Your purpose, of course, is to be you. Above all else, what you look for in everything you do is you. You just want to be you.
But in a world that compels you to look for yourself in the ever-changing nature of physical circumstances and material things, life can get very complicated. Judging dominates your experience. You judge yourself. You are subject to the judgment of others. The person who knows best who you are – yourself – is often the last person you listen to. Maybe you’re not sure you can trust yourself. Maybe you’ve made choices in the past that have turned out to be bad. Of course, calling them bad is judgment.
As long as you are ruled by your judging habit, you cannot be sure of yourself, of others, of life. Judging takes you in one direction one moment, another the next. Trying to judge your way through life is a wild rollercoaster as far as outcomes are concerned.
It’s your judging that puts the focus on outcomes, in the first place. It makes you live your life based on expectations of what the world should deliver. You try to manipulate and control your circumstances so that they match your expectations. But of course, life always has different ideas.
Time and again, you feel let down by life not living up to your expectations. One perfect plan after another, thwarted by change. You pursue the objects of your desire in hopes they bring you happiness. You live for the day when you have it all figured out. But that day never comes.
When you are dreaming about finding your purpose, you are imagining the finish line of your life. You are seeing a state in which all the pieces that bring you happiness are in place. A job, a relationship, abundance, freedom. Whatever it is, you attach your happiness to these things and make it your life goal to achieve them. Should you achieve any or all of them, you cling to them, in fear of losing the happiness they’re supposed to bring, thereby robbing yourself of that very happiness.
As long as you judge things as good or bad, you continue to live a rollercoaster life. The pursuit of your happiness justifies all of your actions. You make achieving happiness your purpose, thereby creating a story that you lack happiness.
But the years go by, decades go by, and you still don’t feel complete. You’ve tried everything, set yourself goals, some of which you may have achieved, others not. But the permanent state of happiness is not to be found. Why is it so elusive? What is a person supposed to do in this life to find meaning and joy?
When you look for purpose on the basis of judgment, you attach your happiness to outcomes. But life consists of ongoing change, so if things and circumstances are your only source of happiness, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment, over and over again.
All your judging has taken you out of the reality in front of you and transported you into a purely imaginary, artificially constructed reality in your head. Your artificial reality isn’t grounded in anything. Hence, anything goes. It can point you in one direction one moment, another direction the next moment. Nothing is based on anything real. The only reliable reality is the one in front of you, minus your judgments about it.
This reality tells you everything you want to know. It gives you everything you need. Purpose, structure, direction, connectedness, love. It shows you the path of becoming who you are designed to be. This path is the path to self-realization.
Living in this reality is a purpose within itself. The connected state is a purposeful state. What you do in the physical realm can be great. You can be the most prolific doer. But doing alone can never fully satisfy you if you’re chasing goals without knowing who you are designed to be. Instead, you wander aimlessly. Experiencing reality is the ultimate GPS. It turns your focus from outcomes to experiencing itself. Whether or not you achieve certain outcomes, comes in a distant second.
Experiencing unfiltered reality is not a passive thing. It prompts you to take action. You don’t realize yourself by sitting at home on the sofa. You realize yourself by going out and doing things. As you interact with the world, focus on the reality in front of you. Clear action always reveals itself to you.
There’s no better way to participate in the power of creation than to connect to that which it creates. Somewhere along the way, in a fleeting moment when you see yourself reflected in the world, you realize you have found your purpose and your ultimate joy: to be you.
How much you are you?
