The perfectly balanced path in a nutshell

I’m using the acronym PBP to stand for two different concepts: Perfectly Balanced Path is basic taxonomy of terms to classify the various steps and stumbling blocks a person will find on his, her or its path through life. Put Balance in Perspective is the basic concept that a balanced step on the path of life needs to be seen in context. The stories in this publication are about a person: who, what, when, where and sometimes how, and almost never why.

The vocabulary in the graphic of the PBP taxonomy as shown below is just one set of words. Other vocabularies can be easily fit into the framework so that stories from any (human) cultural perspective can be classified.

This classification is simply a way to tag the stories in a database of ideas rather than data. More on that in another essay.

The basic idea is first and foremost a taxonomy of how a person walks their path through life, from first breath to last. Mostly I am concerned with human persons, but in general or by extension, the same taxonomy applies to any living being: Dogs, cats, horses, tigers, chipmunks, oak trees, maybe even rocks, if the time scale is long enough.

Assumptions

1. That the purpose of a person’s life is to attain happiness, reach fulfillment, or both. Each person’s happiness and fulfillment is unique to that person. Most people have similar definitions of happiness as pleasure of some kind, but often have very different ideas concerning fulfillment. Every definition of happiness or fulfillment will include one or more of the words found in the PBP taxonomy.
2. That both major and minor life events can be prepared for before or understood after as either a helpful stepping stone or a less than helpful stumbling block. Many steps along the path of life do not need mindful attention. The more steps, major or minor, that are given mindful attention, the more likely a person will be happy or attain fulfillment.
3. Perfect balance is the balance that is correct for a specific person at a specific time and place with regard to a specific situation. This concept of perfection might be thought of as Put Balance in Perspective.

The words I’ve chosen in the charts above reflect just one vocabulary for identifying stepping stones or stumbling blocks along the path of life. The numbering system is entirely arbitrary and only there so that alternative vocabularies can be easily set up and used.

The top level of the taxonomy has three divisions or categories: A static model of what it means to be a person; a dynamic model of what if means for a person to walk the path of life; and how the current step or stumble is being perceived by said person.

The middle level is where the vocabulary of a specific culture is applied to define the three divisions or categories. In both the static and dynamic representations of a person, the first three subdivisions are aspects of life that do not require the presence of other persons. The physical body, the emotions, and the basic mental operations are sufficient for a great many of the minor and some of the major steps along the path of life.

Not all persons need to develop advanced mental operations, but most people do use mind to program how that person uses the first three subdivisions. Most persons are provided with this mental programming through nurturing by parents, teachers, or other persons; but the active use of the mind to reprogram one’s daily habits, for example, is beyond simply using the head to do a job, for example.

The categories I’ve called Spirit and Leading come into play when a person is interacting with other persons, directly or indirectly. When we say someone has good or bad spirit, we are referring to how they behave and how other persons perceive them.

Many cultures use words like “spirit” or “breath” or “life energy (qi)” to describe an individual’s “soul.” And almost always when such a word is used, there is a social context, an underlying assumption about how that individual relates or related to other people. Thus the dynamic aspect of spirit is the life cycle that involves leading or following. Many of the more difficult life events are situations in which a person is taking the lead in some kind of behavior that other persons will follow. Or a stumbling block discovered when trying to follow a person’s lead or any number of situations where the interaction can later be described in terms of the spirit of the leader or followers.

The last category, world and dreams, has to do with the stories we use to program our spiritual life, to include our day-to-day behaviors. Most of the time, this aspect is simply background stories used to explain the reasons for doing things the way they are done in a culture. Some of the time an individual carries the burden of being the focus of cultural dreams. For example, current pop stars, heroes or other persons who end up in that role in life. George Washington, Donald Trump, Elvis Presley, or even persons such as Kermit the frog end up being inspirations or anti-inspirations for other folks. Persons like Jesus, Confucius, and Buddha are central to a culture’s dreams and aspirations; but so are persons like Donald Trump, Franklin Roosevelt, Jackie Robinson, Elvis Presley and the Beatles.

One needs to be mindful that the PBP framework is not rigid. The various levels of personhood and the different kinds of life cycles are not immutable sequences; the taxonomy is mostly a way of establishing some handles or tags for a particular situation. However, I do want to retain the shape of the taxonomic structure: 3 dimensions with 6, 6 and 3 aspects within the 3 dimensions.

When composing a story to be a part of a mandala or avatar, one should be able to write a summary that would sound very much like s Chinese Fortune Cookie statement.

Mandala

What do I use this taxonomy for, other than classifying stories? I use it to build a personal mandala that I can contemplate perhaps as an explanation for a period in my life, perhaps a particularly interesting or challenging step along the path of life. I organize the six static and dynamic words in a circular arrangement. Sometimes the most important is at the top, sometimes at the bottom. For example, this mandala reflects a section of my path of life where I am focusing on my body and learning how to use it — with regard to the place where I am living. I’ve been sketching out diagrams with a few words as helpful ways to focus on what’s going on in my life since college. Priorities change, situations change, but the basic components are always there, even if the words seem to need changing now and then. Words do have a habit of slipping and sliding and not staying in place. But for the purpose of self reflection, it’s handy to at least put them on paper now and then.

Avatar

A mandala is an avatar when it is applied to current and anticipated situations rather than analysis of the past. Things get fuzzier then, but this is also a way to clarify focus. Any image with a few words for focus can be used. For example, there was a period where “music” was on top of my avatar and “family” was off to the side. Currently Tai Chi Chuan is on top; but that’s actually just mindful movement, which is basically the body and the head working together.

Life Path Calibration: caution

I think of building my own mandala and working out my current avatar as life path calibration. An essential part of the avatar building process is making a guess with regard to the future. Fortune Telling. And I do find fortune telling tools such as the I Ching, the Tarot, and even astrology helpful with regard to simplified ideas that make an avatar useful. It doesn’t really matter what the exact reading is; what’s important is considering what the words in the reading mean without regard to guessing the future but instead to see if there are aspects to the situation that the words help clarify. The job of fortune telling is not to predict the future but to provide the customer with considerations that will be helpful.

However, as one of the hexagrams in the I Ching explicitly warns, consulting any kind of fortune telling too often will end up simply reinforcing whatever stuff is currently churning in your mind. Excessive churning of the mind is very much like revving an engine without putting it in gear. Do it enough and the engine will redline and burn out. Consult any of the psychological or mental health tools too much will not be helpful. In other words, while it is vitally important to perform your own life path calibration, doing it more than once in a while is not healthy.

On the other hand, simply putting an arrangement of words on some surface you can consult now and then, kind of like a psychic to-do list, is invaluable. For some people, doing it once in their life is sufficient — assuming they have a solid foundation with regard to how they want to walk the path of life and that the path remains essentially the same for their whole life. Most people tend to need calibration on some sort of cycle — 2 years, 10 years, a dozen, YMMV.

Alternate vocabularies.

Pick one or make up your own: