Notes on life, art, photography and technology, by a Danish dropout bohemian.
When you drink the water, remember the river.
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Friday, July 21, 2006
"What I normally do"
I just made a powerful breakthrough in goals and purposes by lying back and considering (meditating on, if you will) "What I normally do". Maybe "What you normally do" is something you have not been doing for a long time?
Wow, that seems like a very use- and powerful question to meditate on (and more accessible than "who am I").
Adam: I believe that everyone knows their purpose when they are born, only to have it buried throughout the process known as socialisation. Also it might be useful to just remind oneself of the things one used, and liked, to do, but for one reason or the other (work? family commitments?) hasn't done for a while. I believe that the things one really likes to do show the way towards one's purpose.
I think our views on purpose itself are not all that different after all. Few people consciosly know what their purpose is, lots more mistakenly think they know what it is, and most don't really care about it.
I don't think that a person's purpose changes during their life-time. That doesn't mean that there is only one way to serve this purpose, but in my opinion a purpose is defined loosely enough that it's possible to find many different ways to serve it.
For example when you say you "do something to help people with a life-threatening illness" that's a relatively abstract description, but still communicates a very clear and specific purpose. What you are doing right now might be something very specific, and you might be doing something quite different in a couple of years time, but chances are that this description will still be accurate. Or maybe just slightly changed, in which case I would maintain that your purpose is something which unifies those descriptions.
Also serving a purpose and having personal goals and ideas is not mutually exclusive and there might well be ways for you do help people with a life-threatening illness through writing. Probably many ways.
What I meant to say in my previous post is that I believe that the purpose which might or might not show up after an often long and tedious process of discovery has been there all along, only buried. And my theory is that it's buried under all those ideas, concepts, structures, conventions, expectations, "knowledge" and so on everyone gets fed with from the moment they take their first breath.
If new-borns think, they certainly don't do so in the conceptual way adults do. I would imagine that they rather "know" on a spiritual plane while their mind is trying to make sense of what's going on around them. I really believe that this knowing of one's purpose comes from this plane and that over our formative years we just lose most of our contact with it.
In any case, where else would you find your purpose other than within yourself?
And I think that if someone's not happy with what they are doing then they are probably not serving their purpose; or maybe they do and just believe they ought to be doing something else.
Also I didn't say that what you did as a younger person necessarily was your purpose (even though I believe that the further back you go the more likely this is the case, although today there might be more appropriate/suitable ways for you to do), but that the things you like to do *show the way* towards your purpose. Big difference...
Feeling good about what one is doing certainly helps with everything, including moving one's life towards one's purpose, so indirectly these little things do help getting one's life on track. And it's certainly good to reflect where, how and why life changed in a way that one's not doing them anymore.
How do you know when you've found your purpose? Does the world tell you? And what is the world you perceive but a reflection of what's within yourself?
Au contraire: the world is never as chaotic as when one is *not* happy and at peace. Only thing is that one is not at all happy to see the world as a reflection of oneself when conditions are like that.
There are as many visions of the world as there are people. Kind of stating the obvious, I know (and that should be in the "evident assertions" thread), but just think of the classic example of a miserable person in the middle of a happy gathering. This person will perceive no joy in the world at that moment...
So, the world may not BE as you perceive it, but your attitude will still be based on your perception anyway, so the end result is the same.
Just "fast food" for thought. The smart person seeks the courage to change the things he can, serenity to accept things that cannot be changed, and wisdom to know the difference.
As for purpose, well... it is also a personal notion. Remember what they say about rich people : some will NEVER have enough, they feel their purpose is to always have more, and still more. (Bwahahahahaha!) Best recipe for unhappiness I ever knew : aiming for what you know darn well can never be. On the other extreme, a person like Mother Teresa set her purpose on helping people every day, which was constantly accomplished. When she died, she had been in peace with herself for decades.
I think it would be utterly foolish to perceive one's purpose as some duty. They are not the same. Purpose is like love : you "feel" it inside, your heart knows. And sometimes, you may make mistakes, but you just have to take that risk. Because it's worth it.
Indeed. Some people perceive Duty as the highest motivation there is. I think they are probably hard and miserable people somewhere. It is as if you need to force yourself.
And yes, even if it was not true that the universe responds to our outlook, we would *still* have a much easier time with a rosy view of the world. It might take some time to build (even with EFT and EmoTrance), but that time will pass anyway...
I think many of us have been derailed from our original purpose(s) during the distrations of life. Maybe several times.
ReplyDeleteWow, that seems like a very use- and powerful question to meditate on (and more accessible than "who am I").
ReplyDeleteAdam: I believe that everyone knows their purpose when they are born, only to have it buried throughout the process known as socialisation.
Also it might be useful to just remind oneself of the things one used, and liked, to do, but for one reason or the other (work? family commitments?) hasn't done for a while. I believe that the things one really likes to do show the way towards one's purpose.
Adam,
ReplyDeleteI think our views on purpose itself are not all that different after all. Few people consciosly know what their purpose is, lots more mistakenly think they know what it is, and most don't really care about it.
I don't think that a person's purpose changes during their life-time. That doesn't mean that there is only one way to serve this purpose, but in my opinion a purpose is defined loosely enough that it's possible to find many different ways to serve it.
For example when you say you "do something to help people with a life-threatening illness" that's a relatively abstract description, but still communicates a very clear and specific purpose. What you are doing right now might be something very specific, and you might be doing something quite different in a couple of years time, but chances are that this description will still be accurate. Or maybe just slightly changed, in which case I would maintain that your purpose is something which unifies those descriptions.
Also serving a purpose and having personal goals and ideas is not mutually exclusive and there might well be ways for you do help people with a life-threatening illness through writing. Probably many ways.
What I meant to say in my previous post is that I believe that the purpose which might or might not show up after an often long and tedious process of discovery has been there all along, only buried. And my theory is that it's buried under all those ideas, concepts, structures, conventions, expectations, "knowledge" and so on everyone gets fed with from the moment they take their first breath.
If new-borns think, they certainly don't do so in the conceptual way adults do. I would imagine that they rather "know" on a spiritual plane while their mind is trying to make sense of what's going on around them. I really believe that this knowing of one's purpose comes from this plane and that over our formative years we just lose most of our contact with it.
In any case, where else would you find your purpose other than within yourself?
And I think that if someone's not happy with what they are doing then they are probably not serving their purpose; or maybe they do and just believe they ought to be doing something else.
Also I didn't say that what you did as a younger person necessarily was your purpose (even though I believe that the further back you go the more likely this is the case, although today there might be more appropriate/suitable ways for you to do), but that the things you like to do *show the way* towards your purpose. Big difference...
Feeling good about what one is doing certainly helps with everything, including moving one's life towards one's purpose, so indirectly these little things do help getting one's life on track. And it's certainly good to reflect where, how and why life changed in a way that one's not doing them anymore.
Of course that's just my 3 Cents, as usual.
How do you know when you've found your purpose? Does the world tell you?
ReplyDeleteAnd what is the world you perceive but a reflection of what's within yourself?
Au contraire: the world is never as chaotic as when one is *not* happy and at peace.
ReplyDeleteOnly thing is that one is not at all happy to see the world as a reflection of oneself when conditions are like that.
There are as many visions of the world as there are people. Kind of stating the obvious, I know (and that should be in the "evident assertions" thread), but just think of the classic example of a miserable person in the middle of a happy gathering. This person will perceive no joy in the world at that moment...
ReplyDeleteSo, the world may not BE as you perceive it, but your attitude will still be based on your perception anyway, so the end result is the same.
Just "fast food" for thought. The smart person seeks the courage to change the things he can, serenity to accept things that cannot be changed, and wisdom to know the difference.
As for purpose, well... it is also a personal notion. Remember what they say about rich people : some will NEVER have enough, they feel their purpose is to always have more, and still more. (Bwahahahahaha!) Best recipe for unhappiness I ever knew : aiming for what you know darn well can never be. On the other extreme, a person like Mother Teresa set her purpose on helping people every day, which was constantly accomplished. When she died, she had been in peace with herself for decades.
I think it would be utterly foolish to perceive one's purpose as some duty. They are not the same. Purpose is like love : you "feel" it inside, your heart knows. And sometimes, you may make mistakes, but you just have to take that risk. Because it's worth it.
Indeed. Some people perceive Duty as the highest motivation there is. I think they are probably hard and miserable people somewhere. It is as if you need to force yourself.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, even if it was not true that the universe responds to our outlook, we would *still* have a much easier time with a rosy view of the world.
It might take some time to build (even with EFT and EmoTrance), but that time will pass anyway...
Billy who?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.answers.com/Bill_Wilson
I don't know any of these gentlemen. And I'm certainly no friends with any politician! ;-)
More seriously, my culture has its limits, so you'll have to be more specific.
I still didn't get it.
ReplyDeleteI hate to miss on a good joke. :-(