WHERE WE TALK ABOUT LIFE PURPOSE, PART 1
Are you there?
Yes, we are here.
Today, I would like to talk about something that seems to be of concern to many people and that is the subject of life purpose. What is my life purpose, how do I find out what my life purpose is, is there really such a thing as life purpose and if so, do I really need to know what it is? Those are the kinds of questions that people ask when they are looking for some kind of direction in their lives.
We understand that this issue of life purpose can present some very challenging questions for those on the human journey. Individuals want to know what exactly they are doing with their lives and why they are doing it.
Can you start by talking a little about what life purpose is?
There are actually two different points of view to consider when it comes to life purpose – one is the purpose that all beings in the Universe share and the other is the individual purpose that is specific to each human person making a journey on the physical plane. You could say that one purpose applies to the higher part, the spiritual, eternal part of yourself, and the other applies to the earth-bound, human side of yourself. Your Universal purpose, if we can call it that, is always about growth. Growth of the Universe itself. Regardless of the form this purpose may take or your role in it, it is always the primary intention of Source – to grow, to expand, and to increase the capacity for love and joy throughout the Universe. For those who have chosen to incarnate on Earth’s physical plane, this purpose takes the form of remembering who you really are and why you have come. It is through the process of remembering who you are in an environment of contrast – in other words, a world where you can experience who you are and who you are not – that the Universe grows and expands. That is the purpose that is shared by each and every one of you on the physical plane.
And what about the human side of ourselves, the part that lives and works and interacts with other human beings? Isn’t it true that each of us also has a purpose that relates more directly to the physical world, a role we are here to play that relates back to our overriding purpose of remembrance?
Indeed. And that, we believe, is what most human persons are referring to when they say that they would like to know what their life purpose is. What their individual, earth-bound journey is all about. What makes their journey different from every other person’s journey. What gifts or talents or abilities they have chosen to bring with them into the physical world that they can use to contribute, to make their mark, so to speak.
How can we discover what our true purpose is?
It is not so hard for humans to discover what their true purpose in life is. It springs forth from that which brings you the most joy. It is not something that needs to be thrashed out or agonized over. It needs only to be felt. It really is as simple as that. Focusing on what brings you pleasure, enjoyment and satisfaction will bring light to where your true purpose lies. It helps to bear in mind that one’s life purpose is directly connected to the Universal purpose that all human persons share – to remember that you are a being of light, a being of love, and that you have come to the earthly plane to embody that loving energy within your physical form and then share that energy with those around you. It is this dynamic that aligns your earthly, human purpose with that of your higher self. That is why it is so important for you to look to the activity, the role that makes you feel good, that brings you pleasure. That is the energy that is most closely aligned with Source and that is the energy that you have come to share.
So, does it matter what role you choose, what job you choose, as long as it brings you joy that you can then share with others?
The role that you play in your life is your choice. You can fulfill your life purpose just as easily as a Buddhist monk ministering to a devoted flock as an accountant sitting at a desk in an office all day punching numbers into an adding machine. It is not about the physical form of the activity. It is about the feeling that you experience beneath the activity. The feeling that drives the action. If you are an accountant and you love your work and joy fills your day and you are able to share that joy with others, then certainly you have come to a place in your life where you have discovered your true-life purpose.
That all seems pretty straight-forward. So why is it so hard for us to find out what our true purpose in life is?
As we have said, it is not so hard for humans to discover what their true purpose in life is. The answer always lies within. But most human persons are not in touch with their inner selves, their inner feelings, and therefor lack conscious contact with the emotional guidance that comes from within. Without full awareness of this guidance system, humans tend to rely on an external form of one kind or another to inform their choices and give their lives direction and focus, their job or career being chief among these forms. It is so much easier, or so it is believed among most of the human population, to allow the world around you to define who you are and what your journey is rather than to seek out and trust one’s own internal instincts. Using our previous example, if you are an accountant working in an office, computing numbers all day, but your attention and focus are centered almost exclusively on the amount of work you are given to do, the number of hours that you are required to work, the amount of money that you are making, the chances for promotion that are available to you, when your next vacation is, while at the same time you are feeling miserable and discontented because your work brings you no joy, no pleasure, nothing that feels good enough to share with others, then you may want to reconsider the work that you are doing. Real direction, real identification, real confirmation of your purpose on the earth plane comes from within and that is where you must look.
For me, I started out my adult life wanting very much to be an actor, and in the beginning, that was always my goal. That was my purpose in life. To share my energy with others through the art of acting. And all of the actions I took were with the intention of making that goal my reality. Acting was what gave me the most pleasure in life, so I followed my bliss. Once I moved to New York City, with the hope of continuing my acting career, which up to that point was going fairly well, I discovered that my goal was much more difficult to achieve and so my purpose, my role as an artist, became harder to sustain. Like many actors trying to build a career in a big city like New York or Los Angeles, I eventually took on a series of what are commonly known as “support jobs” so that I could pay the rent and buy food while I auditioned and looked for acting work. As time went on, after very little success, I was left with only my support jobs as a way of defining who I was and what my purpose might be. Instead of an actor, I became a “former actor” who now worked full time in an office solely to put food on the table. That became who I was.
We understand. Over the course of your adult life, your intention was to live your life as an artist and to inspire people to look at the world in new and different ways through the benefit of your art, but over time, after little or no evidence to support this purpose, you instead ended up working full time at a job that did not properly utilize your creative abilities and gave you no joy, but did, in fact, provide you with the security and resources that allowed you to support yourself so that you could continue to live in the city that you love so much. And so, over time, that is how you saw yourself. As a breadwinner of sorts. That was your role on the physical plane. Your job did provide you with the opportunity to assist your companies’ clients with their businesses, making things easier for them, and you found value in that, but not nearly enough to bring you any sustained satisfaction. Fundamentally, your role and purpose had shifted and evolved, as one’s life purpose often does, from one of sharing your energy with others through your art to one that focused mainly on making enough money to support yourself.
And now that I am no longer working full time, I am struggling to find the structure and a role to replace what I had when I was working. I think this is a situation that many retirees especially find themselves in. For some, this is not an issue. They embrace their new-found freedom and really start to relax and enjoy their lives. But for many, like myself, when that structure disappears and you have nothing immediate to replace it with, you’re left without a rudder to navigate through your everyday life. At the same time, I do not want to return to the feelings I experienced when I was working full time at my old job. I was unhappy there and spent many days longing for a time when I could be free of it. I know it is possible to discover a renewed purpose, a new role in life that will do as you have described – bring me pleasure and joy that I can share with others. And so now, I have begun to ask myself, “If there’s nothing in particular that I HAVE to do and nowhere in particular that I HAVE to be, who am I then? What is my role?”
We do not want to leave our discussion without considering those questions, but our conversation has become quite lengthy and perhaps we should consider pausing here and continuing our talk next time.
You’re right. I guess this is as good a point as any to stop and let all of this sink in before we continue. So, let’s pick this up again next time, shall we?
As you wish. Until next time, then.
Thank you all.
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