TO BUILD THE FOUNDATION, START FROM THE INSIDE
RELATING THIS TO THE EIGHTFOLD PATH TO "THE SOLUTION"
"The biggest mistake in all of life is not to build the inside first and to not make it virtually invulnerable - and powerful! Without doing that, we give away a huge portion of our lives, much, much more than half of it!"
The BuddhaKahuna
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Ryuho Okawa: "Our basic strategy (to build a foundation and the pillars of life) is first strengthen the inside, then the outside."
That is the correct order. (Of course, you've heard many, many versions of this - but have you heeded the words?)
So few complete the building of the foundation. Consequently, they live a shaky life of uncertainty, anxiety, guilt/shame, seeking approval, dependency.... They live a life full of barriers, gaining but a small part of life... and the tragedy of it is they live so little of life...
WE MUST BUILD FROM THIS...
The first job in building a life is to learn how the mind works and how emotions work AND how to work them, not at the level of a scientist but at a "sufficient knowing" (basic, functional) level. While one is learning this, one applies it to his/her life, testing the new knowledge while also reaping the benefits (one does not have to wait until the learning is complete to gain greatly from the learning!).
Along the way to learning, many cannot seem to get by a blind spot or to direct their efforts to sufficient, authentic learning, so, to succeed, they need to seek help and not stop until they arrive at full self expression, confidence, self trust, and being fully present, where one is not preoccupied with imagined threats, as in anxiety, especially the threat of not getting approval (which reflects one's believed dependency).
We want to be fully. functional (powerful) so that we are able to create whatever we want in life. Not as a position to get to, as if for "credit" or approval, but for our own satisfaction and full happiness.
We must not choose the easy default in life, we must not stop at being a partially formed, partially functioning human being, living in "the drift" of life.
Ask yourself, are you trying to get by without having the foundation and the basis for true Life Power - which is the ability to gain the highest total accumulated Life Value.
THE REASONS "WHY NOT"
[There are two things in life: Success or reasons why not.]
"Oh, it's too late..."
No. Even if you had only a few years left to live, the quality of those years would be much, much higher. The time spent learning would be paid back in actually having more time to really get value from your life and to gaining that greater value.
"But I can't do it."
I acknowledge that most of us have the vague idea that all of this "inside" stuff is hard to deal with and that many people just can't do it.
That is not true. The people who have "tried" and not succeeded have simply stopped short or used the wrong path (such a "woo woo" thinking and magical thinking)
Except for genetically damaged people, each and every person has the basic ability to construct an excellent, powerful "inside". Many, many, many, many people have done it, not due to having superior basic abilities but out of sticking to the path. (Don't be misled by the thirty years of meditation taken to gain "enlightenment" and getting rid of the ego - those are nice words, but it is a very inefficient, slow way to get to being able to fulfill oneself!)
SAD AT THE LOSS
At times I feel sad to see people living only partial lives, suffering unnecessarily.
But then I see that that is the natural drift, just "what is so", the way it is. And that there is nothing to be sad about. And I then say a version of Werner Erhard's "What's so?", "So what?", "Now what?", and I get on with my work. I also remember how blessed I am, and how all my fellow man are blessed, with the ability to create virtually anything and to live at the highest level of being, beyond the primitive mind's natural inclination (before retraining) to engage in hypervigilance and anxiety/stress.
PARTIAL SOLUTIONS AND "HINTS"
Always, to reach a destination, we must take ALL of the steps along the way. Always, it is best to find and follow the best path to the destination - which is, here, having the greatest life we are capable of.
There are many paths, but choose carefully - and be sure they will lead to the desired end result. (On the site, see The Paths, which links to various paths to various destinations.)
The various "scriptures" of religions and disciplines (such as Buddhism) contain metaphors, stories, and "hints" as a way of teaching. But they are not the best way or at least they don't contain a whole, clear path. They are incomplete and. you must think it out for yourself. They drop the ball before connecting all the dots. They are missing the detail that has already been discerned and applied by those who are "life successful".
They are all "good" and helpful, but not sufficient nor efficient nor very effective.
How do we know if something is effective? (Well, duh, when it creates the effects we want.)
The test will be that you are free of anxiety, free of seeking approval, free of dependency, free and able to "love" (give, nourish, without neediness), and able to create a great life where all your real needs are satisfied. Once that is achieved, notice that almost all of self actualized people go to service and contribution to mankind, as the next "game" of satisfaction in life. (It is not "necessary", despite one culture/society putting strong pressure to do so, to do "contribution". One can also just follow and develop something of high personal interest and satisfaction. There is no "truth" that we must serve others, just a cultural belief that is good for the culture itself, not necessarily for you.)
Those who attempt, prematurely, to focus on service and contribution before filling their own needs and gaining full life power are fooling themselves, because they are not yet at that level. To be at Tier 3, one must have all of the life areas in order, fully and powerfully lived. Those who are not fully integrated will have a constant pull to be run by either their primitive minds (living in anxiety) or by other people's agenda (as they will be in need of approval and not able to choose what is truly best) - and they end up being dramatically less impactful on the benefit to others. When one reaches Tier 3, one is 10X to 100X, or more, as effective. When one serves too early, one is only marginally effective. It is "good" to serve, and we feel good doing so, but if we do too much of it it will push aside the time we need to focus on fully developing the power to serve far more effectively.
ALL FOUNDATION BUILDING IS THE SAME PROCESS
To end up with a structure that works in life, we must follow a practical process, doing "The Build". Wishful thinking or skipping steps in the process simply is not reliable - and it results in people having lives of ineffectiveness, unsolved problems, and largely unlived lives.
As we "build" a foundation, we have to go through the same stages as in building a tall building of significance. Design what is wanted, delineate the steps, dig a deep hole, put in super steel girders, anchor them absolutely, pour concrete around them, etc.
If we don't know how to build the building, we hire those who do know, from architects to experienced managers.
We also would use teachers and those who have already studied, learned and have thought it out. ("If a blind man leads a blind man both will fall into a pit." Jesus)
Of course, you would examine that which you are learning to decide what is true and/or fill in some of the things needed to complete gaining the end result. You would, of course, proceed to engage and use your brain.
But you would not waste your brain power on things where someone else has thought it out as well or better than you. If they have already devised it and filled in all the details, then it would be a waste to go about "reinventing" it. Use the wheel, don't reinvent it!
WHAT IS THE BUILDING PROCESS?
The foundation in this metaphor is "the super well-built" inside (of you). Then we build from there the pillars upon which the structure and function of the building is determined.
Those are, in this "life building", are as follows (using a version of The Eightfold Path of Buddhism, which is the "solution" to ending suffering, discussed in The Four Noble Truths Re-Written. Although all pillars are necessary, I am putting first the pillars that support the other pillars that are used higher up in the building.
THE CORE "SUPERSTRUCTURE"
Right Learning. [Complete your basic life learning, and soon! Not just repeat and study the metaphors but actually complete connecting the dots soon and then manifest them (a fancy way of saying get the results)
Right Thinking, based on objectivity )"the witness"), rational logical thinking based on examined truth/facts. This is always about devoting sufficient time to settle any questions or problems, correct any. Mistakes or damage. A life unexamined is not worth living. If you do not correct..
Right Psychology is that which allows us to see clearly what is best for ourselves and to not allow that which obfuscates or mislead us. Right Psychology is best attained via Right Learning (of what is reality and what works in emotional management) and Right Thinking (in terms of looking at what is fact-based, reason based in order to make valid conclusions (beliefs). A person who is anxious alot is "emotionally illiterate" and, as such, is pulled down by it, unable to reach higher levels and handicapped in many ways by his psychological ineptness. We must travel all the way along the road from Unsanity To High Sanity. Right psychology is the right management of the "inside" - it is the necessary piece, the necessary link, that must be in place to create our greatest life!!!
Right View is closely meshed with Right Psychology, for without that view we would be operating in irreality and/or without proper perspective. Right View is also built into the foundation, so that the pillars can be built on strength. Here you must, in writing, Establish A Powerful, Practical Life Philosophy. For now, just spend an hour writing all you can think of in this regard, as a beginning.
THE PILLARS
Right Energy/Health Management - This almost foundational, for without it we have no power and will not "feel good". We use basic (at first) Right Learning and Right Thinking in order to be able to construct Right Energy/Health Management - and the first thing we do is copy what the experts have devised - duh!
Right Speech is in a circle/spiral with Right Thinking, as wrong speech feeds back into wrong thinking due to its influence on the primitive unthinking Chimp mind
Right Concentration is focusing your attention and effort on what matters and staying on the path to reap the most.
Right Action - goes with right thinking. It is action based on what works in life. Right action is applying one's time to what produces the best result, using one's gift of time in a way that honors the good (or God) given life we are blessed with. Doing what works means that if something doesn't work (doesn't produce the right results) that we correct it right away and persist until it is so. (This "feedback/correct" process is what creates The Life Champion, which is what you would rationally seek!) Those who don't do that allow anxiety to continue in life and/or continue to allow ineffectiveness (wrong actions) and super-violations, dishonoring the good (or God or the "god within") that we are capable of creating!
WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS?
You go through this page, using the links to guide you to deeper understanding and to gaining the results you want in life. This piece, together with the links, provides the materials to considerably improve one's life, so they are worth taking the time needed to reach the point of life effectiveness that will lead you to truly creating your greatest life.
