The Path of Self-Loving Presence
This diagram shows a precise synthesis of my insights on The Path of Self-Loving Presence. The ideas are simple, but they run deep. They represent an integrated pathway of individual and collective wholeness and wellbeing. (Note: this diagram is an alternate version of a similar diagram The Way of Self-Love.)
The practices are fractal, which means they apply on multiple levels simultaneously. This is quietly remarkable. For example, ending the war “within” can mean the war within yourself, the war within your family, the war within a country, or within the whole of humanity. When you end the war within yourself, you are creating a new pattern life energy, that adds to the collective possibility of peace.
Thus, each of these practices simultaneously cultivate a beautiful life and a beautiful world. A beautiful life is lived in synergistic mutuality with all of life — with a sense of self and love that expand to integrate all “parts” of yourself and all apparent “others” into the wholeness of your being. Mature self-love is ultimately the love of all.
The five fractal actions of self-loving presence are:
Taking good care of yourself.
Discovering who you really are.
Beholding the beauty of your existence.
Staying true to what’s true in you.
Ending the war within.
Here’s a quick take on it all. Just doing my best to give you a sense of where I’m coming from.
Take good care of yourself: This includes creating the conditions around you that support your physical, emotional, mental, creative, and spiritual wellbeing. As you take care of yourself you discover that other’s wellbeing is intimately intertwined with yours. Thus taking good care of yourself includes taking care of others — and vice versa. You have to include yourself in the equation of care — and vice versa.
Discover who you really are: Who are you, really? This is an intimate, intricate, infinite, interstellar question. “Both anatomy and astronomy describe you,” said Nisargadatta Maharaj. The more we discover who we really are, the more of life is included in our self-loving embrace.
Behold the beauty of your existence: As we discover who we really are, we can’t help but see the miracle of life that has unfolded as “us.” To behold the beauty of our being is to behold the beauty of all. To see a thing as beautiful is to usher beauty into this world — making it real by the very act of our seeing. This is key to cultivating a beautiful world. To perceive beauty and know ourselves as that beauty. (For more exploration on beauty, see my dissertation What Is Beauty: A Living Inquiry for the Mind and Heart.)
Stay true to what’s true in you: I hosted a series of interviews and online course called “The Reality of Self Love.” A year into the project I was finally ready to discover the subtitle. “Staying True to What’s True In You.” After decades of exploration this was the fundamental definition of Self Love I landed on. Self love is staying true to what’s true in you. This has everything to do with integrity “staying true” and knowing who you are “what’s true in you.” Not who you think you are, or criticize yourself to be, but who you actually, fundamentally are. And what your life actually is in its fundamental simplicity and unique complexity. As you stay true to the best true you can muster, you learn more about yourself and become more and more yourself, and more and more true to that. More and more attuned to the you that includes all things.
End the war within: There is always a greater unity that surpasses apparent separations. All wars on planet earth are fought among fellow earthlings. All wars are are ultimately civil wars. Thus, to end the war within yourself, to stop fighting with yourself, is a fractal action that cultivates a pattern of relating called "ending the war within.” If I can’t end the war within myself, how do I expect the countries to be able to stop? This is where inner peace — true inner peace — makes all the difference.
ℤ∈ℕn Diagrams ⊙ 2021-2026 by Maja Apolonia Rode
