I think of each spiritual tradition with its explanations and metaphors as providing a model rather than a truth. All models are wrong, but some are useful, and some are more useful than others. They have found better fit with the sample of human experience I have been exposed to. They have helped me and people I know more intentionally choose the meaning they make and live better lives. Here are some:
- Therapy (various styles)
- Relativism
- Buddhism
- Existentialism
- Phenomenology
- Coaching
I'd like to give shout-outs also to Empiricism and Humanism, with the proviso that I guard against their invalidation of inner experience.
In my view, by focusing only on frameworks one can miss the trees for the forest. The entirety of modes of contact with human experience is fair game for our minds to make meaning. They serve as entry points. I aim to be creative about which aspects of experience I might use to relate to people. That said, here are some I have used with myself and others, with varying degrees of dexterity:
- meditation
- narrative, storytelling
- Focusing, IFS/Parts work, somatic awareness
- embodied experience, yoga
- artistic expression
- practicing agency
- sharing space