B. E. C. A. U. S. E.
Ever since the so-many-years-ago when I started this PTP “Search For Simplicity” project, I intended it to serve several purposes. A dominant question in my curious yet practical mind was “Why Bother?”. In this chapter of “PTP — All It Is”, you might find my answers to that inquiry. Here they are listed in fairly concise order, and with more focused intent.
PTP should be Beneficial:
“If it ain’t useful, it ain’t necessary!” The word stem “bene” means “good.” But PTP is not just about good-ness or bad-ness. Instead, you will discover that it is about having few or no judgments whatsoever. These limiting opinions will no longer be necessary for your daily survival. The only “benefit,” or “good-ness” exists when you are finally able to free up tons of previously wasted energy which you had used to maintain all your many judgments and beliefs. Now is a beneficial time to re-group, and re-grow, and re-gain your battery charge for the next day’s list of needs. It is “good” to have as much available energy as possible for yourself, because then you can stay incarnate! You can be alive tomorrow, and tomorrow, and the next tomorrow after that!! And that is a Good condition, isn’t it?
PTP should be Experiential:
“Get going, or stop growing!” You should want to experience an active life if you want to learn. And grow. And evolve. Books are a small important part of the pathway upon which to step, but the actual active walking of the path is the way of power: power to change, or strengthen, or release; power to choose, or decide, or rest; power to possess power and to dispose of power. Experience, direct and personal, is how you live in the state of Being Here Now. No other activity fully brings you into this timeless Now Moment in which all of your senses and awareness can efficiently operate. Words are signposts, but experience is the act of embracing the message of those signs. Hug a sign today. Embrace the energy hidden within the word-based explanations. But spend most of your time actively moving that energy around the planet!
PTP should be Complete:
“Every thing, every time, in every way!” A complete description of who we are as humans, and how we operate, should cover every aspect of the human being. Yes, I use the word “Every.” I recognize that, depending on how you choose to look at it, it may seem like we all have a multitude of separate “parts” that we call “us”. But notice those key words: “how you choose to look at it.” When you look at those parts, or levels, or divisions, there is a common thread that runs through them all. That thread is Energy, shaped by an intentional source often called consciousness. In PTP, I call it Awareness (you’ll see the difference between the two terms in other articles). By working from the viewpoint of “source” or “core,” it is not that difficult to trace and connect our many ‘pieces’ to a common creative center. And there is nothing, no part of us, that did not originate from that core center. Everything that we are emerges from that center point. And PTP explores the process of how that Everything is connected, completely. All It Is!
PTP should be Aesthetic:
“Art is Energy incarnate!” I love playing with words. They are fun symbols for expressing creative energy. And, like a visual artist, or a musician, I want to splash these symbols upon the empty canvas of this page in unusual ways. A mixture of chaos and category. Confusion and clarity. Crystals and chum. Since the relationships between my core concepts of PTP often appear in sets of three, these patterns provide an easy target for literary sound devices, root word commonalities, and mnemonic tools. All created patterns of Energy are Art to that Creator. PTP is an artistic creation, to be observed, as well as actively engaged with.
PTP should be Unified:
“All for One and, well, One IS All!” A very frustrating part of working with the social sciences for quite a few years was the wide variety of terms used to discuss the exact same thing. It seemed like no one on the psychological playground wanted to share his or her toys with others. Book after book emerged, therapy after therapy was invented, technique after technique came into vogue, and often disappeared within a decade. If these mental health treatment modalities were so useful, then why the limited life span? Why the inability to speak “across” the disciplines? Why didn’t even the psycho-bible DSM fill this communication gap? This lack of unity continued, basically, because of the human Ego’s need for complexity. It was easier, although less efficient, for each form of healer to create a paradigm limited only to the target market for a specific specialty area. Write a new book! Go on TV or a website! Heal one thing, call it one thing. Heal another, need a new name. Runaway label time – Tag! You’re it! Nope, not any more… Not with PTP. Here, you should find “one ring to bind them all.” Long live the synthetic reductionist!
PTP should be Simple:
“Having less is Being more!” Simple things can be shared by simple people. Simple people are not ignorant people. They are people who realize the benefits of reduced stress, more personal control, and Energy savings. The simple lifestyle seems to be the goal of anyone who, in growing older, begins to understand the inability of material things to provide any depth of peace in life. Stuff will always be stuff, requiring constant maintenance and expenditure of valuable Energy. A simple life is a more Aware life, more sensory-oriented. Relaxed and reduced. Like the total number of terms used by PTP to explain absolutely every aspect of our human being-ness. Short and Simple.
PTP should be Efficient:
“Focus, grasshopper, or you will never build your temple!” The only absolute Truth of PTP, as continuously repeated throughout the PTP project series, is “Awareness Directs Energy.” Efficiency is about Energy direction. Its control. Its creativity. Its eventual completion and return into the Grand Central Energy Bank for re-use. Wasted Energy is Aware Intention unfocused. Focus is the primary skill of the productive Creator. You are that Creator. You should continually attempt to be more efficient with your efforts, your intentions, your resultant creations.
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In a unique article that I discovered during my University days, I found an enjoyably brief and succinct journal article that closely resonates with what I am intending to complete with this PTP project: a “Unified Theory of Human Behavior.” Here is an outline of that article:
Purpose: to present a paradigm that fulfills Meier’s (1987) request for a unified theory of psychology. His four requirements are as follows:
“1.) A unified theory must be interconnected: At its foundation should be an integration of diverse approaches.
2.) Such a theory should be surprising: It should make strong, unexpected predictions that would intrigue the investigative interests of researchers.
3.) A unified theory should be applicable: The theory should be specific enough to permit technological derivations.
4.) A unified theory should be aesthetically pleasing: It should be packaged so as to appeal to current artisans and practitioners in psychology.”
[Meier, S. T. (1987). An unconnected special issue. American Psychologist, 42. 881.]