Wheel of Life

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Eighteen forms of intense experience that can emerge
in a person's life in specific contexts and in relation to others.

These forms of experience can be considered religious,
not because the experiences are accompanied by religious thoughts, and

not because the people who have the experiences are religiously affiliated
or think of themselves or the experiences as religious, 

but because the experiences embody "touches of transcendence,"
that is, a sense of  being vital and aware and alive,

of having made contact with something
very important if not also beautiful.

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How can the wheel be used?

It can be used as an invitation to mindfulness, a context for cross-cultural dialogue, a rubric for appreciating experiences evoked by the arts, an introduction to various forms of wisdom, a springboard for philosophical explorations, and a resource for constructive spiritual practice.  The wheel as a whole is a reminder that different kinds of experience are relevant in different contexts, and that the house of rich experience contains many rooms.  Life is fluid and variegated, calling for different responses by different people at different times.  We best be gentle with one another.

The Concept of "Richness of Experience"

​Whitehead suggests that, at every moment of our lives, we are seeking satisfaction.  We are influenced by the past actual world in ways both tragic and fulfilling, and as we are influenced by our past actual worlds we simultaneously seek to become fully alive in the present.  

He speaks of this full aliveness as harmonious intensity. Subsequent process thinkers have called it richness of experience. The eighteen forms of experience in the wheel of life are eighteen forms of rich experience: eighteen ways that human beings seek and sometimes find satisfaction in life.

Richness of experience includes happiness, but people can enjoy richness of experience without being happy in a shallow sense of the word.  Richness of experience is intense and meaningful, and that is what makes it rich. Even in times of sadness there can be richness of experience.  Sometimes people who are sad have more richness of experience than people who are happy.  

Animals and plants enjoy richness of experience, too.  Even the very soul of the universe -- even God -- seeks richness of experience by loving the world.   Richness of experience is not human alone.  In seeking richness of experience we humans are taking our place in the larger scheme of things.  In the beginning and also in the end, there is a desire for satisfaction.

The richest forms of satisfying experience in human life are not self-centered; rather they are wise, compassionate, and creative.  At least this is the case once needs for survival are met.  Sheer survival is a form of rich experience, too.  We ought never underestimate the spirituality of true grit.

But once needs for survival are met, the ideal is to become a wide or fat soul who can enter into a wide range of loving relationships, who has an open mind and can appreciate life's diversity, who can live with integrity and courage, who has a sense of individuality without being individualistic, and who helps add beauty and justice to the world: Fat Soul: Overview and Illustrations.

There is no single way to be fat soul.  There are as many different kinds of fat soulhood as there are people in the world.  Part of the beauty of a fat soul lies in knowing that there are many ways to become a fat soul.  All have their limitations and all have their beauty.

It is difficult to know how long it can take a person to become a fat soul, or what happens after that.  Along with the Tibetans, the process tradition is open to the possibility that there is a continuing journey after death until deeper forms of satisfaction can realized, after which there is an absorption into the ongoing life of the sacred whole, that is, God.  And also, along with the Tibetans, the process tradition says that what is most important, for most of us, is to live as kindly and creatively as we can in this life, for our sake and the world's sake.  Whiteheadians speak of this as world loyalty.  The Tibetans call it compassion and say that it is the spiritual glue that holds life together.

Interpreting the Wheel

The Tibetan Wheel of Life depicts six realms of existence in which humans can be born and six states of mind which people can experience in this life and the next.  The idea is that states of mind are harmonious and intense in their own right and simultaneously tell us something about the universe.  

The Whiteheadian Wheel of Life offered above builds upon this idea and in no way replaces the Tibetan Wheel of Life.  The Tibetan Wheel contains forms of wisdom that are not found in Whitehead's philosophy and that are a gift to the world.  Nevertheless the Whiteheadian wheel may contain forms of wisdom, too. The Whiteheadian wheel can be understood as:
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• Eighteen Rich Experiences
• Eighteen States of Mind
• Eighteen Realms of Existence 
• Eighteen Paths to God
• Eighteen Forms of Wisdom
• Eighteen Invitations to Mindfulness
• Eighteen Forms of Fat Soulhood
• Eighteen Forms of Beauty

This list of eighteen modes of beauty emerge from years of observing the world's cultures and religions, from considering states of mind and realms of existence revealed in the creative and performing arts, and from direct experience.

Different people and groups of people will find some more important than others; but all reveal some kind of truth about the universe.  They have their precedents and analogues in the lives of other living beings, too.   Not humans alone, but animals as well, delight in beauty and enjoy the wisdom of play.  As Buddhists put it, all living beings have the Buddha-Nature.  As Whiteheadians put it, all living beings have their modes of beauty.

The modes of beauty listed above are not spiritual alone; they are also biological and psychological. Thus they are not really supernatural but rather deeply natural.  They emerge within, not apart from, the evolving web of life as forms of wisdom and strategies for survival.  If, as is likely, there are living beings on other planets or in other dimensions of the universe the chances are good that they, too, partake of these modes in their ways.  There is no need to think that delight in beauty and creative transformation are found only on planet Earth alone.  In a universe with many dimensions, there are other forms of existence that also partake of some of these ways.  If there happen to be hell realms, there will be a need for true grit; and if there happen to be heaven realms, there will be a need to reclaim the wisdom of ordinary life, with its struggles and trials. 

The modes are theological, too.  Even the soul of the universe -- even God -- may well partake of some of these forms of beauty, albeit in ways magnified by infinity.  Thus, for those who believe in God, the eighteen forms can be understood as ways of participating in the divine life.

Cosmology and Ecological Civilizations

The philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead offers conceptual support for the wheel.  If you learn about Whitehead's philosophy, perhaps with help from the online course offered on this website, you will be introduced to a way of thinking about yourself and the universe that stretches the mind and opens the heart.   We live in a multidimensional universe in which everything is connected to everything else; everything is evolving through time; all living beings are worthy of respect and care; empathy is the key to life; and always there is a potential for creative transformation, no matter what hell is faced.  Our vocation in life is to grow in wisdom, compassion, and creativity as best we can and help build communities that are creative, compassionate, participatory, and ecologically wise, with no one left behind.  These communities are what we call "sustainable" communities.

Sustainable communities are the building blocks of Ecological Civilizations.  They are the best hope for our time, given the realities of climate change, the ongoing threat of nuclear war, the violence we see around us and within us, obscene gaps between rich and poor, the denial of human rights, and wholesale assault on the planet by petroleum-based economies, and the greed of consumer culture.  

Use the wheel of life as you will.  We hope it will help you understand your own distinctive way of living in the world and appreciate the ways of living that are important to others.  There is no need to know a lot about the philosophy of Whitehead to use it.   And there are other philosophies, complementary to that of Whitehead, which can deepen and enrich an understanding of any and all of the eighteen invitations to mindfulness.  Enjoy.

-- Jay McDaniel

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