Dear readers,
with another year slowly approaching the end I find
it necessary to share what had
determined the biggest portion of my life in twenty-fifteen, mostly because I’m
certain it will do just that for the little but not so little remainder:
finding purpose. Especially when one period is coming to an end and we are to
look for another path, a consecutive way, the next step—that's when we seek purpose in the
sense of invigorating an old debate and exploring what our share in life is.
King Solomon once wrote that “[t]he purposes of
a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out”
(Proverbs 20:5). How shallow or deep is your ocean? Are you willing to put your
wetsuit on and dive and dive further and draw out purpose, your purpose
that is hiding deep in the trenches? How deep are you willing to dig in order
to find it? It is common to approach this deep blue sea with caution, because it not only involves danger and risk, but the further we dive the more increases the pressure on ourselves; and pressure tends not to be a trait of happiness. However, Ralph Waldo Emerson writes that “[t]he purpose of life is not to be
happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it
make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” And I find that a
powerful and provocative statement, because aren’t we all concerned with being
happy in the end?
I think we cannot deny that we do pursue
happiness, but is our life not so much more? Are we not handed a severe burden that is a blessing in disguise, a responsibility we not just have for ourselves but also for our fellows and
loved ones? If that responsibility alone is purpose, don’t get it mistaken for an omniferous inquiry to
change the world, for that is not a purpose, thank God, we all have; but we do have a responsibility for ourselves
and for our personal periphery. We have a choice, a choice to master our lives and everything in our orbit. And that may be where (your) happiness resides—in your
personal circle where you get your shot and can make a difference, where it matters that you live
and your life has a purpose. And that purpose is our shared value, a responsibility we all have,
as we are all destined to forge our luck.
Leave your comfort zone and dive! Do you have purpose and is your being serving
one? If so, don’t hide it in the abyss of your heart but bring your purpose to the surface where it can function, where—to quickly borrow Steve Jobs’ rhetoric—it just works! Let it work and do the magic. Purpose! I'm not talking about Justin Bieber or Kurt
Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle, but to and about you
and you only. Remember that “[n]othing is more creative…nor destructive…than a
brilliant mind with a purpose” (Dan Brown). Therefore, know your role and your capacities, your prowess in any sense, and your abilities in any predicament. We don’t necessarily have to put
ourselves into the hands of another in order to find purpose, but we can
unearth our minds, express our hearts, and unravel purpose once we’re willing to dig and dive.
But regardless of you digging or diving or doing none of that whatsoever: you matter! You have a purpose, and your life
serves a purpose! Just do me (and yourself) a favor and make sure it doesn’t remain dusty but is worth it—your life a contribution to all and to our world spinning,
because if you don’t live for something you’ll surely die for nothing; and knowing
that…is all there is, one hell of an
#Amen! Got #Purpose? Make that two and toast to your life...matter!
