Here we turn our conscious gaze to the mode of being I will classify as the “Spiritual Mode of Being”. This is a general noesis, or mode of being, which encapsulates different types of intentional action and their correlated ability to be consciously experienced, such as perceiving, thinking, feeling, speaking, and acting. It is general in that its components comprise distinct areas of intentioned activity, themselves classifying specific fragments of the totality of the mode of being. The Spiritual mode of being is the change in ones Being to one in which all areas of intention are modified by the noesis itself, in a way which is specific to the noesis. The way in which experience and intentioned action (all mental phenomena) are modified is thus the purpose of our inquiry. Being that we are to proceed down phenomenological lines, we must suspend all typical “natural” viewpoints, with an eye to the transcendental, or that which supersedes or courses throughout all experience. We here are looking for the essential characters of the noesis thus described as “Spiritual”, to be derived from analysis in its link between its constituent offspring, which is the subjective datum acquired through present moment awareness (Vipassana). This attentional factor of the mode of being must be presently applied whilst one is within the mode of Spiritual Being in order to accumulate data in respect to the field of consciousness which it indicates. This datum is to be retrospectively analyzed phenomenologically and expounded in its differences from the “natural” mode of being, as well as its essential characteristics delimited and isolated.

It appears from the start that this Spiritual Mode of Being is itself modified and conditioned through individually acquired knowledge; experiential, habitual, learned, as well as modified by genetically disposed character traits. So our path early on brings us to a dual exploration. My subjectively defined individual conception and phenomenological analysis into the contents present herein (my experience is all I have to work from) and the objective phenomenological essence of the mode of Being in its general application within the intersubjective realm, derived from reducing my personal experience to its fundamental features.

One, what is the most optimal, effective, beneficial – Spiritual Mode of Being, as it appears to me. This “optimal” being presents itself as characterized from the moral realist perspective, as that which produces the most “well-being” to the individual, his family, community, country, humankind, all life, both in the present, with implications for the short term and long term. Thus, present and future, across the individual and all life, are all morally implicated in my defining of “optimal”. Here “well-being” doesn’t imply merely escape from suffering, but may entail suffering with a silver lining (tough love), though, all factors considered, produces intentioned action which is most beneficial across the spectrum to psychological growth, character growth, communal freedom from suffering, etc. To me it appears in a pragmatic sense that the most optimal Spiritual Mode of Being is thus strictly a pursuance of this abstract conceptualization of the highest “optimal” ideal Spiritual Mode of Being, as, for practical purposes, my very conception of the most “optimal” mode of Being spiritual, itself is synonyms with Perfect Wisdom, or the best mode of Being one can act from. Given the complications in this, the most one can do is strive, from this personally spiritual mode of being, towards the attainment of the most optimal mode of Being, the characteristics of which would be modified with the further acquisition of knowledge, experience, and intuition.

While cultural and religious perennial similarities present themselves as Unity with the “One” in the forfeiting of the individual for a “higher ideal” such as Atman, Buddha, God, Jesus, Yahweh, Allah, what we find in secular spiritual instances is a similar pursuant of an all-encompassing “truth” and “oneness” or feeling of inseparability from the universe as a whole. In other instances, the individual may enter the Spiritual Mode of Being by attempting to become the ideal improved potentiality of himself, the contents which constitutes this improved potentiality reflected in the individual’s ideal. While pursuance of metaphysical, supernatural, secular, ethical, self-realization, truth-seeking, or generally transcendent understanding and alignment may all constitute the momentary ideal with which we are striving towards as an ideal within any individual’s experience of the Spiritual Mode of Being, the particular instances here serve only as a verification as an endpoint to the manifestation of the necessary essence which constitutes the generalized conceptualization of the Spiritual Mode of Being.

What this generally described as “Spiritual Mode of Being” from which I believe we should enter in order to pursue this “optimal” mode of being, is, is what we next will seek to find. What the objective essence of such a noesis is, and what is its objective, intersubjective discoverable characteristics are. In any act constituting the experiential neomatic content (the content of intention in the presently arising subjective experience) the Being of the “individual” is directed toward an object. In entering into the spiritual mode of being you are putting your Being in relation to an “object” which is other than itself. This object of intention, whether consciously realized or unconsciously manifested from, is in the Spiritual Mode of Being conceptualized as an ideal which is higher than the ideal of one’s current self-conceptualization. Whether that ideal itself constitutes an Abstract Being, a thought about morality, a metaphysical truth, or a wish for an ideal future is aside from the generality which we seek to uncover here.

This grounding of the mode of being in intentionality towards an object other than oneself which has this nature of being “higher” “greater” “better” “true” is always an abstract conception, if it were a scientific or otherwise “naturally” expressive content it would not relate to the Spiritual Mode of Being, but to an altogether different Mode of Being. The very nature of this Spiritual Mode of Being is in the transcendence of the ideal towards which Being is directed upon. This ideal is rarely consciously conceptualized in its totality, and always has subconscious and causally integrated roots below the conscious psyche, yet exists as a content which can be consciously symbolized, as well as consciously directed. This generalization of the fundamental generality of the mode of Being holds cross culturally, intersubjectively. In other words, it is produced through the alignment with one’s own Being with the abstract idea of a Being greater than oneself.

This abstract idea of a Being greater than oneself is always doxic, or grounded upon what one believes to be greater than oneself. The individual difference here will appear upon introspection directed phenomenologically across our varying ideals, whether it’s a God, the possibility of a greater character, or the moral realist striving for the height of wisdom. Of course there will be multiple “ideas” (Kantian sense, including thoughts, mental pictures, abstract representation, etc.) which one intellectually can devise as being greater than oneself, the alignment in pursuance or pursuance of unification with the idea as characterizing one’s mode of Being, is what here delimit the mode of being Spiritual. The possibility of variance of “idea” (in any individual) here pursued enables multiple “Spiritual Modes of Being” to be possibly manifest in the individual, but necessarily and experientially, all are contained within a unitary noesis in its producing the present moments intentioned actions. In other words, one individual may possibly enter into a Spiritual Mode of Being today which is altogether different from the one he enters tomorrow, or 5 years ago, depending on the idea for which he currently desires to pursue as that which represents the abstract being greater than himself. In addition, multiple ideas of such a Being greater than oneself can all be present in a connected formulation of one’s present Spiritual Mode of Being. Either one, or multiple, abstract objects for which we strive to be in alignment with can constitute a singular momentary Spiritual Mode of Being, often causing dissonance and the inability to successfully manifest an authentic representation of oneself in actions stemming from such a noesis (there is difficulty in consciously directing one’s actions to be in alignment with simultaneous content, especially if it isn’t articulated clearly).

The generalized essence of the Spiritual Mode of Being is thus here objectified. It is the mode from which one’s being attempts to align itself with an idea of a being greater than oneself. The object perceived in the subjective experiential noema (the perceived as experienced) produced from the noesis thus described is modified in accordance with the individual’s knowledge of what the abstract idea represents, as well as his trained ability to act in accordance with such knowledge. Thus, concentrated conscious effort directed towards attaining this Spiritual Mode of Being, which is itself is directed toward a “singular” idea, enables the practitioner to further be able to better manifest intentioned actions in accordance with the conscious idea, based on his practice within such a space of consciousness, his acquired knowledge, and time spent within such a mode of being. Unconscious entrance, tempered through habit and subconscious causal correlates, into a Spiritual Mode of Being, will, likewise, increase the ability for such a mode of being to manifest, as well as “carry along” the individual in his (Hiedeggerian) “thrownness” towards the ends of the unconsciously pursued ideal. This, to me, is sub-optimal, and I believe that our Mode of Being and its pursuance are better served by a consciously formulated idea, based upon rationally and logically coherent meaning and value structures which are explicitly defined and desired consciously by the individual. The unconscious adherence to dogmatic infallible claims, seek to halt growth towards a higher resolution image of metaphysical and moral “truth”, the use of a consciously conceptualized fallibilist yet clearly defined idea to be pursued in the Spiritual Mode of Being can help us to achieve progress towards such strivings. Diligent discipline towards not only attainment of the spiritual mode of being, but in addition towards the expansion of knowledge towards the idea within the mode of being, better enables the individual to produce a conscious experience (action, perception, mental formation, etc.) which is representative of the idea one is striving for.

The ability and manifestation of introspection is modified in important ways depending on what one’s individual acquired idea happens to be, and the Spiritual Mode of Being in its tendency to produce awareness of the present moment is directly related to what that idea is in its content. Ideals altogether lacking an importance of attention upon the present moment necessarily produce conscious experience with which we are not aware of in the present moment. Conscious clarity in reference to the idea necessarily produces an ability for the unconscious as well as consciously directed manifestations produced through the noesis of the Spiritual Mode of Being to be more or less in alignment with the idea.

As far as the entrance to a mode of being which is contrary to the Spiritual, in order to modify it so that it too is in alignment with one’s belief and value structure, seems to be a mode of being which falls within the domain of the spiritual itself, it is a subsystem located within the totality of the optimal spiritual mode of being. To pursue different aspects of ones Being, whether it be relational, moral, metaphysical, yet in alignment with the Spiritual Ideal, is to necessarily be within the totality of the Spiritual Mode of Being’s modification, and poses an overlay of content and influence. We cannot separate our this integral mode of being as easily as we would like from the totality of our Being, like our perceptive and embodied systems, it is integrally connected to all other subsystems.

 Many aspects of our conscious experience are thus related as fragments of the totality of the spiritual mode of Being, the metaphysical truth pursuance, ethical embodiment, our interactions in relationships, are all noetic content which could possibly be derivative from the totality of the Spiritual Mode of Being, and effort towards their improvement, or increased articulation of what is meant in their “optimization” necessarily will alter the totality of the Spiritual Mode of Being, while simultaneously, modifications of the Totality bring modifications of the fragments noematic content produced. This relational modification can furthermore be extrapolated to the Totality of Being and its mode of Beings thus constituting our noesis in their ever fluctuating arising, in the same manner, and vice versa.

The modifications of our ideal, produce modifications in the thoughts, actions, feelings, and circumstantial reactions we experience. In addition, the flux of each of these constitutive experiential moments, has an effect upon the totality. The change of the whole influences the change of the constituent elements, and the change of the constituent elements are inexorably connected to the whole, and therefore to each other. The modification in any of these domains, which necessarily experientially takes place as the impermanence of time correlates to the impermanence in mental content, produces a modification in all other domains, in all other higher or lower mental states. Lower being closer to the real experience, and higher being more abstract foundational essences. As the Spiritual Mode of Being is that which aims at transcendence of the normal mode of Being, or of our current actualized state, it often produces feelings, thoughts, and actions which are wholly unique to it, not necessarily unique in their manifestations, but unique in their intentionality. While we can do one thing for many reasons, the reasons why we perform any intentioned act within the Spiritual Mode of Being are directed correlated to the ideal which we doxically hold as the imperative of pursuance corresponding to the Specific form of the Spiritual Mode of Being we find ourselves in. Mindful recognition of the unique manifestations which arise from these intentions can aide the ignorant phenomenologist in determining from which ideal or ideals are currently underlying the content of his experiences.

Through determined effort in reducing from the specific to the general, in the stripping away of the manifestations to their abstract correlates, and the unity between the various datum, the individual working at discovering his content can uncover the abstract conceptualization of his most profound beliefs. In the practice here described, the individual can subsequently look to verify the precision and alignment of such an ideal to the non-transcendental, or “natural” viewpoint. This is a practice which is altogether unnecessary, yet I believe, personally, is beneficial. By being able to believe in the logical coherence between one’s consciously discovered/formulated higher ideal and reality, one becomes more certain and thus modifies his mode of being in a way which is beneficial. This certainty itself, I believe, should not be a dogmatic certainty, but the ideal we are certain of should contain the possibility of fallibility, the ability to change with time, as an integral part of its conceptualization. The certainty of such a belief places the individual in a place of potential growth in regards to his progress towards the ideal underlying the Spiritual Mode of Being, which, given the impermanence and thrownness of our experience, we may be thrust into at any moment, yet is possible for its content and actualization to be modified consciously (to a degree).

t is through the conscious alignment with that personalized “divine”, “transcendent”, “immanent”, ideal that we can make progress within the Spiritual Mode of Being towards an end we are both intellectually and intuitively manifesting as well as aware of.