Live Wise: A Guidebook to Facing Life and Reality's Complexities and Messiness with the Wisdom and Love of God

By Scott Curtis Meischen

Every journey is best pursued by having an authentically wise guidebook to aid us in our understanding of (our ULR) how to wisely journey through life and reality. An authentically wise understanding (ULR understanding of life and reality) is informed both about how and why to travel, journey wisely. It is self-evident that truth and love matter to a life wisely lived, but it is not plainly evident whose explanation of life and reality (ELR) contains the very best explanation of constitutes enduring truth and authentic love. The God of the Bible said if left to ourselves, collectively we would be plagued by wars and rumors of wars, that famine and pestilent would plague our days. And we would also individually and in our intimate relationships as couples and families would find loving oneness much longed for but difficult to find and even more challengingly to sustain. Our much self-heralded humanly constructed ELRs, have not resulted in an enlightenment informed, progressively enriched existence but a reality persistently plagued by unity/chaos, clarity/confusion, peace/despair, and all life still finally ends in death. We were warned by the God of the Bible, we would come to suffer from a mind and heart condition similar to snow blindness termed reality blindness: better equipped to see analytically but yet persistently, congenitally spiritually blinded. Reality blindness is a congenital condition of humanity, a manifestation of being spiritually stillborn, if we elect to exist outside of a right standing with God. When all things are relative being equally true and false at the same time in the same relationship nothing is relevant: real gold is equal to fool’s gold, momentary lust and enduring love are equally valid emotional expressions. Humanly sourced understanding results in a form of mental, emotional hypothermia: reality began at my birth, all meaning is temporary, and in death we return to nothingness. In our various hypothermic states of existence, we numb our inevitable despair by self-medications found in drugs, sex, achievement, entertainment, etc. or some lash out with a coping strategy of hurting themselves or others. But wait! All is not lost. Our existence failure is not new nor unexpected nor unexplained. God created us with love hungry hearts only He can satisfy. God is both the great physician and ultimate parent who can both heal us spiritual today and gift us with an eternal relationship for all our tomorrows including a post-physical-death forever home. But you have to respond with a yes and to His offer of the Live Wise Solution: forgiveness and adoption. As directed by God, Live Wise is a Jesus sourced how-to guidebook for facing life and reality’s complexities and messiness with the singularly valuable wisdom and love of God only found in God’s ELRs: Jesus and the Bible. Initially God’s offer is a gift of forgiveness of our sins and an outpouring of love and peace that only need be accepted. Stop. Think. Believe. You make the call. Live Wise.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LifeRich Publishing
• Release date: May 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9781489746269

Scott Curtis Meischen

Scott C. Meischen is an author, teacher, consultant, encourager according to the call of God. Scott grew up in the Christian church but came to understand as a young adult his faith was nothing more than a manifestation of The Be Nice Club, a form of faux, social support system Christianity. Professionally trained and in daily practice of truth (and falsehood) detection (as an internal auditor and single father of three), he found his way (at the prompting of God the Holy Spirit) to authentic biblical faith in The Faith: orthodox Christianity. Led by God and aided by many wonderful ministries, he found his way to the New Life only found by entering into an authentic love relationship with Jesus Christ. Today, Scott ministers in his local church as a deacon, Bible teacher, and a Christian apologetic consultant to those also seeking a Jesus sourced New Life a Live Wise life. Scott lives with his wife Debbie, their six adult children, and ten grandchildren in the Central Texas area. He is a graduate of Texas A&M University, the University of Texas, and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Distinguished Toastmasters (DTM).

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Copyright © 2023 Scott Curtis Meischen.

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Scriptures are taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

ISBN: 978-1-4897-4625-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-4624-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-4626-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023908773

LifeRich Publishing rev. date: 05/19/2023

To Debbie, the love of my life, who is as wonderfully loving as she is exceptionally beautiful

I would change only one thing in our life together: I would have found you sooner so I could love you longer.

To our many little grandchildren and our now-not-so-little children with whom God has blessed us

AUTHOR’S NOTE

I believe God has called me to develop the knowledge and motivation I needed to write Live Wise and then to be a herald of God’s truths and love, which form the basis for a Live Wise life—orthodox in beliefs and authentic in embodiment of Christlike Christianity. Regarding God knowledge, the more one pursues a full knowledge and comprehensive understanding of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, as well as how to live a life that is authentically consistent with it, the more one recognizes the boundlessness of God’s explanation of life and reality. God has perfect and complete knowledge of all life and all reality—past, present, and future. In our humanity, we can know only some small measure (but sufficient for salvation and Christian flourishing) of God’s boundless ELR (see Glossary and Acronyms section) and how to live consistent (but imperfectly) with it. The more I study, live, observe, worship, pray, discuss, reason, listen, and so forth about God’s ELR, found of first importance in Jesus and the Bible and then in creation and helpful writings, podcasts, sermons, music, and so on about the faith—historic, orthodox Christianity—the more I come to understand how God’s ELR is wonderfully rich and alive. Each Christian is a blessed, joy-filled member of God’s family and living in service to King Jesus.

Thus, Live Wise is a guidebook to a life wisely lived, a Live Wise life. My first source was the Bible—holy revealed scriptures. My secondary sources were God’s general revelation in creation and selected works of Christian scholarship and ministries. Like all guidebooks, this one can’t reasonably include all available information. The scriptures and the secondary sources noted throughout Live Wise are intended as proofs of wise understandings, as well as additional sources for readers who want to further their understanding (ULR) of God’s ELR and authentic Christian living.

There is enduring excitement in learning about and living out a life that is eternal in duration and rich in God-sourced love, faithfulness, and fruitfulness. I hope and pray that Live Wise will be a helpful guidebook for entry into and a lifetime of living out what God intends as a life wisely lived—a Live Wise life—an eternal love-walk with Jesus.

I hope to personally meet you, as time and circumstance allow, but if not in this part of God’s creation, certainly as we join at the feet of Jesus. Be blessed! Remain calm and live wise.

Be very careful, then, how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand [in your ULR] what the Lord’s will [ELR] is [and thus, live wise. T].¹ (Ephesians 5:15–17, italics added)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he [or she] is a new creation; the old [osnSelf] has gone; the new [aclSelf] has come [T].² (2 Corinthians 5:17)

The Live Wise Institute

The mission of the Live Wise Institute (LWI) is to cultivate an authentically wise, supernaturally loving, and practically intelligent, born-again (orthodox, authentic) Christian whose understanding of life and reality (ULR) is first and foremost, based on God’s explanations of life and reality (ELRs): Jesus and the Bible.

Jesus and the Bible are equally about a logic, truth (logos, reason) and love, faith, and hope (pathos, intuition), which are divine in origin and eternal in value. The LWI champions the eternal value found only in the divine truth, amazing grace, supernatural love, and eternal justice discovered and then entered and cultivated in and through a love-walk (relationship) with Jesus, in this life and in life everlasting in heaven with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the faith family.

The LWI offers Christ-centered salvation coaching, faith training, life planning, and self- and financial management instruction and resources, along with ongoing encouragement and fellowship for those seeking to make the decision to enter and to commit to faithfully and fruitfully live out an authentic Live Wise life, an eternal love-walk (relationship) with Jesus. Thus, uniquely equipped with and transformed by the wisdom and love only God (plus Jesus and the Holy Spirit) can provide, we can face—in fact and in love—the complexities and messiness of our lives and reality today, tomorrow, and throughout life eternal.

In this life, there are benefits to learning how to identify the FMV (fair market value) of various things: real estate, businesses, investments, cars, art, inventions, innovations, and so forth. In a life wisely lived—a Live Wise life—we learn to discern God-ordained ELV (eternal life value) found only in Christ-centered faith, hope, and love. By God’s design, life is an eternally meaningful outcome, a focused journey, a process anchored first in our love relationship with Jesus. And that makes life’s cost of admission—the painful parts of life—worth it.

In an authentic Christian life that is committed to a faithful and fruitful love-walk with Jesus, the painful parts of this life are experienced and endured as pain with a positive purpose, including first our salvation, followed by our sanctification. At God’s appointed right time, we are blessed with the reward of our glorification and entry into heaven.

A Live Wise life is a Christ-centered life for God’s glory and our blessings.

Stop. Think. Believe. Live wise. You make the call.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Scott Curtis Meischen, the Live Wise Life Guy

Scott Curtis Meischen is a human-development, life-planning, self- and financial management Christian apologist, engaged in helping individuals to first become and then flourish as authentically wise, supernaturally loving, and practically intelligent born-again (orthodox, authentic) Christians.

As a Christian apologist, he speaks in explanation and defense of the Christian faith: the Faith. By God’s design, an authentic Christian’s understanding of life and reality (ULR) is based, first and foremost, upon God’s explanations of life and reality (ELRs): Jesus, the living Word of God and the Bible, the written Word of God. Jesus and the Bible are equally about a logic, truth (logos, didactic) and faith, hope, and love (pathos, aesthetic); they are divine in origin and eternal in value.

CONTENTS

Author’s Note

About the Author

Glossary and Acronyms

Note: To achieve effective and efficient understanding, those engaged in learning about ELR (explanations of life and reality) with the goal of forming a wise ULR (understanding of life and reality) are best equipped to do so if they have a common vocabulary, including words having commonly understood definitions. To facilitate this, the glossary and acronyms list has been placed at the beginning of Live Wise.

The Salvation Journey

1. An introduction to understanding the explanation-to-understanding (E2U) origins processes, marketplaces, and roles that ELRs/ULRs play in who we are, how we do life (play the game), and understand reality, with specific emphasis on understanding what constitutes a life wisely lived—the Live Wise life.

2. Exploring the explanation to understanding (E2U) provided by God in Jesus and the Bible

3. Exploring God’s explanation of unwise and wise understanding

4. Exploring how God’s wisdom can (if we let it) uniquely, supernaturally transform and equip us to face the complexities and messiness of life and reality

5. Exploring the God-provided entry point to a new life, both in our understanding of and existence in life and reality—a Live Wise life

The Sanctification Journey

6. Exploring how God changes an authentic Christian’s self-identity to be that of an adopted, beloved child of God and a servant of King Jesus

7. Exploring how God changes an authentic Christian’s beingness to be Christlike

8. Exploring how God changes an authentic Christian’s understanding of human development to focused on Christian maturity and development of an aclSelf and the life-management activities, strategies, and practices necessary to sustain Christlikeness, an aclSelf

9. Exploring how God changes an authentic Christian’s life mission, plans, and purposes to manifest His will and love

10. Exploring how God changes an authentic Christian to live with an eternal-journey perspective

11. Exploring how God changes an authentic Christian’s practical-intelligence understanding

The Glorification Journey

12. Exploring how God equips an authentic Christian to persevere along a life path that leads to glorification and entry into heaven

GLOSSARY AND ACRONYMS

Glossary

A few key words (UOUs) to aid in understanding the Live Wise Project journey.

absolutely provable (a UOU based in empirical facts): Evidence sufficient to establish a thing, idea (UOU, SOU, ELR), action, identity, decision, conclusion, or belief as true, factual, and accurate or as untrue, nonfactual, and inaccurate; absolute proof. Example: one moon orbits the planet earth.

alt.: An abbreviation created for Live Wise, used in a manner similar to e.g. and i.e. The abbreviation alt. signifies how an alternative, sometimes contrasting ELR would apprehend an idea or UOU from various alternative, complementing, contrasting, or contradictory perspectives, such as to mark some out as exceptional (alt., unexceptional).

a posteriori knowledge: Knowledge that arises from reasoning, informed by experiences and/or empirical evidence. (My brother was born in Raymondville.)

apprehend: To perceive with accurate, coherent understanding using one or more of the five senses, plus intuition and imagination. Typically, the process follows cognitive, sensory steps—detection, identification, classification, and comprehension—with the addition of intuition and imagination as needed or useful for accurate, coherent understanding.

a priori knowledge: Knowledge developed from pure reasoning without need of information from experiences or empirical evidence or testing as in the scientific method. (Brothers are male siblings.)

assertion or accusation: A unit of understanding (UOU, SOU, ELR) stated as being true and factual but is merely the speaker’s belief and is unsupported by evidential proof; it is more the speaker’s wish, hope, or opinion. An accusation is an assertion that someone, a group, or an organization has committed or is planning to commit wrongdoing.

Christian apologetics: The branch of Christian theology that explains and defends the Christian explanation of life and reality (ELR) from objections, misunderstandings, mischaracterizations, and competing and contrary explanations (ELRs), along with conducting presentations of Christianity’s essential and comprehensive truths, plausibility, authority, rationality, coherence, relevance, relationships, promises, and warnings, and its adherents’ mission, methods, activities, successes, failures, and misdeeds.

competing (conflicting or at war) with explanations or understandings of life and reality: To exist in conflict or disagreement with, in opposition to, in competition, or at war with other explanations (ELRs) and understandings (ULRs) of life and reality, or the inherent state of struggle among the various alternative explanations and understandings of life and reality.

conceptual framework, paradigm, schema: A method of a strategy; a template for thinking, reasoning, studying, and learning that aids in identifying, distinguishing (UOUs, SOUs, ULRs, ELRs) and organizing understanding (ULR, SOUs) to facilitate identification, comprehension, utilization, integrity, progression, and proclamation (for example, inputs, processes, outputs), as a high-level conceptual framework or paradigm for understanding manufacturing, data processing, cooking, chemistry, agriculture, and so forth.

conflicted: The state of being conflicted, in a conflict about, or uncertain of what constitutes the right understanding of a unit of logical, scientific, mathematic, emotional, spiritual, theological, experiential, or interpersonal understanding or self-understanding.

conformation bias (frame blindness, my side/team/tribe, my ULR/ELR bias—various forms of reality blindness): Thinking processes or cognitive predispositions that cause a person to filter in and apprehend but then comprehend only to confirm understanding and utilize only those UOUs and ELRs that conform to one’s preexisting ULR; equally, to filter out (negative interpretation, invalidation, suppression) all nonconforming UOUs and ELRs.

confusion: Existing in a momentary or persistent state of cognitive disordered understanding, perplexity, bewilderment, or logical disorientation.

critical thinking (sound, precise, effective thinking, reasoning; sound, accurate understanding: The cognitive thinking processes and strategies employed to conduct the precise creative identification, consideration of, or reasoning about something or someone, information, decision criteria, test results, observational data, and so forth, needed to discern sound, accurate, plausible understanding.

cultural apologetics: An approach to Christian apologetics that explains the Christian explanation of life and reality (ELR) using cultural artifacts, including contemporary books, movies, perspectives, and political/societal issues, with a focus on making Jesus and the Bible understandable within a cultural context and its various, distinct people groups.

deception (spoof, hoax, fraud): An intentional idea, action, persona, identity, or thing (e.g., a fallacious art object, counterfeit currency or document, a person pretending to be another, fake credentials or achievements, false victimhood) or a UOU/SOU/ELR intended to trick or dupe others into accepting as genuine something that is false or a hoax.

delusion: Persistent belief in an idea, conclusion, or unit of understanding (UOU or SOU, ELR) which is erroneous but persistently believed, despite compelling contrary evidence or rationale.

didactic versus tidactic writings: Any writing crafted with the goal of being instructive or as a means of teaching is didactic. Unique to the words breathed out by God and recorded in the Bible (the holy scriptures), imbued by God with the supernatural power to be a means or mechanism of supernatural transformational change in an individual, transforming the person from a spiritually stillborn osnSelf person to a spiritually born-again aclSelf person is tidactic (a word crafted by the author to record this UOU unique to Live Wise).

discernment and critical thinking processes (using generally accepted reasoning principles—GARP): We apprehend data or UOUs that comprise raw information, but we must utilize that which God defines as discernment and historic academia defines as critical thinking processes to refine raw information into knowledge, then into understanding, and finally into wisdom. This observation, detection, and refinement thinking process is guided by generally accepted reasoning principles (GARP). One of the key factors in information refinement is the reality check loop—does our understanding work in real raw reality? Does our understanding work in the laboratory of actual life experiences or application?

divine, revealed, supernatural knowledge or understanding, including biblical intelligence (BI): Knowledge or understanding that is supernaturally revealed, manifested ex nihilo by God in the minds and hearts of His authentic, born-again children, orthodox Christians, and selected non-Christians.

ELR to ULR dynamic: The interaction between an ELR and ULR, with special focus on how an ELR informs a ULR and how, over time, a person’s ULR can work to inform an ELR with new UOUs or create an entirely new ELR. An ELR is like a worldview; it is a macro-level explanation of life and reality from a unique, specific perspective. A ULR is a micro-level explanation of life and reality, uniquely from a specific individual’s perspective.

empirically provable versus reasonably (alt., most) plausible understanding: A relatively small portion of life and reality is empirically provable (e.g., 2+2=4; the moon generates no light of its own making, etc.). Most of our knowledge, beliefs, and understanding arise from a combination of observation, reasoning, and speculation about life and reality that we have determined are the most plausible explanations for a UOU, SOU, or ELR. Though not empirically proven, we reasonably believe that a UOU, SOU, or ELR is the best, most plausible explanation of the facts, data, observations, experiences, speculations, and gaps in understanding.

epistemology: The branch of inquiry, reasoning, learning, and understanding focused on the systematic exploration and study of the nature and theory of knowledge and understanding, as well as the justification of belief, including its origins, existence, discovery, rationality, correlation, dissemination, utilization, obviation, progression, retention, integrity, misunderstanding, deception, intentional and accidental mischaracterizations, contradictions, biases, objectivity, and so forth.

experience-focused, existing understanding: Knowledge and understanding intended to make sense of human existence and equip a person with the self-understanding, interpersonal understanding, emotional maturity, and situational awareness (in part, the capacity to be fully in a specific present moment) to successfully experience relationships, activities, worship, entertainment, art, nature, music, sports, education, and so on.

externally sourced development of a self (a person) versus internally, self-sourced development of a person: Each person (self) is the outcome of a mixture of developmental factors and progenitors external to the person, such as parents, siblings, teachers, mentors, ministers, ecstatic and traumatic experiences, and so forth, plus factors internal to the person, such as DNA and the inherent aspects of one’s personality, talents, aptitudes, tastes, preferences, and spirit, as well as flaws, brokenness, woundedness, disabilities, and misunderstandings. In addition, our personhoods (the self) are the result of how well or poorly we have self-managed our messy mixture of internal and external developmental causes and circumstances, particularly if we did or did not take full responsibility for who we are (and choose not to be); our skills, both personally and professionally; and to where, with whom, and how are we journeying through life.

evangelical: Zealous belief in the practice of and advocacy for an ELR/ULR.

fallacious, delusional, ineffective thinking that leads to unsound, inaccurate understanding: strategies employed that are thought to be logically, experientially correct and accurate but are experientially incorrect, illogical, and unsound and result in equally unsound, foolish, or misguided understanding (UOUs, SOUs, ULRs).

gestalt: The condition of a unified whole (e.g., a team, tribe, sport or fighting unit, married couple), assembly (e.g., painting, musical, or other artistic expression; an engineering product like a car, bridge, rocket, computer, building) is of greater value, effectiveness, beauty, utility, or enjoyment than the sum of its individual elements, components, or ingredients; the outcome is, at times, of vastly greater value and has more impact than the sum of its parts, inputs, or participants.

good works: That body of works, outcomes, relationships, or activities that God has specifically called an individual Christian to pursue, using his or her spiritual gifts and empirical PI blessings, hardships, or opportunities.

grammar unique to Live Wise notes—T: At the end of each scripture quote, the final punctuation mark is a cross (T). This is to signify that the words quoted are uniquely from God—breathed out from the mouth of God—and are uniquely, supernaturally alive, with a power only God can infuse. God’s words have the power to open blind eyes to apprehend God’s ELR, transform sin-sick hearts to Christlike righteousness, and reform the spirit. Seek the things of God (worship, prayer, Bible study, service, giving, church membership, etc.) and bring forth an irrepressible enthusiasm for life. The cross punctuation is intended reinforce the call to stop and think. These are words breathed out by the God, intended to save your life eternally from the power of sin and physical death and bring you into a parent/child relationship with God. They are intended to make God’s promise a reality—that all things can work together for your good, if and only if you are an authentic Christian and have surrendered your life to God’s will.

homeostasis in life SMARTS—understanding life and reality (ULR): The steady state (equilibrium) of Live Wise UOUs; life SMARTS existing in an individual’s ULR at a specific time; the steady state of an individual’s cognitive, emotional, spiritual, academic, experiential, and practical understanding of life and reality (ULR) that drives the ability to effectively and functionally conduct life, both personally and professionally, at a specific time. An individual’s life SMARTS/ULR homeostasis point substantially drives where and with whom he or she exists in the Live Wise life’s four quadrants.

ideology: The branch of inquiry, reasoning, learning, and understanding focused on the systematic exploration and study of the nature and origin of individual ideas (UOUs) and the power dynamics, reasoning, history, proponents, opponents, etc., that result in formation of specific systems of beliefs (SOU) and compilation of explanations of reality (ELRs) that manifests the beliefs, interests, and artifacts of a nation, political system, profession, economic theory, social order, patterns of family, and individual formation and life.

imagination: The cognitive faculty, thinking, or action of forming new ideas, images, life forms, realities, relationships, experiences, concepts, explanations, understandings, or potentialities that have not been discerned from existing stuff; understanding as part of entertainment, problem-solving, innovation, story formation or telling, or playing alone or with others.

LWP note: The Live Wise Project offers a unique conceptual framework by which we can explore explanations of life and reality (ELRs), the explanation (ELR)-to-understanding (ULR) processes, marketplaces, and the roles our uniquely individual ULRs play in who we are, how we do life (play the games), and understand reality. Thus, equipped with the Live Wise Project paradigm, an authentic seeker or orthodox, authentic Christian can better explore the explanation-to-understanding (E2U) provided by God in Jesus and the Bible. Thus, equipped with a Live Wise ULR and transformed by God’s IPL anointing, we can live as a forgiven, adopted child of God, able to more successfully face the complexities of life and reality with the unique, supernatural wisdom and love of God in both time and eternity. One means of achieving and maintaining clarity and coherence in complexity is to identify key belief system principles, which serve as vital anchors of understanding in a sea of competing, conflicting ELRs—grand narratives (alt., worldviews) and the resulting confusion about truth, love, beliefs, and faith. A key belief system principle (UOU), anchored in the LWP paradigm is as follows: Truth and love matter; God’s truth and love matter the most (the primacy of God’s ELR and a love relationship with Jesus).

masking of disagreements and opposition: To consciously hide or unconsciously be unaware of one’s disagreement with or opposition to another’s explanation (ELR) or understanding (ULR) of life and reality.

militant: Being intentionally, violently aggressive in support of or advocating for achievement of outcomes promulgated by an ELR/ULR.

negative interpretation (understanding bias): A cognitive condition (existing in a person’s ULR) in which a person has a predisposition (or bias) to negatively interpret and understand an ELR, ULR, SOU, or UOU due to the identity (ULR) of the person or organization expressing it, regardless of its truthfulness, virtue, or credibility.

objective and subjective understanding: Knowledge, beliefs, and understanding arising from empirical evidence is said to be objective understanding (UOUs): people breathe air. Knowledge, beliefs, and understanding arising from nonempirical clues, preferences, values, intuition, imagination, speculation, or aesthetic enjoyment is said to be subjective understanding (UOUs): cool people enjoy ________ music.

ontology: The branch of inquiry, reasoning, learning, and understanding that focuses on the systematic exploration and study of the nature and theory of existence and beingness. This includes the consideration of the origins of existence, the types of beings that exist, their relationships in existence, and the nature and mechanisms of the origins of, changes in, and relationships among instances of existence.

outcome, experience, and relationship mechanisms: The systems of causally interacting parts, elements, and processes that produce one or more outcomes, effects, experiences, or relationships.

outcome focused (doing understanding): Understanding intended to equip a person with the knowledge, skill, and personality necessary to consistently do stuff effectively and functionally, producing professional or personal outcomes.

pluralism: The existence and virtue of believing in (one’s ULR) a portfolio of equally correct, valid, valuable, interesting ELRs, even if contradictory in specific units of understanding, yet advocating harmony and coexistence.

positive interpretation (understanding bias): A cognitive condition (existing in a person’s ULR) in which a person has a predisposition or bias to positively interpret and understand an ELR, ULR, SOU, UOU, due to the identity (ULR) of the person or organization expressing it regardless of its falsity, spuriousness, foolishness, debauchery, depravity, unsoundness, unhealthiness, or fraud.

practical intelligence (PI): The combination of understanding, skill, and personality, comprising the adult competencies we need to effectively and functionally pursue merit-system success and satisfaction in both personal and professional dimensions of life. Plus, applied BI (biblical intelligence) ordained of God to conform who a person is and is not and what a person does and does not do as being Christlike.

presuppositions fallacy: We tend to instinctively believe in our ULR ideas, opinions, beliefs, and knowledge (UOUs, SOUs) that we mistakenly think equally exist in everyone else’s ULR. For example, my understanding of fairness is the universally held understanding of what constitutes fairness by all others I encounter. The reality is that there are tremendous variations in an understanding of what constitutes fairness in specific circumstances.

problem: humanities persistent, pervasive messiness (PPM) at the me-and-we plus the present-moment perspective versus the spiritual me and God, plus the eternal-life perspective: As secularly, empirically in the present moment (Team SRSH) understood, at the me-and-we dimensions, human-sourced ELRs (whether academic, societal, religious, or family or professionally oriented) have failed to produce ULRs that consistently and pervasively result in virtue (love, grace, civility, health, justice, peace, functional unity, joy, health) and economy, industry, artistry (effectiveness, productivity, efficiency, artistic expressions) in people’s personal and professional lives.

Spiritually and biblically, as Team Jesus (eternally) understood, at the me-and-God dimension, it is a soul sickness, spiritual leprosy, a sin virus disorder (SVD), identified by God as sin. Sin is the root cause of all unrighteous acts, motives, thoughts, words, and desires, and the failure to act virtuously and to be sacrificially loving and generous, which are transgressions against God or God’s ELR, as explained in and modeled by Jesus and the Bible. At the Christian we level, we have allowed our SVD condition to corrupt marriages, families, church congregations, and Christian interactions with the nonbelieving communities we interact with, personally and professionally.

process maturity modeling: The technique of process maturity development management, used to identify the existent and potential progression in increased effectiveness (and, at times, efficiency) in a set of processes, from ad hoc to situationally organized; to standardized and repeatedly organized, including cross processes and task and team coordination; to diligently optimized; to mastery; to world-class best practices and innovation-focused.

rationalization (self/group delusion; the myth UOU alt. UOM; a zombie UOU): An attempt to make plausible and accurate a single belief, a system of understanding (a UOU, SOU, ULR), an action, a decision, or an explanation of life and reality (ELR) that is implausible or inaccurate; an attempt by an individual or group of individuals to make rational the irrational; a generally accepted belief (UOU) that is untrue but is an enduring myth UOU, zombie UOU, or alt.; a unit of misunderstanding or invalid understanding that generally is believed to be valid understanding.

reality blindness: A cognitive-impairment condition that occurs when an individual’s ULR has been substantially or exclusively cultivated from exposure to false, incorrect, misguided, delusional, utopian, or fraudulent ELRs. This cognitive condition is similar to how someone becomes snow-blind due to prolonged exposure to sunlight reflected off a snow-covered landscape; a person suffering from reality blindness, however, is not aware of his or her cognitive impairment or misunderstanding.

reasonably plausible (a UOU based in trustworthy, coherent explanation): The state of an idea, a unit of understanding (UOU, SOU, ELR), or a belief identified as though unprovable, based on empirical evidentiary stuff, yet trustworthy, reasonable, and worthy of being an object of belief, faith, and trust; reasonably plausible understanding. Example: people living in AD 2023 have better health care than people who lived in AD 1023.

relationship enthusiasm: The degree of interest, enjoyment, motivation, love, or passion an individual experiences in the planning for, engaging in, development of, and memory of a relationship.

relationship fit: The goodwill, cooperation, affection, empathy, respect, kindness, interest, communication style, personality, and emotional/relationship intelligence, as well as business etiquette and organizational dynamics for at-work relationships of an individual, effectively and functionally interacting with another person in a specific setting, either personal or professional.

score: Think of life as a game; what is the score? The score is a way to understand if life seems worth it or not worth it (e.g., Erik Erikson’s stage theory for age sixty-five-plus is integrity versus despair). Is there a supernatural authority, a god, or God who will evaluate each person according to how each lived, his or her life’s score, relative to God’s ELR criteria?

situational objectivity: The state in which an evangelical relativistic liberal lives, passionately preaching and teaching a belief in universal, ubiquitous relativism, as evidenced in the UOU all truth is relative but who, in actual life practices, demands that life, others, and reality be governed by strict but situational objectivity. For example: payroll deposits must be objectively calculated and deposited; prescription drugs must be objectively formulated and safely provided; living and working conditions must be objectively comfortable and safe. If not, the individual will get a lawyer to sue others for not being reliably objective.

spiritual cultivation and hygiene: A set of self- and life-management practices performed, activities pursued, and thinking and spiritual disciplines followed to create, enhance, cultivate, refine, and sustain the spiritual life, growth, health, and well-being of an individual, couple, family, congregation, or community to be in right relationship standing with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

spiritual gifts: A person’s talents, skills, and abilities as supernaturally manifested and enhanced by God’s IPL anointing.

task enthusiasm: The degree of interest, enjoyment, and motivation an individual experiences in training, planning, performing, and memory of a task.

task-fit: The understanding, skill, and personality (the competencies) of an individual, fit to effectively and functionally perform a specific task in a specific (e.g., the right CPA for tax planning, the right poet for a love sonnet, the right doctor for an act of healing).

task-relevant maturity: The progressive development of one’s skill in the performance of a specific task—from clueless to novice to having competency to mastery.

team: A group gathered together to achieve a mission, frequently for remuneration or professional achievement.

teleology: The branch of inquiry, reasoning, learning, and understanding that is focused on the systematic exploration and study of the nature and the theory of explaining a thing or a phenomenon, according to its purpose, meaning, goal, intrinsic value, or inherent value (independent of its utility) in its existence, as distinguished from its extrinsic (dependent on its utility) purpose or value for existence.

theology: The branch of inquiry, reasoning, learning, and understanding that is focused on the systematic exploration and study of the nature and theory of God or gods and things divine, holy, or supernatural. This includes the questions of origin, revelation, sovereignty, salvation, and justification, as well as religious epistemologies and their conversion, discipleship, worship, prayer, and other practices. Theology is the study of the theory that a God, gods, or some manifestation of deities transcended or are greater than the natural world, but it also explores the question of divine interaction with the natural world by self-revelation to and an invitation to be in relationship with humankind.

theory: A potential or proven principle, idea, or schema about life and reality, intended to explain, guide, or aid understanding of some aspect or phenomena observed or speculation about life and/or reality, such as the theory of planetary motion, germ theory, economic theory, sacrificial theory of atonement, and so on. A specific theory is judged to have some degree of validation (or invalidation) from highly authenticated to highly speculative to unproven.

trajectory: The path, course, progression of steps, or decisions made by an individual moving along a life path or an object in motion.

tribe: A group formed by biological lineage, cultural affiliation, or social or emotional bonding, such as a married couple, a family, a formal or semi-formal culturally bound-together group.

unknowable (undeterminable understanding): Knowledge or understanding beyond humanity’s capacity, ability, or intellect to comprehend, such as an unsolvable problem, unanswerable question, unresolvable dilemma, or enduring mysteries. Example: how can a loving, good, all-powerful God allow unjust suffering and intentional egregious cruelty?

unwise: The absence of biblical God’s ELR-derived understanding in one’s ULR, resulting in a life lived as an osnSelf, ultimately leading to an eternal existence in hell; one who has foolish understanding of life and reality and makes unsound decisions that consistently result in destructive outcomes in relationships, experiences, and things, particularly when judged from a long-term, lifelong perspective.

will to pursue life (WPL); will to live (W2L) hypothermia and hygiene: The state of a person who has expended all or more than (negative numbers in life’s score) the emotional, spiritual, and cognitive will-to-pursue-life fuel supply (e.g., a WPL, W2L score of -387) without the skill, expectation, or hope of its replenishment. Life’s demands to be and to do stuff chronically outstrip and overwhelm an individual’s supply of WPL to-be and to-do abilities, motivations, and positive expectations so the person persistently exists in a state of chronic, acute hopelessness and overwhelming despair.

WPL, W2L hypothermia and suicide note: Once a person persistently exists in a state of WPL, W2L hypothermia suicide appears to offer relief from the pain of abject hopelessness, despair, loneliness, and despondency. This state of existence can lead a mother (or father) to murder her children and then take her own life; it can lead a pilot to deliberately crash the plane, killing himself and his passengers.

WPL, W2L hygiene note: Individual self-management practices that cultivate satisfaction, peace of mind, industry, initiative, intimacy, integrity, hope, expectation of near-term and long-term joy; actively avoids, resolves, and rejects discontentment, despair, bitterness, resentment, hopelessness, envy, isolation, and confusion.

wise (wisdom): Skill in living according to God’s explanation of life and reality found in Jesus, the living Word of God, and in the Bible, the written Word of God, including having been born again to an aclSelf and a Live Wise life. One who has exceptional understanding of life and reality and makes sound decisions that consistently result in worthwhile outcomes in relationships, experiences, and things.

Acronyms

acl; aclSelf: The born-again supernaturally transformed, authentically Christlike nature present in every authentic Christian that allows for, gives life to, and drives our being Christlike in who authentic, IPL-equipped Christians are and are not and what Christians do and don’t do.

DPG: Deplorable people gulag—a hypothetical place of confinement, punishment, and reeducation to which evangelical militant liberalists send anyone who is not in strict compliance with evangelical militant liberalism’s ELR.

E2U: The explanation-to-understanding processes in which we formally, semi-formally, and informally engage in the development of our uniquely individual understanding of life and reality (ULR), which we utilize in expressing who we are (and are not) and what we do (and don’t do), both personally and professionally.

ELR—Explanation of Life and Reality: A specific category, genre, type, or dimension of the explanation of life and reality, such as science, mathematics, music, military service, religion, capitalism, Marxism, and so forth.

ELV: In a Live Wise life, we discern God-ordained ELV (eternal life value) found only in Christ-centered faith, hope, and love. By God’s design, life is, in fact and love, an eternally meaningful outcome-focused process.

ERB—Elective Reality Blindness: Electing to stay misinformed—reality blind—due an inability or unwillingness to be persuaded by other, better, factual, more plausible understanding ELR.

FNT, FOMO Fallacy: Humanity’s fallacy of never feeling fully satiated its ever-expanding appetite and inability to craft a universal, enduring, harmonious, prosperous, at-peace person or community; an unresolvable fear of missing out on the next FNT.

FSN—Faith Support Network: The uniquely individual network of ministers, churches, denominations, congregants, family, community of people, music, prayers, traditions, memories, books, videos, podcasts, and social media that collectively works together to sustain and enhance a specific person’s continued faith in Christianity.

GARP: Generally accepted reasoning principles; the principles of sound, rational thinking and reasoning, progressively developed through the history of various reasoning, learning, and understanding-seeking endeavors, focused on making sense of life and reality, such as in the systematic exploration and study of the nature and theory of knowledge, understanding, and the justification of belief (see The Consequences of Ideas by R. C. Sproul; A History of Knowledge by Charles Van Doren; Mere Apologetics by Alister E. McGrath; Can Science Explain Everything? by John C. Lennox).

HiB and HiW: Humanity at its best and humanity at its worst can be identified at the individual, couple, family, community, and enterprise level. Humanity, in its existence at the me level and we level, is a messy mixture of a Hall of Fame and a Hall of Shame, no matter how vigorous or virtuous our humanly sourced endeavors.

IPL: In the power of the Lord, strength, anointing that arises from the presence of God the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth within an authentic Christian.

LWP: Live Wise Project.

osn; osnSelf: Congenital original sin nature (osn) present in every person at birth that drives brokenness, sinfulness, and persistent human messiness in who we are and are not and what we do and don’t do.

SOU—System of Understanding: A set or series of linked units of understanding that comprise an identifiable system of knowledge (e.g., organic chemistry) within a broader category or genre of explanation of life and reality (e.g., science). Note: See the coherence theory of truth.

SVD: Sin virus disorder; the root cause of humanity’s chronic, irresolvable empirical, existential broken messiness, first manifested in all people being spiritually stillborn (aclSelf), prone to godless apostasy, depravity, and evil, such as murder, rape, lies, deceit, betrayal, fraud, envy, condescension.

TTBOMHA: To the best of my human ability, due diligence, due professional care.

UGS or Nutil: A unit of grim, bad, negative stuff.

UIU—Unit of Incomprehensible Understanding: A single-unit data point of incomprehensible nonunderstanding within a broader category of an explanation of understanding.

ULR—Understanding of Life and Reality: The uniquely individual collection, assembly, and manifestation of life and reality understanding that exists in the mind and heart a specific person.

UOM—Unit of Misunderstanding; UON—Unit of Nonunderstanding: A single-unit data point of misunderstanding; incorrect understanding within a broader category or dimension of explanation (or system) of understanding (for example: incorrectly thinking that the word site refers to seeing something, rather than a place). A single unit of nonunderstanding that we do not know and do not know we do not know it. We don’t know what we don’t yet know or are unable to ever know.

UOU—Unit of Understanding: A single-unit data point of understanding within a broader category or dimension of explanation (or system) of understanding. Note: An element that is a UOU in the periodic table of elements is a SOU.

UPS or Util: A unit of positive, good stuff.

USU—Unit of Supernatural Understanding: A single-unit data point of supernatural, divinely revealed understanding within a broader category of an explanation of understanding.

W2L, WPL, and W2L Hypothermia: That mixture of motivation, energy, determination, willpower, resolve, commitment, hope, and expectation of future good stuff (UPS or Utils) needed to continue to pursue and engage in life; the various aspects and dimensions of being alive and productive; to continue to play the game, including overcoming the desire to end it all (actual or constructive suicide); to enter into an existence in a persistent state of hopeless helplessness, marked by emotional, cognitive, and spiritual aimlessness; lethargy.

Note: A frequent underlying root cause of actual or constructive suicide is an actual or perceived condition of physical, emotional, cognitive, spiritual, W2L hypothermia.

THE SALVATION JOURNEY

1

THE LIVE WISE PROJECT

An introduction to understanding the explanation-to-understanding (E2U) origins processes, marketplaces, and roles that ELRs/ULRs play in who we are, how we do life (play the game), and understand reality, with specific emphasis on understanding what constitutes a life wisely lived—the Live Wise life.

The god of this age [Satan, evil] has blinded the minds of unbelievers [manifest in a specific cultural moment’s prevailing ELRs, competing grand narratives that strive to subvert or obviate God’s truth and love], so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ [God’s ELR found in Jesus and the Bible], who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves [our own ELR], but Jesus Christ [a living ELR] as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, made his light [God’s ELR] shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ [T]. (2 Corinthians 4:4–6)

The Live Wise Project (LWP) Journey: The First Teaching

Live Wise is a guidebook to a life wisely lived, the Live Wise life. The first teaching in the Live Wise Project (LWP) journey is as follows: we initially enter into a life wisely lived, the Live Wise life, by developing a wise understanding of life and reality (ULR)—a wise ULR. A ULR is everything we understand (including misunderstandings) about all facets of life and reality. This includes historic understanding, such as:

• Our mothers’ sisters’ names

• Our favorite historical person

• Our how-to skills (such as how to drive a car, bake a cake, use a smartphone)

• Our academic and applied scientific understanding (such as evident symptoms of being ill or having hypothermia)

• Our emotional understanding (What makes someone loveable? What are the fun, humorous aspects of life? What is depression?)

• Our understanding of financial matters (What is a fair price for a gallon of milk? What is a sound investment strategy for future school or retirement expenses?)

• Our understanding of morality and right conduct (What is a functional way to respond to someone who inadvertently (alt., deliberately) steps on our foot in an elevator? How do we graciously receive an unexpected lavish gift?)

• Our self-understanding, such as being an introvert or extrovert or our three most virulent anger triggers and their origins

• Our professional understanding; everything we know about work in its technical and interpersonal dimensions (our ability to code a website graphic, how to successfully address customer complaints, how to receive or deliver negative performance feedback)

• Our various academic understanding (such as Greek philosophy; Roman military systems; whole numbers, integers, and fractions)

• Our understanding of God or gods (deism, polytheism, atheism) and the role, if any, that spiritual understanding plays in our lives, family, community, professional endeavors, and overall reality

• All other single instances (UOUs), systems of understanding (SOUs), that comprise our uniquely individual ULR

Inevitably, our ULRs also are populated by some units of misunderstanding (UOMs, wrong, out-of-date data points, faux facts) and instances of the unknown, nonunderstanding (UONs, absent data points). Thus, our ULRs are a daunting, multifaceted collection, a messy mixture of all manner of life and reality understanding (both accurate and inaccurate, useful and useless, macro–big-picture and micro-detailed), including our understanding of things personal and professional, interpersonal people data, self-understanding, knowledge of life’s processes, experiences, memories of triumphs and tragedies, cultural/societal stuff, things academic and things practical, and even essential life-skill knowledge. Our understanding portfolio, ULR, is unique to each of our specific lives and the slice of reality through which and with whom we have journeyed thus far.

How is a ULR formed, developed, cultivated, crafted, discovered, corrupted, garbled, confused, impoverished, or sabotaged? Throughout our lives, we progressively develop, cultivate, craft, and discover our ULRs, one unit of understanding (UOU) at a time, from the various explanations of life and reality (ELRs) we encounter during our unique journey to maturity (biological, emotional, relational, cultural, spiritual, cognitive, competencies) on our path through reality.

Each person’s ULR is as individual as their fingerprints. Initially, our ELR sources are our at-birth caregivers, who typically are members of our nuclear family of origin, with our mothers most likely being primary. Next in importance are our fathers, if present and parentally engaged. Additional ELR instruction typically comes from older siblings or playmates, extended family members, others who were like family to us, and the intimate slice of life and reality into which we were born. As we developmentally progressed from baby to toddler to youngster, we passed through various stages of biological, cognitive, emotional, relational, and spiritual development, aided or hindered by our parents, other early childhood caregivers, older siblings, and playmates, who collectively played their roles in cultivating our ULRs by the various caregiving, nurturing activities, games, stories, and life lessons they communicated to us and modeled for us.

Our ULR sources often included a unique collection of early childhood songs, books, games, family routines and traditions, and community or religious activities that were intended to help us make sense of ourselves (i.e., understanding of the self) and to explain to us (through various informal ELR instruction processes) how we came together, individually and in families (or couples, clans, communities, tribes, teams, etc.), and how life works and stuff gets done. Our understanding was developed by doing stuff just for fun, as well as doing stuff to achieve an intended useful outcome.

We incrementally discover the persons we understand ourselves to be—think of a single puzzle piece being a UOU, relative to a progressively assembled puzzle being a ULR—such as discovering that we are left-handed, prone to be shy or bold, that we like (or don’t like) watermelon or bananas, or that we’re terrified of spiders or keep some in a jar as pets. We also progressively understand the life we are living, including the people, activities, outcomes, challenges, flaws, opportunities, joys, pain points, and myths that make up our specific, unique-to-us lives and reality.

Some dimensions of childhood were meant to be entertaining (experience-focused, for-the-fun-of-it stuff), and others were the various ways we experienced (or were deprived of) interpersonal interactions, affection, fellowship, and our unique sense of integrity, as well as value found in productivity and the outcome-focused parts of life. Today, we can understand these individuals, families, communities (tribes), organizations (teams), and so forth as our initial human development, social support, and explanation of life and reality systems that comprise a messy, dynamic mixture of informal, semiformal, and formal ELRs, which progressively informed, crafted (alt., garbled)³ our ULRs.

Progressively, we were taught a measure of outcome-focused understanding, including self-care skills (e.g., potty training, how to use a spoon, dressing ourselves) and other developmental and random childhood information, with a special focus (hopefully) on language skills development. We learned our native, cradle language—more broadly stated as our family or community-of-origin communication skills (eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, body language) by way of adult, older peer, and child-to-child communications, along with our language-focused interactions with age-appropriate audio, print, video, and interactive electronic media. Language and communication-skills development also includes some measure of internal-to-the-brain (and heart) alchemy that manifests in our uniquely individual vocabulary and styles of expression, which we employ in our nonverbal, verbal, and written communications.

An individual language is an example of a system of understanding (SOU) that profoundly shapes our ULR. ULR development typically includes increasingly more complex play-based life lessons, such as learning the rules of fair play, sharing, taking turns, thankfulness, and responsibility; conversely, it’s all about me, a win-or-die ethic, or, sadly, the garbling of one’s ULR that uniquely arises from neglect (occasional, random or chronic) or ULR-garbling, the corruption caused by active, chronic abuse (the messy, even horrific, elements of life). Perhaps we engaged in initial religious teachings and experiences, such as being taught to pray at meal or bedtimes, learning to sit still and listen to a faith- or values-based life lesson or a simple ELR teaching about God and religious faith and practices.

Next, we typically encountered other ELRs by way of extended family and others in our early childhood family or clan-defined social networks. We experienced informal and semiformal instructions about life and reality (e.g., nonfamily caregivers; secular and religious preschool teachers; or athletic, musical, dance, or art training or outcome-focused activities).

Progressively, our journeys through life and reality typically widen into some measure of interactions with the unique mixture of economic, social, religious, racial, ethnic, and cultural communities and their unique ELRs that populated our early childhoods. Our initial season of life is from birth to the point when we leave home to independently pursue education or work endeavors. Sadly, we may have experienced ELR deprivation, ULR garbling, corruption in the form of chronic neglect (e.g., alcoholic, drug-impaired parents or others), or intentional abuse (e.g., violent or sexually exploitive parents or others) by those who populated our early life and reality. Whether our initial care/ELR providers/instructors were highly or marginally effective or incompetent, wonderfully loving and functional, or mean by neglect or chronic cruelty, all these units of life and reality understanding (UOUs) are held somewhere (subconscious, preconscious, conscious) and stored and imprinted in our uniquely individual, singularly personal ULR.

Elements of who we are (our eye color or whether we’re left-handed), how we think (aptitudes in math, music, athletics, art, science, etc.), our interaction with others (introverted and thoughtful or extroverted and social) and how we learn to experience, understand, and process life and reality (exploring our ELR environment by using our initial, emerging ULR) are driven by the prewired, as-born parts of each baby. Classically, this is identified as the nature—the genetically driven, as-born elements of an individual (e.g., extrovert, introvert, academic, athletic, calm, energetic, compliant, defiant, etc.). We discover these as-born elements if we seek to consciously know about these UOUs in our ULRs.

Other elements of who we are, how we think, how we conduct ourselves, and how we establish and express relationships, as well as our portfolio of how-to skills, that reside in our ULRs are driven more by the explanations of life and reality (ELRs) that we experienced and learned from in our initial nuclear and extended family and the particular community or locations of our childhood and early adulthood (the school of life outside the classroom). Most folks journey through some collection of semiformal and formal classrooms, with a common and uncommon portfolio of ELRs. Classically, this part of our ULRs is identified as the nurture (as learned), as experienced, modeled, and taught elements of an individual. These UOUs typical include the language we speak, the portfolio of how-to outcome-focused skills we learned, family and interpersonal behaviors, traditions we experienced, and places to which we were taken or not taken (such as parks, museums, sporting events, religious services, cultural activities, or, sadly, dog fights, bars, strip clubs, refugee camps). These UOUs now define the right way to celebrate a birthday, go on vacation, express or receive affection or anger, dress for work or worship, or respectfully submit to or angrily rebel against authority.

Our ULR cultivation and development become more structured, systematic, complex, and intentional (progressively more formally outcome-focused) as we enter into semiformal structured learning activities, such as parent-taught personal care, mom-and-me play groups, and preschool activities (both at home and at a semiformal school). Then, formal education endeavors can range from having attended only the primary grades (or having no formal schooling) to extensive postgraduate studies and internships abroad. Our ULR development typically expands into a broader group of life peers who populate our academic careers, interests, and social communities as we progress from being a family-centered child to a peer-centered adolescent and on to an increasing-in-maturity (i.e., adult-level PI competencies⁴) young adult, and then to a not-so-young adult with our own (separate from our parents’ and family’s) friendships, social networks, and, potentially, a marriage and nuclear family of our own.

Somewhere along our life-journeys, at the right or required time, we typically enter the workplace, with its bosses, coworkers, customers, and work-life, skills-focused, outcomes-for-a-salary–driven lessons to learn (work-related UOUs/SOUs). In addition, the reality around us—urban or rural, seashores or mountaintops—is something we live in and experience but also from which we learn. Reality is a lifelong source of information, its own ELR—for example: water is wet, but it can drown you; snow arrives as snowflakes, but it can crush you; flowers have scents and beauty but can harbor allergens; the sun is essential for growth and warmth but also can cause a sunburn or skin cancer. It’s important and helpful that we recognize reality as an information- and enjoyment-rich God-sent ELR in the development and management of a Live Wise ULR.

Day by day, formally and informally, intentionally and unintentionally, consciously and subconsciously, even as we were carried in utero by our moms, and on to this specific present moment, we have been progressively forming, crafting, refining (by PI trial and error), cultivating, and utilizing our ULRs.