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Practical Transcendent Living
Practical Transcendent Living (PTL) is a path for navigating modern life with clarity, connection, and purpose. It blends science, spirituality, and therapeutic wisdom into a grounded, actionable approach for aligning with who we are—and who we're here to become.
The Unity Imperative
At its core, PTL fulfills what I call the Unity Imperative: our evolutionary and spiritual calling to survive, thrive, and ultimately transcend what prevents us from loving our neighbors as ourselves. This is our deepest purpose. But we can't grow, love, or connect if we're stuck in survival mode.
Accelerating Evolutionary Mismatch
PTL begins with the basics. We are not designed for endless scrolling, ultra-processed food, chronic stress, or digital overload. Our brains and bodies evolved over millions of years for environments radically different from today's world—what I call “Accelerating Evolutionary Mismatch.” We evolved to be active and engaged with each other and the natural world. Our circadian rhythms synced naturally to sunrise and sunset. While adaptable, we have our limits. When fundamental needs go unmet, we suffer.
This is the Progress Paradox: the progress we pursued has created an alien world we didn’t evolve to inhabit. We are so adaptive that our lifestyles and environments feel “normal” even when they’re unhealthy. It's like growing up in a city with constant smog—you stop noticing it. PTL helps us realize the psychological and spiritual air is polluted, causing unnecessary suffering. Instead of adapting to smog, we prioritize breathing cleaner air.
Living the Truths We Already Know
Once our basic needs are met, how then shall we live? Is there more than just surviving? What if the answers are truths we’ve always known?
From Jesus to the Buddha, Lao Tzu to the Dalai Lama, we’ve been shown for centuries how to live well, love deeply, and find peace. True progress, beyond survival, means loving more and hating less. The "Bullseye of Life" is to love our neighbors as ourselves, expanding compassion to include everyone—even our perceived enemies. When everyone loves their enemies, something magical happens: we have no enemies.
The Sacred Work of Transcendence
But how do we love our neighbors as ourselves? This is the sacred work of transcendence—not escaping life, but freeing ourselves from attachments and distortions that block us from living and loving fully. Life's purpose isn’t wealth, fame, power, or ego; it’s living the truth we already know: to live love.
Here’s the common mistake: we don’t truly know love until we live it. Love isn’t found in profound quotes or Instagram posts. We don’t know love unless we embody it—just as oxygen isn’t useful unless we breathe it.
The same truths echo across spiritual and wisdom traditions: we’re interconnected, called to treat others as we’d like to be treated. The essence of PTL is simple and profound:
We must live the truths we already know.
Loving freely is difficult. There are more billionaires than people who've truly love their enemies. Yet our task is clear: expand our circles of compassion. What's getting in the way? What prevents us from prioritizing love daily? This is life’s real work—and it's personal. There's no one-size-fits-all path. Meditation, journaling, therapy, surfing, faith practice—what works for one might not for another. Like fitness, it's about finding your way. We iterate, we pivot, we persist. If we keep seeking, we will find the path toward greater love and compassion.
Putting Love First
PTL is the practice that helps us hit life’s bullseye—because we clearly see the target. It integrates cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), mindfulness, nonattachment, and existential therapy, yet aims even higher. We unite around the timeless truth: we are here to love one another—and help each other on this journey.
AI as Our Unexpected Ally
Here’s where we find a remarkable ally: artificial intelligence. In an existential twist, our creation, AI, can help us become better human beings. If we learn to ask meaningful questions, AI can guide us toward transcending tribalism through its evolutionary and revolutionary power.
AI isn't a guru. It's both a mirror and a lens, reflecting and magnifying the good within us. Used skillfully, AI helps us spot distortions, release attachments, challenge limiting beliefs, and realign with our purpose. Through wise interaction with AI, we can see truth clearly, grow intentionally, and love fully.
The Grand Adventure Ahead
PTL is how we fulfill our Unity Imperative and is foundational to the One Unity Project. It's how we meet our needs, live our truths, and move forward purposefully toward deeper connection and collective wisdom.
This isn't about returning to the past. It’s about awakening—together—to the extraordinary future still possible.
A Grand Adventure awaits. The best part is experiencing it the only way we can—together.
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