Purpose and Drive

Purpose. Drive. Mission Statement.

Are these really necessary? Do I take these with me? Am I nothing more than the raw direction of human energy toward an imaginary statement of purpose?

People like to talk about purpose. They throw the word around like everyone should have it. Ask you about it at a party as an ice breaker. Maybe it’s just me, but does no one else feel like true purpose is something different than what we often talk about. We seem so quick to define our purpose based on a worldly outcome. Helping others. Being a this or a that. Moreover, we imagine purpose as something that we choose. Something that we have…..

I’ve often shrugged off the idea of having a purpose. The basic human concept itself feels misaligned with my values. It feels mind identified and egoic. Shouldn’t I be focusing on just being. Shouldn’t I focus on some inner exploration of consciousness? If we are not careful, purpose becomes superficial. 

You have the right to your actions, but not to the fruits of your actions. Do not let the fruits of action be your motive, and do not be attached to inaction.” - (Gita 2.47)

Goals are the fruit of your actions. This is often how purpose is described.
And inaction - that’s no good either - at least according to the Gita. 

But true purpose is the intention for your actions - independent of outcome.

True purpose comes from a place deep inside that is not chosen. It chooses you. You feel compelled to live out that intention. Almost as if powered by some unimaginable force toward that version of existence. There is no option. No free will. Purpose is the force of the universe exploding within you. Living your body to its will. 

Purpose is like thrusting love through an aperture. Focusing love down to a single minded intention. Magnifying your energy through compounding it like the sun through a magnifying glass. There is no sense grasping for a purpose. Let purpose find you.

The further I get along this path, the more I find myself back where I started. Realizing that if non-duality is the true nature of everything, and we are everything and everyone, then basically - everything is real. Every emotion. Every sensation. Every purpose. Every value. Every mission statement.

The deeper I evaluate the nature of reality, the more I realize the truth is under everything - including identity. The self is, at its essence, also ground truth.

In some ways, there is nothing but purpose. Nothing but drive.

What is your purpose? for me, maybe for all of us, it’s Love. What else is there? It is the root of all life. The raw vibration of love. To connect directly with that energy that underlies all existence.

What drives you? for me, flow. Opening to the natural flow of life myself and helping others realize the flow underlying all experiance. To stop resisting what is. To flow with the nature of the universe.

Along the path you might find yourself imagining that you are beyond purpose. Beyond identity. But I urge you to resist that spiritual ego, as only a different identity. Find your own purpose by opening to the truth inside you.