Believe it or not, everything we experience arises in the mind. We tend to think of the mind as responding to sensory input from a preexisting world. But that sensory input is actually the feedback loop for what we’ve co-created. We create the world, then experience the result. This is not a belief, it’s something we can all experience if we take the journey.
More deeply, we are a vehicle for Self to experience itself through self-expression. We are here to express and experience that creativity. This is the function of the world and us in it, although actually the world is in us. 😉
Intention
How is all this created? It’s intended. Everything we experience, everything that is, has been intended. The grass, the breeze, the planets, our dinner. Intention is the root cause of everything. I touch on this more in Basic Skills.
Some of what’s happening has been intended by you, consciously or not. Our automatic reactions in themselves create intentions. Every desire you feel is an intention. Every objection and complaint you express is an intention. In fact, every emotion you have that is associated with a thought is an intention. The emotion is the energy, the thought is the direction or vector. It can even be expressed with geometry. The laws of nature.
For many of people, we machine-gun intentions all over the place. Many of them fortunately cancel each other out. But there is still a net set of intentions leading to results or consequences. Often we have a backlog, so it takes time for it all to step forward.
Are you seeing what you want? If not, it’s worthwhile to understand the process a little more deeply.
A universal principle most people don’t understand – it’s not about you. It’s not personal. Everything is and only is about the ‘we’. There is no separate people here, just points of focus. While you may intend for a ‘me’, how the response comes back is from the we. If you think in context of the we, of us, of your family and community, your results will be much improved. This is why people talk about a value statement. What value do you offer? How can you serve?
This also raises the question of value much higher. If you intend from there, you are much more likely to be satisfied. Your value then arises much more closely to who you are and why you’re here.
Purpose
When you look at lists of success principles, the first thing they often talk about is your passion. What do you love? Follow your bliss. If you are not being driven by your passion, you’ll be driven by your pain. You’re driven by avoidance, a movement away. Enhancing what you don’t want.
Thus, getting clear on your purpose and passion is a key first step. We all have one but it may have been suppressed or put down. It may be so much a part of us that we don’t see the nose on our face. (laughs) Or it may be masked by obligations.
Your purpose is essentially why you’re here. The intention that caused you to be. Some tell us that we become as a result of our karma or incomplete past obligations. But that does not really cover the whole picture. The past drives many of the qualities and circumstances of our life, but the underlying function of our existence serves much more than venting karma.
Firstly, let’s get clear on what purpose is in this context. We’re all here as vehicles of oneness to know Itself, as I touched on above. That’s a universal purpose. We all have roles to play at different times of life. But what is uniquely ever present? What is our core or souls intention?
To get clearer we can separate our passion a little from our purpose. Our passion is the driver, the ‘I Will’ statement. But what is the ‘I Am’ statement? This is our specific reason for Expressing Purpose.
Your challenge may be to live your purpose. Or it may be to just see it and understand it more. To get clear on purpose, you may find it by following your passion. What do I love? What has meaning? Perhaps an exercise like 8 steps to Better New Years Resolutions or it’s exploration process in Experiential Resolutions.
If this is not enough and you want to explore it more deeply, you may enjoy Brian Kim’s book Find What You Love To Do. A little like “What Color is Your Parachute” but far more focused and direct. They also discuss it over on Rebel Zen.
One of the challenges you may find in the process is an underlying desire to find the “perfect” answer. The overriding solution to all problems. The ‘true me’. The soon-to-be-famous star. All these are just escape dreams. Purpose is about responsibility, not fantasy. But it may still surprise you. Our purpose has an elegance and completeness to it.
Understanding your purpose and why you’re here is a process that can take time. But if you step towards what you love and through some of the fear obstacles that arise, you begin a journey closer to your essence, closer to your bliss. It becomes a spiritual quest.
Some of the people I know, including myself, first discovered their purpose through other people. Some can see it. But even there, the profundity of it takes time to see. Most people are not clear enough with their souls to hear it right away. But once it’s seen, it’s obvious and clearly underlying the entire life.
In any case, you can begin to get a sense of what your purpose is right now. What you’re supposed to be doing now. Like supporting kids and family. Contributing to your community in a way to make one financially viable. Doing so in a way that’s decent for everyone.
Let’s explore action and obligation more next.
Davidya
Part 1 <
Part 3 >
Part 4 >
Addendum >
Pingback: Secrets of Success – Addendum « In 2 Deep
Pingback: Secrets of Success, Part 4 « In 2 Deep
Pingback: Secrets of Success, Part 3 « In 2 Deep
Pingback: Secrets of Success, Part 1 « In 2 Deep
Pingback: Musings on Passion « In 2 Deep
Pingback: Ask and Receive « In 2 Deep
Pingback: Question Affirmations « In 2 Deep