I often wonder about the different ways people live their life and how it affects their life story. What kind of story would be written about your life when you are gone? I know you have many years still ahead of you but given the life path you are currently on, what would be the story written about you by your spouse? by your children? by your friends? By choosing your path today you are choosing the content of your life story. You may want your story to be written like a James Bond novel, like the biography of a great statesman, or perhaps you would rather be known for your loyal and loving role as a father/mother. In any case your ability to leave a legacy will be determined by the actions you take today.

As you progress through life and shape your life story by your actions, another kind of progression is also present. This progression can be more or less pronounced but as far as I can tell it is something everbody experiences to some degree. I am talking about the progression from youthful exuberance, optimism and ignorance in your younger years to the seasoned wisdom, authority and responsibiity of your adult years. This progression have the power to totally transform your view of the world and consequently your personality - and at least for most it seems like an unavoidable progression. Since this progression is unavoidable you might as well make the best of it and make sure your path through life becomes an enjoyable and rewarding journey. Depending on your philosophy you might want the journey to be a long and slow one where you enjoy the individual stages as much as the journey itself, or you could let your childish curiosity guide you through it in order to experience the experiences, which are only possible by arriving at “the other side”.

Interestingly the concept of your life as a journey was first conceived in hinduism. Connected to the notion of life as a journey there are also a set of 4 hindu values or objectives designed as ideal goals to achieve. They are listed here in ascending order of importance :

Artha (Property, Material wealth)

As the first objective in the list (and therefore least important) we find the acquisition of property and material wealth. This is in acknowledgement that money and material wealth are important in the sense that it can make it easier to achieve other objectives like Dharma (explained later). The Artha objective is not to be understood as encouragement of greed and pursuit of wealth for the wealth’s sake, it is after all the least important of the 4 objectives and even though poverty is not glorified in hinduism, freeing yourself from the illusion that money is very important, is a part of the more important objective Moksha.

Kama (Desire and sensations, Sensual pleasure)

The ideal of kama has to do with the sensual pleasure you can achieve in various ways and your desire to do so. Probably the term is mostly known in the western world from Kamasutra the sensual pleasures achieveable from sexual behavior, but primarily it refers to enjoyment of music, painting, drama, dance, etc. Kama is a highly respected ideal, but it is expected to be confined to a certain part of your life, a certain stage of your personal development; ultimately you must move beyond it and focus on more important objectives, especially Moksha.

Dharma (Virtue, Responsibility)

Dharma is an ideal that is supposed to be inherent in everything you do. It can be described as a religious sense of obligation to fulfil the duties you have in society and in life. It is considered virtuous to perform these duties in a responsible mannor: willingly and effectively. As we grow older we become more aware of this value and recognize how the rights we enjoy in our everyday life are made possible by the responsible behavior of the individuals in society. The responsible behavior of the Dharma ideal is also meant to create harmony between the actions of an individual and his/her surroundings and therefore assure a harmonious society.

Moksha (Liberation from Illusion, Spiritual salvation)

As the fourth and most important objective in the list is Moksha. It is the highest ideal for which you can strive and reaching this ideal is done by ridding yourself of all delusion and let you experience the world as it really is. Achieving Moksha you become free in a higher sense of the word, not just free to physically take some action, but also mentally free; you are in a sense free from ignorance. One key aspect of this is to recognize the self in all being and all being in oneself, or in other words an intuitive feeling of oneness in the universe. This concept is found in the Baghavadgita VI. 29-32 :

Who does behold the Self-in all,
And all beings in Self alone
He sees indeed by Yoga’s force
All things spread out everywhere.

Who sees the One in variety,
And all variety in the One,
To him the Self is never lost
And he too is not lost to Self.

Who adores ever the One alone
And is himself the vastest Self;
Let him behave in any way,—
He still abides in Deathless Self.

Who sees all is identical
With himself in his Cosmic Deeps
Has all the worlds on his own palm.—
Nay, he himself is all the worlds.

This oneness has the natural consequence that you can not hurt another being without also harming yourself. A modern implementation of this concept can be recognized in the nonviolence philosophy of Mahatma Ghandi. The Moksha ideal is a very high ideal and achieving it in your life is considered an almost saintly achievement.

These 4 objectives were traditionally accompanied by dividing a persons life into 4 stages : The student, the householder, the retired person and the ascetic. With the exception of the ascetic these will look familiar to one used to the traditional stages of western life : going to school, getting a job/marriage and retirement. In modern times these stages have become more blurred and learning for example is considered a lifelong endeavour but even if one does not want to follow the traditional path to achieving the 4 objectives or even achieve them, I still find it inspiring to consider these values as the embodiment of ancient wisdom - especially in the light of the stressful and wealth-oriented lives most of us live today.