Finding your purpose

Over the last few days, the universe has been giving me subtle, and not-so-subtle messages about purpose. I’ve seen numerous videos on Instagram and Youtube about purpose, had interactions with several people about purpose, and read quite a few articles that have come across my desk on purpose. It seems like the universe is telling me to reflect on purpose. So here are my thoughts on purpose. 

There is a common statement that if you follow your passion through your life, you will never work a single day in your life and all that you do will be effortless. Previously, I was fully on board with that sentiment. Of course, you’d want to occupy your time and make a living doing something that you’re passionate about! Who wouldn’t? Upon deeper reflection though, sometimes passion alone isn’t enough. Just ask any one of the multitude of teenage garage bands who have started, but never made it out of the garage. They had plenty of passion for music, but when the rubber meets the road, their passion wasn’t enough to sustain their efforts. On its surface, this seems a somewhat bleak outlook on life, right? 

In my opinion, there is a better pursuit than your passion. Your passion is the thing that gives you the most joy in your life. However, getting joy from something is very different from working on that thing and depending on it to make your way in the world. Very soon, the mundane details of your passion start to color your opinion of it and the drudgery of working day-to-day on that passion can result in burning out and losing that passion. Instead, we should look deeper within ourselves to find our purpose. Our purpose in the universe is what will sustain us through our life because it is a result of a deeper search and backed by perseverance. 

In order for us to find our purpose, we have to look for it within our spiritual selves. We have to realize that we aren’t human beings looking for our spiritual selves, but in actuality, spiritual beings that sometimes have human experiences. I recently had a conversation with my father, who in his retirement, has had a lot of opportunity to reflect on this topic. We discussed many different things like the nature of heaven and hell as described in the Judeo-Christian tradition, as well as what I thought happened to a person when their body expires. Very deep, existential questions, I know, but it made me wonder. What is the true nature of a person? Is it the physical body that their consciousness occupies, or is it the consciousness itself? What happens to that consciousness when the body expires? In our modern day hustle and bustle, we rarely stop to reflect on things like this, and only do so when we’re in our twilight years with little time left to do something about it.

So let’s say that we recognize that we are a spiritual being that is a part of the energy of the universe. That is the first step towards finding our purpose in the universe; just recognizing that we are a part of the fabric of the universe. We then realize that we are unique in the universe. The universe has only one unique consciousness that is us. Each of us has a unique talent that nobody else in the universe has and nobody else can replicate that. When we recognize that unique talent and actually pursue doing that one thing, which we do better than anyone else in the universe, we are on to our second step in finding our purpose. The passage of time has no meaning when we are doing that one thing that we are capable of that is unique in the universe. You could be the best in the world at shining shoes, painting houses, sweeping floors, healing other people, or designing motor cars and if you find your unique talent(s) and hone it (them), you will find that you are at harmony with the universe and meant to be precisely where you are.

The third step in the journey to finding your purpose is to be able to find your unique spiritually discovered talent to serve others. By asking ‘How can I help’, you will open yourself up to service to humanity and creating value for others. With a proper matching of an individual’s spiritual talent with the creation of service for others, affluence always follows. Understand that the service to humanity without any thought to the self that is driven by ego is a crucial part of this journey. Any attempt to change that talent to service mix will create a disharmonious energy in the universe and inevitably, abundance will disappear. 

My personal martial arts journey has been over twenty years and ongoing. Over the years, I have had the privilege to study numerous arts, with numerous teachers. In our modern society, it is rare for a martial arts teacher to train and teach martial arts as their full time occupation. This is because it is difficult to sustain a modern standard of living with the income from only a martial arts school. I’d also surmise that my previous teachers have approached their art with a talent/service mismatch while working on other things to supplement their income. I have been practicing jiu jitsu for a little over two years at this point. My professor, Kola Ajose, is the first teacher that I feel is in harmony with his true purpose and service to humanity. Here are a few reasons why. Firstly, Coach Kola does not have a time limit on when class ends. He stays at the Academy as long as needed to answer every last question from every last student, often going into the early hours of the morning - on a regular basis. This, very clearly, shows that his purpose is to teach jiu jitsu, and when doing so, time has no meaning. Secondly, he teaches jiu jitsu as his one and only occupation and focus. The results of him pouring his energy into his students show in the capabilities of his students. Those who choose to learn from him see the energy he puts into his students, and the changes that result from that.

Once we find our purpose, which is the proper spiritual match of our unique talents and a demand created from our intention to serve humanity, we will find that sustained abundance will flow throughout our lives. This affluence and abundance will not be temporary and dependent on stops on our career path and individual jobs, but will be truly life sustaining. As with everything else, we will have to persevere to rediscover our spiritual selves to find that talent as well as look for ways that we can serve humanity so that we are purposeful instead of passionate.