We extend into these material bodies as living, breathing beings into this material world full of sensory pleasure; sharing space with many other living breathing beings. We’ll swim in the deepest seas and climb the tallest mountains. We’ll explore every resource, material and creature our grand Earth has to offer. We’ll experience successes and failures, times of absolute elation, utter devastation and everything else in between. Sometimes we’ll laugh and sometimes we’ll cry. There will be moments of complete clarity and moments of total confusion.
Every wonderful, dramatic, joyous, overwhelming, inspiring, thrilling experience is under this one succulent, big, fat life.
Through all the agony and ecstasy of our physical existence, there comes a time when we wonder: what is the point of all this? Is there a point? Should there be a point? A point where we eventually say, “Now it all makes sense”. A point which brings clarity, understanding and we can look at aspects of our life with acceptance and forgiveness. A point which soothes our sorrows and brings knowing that all we live to do and do to live has a purpose.
Our need for greater purpose has us seeking answers and solutions to satisfy our thirst for absolution, revelation and realization. Yet, it’s as if our memory was completely wiped and we are left utterly vulnerable in this life experience with only our emotions to guide us and previous generations to teach us.
We are literally feeling our way around in all this material mass through that which we call our body. And through this wonderful life experience our misgivings, struggles, burdens, pains and sorrows often induce questions about our physical existence. What is this thing called life and why are we here?
Though we enjoy exploring our world through sensory pleasure, we feel there must be more to this physical life than merely feeding our roaming eyes, heeding our inquiring ears, indulging our ravenous mouth and treating our keen nose.
We believe that if we had the answers to these questions then we would be able to live life more abundantly. If someone could just tell us what we are here to do and how we are supposed to do it then at least our efforts and decisions could be better managed. Instead, we are birthed into this thing called ‘life’ and left to figure it out as we go along.
No instructions, no guidelines, no warnings or cautions and certainly no ‘get out of jail free’ card for when we screw up. We rely on those before us to fill us in and we entrust those that carry special titles in our life to provide some guidance and advice about this adventure.
We view life as a birth and death experience in which we clutch firming onto a hopeful expectation of about an eighty-year life span – on a good run. However, what is created, expressed and experienced between this time seems rather meaningless without purpose. So, we come to our own conclusions.
Many believe that we are merely here to learn something. We assume that once we have come full circle of life’s lessons, we will hear the whisper of death.
Some believe we have a pre-determined path from a higher power that we have been chosen to fulfil. We presume we have a special, individual purpose unfolding that must be satisfied before the end of our time.
Others think we are simply here to be tested on our faith and prove our worthiness whereby judgment day will determine the fate of our souls.
Whatever our renditions of physical existence are, they assist in defining our journeys. They help guide our decisions and actions and determine our identity.
We express our variable versions and interpretations of the stories we create in diverse assortments. Throughout this period, we spend an enormous amount of time looking at our clocks and assessing our time lines in ratio to goals reached.
We celebrate birthdays, mark important dates such as anniversaries or graduations and document many of our ‘firsts’ like buying our first home; in acknowledgement of our progress, achievements and accomplishments. We set incremental goals and hope to complete and achieve them within the expected time frame.
Our entire life is based on intentionality. There is no action taken without purpose no matter how large or small. We choose to go to college with the intention of earning a degree or have a better paying job. We work hard in order to have nice things. We exercise for mind and physical health. We’ll take a vacation to relax. There is nothing we do without intention. Therefore, we expect that there must be a greater purpose for our physical existence. Surely, we are not here just to bang around, have random experiences and die.
While our youngest years are spent exploring and experimenting with life’s gifts, our quest for self-discovery and development of our identity takes place as early as our teens.
Curiosity about the world beyond and our life’s purpose is typically aroused around our twenties. Trying to understand the meaning of life and our place in this world with various conflicting perspectives can often be the most turbulent time in our lives.
Our thirties are commonly, heavily drenched in self-reflection. We review and critique our achievements, successes and failures and worry about the things we have not yet fulfilled or completed.
By forty, self-evaluation and reflection deepen. We pride having overcome many of life’s struggles and obstacles. Specific goals have been reached and accomplished while other interests and objectives have changed along the way. But there is still a yearning for something deeper, something greater, something more meaningful.
By the time we are fifty we have stories to fill a library but it’s not until we reach our sixties and beyond that our perspective and energy begins to shift. Our appreciation for life settles in as we move closer to what could be the end of our road. Priorities change and though we have a quiet pride for our achievements and are quite happy to talk about our stories; their significance dramatically decreases. We have no interest to flaunt our accomplishments, be acknowledged or honored. Something changes. But what?
The same thing that would happen if informed we had six months to live due to an incurable disease. This kind of ‘time’ would look different to the one we would typically follow, and it would absolutely alter our purpose and perception.
Suddenly, tomorrow no longer matters. There are no five-year goals, no two-year plans or even an objective for the day. There is only now. What we do with our time now and how we spend now.
All those life-long plans to achieve something and fulfil a purpose would come crashing down if someone were to tell us our time would soon be up. But do we ever really know how much time we have? Are we being naïve, optimistic or just foolish making plans for a future that is not guaranteed? More importantly, if the only time that exists and the only time we have is ‘now’, would that eradicate the idea of purpose? If there is no purpose, then what is the point to life?
Was all that planning and working towards our goals just a waste of our physical time?
We come to realize that even when we are gone, the sun will still rise, the Earth will keep spinning and life will continue without our input. Some will leave an impression and will be remembered, honored or worshiped for decades beyond death; while the memory of the majority will wither away along with the remains of their material bodies. Though that may sound a little glum, there is something fantastic going on that is above and beyond our physical reality.
We want our life spent on Earth to be impactful or have some sort of significance. We want to leave our mark; a little piece of our efforts.
We want to feel special, as though we are the ‘chosen one’ for an important job. We want to feel like we are the apple of the Universe’s eye.
Well, we are, but not in the way many believe. It is infinitely greater.
Our sole purpose in life no matter how we choose to create or experience it is JOY! Yep, that’s it. It is pure joy; in every way that joy can be expressed and experienced. When ‘now’ is all there is, joy, appreciation and gratitude are the only choice. This may not be dramatic or sentimental enough for us contrast loving humans. However, even through our contrasts, we always seek joy.
Joy is love. It is harmony, clarity, abundance, freedom and well-being. It is upliftment, elation and ecstasy. There is nothing in our lives that we could not experience joyously, harmoniously, lovingly, abundantly or freely. There is nothing in our ‘now’ moment that we could not find gratitude or fun in.
Children are most connected to this joy because their only focus is the present and their only interest is joy. They have the ‘what now’ attitude that often annoys adults. Children’s only priority is what fun can be had now. They are not naïve to life; it is what pure energy ‘looks like’ before we become preoccupied and lost in our own creations. Before we become corrupt with all the human made-up nonsense.
Nothing is going on outside of our creative boundaries. Anything we feel negatively is contrast interpreted outside of our joy. While most of us are planning and working hard for our tomorrows and awaiting the full fruition of the desired conditions in order to be joyous; the infinite opportunities for joy and fun ‘now’ become lost.
Joy requires no explanation or justification. Joy simply is and when there is joy there is gratitude, appreciation, clarity, eagerness and love. It is connection with self. When we act through joy, there is magic and magnetism.
Beyond our physical experiences and joy, the other most significant purpose and broader perspective to all this human stuff is EXPANSION!
There is no unknown delegated assignment or obligation. There is no job to be completed or a special calling we must adhere to. There isn’t anything we need to be, do, have or are required to complete. There isn’t anything we need to learn or master.
We are not here to learn a lesson or save the world. There is nothing that needs to be repaired or restored.
We are creators! We make believe our lives. We make up standards, rules, normalcies, societies…EVERYTHING for whatever purpose it serves in this physical world in order to live harmoniously. However, it is all make believe!
We work hard to fit into these societies. We work hard at our jobs, careers, relationships, religious beliefs and all the titles we gather along the way. We work hard to be the best we can be in all areas.
We can be the honorary nurse whose passion is to help people when they are most vulnerable, we can be the exemplary teacher who aspires to positively mold young minds or an animal rights activist whose desire is to protect wildlife from harm. It isn’t about the changes in history, legacies or the shifts made in societies. It isn’t the hard work, the title we hold, the action or the imagined and manifested stories that are impactful; it is the emotion these stories induce. It is the passion and power that is ignited. It is about the desire, the energy and the force behind these actions. It is the stuff that fuels energy and thrusts it further into expansion.
Contrasts allow this and in fact are the prime reason for expansion. Our awareness of things that make us sad or angry is constantly giving birth not only to a better world but to an ever-expanding consciousness and energy. Without the contrasts, we would not know the difference.
War increases our desire for peace. Hate elevates our love. Conflict gives rise to harmony. Diversity attracts unity. Problems promote solutions. In every area, how we view and interpret what we see negatively increases our desire for positivity. This is what we call evolution. In the same manner are our beings, our energy, this infinite intelligence expanding and evolving.
Therefore, our ‘purpose’ is not a means to an end. It is much greater than we can imagine. It is much more significant than what we could ever do or achieve in physical form. Yet, it is through our physical focus and experiences that we elevate energy.
When we are not living joyfully, we will be continuously drawn to fullness of that which we are. When we are not up to speed with all that we have become, we will feel that yearning, that pull, that which feels like our calling toward our magnificence; toward our light. We cannot be less than that which we have become. When we disconnect, disallow or resist our magnificence, it will feel like confusion and detachment. Every time we feel the separation, the urge to find ourselves and our purpose will once again dominate.
We are conscious beings that expand and continue to expand at rates unfathomable to the human mind. We are pure, joyful, infinite and Masterful Creators that can manifest imagery. Everything that exists in our physical life is proof of the utmost creative power and creative control we have. Our focus is so powerful that we have begun to believe just as intensely in our own visions, imagery and experiences.
There is not a singular purpose; we go where the imagination flows. However, through our higher non-physical perspective, joy is all there is. The greater purpose of our inner selves is elevation and expansion. There is a constant yearning for elevating joy and expanding love. This is what makes us infinite beings.
To lead a purposeful life, follow your joy, desires, interests and passions. Be present with them. Make every moment count. Make every moment deserving of your undivided, joyful attention. Embrace your now. Fill it with fun, eagerness and excitement.
Create for the fun of it and the expansion of it.
This is living on purpose and that is the purpose of life!