Do you have a life purpose?
Yes you do.
We all do. Wisdom teachers throughout the whole of human history have written that we wouldn’t be here if the fact were otherwise.
Then how can we be sure of what our purpose is?
Well…
Some people know their purpose and never have to seek it. They may not even think about life purpose at all; they just do what they do without doubting their devotion and drive to do it.
We call them River people; by instinct they jump into the river of life and go with the flow.
Mozart is a fine example. He didn’t have to be told what to do or how to do it. Mozart didn’t even have to learn to compose music; he said his symphonies just “fell in his lap from divinity” the likes of which others have called genius. Mozart’s purpose was clear to him, and to everyone around him.
Isaac Newton was a River person; so was Beethoven. Frank Sinatra and Tiger Woods are good examples. These guys didn’t have to take an aptitude test or personality profile to help them decide what to do with their lives.
They did what they did instinctively, naturally, with great passion and with little fear of the consequences, no matter what the people around them told them to believe.
There are River people among us, and not all of them famous or genius. Though they be fairly rare, you know one yourself—the family member or friend who didn’t fret what to study or what to be when they grew up. They knew what to do and they did it regardless of the challenges and criticisms they would inevitably face.
River people aside, the remaining populace are said to be “Goal-oriented.” They choose what to do by comparison, weighing the benefits and consequences of their choices and setting goals in order to function. Without a goal to go for, they’re really just marking time until their time is up.
That’s not to say River people never set goals. They do, but they know their purpose intuitively. They do what they do regardless of how much it pays or what other people think of them for doing it.
If you are unaware of your purpose, or unsure you even have a purpose, it’s a safe bet you are not in your river. In fact, the best part of your life may be passing you by. Without purpose you’re practically dead in the water.
And to the “overachievers”—no matter your success, how grand your family, the accolades you’ve racked up and the monuments you’ve built to yourself, without inner purpose you will always feel something deep and priceless is missing. Without inner purpose, it most assuredly is.
Many are they who accomplish goal after goal yet manage to feel incomplete. There’s a sense of emptiness, an unslakable thirst, a constant search for satisfaction, meaning, or resolve. These are people for whom inner purpose is absent. Despite worldly treasure, for them, authentic joy never remains. By law, it cannot.
If you have yet to find your purpose, here is something: Inspirational teacher Eckhart Tolle has made it easy for you. He breaks it down to two parts—inner and outer purpose. Inner purpose is about who you are; outer purpose concerns what you do. You have but to align them for a happy, healthy and useful life.
It’s very simple, he writes, because everyone’s inner purpose is identical and the same. No confusion, no shades of grey, no question of degree; one size fits every one and all. Eckhart puts it gracefully: “Your inner purpose is to awaken. It is as simple as that. You share that purpose with every other person on the planet—because it is the purpose of humanity.”
What is it that inner purpose awakens? Your true identity. Your inner purpose is to realize who you are. Awakening, you are reborn into a beauty and truth unknown to you before. Outer purpose can then take its place organically.
The awakening of which Eckhart speaks is a transformative realization of presence which precedes thought, feeling and emotion. Some call it the great I Am; others, the True Self.
The vast majority hold small notions about their identity. Most believe identity means name, rank and serial number, address, education and career, religion, personality and corporeal body. Yet these things can change in the course of life.
Many who limit themselves to shallow descriptors like these feel lost when the attributes are taken away. They are left to question who they are, why they were born and what they are here to do. If you’re one of them, you too remain fast asleep, unawakened.
To live a happy and healthy life you must know your identity and purpose. It is then that all things are added unto you. Nothing and no one will stop you; no chain of events can hinder advance.
You now radiate the meaning of your life as a purpose in you, as you and through you, into the world around you. Your identity pulses out and returns to you the rewards of being you.
You can stop sucking energy from others to get your juice; you generate true power itself—love, joy, health wealth and happiness, to have and to hold. This is your identity. This is who you are. This is who I know you to be.
No matter where you’ve been or what your story, you can recreate your identity as you would have it, for a hidden fact of life is this: The universe does what you tell it to. Unerringly and by law it supports whatever purpose and identity you hold, effortlessly and immaculately and without fail, each and every moment.
This is the Law of Identity, a law which can never fail, not ever even once. You’ll want to know more about it.