Ways of life

This blog has been about how and whether an ordinary guy like me can follow a certain way of life based on the the God-in-love framework and which I refer to as the PAL or presence/adventure/lastingness way of life.  Each blog post is an exploration of the questions one naturally asks: is it possible? is it real? is it good?

For instance, given the rather humdrum lives most of us live (certainly mine at least), how does presence manifest itself, or adventure, or lastingness?  If the unit of value of the God-in-love framework is the encounter, how does the PAL way of life flow from it (a livingness experience). And what about other ways of life: how do they way they work compared to one derived from the God-in-love framework.  

What follows is a distillation of many pages of scrawled notes over the last few weeks:

A way of life: behaviors and habits typical or chosen by a person or a group, a complex practice involving attitudes, values, world view; a job or interest so important that it affects everything you do. 

  the American way of life

  shortage as a way of life

  an organic way of life 

  'She likes it so much, it’s become a way of life'

So we can identify or describe a way of life in terms of 

  a) the origin inspiring, an originator articulating or a community exemplifying the practice

  b) the principle energizing and informing the practice

  c) typical behaviors and habits serving the principle

  d) the unit of engagement with the principle in the practice

  e) the direct reward associated with a successful unit of engagement

So, for instance, (shamelessly oversimplifying)

The Buddha

Escape from suffering

The eight-fold path

The act of self-denial

The gratification of successful adherence to the program

Me

Weight loss

Exercise

A workout

The gratification of successful adherence

Me

A good life

A high paying career

A salary raise

The exultation of achievement of the goal

Me

Being a good son

Keeping in touch with my mother

A visit

The satisfaction of approbation for performance

These examples are ridiculous but perhaps useful, as may be the three categories of 
principle they represent:  

Satisfaction with the act of conformance to a external standards: qualification of the afterlife 

(acts of piety), duty and tradition, pursuit of an ideal. These appeal to our performer mind. 

Exultation at the moment of supremacy over an obstacle or other: victories, achievements, rankings, attainments. These appeal to our achiever mind.

Gratification with the fulfillment of a personal desire: acts of will, pleasures of all kinds. 

These appeal to our maintainer mind.

Often our ways of life involve all of these at various levels of generality. What I want to remember is that origins of all kinds can express itself in a limited number of distinct types of principle. The actual behaviors and habits base on these can be infinitely various. However, he types of reward are likewise limited in number. 

Above I'm dealing with tri-mind (as I discussed in Curiosity and Livingness), but what about the way of life that appeals to the fourth of our mind missions: the explorer mind? This is really what I am interested in as I try to live this PAL way of life:

    G’luv (God-in-love) (not only originator but also practitioner)

    Engagement with an Other (the Beloved) or otherness

    Friendship, exploration, hospitality

    An encounter

    Wonder and curiosity

Any way of life may have its special features which characterize it. For instance, the 
investment banking way of life may have high pressure, big money and bragging rights. Likewise the G’luv way of life features presence, adventure, and lastingness, so we might call it the PAL way of life. 

Presence in what sense? Conversation and collaboration with an Other or others in our encounters, and with G’luv who relates to us and through us. 

Adventure in what sense? Risk, surprise, exertion, discomfort (as well as positives) in even our daily encounters.

Lastingness in what sense? Of course, we can’t tell about the lastingness of deeds until we see them in the world to come, but things that have exhibited lastingness so far here, have been characterized by fecundity and resonance: the invention of writing, for example, and the elegance of Shaker furniture. Likewise, our deeds of friendship, exploration and hospitality can, especially with practice, become more fecund, more resonant. We can become better at crafting them. 

However they are, well-crafted or slapdash, these deeds all partake of the lastingness of who prompts them: God-in-love, all have a certain imperishability in so far as they represent our encounters with others and otherness.