Today was a very tiring day… at the end of a week that was soooo exhausting… it had been a while since I engaged in physical exercise, and then the doctor tells me that I need to lose 20 pounds… So, this week was the first of many, eating less, running a lot, and practicing a lot of yoga, at least until reaching the ideal weight.
Well, to use one of those internet pop phrases: discipline is consistently doing what you don’t want to do. So, today is a day to write even though I feel like going to sleep 😴
Just yesterday, I said I would post something new every day, and today I was already tempted to go to bed early. Butttt, it’s past midnight and I’m still here, so the deal is to write a bit.
One thing that seems to be quite common among most spiritual philosophies is Purpose. My first encounter with these theories was through Jung books. Although Freud is the father of psychoanalysis and his texts are much better structured and more didactic than Jung’s, I still find Jung’s perspective broader. Reading Jung’s texts is almost like torture; he goes around in too many circles before arriving at a conclusion, and even then, the conclusion is open to interpretations. Nevertheless, in those last 30 lines of each text, he always brings some crazy insights that change Everything.
Well, getting back to Purpose, today I’m reading a book called “Purpose: The Courage to Be Who We Are” by Sri Prem Baba. I mentioned Jung because the idea of purpose in both of them is very similar. In general terms, there are people who believe that everything in the universe is random and that we are here just passing through, and we will return to nothingness when we die. To me, that is as valid a possibility, just like any other.
However, thinking that we come from nothing and will return to nothing is rather depressing. So, I tend to like the theory that says that we are in this world for a reason, a Purpose, it is way more comforting. In the case of this book, the author defines the Ego as your incarnation and your life on Earth. And your purpose is what made your spirit decide to incarnate and spend some time here on Earth.
In this case, the Ego would be the driving force that helps you survive in this world. Its main objective is survival and accumulating resources so that your purpose can be fulfilled. Therefore, it’s the Ego that makes you hide all your childhood traumas, that adjusts you to life in society, that makes you work, earn money, achieve autonomy, and become a productive human being.
Problems start to arise when people start living for the Ego and forget about their Purpose. Thus, an internal battle begins where your unconscious wants you to “save the whales,” but your Ego wants you to become a “stock market day trader.”
When these two aspects misalign significantly, depression emerges. The best definition I’ve heard of depression comes from actor Jim Carrey, something like this: Depression is your body telling you that it’s tired of living the life of a character that wasn’t created by you.
Indeed, it’s when you start realizing that nothing in your life was done for you, but rather to please your parents, friends, and teachers (representing society in general); ideas cultivated in your mind as the right thing to do.
Some people will live their entire lives for the Ego. Others will experience the famous Consciousness Expansion. It’s when a person starts questioning the why of everything in their life. It’s not easy, in fact, it’s extremely difficult, especially if your life has everything that everyone said you’d need. A happy family, children, a good job. How can you look at all that and still feel empty inside? It’s almost like a hint of ingratitude towards everything and everyone who has been in your life until now.
Even so, living as that character, unless you’re lucky enough for it to be aligned with your Purpose, will leave you with a feeling of emptiness and loneliness.
That’s how we describe the problem. I think I’ve depressed everyone enough already. Now, I’ll say that Purpose is not something that someone will assign to you. It’s something you need to remember. Remember the reason you decided to experience this live on Earth.
To remember, it seems to be almost a consensus that everyone still remembers their purpose in the first seven years of life. During that period, if you ask any child what they want to be, they will tell you right away. They want to be a firefighter, a dancer, a scientist, etc. It’s the period where the Ego hasn’t yet created its survival mechanisms, and the little person still feels that they can do whatever they want; in other words, they can fulfill their Purpose. So, it would be equivalent to asking you today something like: You have just won the lottery, as a bonus, you have got a pill that cures and prevents all diseases, also you get superpowers that no one can ever harm you. What would you do? Without worrying about making money, in a world without violence or diseases, what would you choose to do? What you’d choose to be?
The answer to that question is your Purpose. Stripping away all your traumas and survival needs, you find your purpose. Of course, it’s not easy to discover it if you’ve never thought about it before. But the Universe always gives you some hints.
Have you ever got a break to think about why people come to you? What do they usually ask you? Could it be something like: “Do you think I could be a good dancer?” even if you’re a stock market analyst? Or, “What would be a good spot to camp in the up town?” even if you’re an automobile production manager.
Such questions don’t come out of nowhere. Clearly, you have an interest in these subjects outside of your work hours. You are a reference on diverse topics to the point where people notice it and come to to ask you about it. These are already excellent clues to find your Purpose. People have noticed it before you did.
Furthermore, there’s the darned synchronicity. I’ll explain that better in another text, but, in summary, it’s all the inexplicable “coincidences” that happen and lead you down a certain path without you even realizing it. For example, when you have a strong desire to go watch a musical at the theater but you’re short on cash. “Out of nowhere,” you decide to go to the church bingo and end up winning tickets to see the musical you wanted. Jung wrote a short book about synchronicity, tried to provide some mathematical explanations for it. In the end, the only conclusion was that there was no explanation. They are events so rare and improbable that they must mean something. That something would be directing you towards your purpose.
Well, that’s all for today. I think my purpose now is to go to bed and try to get some sleep. Lately, I wake up without having the slightest idea of how my upcoming days, months, or years will be. A regulated and programmed life eliminates the randomness that is essential for synchronicity to occur. If you schedule your week and strictly follow the plan, you leave very little room for life to happen. So, once in a while, trust the Universe. Leave an empty space in your agenda, go for a walk in the park, or watch a movie at the cinema during the day, in the middle of the week. Allow randomness to bring synchronicity to your live.