Finding Your Unique Purpose

by Edmund Bourne PhD -

The inability to find meaning in life usually reflects a degree of self-alienation. Such a condition results in a tendency to pursue satisfactions and stimulation on the outside rather than from within.

Materialistic goals, concern with appearances, and addictions may all be used to fill an inner emptiness which is often felt as an unsettled feeling or chronic anxiety. External solutions may work, but only temporarily—they provide a quick fix rather than a true healing.

To reestablish meaning in life is to rediscover your soul. An important step in this direction is to find your soul’s own innate and natural passion—which is what inspires your unique purpose.

This is not something you have to create. You came into the world with it, and it likely was evident when you were a child.

Unfortunately, education, socialization, and the trauma of entering adulthood may have obscured the natural gifts and talents you brought into the world to express.

If you’ve wandered too far away from your innermost wellspring of creativity, you’ve probably ended up, like many people, feeling too busy and rather alienated. Discovering your unique purpose will help overcome this self-alienation as well as contribute to something greater than yourself.

Discovering your unique purpose (or purposes) can restore meaning to your life—and an increased capacity to look to yourself rather than the outside for the spark of life itself.

DEFINING "LIFE PURPOSE"

If you search inside yourself, your life purpose is something you need to do in order to feel whole, complete, and fulfilled in your life.

It’s uniquely your own—something that can’t be duplicated. Only you can do it.

Your unique life purpose comes from within and has little or nothing to do with what your parents, partner or friends might want you to do.

It’s something that expresses a particular talent, gift, skill, or desire that you hold most dear. In fulfilling it, you discover your own unique way to be creative.

Generally, your life purpose is something that reaches beyond the limited needs and concerns of your own ego. It is "other-directed," having an impact on something or someone beyond just yourself.

Your life purpose might involve raising a child, contributing to your community, or teaching something you’ve learned from your personal experience. When you’re fulfilling your life purpose, your life takes on a new dimension of meaning beyond self-interest.

From a larger standpoint, your life purpose is an important activity or service your soul came into this world to accomplish. The metaphysical idea of "life purpose" appears in various religious traditions.

In Christianity it’s referred to as a "calling," while in Eastern religions it is often spoken of as your "personal dharma."

The assumption is that your life purpose, especially the gifts and talents on which it’s based, is Divinely appointed. In some lofty sense, it was decided on and perhaps even planned out before you were born.

You came into the world with your unique purpose as a potential. It’s your choice and free will that determines whether you fulfill your particular purpose, as well as how you go about doing it. Yet the potential itself remains latent in your soul. As long as your life is focused solely on personal gratification of bodily and ego needs, you may continue to feel something is incomplete or missing.

To the extent that you discover and begin to express your unique purpose(s), you are likely to feel a deep sense of rightness and direction in your life. To be aligned with your life purpose gives your life a positive direction—not to may result in a sense of drifting, or keeping busy to avoid feeling empty.

There is no longer as great a need to seek pleasure in outer material things, since you begin to feel an increasing inner satisfaction that you are "on course"—doing what you came here to do.

To align with your unique life purpose is an important step in healing yourself and becoming all you can be. In doing so, you begin to be more in touch with the creative forces and intelligence of fields of consciousness beyond yourself.

It’s important to realize that your life purpose may not necessarily be grand in scope. Size of impact is less important than quality. Your purpose may be about raising a family, contributing to a social or political cause, or sheltering injured or sick animals. Or, it might involve artistic pursuits, such as painting, playing an instrument, or writing poetry.

Perhaps volunteering your services for a youth group or teaching a Sunday school class might fulfill your life purpose.

Often your life purpose does not become clear until you’ve worked through some of your personality issues.

Resolving unfinished business with your parents, taking care of your financial and security needs, overcoming social fears and learning to be assertive may all be part of the "groundwork" that needs to be done before you can fully express your life purpose.

It’s difficult for your creativity to fully blossom until you’ve freed up sufficient energy within yourself from personality and interpersonal conflicts.

In fact, confronting and dealing with personality issues is also an important part of what you came here to do, along with expressing your unique purpose.

In an important sense, a major part of your life purpose is to do the inner psychological work necessary to handle your personal needs and achieve a sense of identity and self-worth. (That’s not to say that you can’t begin to express your unique mission while still dealing with your personality issues.)

DISCOVERING YOUR OWN LIFE PURPOSE

If you currently feel out of touch with your life purpose, how do you go about discovering what it is?

If you haven’t already, think about to what extent your current job is expressing what you would truly like to do with your life. Is there something you would rather be doing?

If so, what education or retraining would be required in order to transition to what you would like to do. If it doesn’t seem feasible right now—financially or otherwise—to make a fundamental career change, then reflect on what other interests spark your enthusiasm.

Is there a hobby, avocation, or volunteer opportunity you could do in your spare time that would add a dimension of meaning to your life? Something you’ve thought about for awhile but felt you never had the time to do.

Often discovering what truly fulfills your unique interest means that you have to jump in and try something out, without knowing ahead of time how it’s going to work out.

Ultimately, whatever it is that answers your personal call will contribute to someone or something larger than yourself, whether it is raising a family, entertaining people with your singing voice, creating a beautiful and eco-friendly garden, giving some of your time to soup kitchen for homeless people, or inventing a cost-effective solar panel.

If realizing your purpose involves making a career change, it might be helpful-- beyond simply reading about the new vocation-- to work with a career counselor.

Also you can ask people who are doing that type of work what it’s like. If it involves going back to school, you’ll want to talk to a guidance counselor at the school you’re considering. Perhaps reading books on the subject such as those of Carol Adrienne will be helpful.

GUIDELINES FOR REFLECTING ON YOUR LIFE PURPOSE

To assist you in thinking about what kinds of activities or career might fulfill your life purpose, consider the following guidelines:

Listen to what your heart tells you about what you would most love to do or be.  

Be sure to separate your unique goals and objectives from those of your parents, spouse, friends, or others. Only you can know what your true mission is.

Your life purpose may or may not be your actual vocation. It could be a hobby, pastime, or avocation.

Notice negative self-talk that puts down the dreams or inner fantasies that your heart offers up.

For example:

• "It’s impossible to do what I want and still make a living."
• "It’s too late to go back and get the training"
• "Nice idea but impractical."
• "They won’t approve."
• "But I don’t have the talent for it."
• "With so much to do, I don’t have the time."
• "It’s too much work—too difficult."
• "No one’s going to be interested, anyway."

(Resistance statements like these are often clues to showing you what your deepest purpose or "personal dream" actually might be!)

Keep in mind the famous maxim:

"God never gives us a vision without also giving us the capacity to make it come true."

Ask your own inner wisdom or Higher Power to help you discover and clarify what your life purpose might be. In your deepest self, you already know what your mission or purpose is.

Look for synchronicities. When you are moving toward your life purpose, amazing coincidences will often happen to give you confirmation that you’re on the right course.

Realize that fulfilling your life purpose may involve taking risks and giving up certain aspects of your life as you know it right now. Are you up to taking such risks? If not, think about ways you could get support for doing so.

VISUALIZE YOUR LIFE PURPOSE

After you have a good idea about the nature of your life purpose, write a scenario on a separate sheet of paper about what your life would look like if you were to fully realize this purpose (or purposes).

You can design separate visualizations for each purpose or incorporate the realization of all of your life purposes into a single description.

Be sure to make your scenario sufficiently detailed to include where you’re living and working, who you’re with, what activities make up your day, and how atypical day would look.

Once you’ve completed a detailed description, record it on tape, preferably in your own voice. You may want to record it after a few minutes of preliminary instructions to relax.

Visualizing the fulfillment of your life purpose on a regular, consistent basis will go a long way toward helping you to actually realize your goal.

globalshiftnow.com

Making the Shift

by Edmund Bourne, PhD -

A remarkable change is taking place that will profoundly influence the way we see ourselves and our world. The dominant materialistic, separatist worldview-a perspective that leads individuals to value their own needs over the good of the whole-is giving way to a humanitarian-spiritual orientation. 

This shift will revolutionize both the way humanity interacts on a global scale and how we live on a day-to-day basis. 

What are some of the fundamental shifts in values likely to accompany the global consciousness shift? An abbreviated, partial list follows:

• Increased reverence and respect for the earth and all forms of life upon it: The earth is understood as a sacred matrix in which we are deeply embedded, rather than something to be exploited for material gain.
• Increased compassion rather than prejudice toward peoples whose race, nationality, religion, ethnic group, or economic status differ from our own: This means acceptance and respect for all human beings as part of the same planetary community, deserving of equal rights to health, livelihood, safety, and prosperity.
• Greater priority given to personal and spiritual growth than to materialistic values of acquisition and consumption: We focus increasingly on finding peace and presence within ourselves rather than striving for outer success. This means recognizing the importance of aligning our personal life with the rhythm and flow of the earth, and indeed the larger Cosmos.
• Embracing nonlinear, intuitive ways of knowing the world: Such ways of knowing are understood to offer deeper insight into the symbolic or interior face of the Cosmos, than sensory ways of knowing that provide information about the outer, objective face. While reason and logic have their place, intuition offers additional, often uncanny guidance for problem solving.
• Honoring unconditional love and forgiveness as the highest values in all of our relations with others: If we are all one, then to harm another person is to harm oneself. Thus, we come to recognize that the operative question in any interpersonal situation is truly: “What is the most loving thing to do?”

A shift toward such values is already evident in many places. Concern about the state of the global environment is much more widespread than it was even five years ago. 

Humanity has also moved a long way from the racial and ethnic prejudices of the past (such as Nazi Germany), though in certain parts of the world there is still a long way to go. 

In the West, interest in personal healing and spiritual growth dates back to the focus on Eastern mysticism in the 1970's, and has increased in the past twenty years through widespread interest in holistic health, yoga, and meditation. 

Intuitive ways of knowing are gaining credibility through humanistic and transpersonal psychology, a popular interest in “channeling” and listening to inner guidance, and the focus on insight in creative problem-solving. 

While religions have always emphasized the primacy of unconditional love, compassion, and forgiveness, these values now also enjoy widespread recognition in popular movements such as the twelve-step programs, Marshall Rosenberg’s nonviolent communication, and New Thought churches such as Unity and Science of Mind.

MOTIVATIONS FOR MAKING THE SHIFT

What kinds of circumstances can motivate us to make a shift in consciousness compatible with the emerging worldview? 

The following are some of the more common motivators. Consider which ones, if any, have been instrumental in your own life:

Life Crisis

After a personal crisis or other life challenges, you may become more focused on inner development rather than material concerns and goals. 

For example, as a result of a life-threatening illness, you make some major modifications in your diet, simplify your lifestyle, and take up the regular practice of yoga and meditation. Or, after being laid off from an unrewarding corporate job, you decide to live with less income and get involved with a nonprofit organization striving to help the environment.

Burnout with Material Values

At different ages, many people reach a point where they feel exhausted by a lifestyle focused on consumption, status, and material goals. Concerns about how you look, the house you own, and where you live lose their former importance. 

After realizing that pursuit of material goals does not bring you peace of mind, you may start to search within. Carl Jung described a need to shift values during the “second half of life,” from outward achievement in the world to a more inner-directed focus on personal and spiritual development. 

It’s possible that such a trend has accelerated in our time, so that people are now making this transition at an earlier age.

Peak Experiences 

You may experience a heightened state of awareness or epiphany in which you come to appreciate the importance of the whole of humanity over your individual concerns. 

For example, after witnessing the birth of a child you suddenly see the preciousness of all life. In such an experience, you might also catch a glimpse of the entire earth or universe as a conscious being, of which you are but a small, interdependent part. 

Such experiences may enhance your perception that you are a fundamentally spiritual being having a physical experience on earth—or that your life has a larger purpose beyond personal ego needs. Following such an experience, you may decide to focus more on spiritual growth or get involved with organizations seeking to help the environment or correct social injustices.

Peer Influence

Friends or loved ones may adopt values associated with simplicity, sustainability, concern for the earth, or compassion for human suffering, influencing you to make similar shifts.

Education

We are surrounded these days by books, magazines, and media presentations that provide information about the global crisis, environmentally friendly practices and lifestyles, and alternative approaches to health and personal growth. 

As you learn more about pathways to healing yourself as well as the earth, you may naturally feel moved to shift your values in that direction.

FROM VALUES TO ACTIONS:

While changes in basic perceptions and values are essential to the shift our planet needs, they cannot go far without corresponding actions. Thus a critical question arises: 

What can each of us actually do in our daily lives to embody the global shift? 

How can each of us personally help bring about a new world in which the beliefs and values listed above are honored? How can we put into practice the perceptual and value shifts needed to help our planet survive the major crises it is currently facing?

One way is to start with ourselves. The global shift ultimately begins with each of us, one person at a time. Each of us is a “cell” in the collective consciousness of humanity. 

By working on personal healing and inner peace, each of us contributes in a small but unique way to promoting the healing of the planet. In being more at peace with ourselves, we affect many others, both through our example and through our actions. 

So the very first step each of us can take to promote a global shift is to engage in practices that lead to greater personal peace, healing, and spiritual growth. 

It is from a foundation of such inner peace and healing that each of us can develop the compassion and sense of social responsibility to move beyond ourselves—to do what we can to help the planet.

Some of the many ways you might cultivate inner peace and healing include:

Simplify your life by, for example, living close to where you work or combining errands so that you make only one trip to the mall per week.

Learn basic communication skills that promote compassion and understanding in your relationships with family, friends, work associates, and others.

Transition your diet away from processed foods toward organic, whole foods.

Take time out from cumulative stress to relax every day.

Have a daily exercise routine that helps to discharge tension.

Visualize and deeply affirm a goal, such as finding your “right” employment or relationship, or optimum health.

Reframe your attitude toward a negative experience by reflecting on what it may have taught you.

Another way to take action is simply to do things that help the earth. This includes both personal lifestyle choices that directly help the planet as well as contributing time and/or money to organizations that deal with environmental and social problems.

Examples of personal lifestyle choices that can help the earth include:

Improving the energy efficiency of your home (for example, through proper insulation, reducing use of heat and air conditioning, using compact fluorescent light bulbs, and purchasing energy-efficient appliances)

Driving energy-efficient vehicles, such as hybrids or compact cars, as well as driving less

Shifting your diet away from meat toward vegetarianism (meat production industries are very energy and water intensive)

Recycling paper, glass, metal, and plastic

Engaging in socially responsible investing

Reducing consumption of unnecessary luxury items

Beyond changing our lifestyles and habits, we help when we:

• Contribute time locally to help impoverished, hungry, or homeless people.
• Contribute financially to nonprofit organizations striving to ameliorate global problems such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, inhumane treatment of animals, overpopulation, and third-world poverty and disease.
• Sign petitions and vote for political candidates who are concerned about the environment and the serious problems that the planet is confronting now.

globalshiftnow.com

Human Evolution; What's Next?

by Edmund Bourne, PhD -

A New Way of Looking at the World:

The Universe is Conscious on All Levels. Consciousness is not confined to the minds of humans and animals. Anything that maintains itself as an organized whole is conscious.

Organs and cells within the body are conscious. Even atoms and molecules are conscious. So are solar systems and galaxies.

Does that mean they have minds and thoughts like we do? Probably not. Consciousness is understood as an intrinsic property of the universe capable of being self-organizing, self-maintaining, and resistant to entropy (entropy is a general tendency in the universe for things to move from order to disorder).

There are not two worlds—an objective world of science and a subjective, personal world grasped by religion, art, and the humanities.

There is only one world or universe that can only be fully grasped by both science and spirituality—both the physical senses and intuition. To separate them is an artificial distinction we humans make based on the dubious assumption that only empirical knowledge of the senses (scientific knowledge) is valid.

IMPLICATION: 

If there is only one universe that has both an outer, objective and an inner, spiritual aspect— and if it’s conscious on all levels— then we come to see it as much more than a neutral, purposeless object for scientific investigation. We come to look at our earth and the universe at large as a conscious, living being, something we regard with reverence and awe. We treat the environment as a matrix that supports and nurtures us—not as a commodity to be exploited for profit.

A New Way of Looking at Ourselves:

Each of us is connected with the consciousness of collective humanity and the Cosmos at large. "To thine own self be true" means to align yourself with these larger fields of consciousness.

Being true to your deepest, innermost self is to align with intentions that lie beyond your personal ego. These intentions reside in your soul.

Your soul, in turn, connects with the collective consciousness of humanity and ultimately the universe at large. The more you act from your soul (instead of your ego), the more you begin to express purposes and intentions larger than yourself. Although this idea may seem radical, it is not a new idea. The old way of saying it is "to do the Will of God."

IMPLICATION: 

There is more to life than ego. If the deepest intentions of our soul reflect the intelligence of collective humanity and the cosmos at large, then each of us will —sooner or later— feel “called” to do something more than just fulfill our personal ego needs.

Each of us has a personal mission or “calling” —perhaps several—where we give back and contribute to something or someone beyond ourselves. It doesn’t matter how large or small this is. Doing a menial job well could be what we have to contribute. It is the quality of consciousness, the spirit of giving, that we bring to our mission, that counts.

A New Way of Looking at Each Other

All minds are ultimately One. This is reflected in the saying, popular since the sixties: "We are all one."

At depth, our seemingly separate minds are simply different aspects of the same universal consciousness. Thus we are deeply interdependent, more than our conscious egos recognize. 

So much so that our consciousness is influenced by the consciousness of those we care about and love, no matter how far apart we are in space. 

When a loved one far away feels joy or sorrow, we register it somewhere in our psyches, even if we do not recognize it consciously. Everyday happenings illustrate our interconnectedness. 

We may find ourselves thinking about a friend, and then suddenly they call us. We may feel sad for no obvious reason, and then find out later that someone dear to us had a bad experience around the time we felt sad. 

In short, we are not isolated, autonomous units. Each of our minds is a node in an interdependent network of many other minds, some of which we may not even know, and perhaps some of which may not even be embodied.

IMPLICATION: 

The realization that we are—in truth—all one as a common humanity helps to erode the barriers our egos create to separate ourselves from others: racial, religious, ethnic, national, gender, age, and so on. 

Beneath the surface we are ultimately the same in our basic needs and aspirations.

The Golden Rule:

“Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto Yourself”

...is not just a lofty moral injunction, it reflects the actual structure of reality (all seeming separate minds are aspects of a common consciousness).

globalshiftnow.com