Karma Builder: Today's Karmic Workout – Declare The Purpose Of Your Life
Today's Exercise: Declare The Purpose Of Your Life
[Preparation Note: you will need a nice piece of paper and a pen that writes well for this exercise. Do not attempt to declare the purpose of your life on a scrap piece of paper; it deserves more reverence than that. At first, you might be tempted to laugh at yourself or not take this exercise seriously. What does this say about how you see the potential of your life? Just because you do not take yourself seriously, does not mean that the world sees the same thing. The battles you have with your self-esteem are purely part of your internal dialogue and largely based in delusion. Others might take this exercise way too seriously. They may think that simply writing a purpose on paper gives them some special significance. Not so.
Declaring the purpose of your life means that you actually have to turn off your smartphone and tune into what the heck it is that you are actually doing on this planet. For the vast majority of people, this question is either unanswerable or the answer is rather lame. For some people, the purpose of their lives is crystal clear and this clarity becomes a platform for some truly good karma.
If you look out into the world for a purpose of your life, you will not find it. The universe does not care what you do with your life. It is not that it hates you or anything, but it is a universe, after all, and does not think, so it does not care. But you think. Every person on the planet creates a purpose for their lives even if that purpose is beneath them. Many of us take so little responsibility for our lives that we really just stumble along rather than use our being as the magic clay with which to shape existence. This explains why half of the people in the Industrial world are on medication or self-medicating with intoxicants. They have no idea what to do with themselves. Today is the day to change all that.
The declared purpose of your life is only valid for as long as you are willing to live into it. It should not be declared lightly, but, by the same token, it does not have to be permanent. To declare purpose, however, and do nothing about it throws away the power of your word and renders it weak and impotent. Start by thinking through what you really love in life. Think about the things you care about most. Look for the real passion of your existence (not romantic passion, but the passion of fulfillment). If serving or relating to specific individuals pop-ups in your thinking, you want to step past them. Living your life for a specific personality is not liberated being, it is most likely co-dependency. The purpose of your life should not serve a face, it should serve face-less beings that may happen to include your loved ones. The point is to identify the being that you are trying to bring into the world, not a specific thing.]
Find a quiet place to sit and reflect upon your life. Establish your breathing with long inhales and equally long exhales and get to a place of relaxation.
Contemplate what it is that you want to see come into the world and how it would benefit yourself and others. Ask yourself if this is a vapor trail worthy of your life.
Consider that for millions of years, countless beings, billions of them, in fact, have struggled to make sure that you came into the world. They fought for you. They died for you. Your existence was important to them and it is important to the world.
Consider that as a human being you have the ability to do almost anything. You can feed the poor. You can clean up the planet. You can come to the aid of the sad and down-trodden. You are capable of helping to build heaven on earth. (So what do you actually spend your day doing?)
Identify the being, the happening, that you want to see come into the world most. It does not matter how great or small it is. It does not matter that you think it is practical or not. Determine what you would create if you could create anything. Write that down on your special piece of paper. By writing it down you give it physical reality. Sign your name to it.
When you re-enter your daily world, start looking for opportunities to fulfill your purpose. You may want to feed the poor. You can start by giving a few dollars to a shelter or donating to a cause on line. Take it one step at a time, but do not forget why you have said you are here.
Training Note:
Human beings have the power to destroy planets. They have the power to feed millions. They have the power to stop diseases … and human power is growing by the day. And yet, we direct this power at the most foolish things. We allow corrupt individuals to control this collective power to do things that we are against. We pick fights with other countries over natural resources. We enslave each other. We abuse each other. We try to dominate those around us emotionally so that we can be comfortable with little regard to what happens to them. All of this power in the hands of confused and greedy beings creates enormous chaos. Ending the chaos begins with you ending your personal contribution to it. You can live for your smartphone or to text your friends and in the end that is all you will bring into the world. Your potential will have been wasted on a trivial life that was largely devoted to its own anesthetization. Why bother? Of course, it is your prerogative to be virtually useless to the world, if you choose, but do not be surprised if the world ignores you. This is not necessarily a bad thing, it is just that it is pretty much a waste of resources an space. Ultimately, there is no difference between a couch potato and Mother Theresa expect in how human beings experience the mundane world. Unless, you reach ultimate enlightenment some time soon, however, you might want to get busy taking responsibility for the human experience.
Karmic Benefits:
Get A Life: most people live by accident. It does not occur to them that life occurs around a design — even if you don't have one. A life that occurs around no design either is at the whim and whimsy of others or is chaotic. Making a declaration of purpose does not mean that your life will turn out a certain way. If you do not back your declaration with action you will have wasted your breath. But having a direction allows you to focus your energy on what is most important to you rather than have your efforts be randomly tossed to the wind.
Put Some Thought To What You Are Actually Doing: life can be so accidental for some people that they have a difficult time declaring a purpose because they have not summonsed enough mental energy to give a damn about anything. The Information Age has nearly drowned the consciousness of some poor minds leaving them lost, confused and powerless. Thought is the only tool you need to focus. Focus allows you to gather energy and direct it in a specific direction. If you do not think it through, however, you are ship on the ocean without a rudder or a sail.
A Focused Mind Produces Real Impact: even if you focus your attention on amusing yourself, you are likely to get your wish. But then what? The reason so many people feel dissatisfied by life is that their plans are small and do not allow them to step into an admirable being in their own estimation. Any people are prone t living like hungry ghosts more than they are like clear-headed human beings. We create identities for ourselves that are full of pomp and significance, but it is often a cheap parody of the real thing. When your actions in life are aligned with a purpose that you hold in esteem, it is pretty easy to get up in the morning. You tend to stop thinking about yourself and focus on your purpose. Trading a self for a purpose is a really good deal and the road to personal fulfillment.
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