The Magnificent Four Pillars
The Four Pillars Philosophy is a United Living Construct created idea, yet is adopted into the fold with the U.L.C. in PolyInnovator. This Philosophy is geared towards your own personal Self-Development.
“The Magnificent Four Pillars” A little on the nose, but really accentuates the not only wide range of development, but simplicity of it as well.
The Four Pillars is about making a positive change in your lives, and it was made to give you a path to take for that change. Just like the Taoist way, Buddhist 8-Fold Path, Judaeo-Christian 10 Commandments, and much more. These are all created to help people of every age, and time period, to manifest their well being in a similar manner. The role of religion in the past was to guide people to a more societal driven peace-hood. Some people will still state the importance of religion, and really it doesn’t really matter what someone believes. The true importance is the freedom to believe what you want to believe.
Freedom of Choice
It should be stated that the Four Pillars is not a religion, nor does it ever really need to be, as the point of it is to help you manifest your different parts of life as one. It is a culmination of every aspect of your existence to create a singular notion of being.
- Mind
- Body
- Spirit
- Emotions
All of the fundamental aspects of life, and sure you could add more Pillars to it, but when it comes down to the dirt it is these four that are the main points. Everything else can be classified under one of these four. Psychology = Mind, Diet = Body, Afterlife = Spirit, etc. No matter what you can think of all of them can be put underneath one of the Four Pillars. This allows an unparalleled simplicity for the start of change. In order to change your life, you must first understand it. This way allows you to understand what is going on with your body, in your mind, with your internal spirit, and why you feel a certain way.
I truly cannot understand when someone tells me they don’t want to change a certain aspect of life. My own life has had so many changes, and the fundamental aspects of my story have changed so much that even if someone had just a fraction of strife I have had, then they would want some sort of change. My life hasn’t been bad, at some points it may have been hell, but in the end it has built the person I have become. It will continue to build the person I am going to be.
I ask some people in my life that if they had a goal in mind for life, or at the very least thought about it. They haven’t and they truly aren’t scared that they will end up doing nothing with their life. How can someone not want to do something with the amazing fact that they are alive? It is a true miracle to say the least that out of all the factors of a person coming into being, someone had made it. Every single person is amazing on that fact alone.
Mind
There is an extraordinary amount of things we still do not understand about our brains, and yet as a species we have made great strides in Neuroscience/Psychology. The level of knowledge needed to even get started to understand is already college level, yet alone the deep science behind neurological synapses.
However we can start to understand these traits in our brain's behavior, and use those patterns that it follows to develop habits. Such as following along with your FLOW cycle, which is the optimal focus state (in the zone so to speak), or circadian rhythms.
As well as simply watching over our body, feeding it the right fuel, and getting enough sleep! Not to mention watching our emotions to make sure they don't take over our physiological states.
Body
Probably the first thing to come to mind when you hear Self-Development, however as prominent as it is, there is a profound lack of understanding on how to go about it.
For example people often see exercise as a means to "lose weight" or burn calories, but it is far more important than that. In simple terms your body is a machine, full of levers and rotations, and that idea alone can change how you exercise. Getting to know contraction vs. extensions OR **Agonist**antagonist** pairs of muscle.
These basic ideas completely revolutionized how I thought about exercise, let alone how I teach it to others (as Aquatics Fitness Instructor or Personal Trainer).
Spirit
When discussing spirituality in the context of Four Pillars I often avoid religion, as it gets a bit hairy in that department. However if your particular belief actually helps you gain empathy for all other people, and express compassion in your life then it will count.
Conversely if you believe that your belief is the only RIGHT way of thinking, or that others are wrong then you are blocking your Spiritual development. This is the main idea for the Pillar, to not let conflicting ideas dampen your spiritual progress.
Meditation for example is a phenomenal way of getting started, and the funny thing is that is it non-religious in nature. Simply a bridge between the conscious mind and the subconscious. At least that is how I look at it, even the Dalai Lama and some Popes believe that it is universal.
Emotions
Emotions have a dramatic control over your body and mind. It is peculiar how many people often don't even realize when they are letting an emotion of any kind control their actions. As if they are going on auto-pilot, and in the ancient past that may have been for the better. I.e. Fear when you see something move in the bushes so you ran, saving you from a predator. However nowadays it simply puts us in a weakened state.
It changes our body's responses, including temperature and cortisol levels, and makes our mind go haywire. When you develop emotional awareness in yourself, then you can also gain awareness in others. Giving you a monumental amount of new empathy and compassion.
Balance
It has been said countless times on this blog at this point, but will be said once more: The key to life is balance. Seeing how just these paragraphs above contain ideas that may have been surprising to you. Think about how when you apply your learning towards just one of them, and how that greatly impacts your progress. Okay now think about doing that for all FOUR Pillars, and you have exponential progress.
Nothing more, nothing less, just nothing. All with anything, and everything. The duality concept is a bit contradictory if you think about it with the Four Pillars. Alas there is a beautiful connection to them both.Dustin Miller
The fundamental aspects of the Four Pillars is essentially the perfection of each Pillar in life. Not to say it has to constantly be perfect, but in order to make the best decisions, the best outcomes, and the paragon choices you need to have a well developed Four Pillars.
Conversely the balance of life dictates that at some point you are going to be thrust out of control. Your body might get sick or damaged, your mind might get traumatized, the spirit within won’t be able to be in sync with your body, and your emotions may run rampant. The crucial thing about the Four Pillars is to realize when any of those actually happens and to do your best to fix that situation. When you realize that you are getting angry for something trivial, or even something prudent to your life, to let that anger flow out of existence. Hatred and anger are a seed of destruction. Only there to drive you into the void. Love and prosperity is the fundamental aspect of life, and the true divine nature of humanity. We have the capacity for love, same for any living being. The capacity for love is inherent. That is what the Four Pillars should represent the compassion of life, and the ability to give it. If your Pillars aren’t maintained then your capacity dwindles.
Don’t let that love fade, that compassion wither, and do not give into temptation.
“External beauty will wither and fade, but internal beauty is eternal.” -United Living Construct