as universal
portals
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(though labeled ‘other activities’ these, too, are
elements of realization)
6. Tasks
Daily—check and resolve needs,
cleanliness, lunch
Weekly (plus)—shop, clean,
prepare food, appearance
7. Exercise
Excursion, 2 hours—for exercise,
exploration, and photography
8. Evening
Review—the day, plan next day
next day – items, times, exercise route, review the way, meditate
Network—friends, relationships,
share the way; create opportunities for publication, publicity, and funding
Last things—relaxation, snack,
entertainment, music, and simple enjoyment
Sleep
early
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Planning
(everyday)
1. Select
activities
2. Set
up a daily schedule, perhaps in the form of a table
3. Enhance the
schedule by introducing flexibility. Given access to software with
programming capabilities, automation of the schedule may be introduced
(Microsoft Word is just one example of such software)
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Universal template
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Dimension
of being
Dimension or main aspect—activity
Other
related activity
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The template is designed to be
adaptable to life situation, interest, being at home vs away, and choice of
activities
Kinds of activity have a basis in the
dimensions
of being in the way of
being. In the template, the (name of the) dimension or other
important aspect is underlined.
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Pure being—yoga, meditation, immersion , ideas to
action
Community—education
(general, paradigm, ways of life), retreat to the real, renewal,
development-reemphasis of paradigm
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Relation—knowing as relation to the world, reason,
art; acting—effective creation of the real
Means—reason,
imagination, meditation and yoga, and the real metaphysics
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Nature as catalyst to the real
Animal being and devolution—observation, situational
empathy, defocus, reason
Society—civilization as vehicle and path to the
real
Transformation via psyche—by immersion in social groups
as place of being and catalyst to the real
Artifact—civilizing the universe (especially
technology as enhancing being in the universe)
Universe as peak consciousness via spread of sapient
being with agency
Universal, incompletely known
The common way from self to
Being (Atman to Brahman), via the block universe and extended secular
worlds consistent with experience of and in the world
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Universal—realizing Peak Being (Brahman) in the
present
Said to be rarely achieved in ‘this life’ which is a
beginning that is continued beyond death
Outcome of previous items, being in the world, ideas,
and becoming—immersive and instrumental
The means are in the previous dimensions, the everyday
templates above, and are further open to discovery
The open life may be chosen
(or natural to the person) at any phase of life, but may be most natural to
the phases of ‘retirement’ and ‘late retirement through death’
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Planning (universal)
1. Review
phases of life, reflect on possible emphases for life and the phases
2. Asses
current phase and select activities of focus
3. Review
and plan daily, short, and long term aims and possible activities
4. Include
time-frame to execute and then review, assess, renew, and alter plans
5. Build these
elements into everyday planning
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