Living On Purpose
Scenes of pearl, cloud, sun,
Here to stay until we’re done,
Wait, the world is breaking, un-
cover your purpose today.
I don’t always know why I write the things I write. Much of the skill of writing comes from beyond the rational, logical mind, so we cannot always bring reason to it. Like any art, it must be felt, not thought. That said, analysis is not a useless skill. As part of totality of being, a balance must be found between intuition and logic, irrationality and reason.
Many of us ask the questions: “Why are we here? What is my purpose? What am I meant to be or do?” These are deep questions, and they require deep contemplation for answers. Depending on your beliefs, Life may be a random event, a gift from God with a set part to play, a stage where we can act out whichever role we choose, or a journey with a path laid out before us or something that we must forge ourselves. Does Fate rule our lives? Do we have a destiny?
My beliefs fall somewhere in between of these extremes. I choose to believe in that which brings me power, so naturally I do not believe in being a “victim” of Fate, dragged around by pre-destined events, a robot reading from a script that is unchangeable. Equally, given the complexity of Life, I accept that not everything is under my control, and to some extent I surrender to the Will of the Universe, believing there to be a dynamic system of interaction occurring always.
I am but one small instrument, a single life among billions of human lives, but even humanity is only a fraction of existance, with animals, plants, microscopic life, space, stars, planets.. and then when you add in the factor of time, even if I live to be over a hundred years old, that is a tiny amount compared to the whole of what has been and what will be. Great civilizations have risen and fallen, mountains have grown and collapsed, stars have burned brightly and faded away. In the greater scheme of things, does it matter what we do at all? All is change, all is impermanence, cycles go around and around.
The key point I think is one of judgement. If I judge importance by achievement, or by the impact and influence I have on the world, then I am likely to be left frustrated by my insignificance. However, if I refrain from judgement, as I believe the Universe does, then I can be happy that whatever I do, however I contribute, whether small or large, it does have an affect, and it does make a difference, no matter the size of it. A watch has many cogs, but if just one is missing, no matter how small, the watch will not work. We may think that one species of animal becoming extinct through our destruction of its habitat is no big deal, after all, what affect could one species have among the vast number of different animals and creatures? But everything has its place in the cycle and chain of things, we are all dependant on something else for our survival. Balance is a key part of life.
To find our purpose, it is a good idea to look at the natural world around us. Ants, for example, can teach us a great deal about teamwork and working for something bigger than ourselves. Each ant plays its part for the good of its community, each serving a different purpose, but all equally necessary.
Spiders weave a web and wait patiently in the centre of it, poised ready to feel any disturbance, on any part of the web. They remind us that we are all connected, and that each disturbance on the Web of Life can be felt throughout the whole of it.
Ponds can teach us about cause and effect. If we throw a stone into a pond, it ripples, spreading across the surface of the water, showing us that our actions can have far reaching consequences.
This is all very well for animals of instinct, and parts of the environment acting out natural law, but what of us humans with our distracting minds? Perhaps we need to know ourselves before we can know what our purpose is. And knowing ourselves, perhaps we will also gain the strength, and the humility, to live up to our potential, whatever that may be.