The Gamma Tao is easy to understand, but more difficult to practice.

To be honest, I like to sit in my room to read and meditate about how to live a good life. I can spend hours reading books about philosophy or religion, absorbing ideas of famous thinkers and explore fundamental questions of life in my head. In a way I am attracted to a contemplative life (vita contemplativa), but I know this can easily become an intellectual comfort zone.

All philosophies of life should be tested in real life situations, outside the safe environment of a cosy living room. The Gamma Tao should not only be great in theory, but more than that it has to be useful and practical in real life during interactions with other people and the natural world.

Vita contemplativa and vita activa should complement and enrich each other in a continuous feedback loop. The theoretical form of the Gamma Symbol can be used for contemplation, the practical form of the Gamma Tao indicates the way to an active life.

Below are seven basic and practical stepping stones that may help us in the balancing act of life. They are based on the practical symbol, but of course they are not exclusive to the Gamma Tao. Stepping stones like this can be found in many streams of thought:

• Set a good intention
  An important first step is to set the intention to always do the right thing. A morning ritual might help to set this intention. Beware that we never know what will happen next. Good intentions can easily be disturbed. We may need to reset ourselves to this good default intention various times during the day. In this way we become people of good will and practice benevolence.
• Open your mind
  It is impossible to know everything. No matter how smart or wise we think we are, we are actually ignorant about most things in life. We do not even fully know ourselves. Our own perspective is limited by nature. Therefore we are constant in need of input from others to correct and complement our views. Open-mindedness does not mean that we listen to the same group of people all the time. Especially nowadays it is easy to enter a bubble where you only find confirmation of your own views. Prepare yourself to find other points of view, especially ones that challenge your own ideas. This is real open-mindedness.
• Accept what crosses your path
  The world continuously confronts us with new situations. These situations may be good for us or not so good. They may be the result of our own doing or just fate. Whatever the cause, we have to deal with them. It is often a good idea to start counting our blessings. These blessings came to us before the present situation arose. They include our inner potentials and (hidden) talents. Inner treasures like these are our Golden Gift. If we learn to cultivate gratitude for them, we increase our inner strength and happiness. This practice can prepare us to face the situation at hand in a better way.
• Listen to your heart  
  We become aware of the world through the interplay of our senses and emotions. We are sentient beings with human emotions. Through our own emotions we learn what it means to be a human being. Our inner talent for empathy helps us to develop human values. The Golden Rule is a treasure based on empathy that teaches us to refrain from doing to others what we do not want others to do to us. If we manage to internalise this, we will develop our sense of compassion. We should try to face all situations with compassion or kindness.
• Use your head
  Passions always have intensity. If we are passionate, they are strong. If we are indifferent, they are weak. The intensity of our emotions also fluctuates in time. If the intensity of an emotion is too strong, first take a deep breath.
  This is the moment to use our head, take some distance from our emotions and create space for rational thinking. If we take various points of view and also include the standpoints of others, we are able to put things in perspective. Since only exceptional situations call for extreme measures, the Golden Mean is a useful treasure to keep in mind when we try to find the just proportion for our reactions. Since we are not alone in this world, we cannot always have it our way. In most cases we must apply diplomatic skills of compromise. This does not mean that we must always end up somewhere in the middle. A middle position can lead to a stagnant status quo. If we take the Golden Ratio as an example, we may find natural proportions of progress.
• React in a humane way
  Life is a continuous practice of receiving and giving. First we must accept what comes to us and then we have to give a reaction. As human beings we can use our  talents, emotions and ratio to give a creative and unique response to the situations we face. Our good intentions should guide us in an uplifting and humane direction.
  We are not things or numbers, but human beings with emotional, rational and probably even spiritual intelligence. That is why robots with artificial intelligence may help us out in practical ways, but they will never be able to replace us and create a humane society.
• Go beyond
  We have to learn from our experiences. Examine your life. Life is a learning process. Otherwise we will make the same mistakes again and again. If we continue to practice, we may develop the skills to do the right thing in a natural, spontaneous way and reach a level of mastership in the art of living.
  Such a mastership will eventually go beyond the Gamma Tao. It will become a process to transform and transcend ourselves (and our ego). The Gamma Tao shows the initial steps of this path and as a compass for wisdom and compassion it only indicates the basic directions. All philosophical and spiritual traditions, their practices of reasoning, meditation and prayer, together with the latest scientific insights, can teach us all that we know about the living art of being in the universe.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.