Clarity

These 3 forms of clarity have had the greatest positive impact on my life:

1. Clarity of vantage point
2. Clarity of priority
3. Clarity of inquiry

1. Clarity of vantage point

Your vantage point, or "view," is your basis of operation: where you are coming from, as a direct experience rather than a concept.

For instance:

Right now you may have a sense of being located somewhere behind your eyes, looking out at the screen.

Or: you may have a sense of being located throughout your entire body, sensing the rest of life through the shifting sensations of a physical self.

Or: you may have a sense of being a timeless field of open awareness, within which all phenomena arise and pass away.

These are just three of many possible vantage points.

And, as a general rule:

A clearer vantage point = a deeper vantage point

A deeper vantage point = a deeper peace.

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Most of us have experienced at least momentary shifts into a deeper view.

(A moment in nature, deep meditation, breathwork, a psychedelic journey.)

The beautiful emotional state that usually accompanies these shifts dissipates. And, for most of us, the deeper view dissipates as well.

And while the disappearance of the emotional state is inevitable, the disappearance of the view is not.

You can absolutely maintain the essence of these experiences in daily life. And doing so grants a kind of untouchability, because the peace that accompanies these deeper views isn't a fleeting emotion; it's a kind of completeness inherent in the view itself.

I've seen people go from constant low-grade suffering, wrapped up in a shallow sense of "where they're coming from", to lives of resting continuously in "the peace that surpasseth all understanding" in less than two years.

I see no reason not to hold this standard for ourselves.

2. Clarity of priority

Some people recommend holding only one clear priority at a time.

I love the elegance of that practice, but I think it misses something:

Namely, the fact that being human means having your heart torn apart.

Every minute you spend working takes a minute from your family. Every hour you spend working out takes an hour away from the art you want to create before you die. Every moment contains sacrifice.

I think becoming intimate with the sacrifice inherent in human life equips us to live more skillfully. And deliberately holding more than one priority helps deepen this intimacy.

I have also, of course, experienced the distracted, shallow kind of life that results from trying to hold too many.

As a result: I think that 2 is generally the perfect number to hold.

If you feel that you absolutely must hold more, you should definitely hold just 2.

If you feel that holding just 2 is no problem for you, you can go as high as 3.

Once you've clarified what your priorities are in theory, the most foolproof way to enact them is to make them the first things you do each day.

At the time of writing this, my priorities are:

• My family
• The Mysteries
• Coaching

So those are the first three things I attend to every day, from 3:30am – 11:30am.

As a result, all three flourish, and I get to experience the particular flavor of fulfillment that results only from consistent alignment between conscious priorities and action.

This is a feeling I recommend.

I used to think that living this way would be hard.

I've found the opposite. Living with this kind of simplicity and alignment is notably easier than any other way of life I've found.

If you haven't tried it, it's worth a shot. I'd love to hear what you find. [email protected].

3. Clarity of inquiry

At any given time, a question exists that—if answered—would give you the key to unlock your next level of flourishing.

If you don't know what that question is, then you do know what that question is.

It's simply this:

What's the most important question in my life right now?

Spend 30 minutes reflecting on this question every day—or the questions that it eventually gives birth to—and you will watch your thinking mind transform from a ruminating distractor into a devoted creative ally, and the apparently insoluble problems in your life burn away in the refracted light of concentrated wonder.

Bringing it together

• Clarify your vantage point through daily meditative practice in a tradition focused on depth of view
• Clarify your top 2–3 priorities, and attend to them daily before you do anything else
• Clarify your most important question, and spend daily time asking it

You will watch your life begin to flourish beyond anything you thought possible.