©2008 Joan M. Newcomb
When I was a new spiritual teacher, a quarter century ago, I felt my purpose was to teach everyone on the planet to ground. Learning a specific technique for consciously grounding myself had so profoundly changed my life, I felt everyone needed to learn it. I also felt that if I worked for God, God would take care of me, so I guess you could say my Life Purpose was to teach everyone on the planet how to ground -- for God.
Years later someone asked me 'what is the purpose of life', and I thought about it in terms of being Spirit manifesting in the physical. And the answer that came to me was 'to create'. We were all here learning to create in and through physical bodies. I still somewhat hold that idea, that we're all Spirit in physical form, and learning about being here which is so opposite of what Spirit truly is. An aspect of learning is how to manifest in Density and Effort land.
However Eckhart Tolle's New Earth book seems to say that our life purpose is to Be. To experience Presence. More than just existing, to Be the focused energy of Presence here and now. And there's a lot to be said for that approach as well.
Abraham-Hicks says "The basis of your life is freedom; the purpose of your life is joy." Which goes hand in hand with Eckhart Tolle, because if you stop and Be Presence, it can be an unspeakably joyous experience.
Robert Scheinfeld's and Arnold Patent's approach is to drop trying to change, fix or improve the hologram of your life, and in doing so experience joy. But then they also say that all emotions are actually joyfulness in disguise, since that is all your Expanded Self can experience. I translate that as Spirit *is* ecstatic joy, and finds delight in all physical experiences - it's our body-level selves that aren't too happy about depression, rage, invalidation and all the darker tones of emotions. However, when you surrender trying to control or manipulate outside yourself, and trust that your Higher Self is doing a great job running the show, then joyfulness is the result.
I've mentioned in other posts that I've had periods of time of feeling in Love with God, in Love with my Life and in Love with my Self (not always in that order). Each time came after surrendering to what is or 'bottoming out'. Within those periods, although the problems in my life hadn't vanished, I felt that everything was going to be okay. And I've longed to have that feeling back again, but without the drastic circumstances that led up to it!!
As I write this, it occurs to me that, just like every definition of God is correct, because there's a path or God that's right for everyone, then *anything* anyone claims is their Life Purpose is right as well. And it doesn't have to stay the same for your entire life, either. You can have the Life Purpose that feels right for you in this moment and as you grow and change, it will evolve as well.
Right now, I'm integrating Eckhart Tolle's, Abraham-Hicks, and Scheinfeld/Patents approaches as they are all both familiar and a stretch for me. I do experience moments of joyousness, and I do almost always have an awareness of joy even when things seem painful or awful. And perhaps, for now, *that* is my life purpose.
What's yours?
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