The Path
A Way of Life
Instructions
It is time to begin. Here is how to get started:
Review each section below for further examples and ideas or click here to see a journal template you could use.
Pillar 1 - Physical Health
Initiate's Course
Begin exercising or moving more. Take walks or jogs, whatever is needed to physically challenge your body. If you are already active physically, keep doing what you're doing or re-commit as necessary. Be smart in choosing what physical activities to pursue. Continue to Initiate's Course Pillar 2
Teacher's Course
Follow an exercise and nutrition plan of your creation or choosing and commit to both for the next 90 days. Oftentimes people on a path to improve their physical health will choose exercise or diet but don't often combine the two. This is a mistake and will be rectified by following the instructions noted here. The nutrition plan will probably contain a bit of research on your part and perhaps seeking advice from a medical advisor. If you have weight to lose, the eating plan should take that into account. Continue to Teacher's Course Pillar 2
Master's Course
Follow a workout program and nutrition plan and commit to both for one full year. The workout and nutrition plan can be changed up and modified as best suits your circumstances. The goal is to make Pillar One a life-long habit and a part of your person going forward. Continue to Master's Course Pillar 2
Our bodies are our gardens – our wills are our gardeners - William Shakespeare.
Pillar 2 - Mental Growth
Initiate's Course
Read these books within 90 days:
The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan
Continue to Initiate's Course Pillar 3
Teacher's Course
Read these books within 90 days:
God is not Great by Christopher Hitchens
The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel
The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama
No god but God by Resa Azlan
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Continue to Teacher's Course Pillar 3
Master's Course
Read these 12 books within 1 year:
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
Antidote by Oliver Burkeman
Cosmos by Carl Sagan
The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts
The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel
The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes
Jesus, Interrupted by Bart Ehrman
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
I Don't have enough Faith to be an Atheist by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
A Guide to the Good Life by William Irvine
Continue to Master's Course Pillar 3
In the case of good books, the point is not how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you - Mortimer J Adler.
Pillar 3 - Emotional Peace
Initiate's Course
Meditate at least weekly for the next 90 days. Read this book as well: The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh.
Continue to Initiate's Course Pillar 4
Teacher's Course
Meditate daily for the next 90 days. Read this book as well: Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Continue to Teacher's Course Pillar 4
Master's Course
Meditate daily for the next calendar year. Read these books as well: Turning the Mind into an Ally by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, Waking Up by Sam Harris, and The Art of Living by Thich Nhat Hanh.
Continue to Master's Course Pillar 4
Mindfulness isn't difficult, we just need to remember to do it - Sharon Salzberg.
Pillar 4 - Compassionate Heart
Initiate's Course
Perform an act of service for family, or friends, or a neighbor at least monthly
Continue to Initiate's Course Pillar 5
Teacher's Course
Perform an act of service for family, or friends, or a neighbor, and your community at least monthly.
Continue to Teacher's Course Pillar 5
Master's Course
Perform an act of service for family, or friends, or a neighbor at least weekly and an act of service to your community at least monthly.
Continue to Master's Course Pillar 5
Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see - Mark Twain.
Pillar 5 - Writing Your Story
Initiate's Course
Write in your journal about your experience following the Five Pillars over the last 90 days. You may write more often if you wish.
Continue to Final Thoughts
Teacher's Course
Write in your journal at least once a month about your experience following the Five Pillars. You may write more often if you wish.
Continue to Final Thoughts
Master's Course
Write in your journal at least once a week for a full calendar year about your experience following the Five Pillars. You may write more often if you wish.
Continue to Final Thoughts
These handwritten words in the pages of my journal confirm that from an early age I have experienced each encounter in my life twice: once in the world, and once again on the page - Terry Tempest Williams.
Final Thoughts on the Five Pillars
Whether you chose to complete the Courses in Option 1 or begin using the Five Pillars in a way that suits you best from Option 2 (in the Instructions), the Five Pillars is not meant to complicate your life or make you feel like you have another list of things “to do.” You will probably see a change in your perspective on what activities are worth doing and how the Five Pillars becomes an extension of yourself that feels natural.
Pillar 1 (Physical Health) can be modified as you see fit: don't feel like you need to be a physical work-out warrior every day. Even well-designed exercise programs will have you taking day long breaks to recharge, sometimes multiple times a week. Do some research and give some priority to your physical body.
Pillar 2 (Mental Growth) can be argued to be a focal point on the Five Pillars Path. Feel free to choose anything to read, watch or study that you feel contributes to your well-being. This Pillar could be accomplished by simply learning something new that helps you succeed in your line of work. This Pillar is very broad and is meant to be so. This is about finding subjects that interest you and enrich your life. Your mind and life will change as you challenge yourself by learning new things. If you would like suggestions on books to study, check out the Library page, and click on the Studies link to see a list of books (note that some of them are already used in the Courses). Some of the best books that really challenge your mental capacity could be the ones where you disagree with the title itself.
Pillar 3 (Emotional Strength). There are many different ideas floating around about what meditation is, what it can accomplish, or should it accomplish anything? How long should we sit? Can you lay down? What about walking meditation, etc. To try to explain it here is unnecessary when the various views are elucidated in clear detail elsewhere. One thing can be said for the many adherents that practice: it changes you (usually for the better). Some particularly strict schools of the Buddhist persuasion argue that meditation is no better than being dead. While that is a particularly harsh view, what can be so bad about a practice that can help calm an overly anxious mind or an over-stimulated life? It should also be mentioned (with the plethora of mindfulness apps that tether you to a smartphone or computer) that it is unnecessary to have a smartphone or a subscription to a mindfulness app; in fact, it is recommended that you meditate without either.
Pillar 4 (Compassionate Heart) smiling at a stranger, saying good morning, or showing good manners are very simple actions we can take that have a positive effect on others. It is often such simple gestures that improve our day and others. Serving food, giving time at charitable events, helping family or friends in need are also simple things that can be done. The opportunities to go beyond yourself are practically limitless. By stepping back for others periodically, you are only increasing the calm within yourself.
Pillar 5 (Track Your Progress) is about putting your thoughts to paper. Assuming you will revisit these pages one day, you will never regret being too detailed. These words are for you. It is an experience to relive an event you wrote about years ago. It is inspiring to see your growth, it is motivating to see your failures. Stick with it, write about anything not related to the Five Pillars if you want (though, naturally, you will be fulfilling this Pillar by writing about anything at all in your journal). This is your record and your life. Treat it with the respect you deserve.
The crucial thing to live for is the sense of life in what you are doing, and if that is not there, then you are living according to other peoples' notions of how life should be lived - Joseph Campbell.
Progression on the Path
It's natural to want to accomplish goals or perhaps gain some recognition from doing so. But since alifeofpurpose.org is not economically-driven or has any kind of entrepreneurial spirit, the hope is you will derive enjoyment from modifying the Five Pillars for yourself as you practice them. Another hope is to help you see another way of providing meaning to life and creating this purpose for yourself.
If you have completed each course, congratulations on seeking another way to maximize living to the fullest! You are more than ready to modify the Five Pillars for yourself and surmount any challenge that life throws at you. This is living...
Each knight enters the forest at the most mysterious point and follows [their] own intuition. What each brings forth is what never before was on land or sea; the fulfillment of [their] unique potentialities, which are different from anybody else's - Joseph Campbell.