Purpose

[NoOne]

How do you KNOW that your purpose has been revealed?  I just had an incredible emotional reaction of joy and bliss and wonder after receiving a thought of what I could do with my life and it's so obvious and something that will bring me so much fulfillment and answers so many questions about the suffering I've faced in my life and it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, and I'm sure it's my calling.  But yesterday I was sure I was being called to be a ascetic.   How do I know this is real?  I can see a clear path of actions to take to make this real, and it would be so simple and easy and fulfilling and helpful to hurting beings and challenging, but something I know I could find a way to do, and the lives I could touch and the impact I could make would be a psychic force in the darkness of the rational world.  But how do I know for sure, that this time, this is the time that I'm RIGHT about this being my purpose?  Maybe I shouldn't be?

Oh, but this feeling, this lovejoyhappinessecstasy and the perfectness of the solution--which briefly and without specific details involves me going back to help people who are trapped in a situation I was trapped in, because they are me, and I have insights to share with them, and they have things to share with me.  I just posted this on my Facebook page regarding this because as I sit with it, I am more and more certain that this is my purpose in life, not that it should happen in any particular way, but that I should find a way to do this even if I work 40 hours a week doing something stupid and meaningless (and everything can be made to have meaning when you live in the moment) and work on this as I can, or find an opportunity to do this within the mechanisms of existing reality and get paid for it, it doesn't matter how it happens, I can't expect specifics.  I just have to take each moment of experience and try to be in the moment while moving forward.  That is hard.  How do you do that?

 

Facebook post

*Enlightenment Update* I believe i have just discovered my true life purpose after 45 years. It's not anything I expected and yet it's more than I ever dreamed. It is completely attainable. It will bring me more joy and fulfillment than anything else I could ever do in life, no matter what form it takes--if I do it like a starving artist or like a big celebrity. And the truth is, I'm not ready to tell many of you what this new purpose is because it is actually kind of personal, I will just say that after 45 years, I found a way OUT of MY pain and worry and fear and anxiety and misery, and I think I'm uniquely qualified to help people who are like me figure out these truths sooner. So, that's what I'm going to do. One way or another, however the universe or God or what have you is leading me. And I'm going to continue to grow myself. And isn't this kind of the way life should be? Have we lost this from our earlier traditions of apprentices and mentors? Isn't that what all the fantasy novels are all about? Luke Skywalker had to have Obi Wan. I'm encouraging all of my older friends, no matter where you are in life, to find a way to reach out and mentor someone. Not just anyone. That won't work. You have to find someone to mentor who is like yourself, maybe a slightly less insightful self who you recognize as similar to you before you grew, and to do that, you have to get to know someone on their terms which will build your empathy and you will grow. Mentoring, like child-rearing is a two-way street of sharing wisdom. If you don't believe me, ask a kid what they want to do and then pay very close attention and listen and try to take "no" out of your vocabulary. Do what they want to do and listen to what they are saying and talk to them like they are as smart as you are, because they are. They may not have as many experiences as you have, but they are learning from every experience they have, and if you let them, they will teach you new things you never knew, because they are in the moment. They are absorbing what life has to offer and not just waiting in line or driving to work or relaxing before bed. To them, every moment is a discovery and something new, and just when you are convinced that they can't possibly teach you anything new, they do, because they have real insights sometimes too. This is the same for kids and adults as it is for democrats and republicans, conservatives and liberals, blacks and whites, and any kind of divisive label you can come up with. We just have to stop shouting and open our ears to each other and maybe we are all at different stages of enlightenment in our lives and I think enlightenment is maybe an over-important term, but maybe we all have different perspectives, but it doesn't hurt to listen, and many times you learn something.

[SkyPanther]

Depending on who you ask, and at what stage they are at in their path, purpose could either be really meaningful, or meaningless.

Ultimately there is no "purpose", it is all relative to you.  To you, your purpose is meaningful, to others it might be completely meaningless or silly.

Does it make you happy? Is it helpful to others?  Is it "useful" to others and to yourself?  If so, then that could be your purpose.  But it could be one of many.

 

Edited March 29, 2016 by SkyPanther