Practical Transcendent Living
About PTL
Practical Transcendent Living (PTL) is a dynamic approach designed for thriving in our fast-paced, complex world. This book-in-progress draws on a rich tapestry of psychology, evolutionary biology, wisdom traditions, spiritual teachings, personal insights, and even pop culture, forming a mosaic of truths many of us sense but have yet to articulate. PTL will feel both familiar and new. It provides a framework for understanding and action that resonates deeply with our lived experiences and the challenges we face in this technological world.
A purpose of Life
At its core, PTL embraces a universal yet often overlooked purpose of life: to learn, grow, improve, and connect. This isn't to claim it as the sole purpose but to acknowledge a fundamental drive that propels us forward. Our evolutionary journey as Homo sapiens underscores this, showing us as natural learners and adapters, which are inherent traits rooted in our evolutionary need to survive and thrive.
Our Evolutionary Roots and Modern Dilemmas
However, the remarkable cognitive evolution that has empowered us to shape the world also presents a paradox. The very intelligence that ensured our survival has helped us create a world vastly different from that of our hunter-gatherer relatives. This disparity between our evolutionary heritage and the challenges of modern life results in what is called “evolutionary mismatch." We are now faced with challenges such as climate change, digital overload, and political polarization that our ancestors never encountered.
The Progress-Happiness Paradox
Our successes, while marking progress, have inadvertently deepened this mismatch, leading to what I term the "Progress-Happiness Paradox." This paradox suggests that our advancements, particularly in technology, while solving many problems, also exacerbate our sense of disconnection from our evolutionary roots, thus impacting our overall well-being.
It's Not Our Fault, But It Is Our Problem
Recognizing the roots of our discontent and disorientation in evolutionary mismatch offers a form of exoneration but also a call to action. It's a complex issue: the world is better than it's ever been in many ways, yet we're also facing unprecedented challenges that threaten to overwhelm us.
We Need to Level Up, Humanity!
The solution, then, isn't to reject modernity or progress but to elevate our approach to living within it. As we become more intertwined with technology, especially AI, our collective problems demand a new level of unity. Drawing from Carl Sagan, extraordinary challenges require extraordinary unity. This unity involves transcending our primal tribalism to foster a deeper connection with all humanity.
Choosing Our Views
Within the PTL approach, it is understood that how we view reality is inherently subjective. We have never viewed “reality” in ways that are aligned with “truth.” We are only able to take in a small sliver of data that is available to us at any given time.Since we’ve always viewed reality in ways that enhance our chances to survive and thrive, we must ask ourselves, what are we to do so in this modern world? We need to transcend our old ways of thinking.We transcend to connect. Thus, within PTL, we strive exercise our free will to choose ways of viewing ourselves, others, and the world in ways that foster the greater connection and unity necessitated by the challenges of this hyper-connected world of modernity
The Heart
of Practical Transcendent Living
Ultimately, PTL advocates for a life focused on learning, growing, improving, and connecting in ways that embrace our biological and spiritual purposes. By acknowledging our interconnectedness—reflected in the concept of "interbeing" in Buddhism and paralleled across various philosophies and religions—we find the path to genuine unity and fulfillment.