The Purpose-Driven Life

For the overwhelming majority of my adult life, particularly early on, I wandered more or less aimlessly, it would seem, with almost no discernible purpose. This, of course, is not to say that I indeed had no purpose: I just, at that point anyway, did not perceive it as such. Even after more than 50 trips around the sun, on this go-round anyway, I'm still not able to give much elucidation on the subject! Which brings up the question at hand: "Is it necessary to have a purpose in Life?" Another question that might well be asked is, "is 'purpose' simply a man-made construct, like Time?" 

According to Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, a purpose is 'something set up as an object or end to be attained'. Now, not to be overly sarcastic, but if that doesn't say 'man-made': I don't know what does. Just because it IS man-made, however, does NOT mean that it's wrong, or even a bad idea; having purpose, or an end-goal is normally thought of as a good thing, right?! It IS a good thing to have purpose, or intentions for any good one does, or wishes to do, in this Life. On the other hand, though; it is NOT a good idea if one intends, selfishly, to do whatever she or he wishes, no matter the consequences to others. This is most often referred to as 'evil'. In other words, then, 'man-made' doesn't mean that we should disregard or flout something; 'Time' for instance. Time, yes, is merely a conception of humanity, but, as we live in a world full of humanity; "when in Rome.........", or something like that........... Purpose, on the other hand, being a simple conception as well, is a bit easier to dismiss, although maybe more as a noun than a verb. To not have a ( stated ) purpose in life is not the end of the world, although in the hustling, bustling busyness of today's world, some sort of purpose is a necessity if one wants to get anywhere in what some have called The Dream of the Planet. 

When a person is consumed by their Purpose, they are often referred to as being 'driven'. Now, again, in the Day & Age in which we live, it has become pretty much a necessity, not only to be able to state, or elucidate ones purpose, but to be able to focus on that end-goal until it is achieved; after that, of course, it is usually obligatory to move on to the next one. Again, too, this is not necessarily either good or bad, depending on the intentions of the person. 

Being 'driven' brings up questions as well: 'What are you driven by?" "Why are you 'driven' by it?" This is not to say either, that being 'driven' itself is necessarily a bad thing. One may feel 'driven' in order to take care of their wife, kids, etc., although, even there, we may come face to face with some sort of attachment issues. If one is 'driven', however, just to get ahead ( at ALL costs ), to 'keep up with the Joneses' or some other purely selfish reason, then this person may need to take a look at their life & realize that their issues are more than skin-deep. 

On the other hand, we must consider what it really means to be 'driven'! To be driven is to be controlled by, either the desire or perceived need to do whatever one can to achieve their end-goal. Humanly speaking, this isn't necessarily a bad thing; in fact, in this day & age, it is normally thought of as a good thing. However, as More than human, we cannot allow ourselves to be controlled by our lower emotions, such as need or desire, both of which can be defined, more or less, as 'lust'!

The issue at hand then, it would seem, is 'Control'! On the surface, control is a good thing, right?! "Control yourself!' is a big one. Being in control of your emotions ( holding it in? ) is normally thought of to be a good thing. "Get ahold of yourself, man" comes to mind. This is not to say that control is necessarily a bad thing either. Again, in this day & age especially, being in control of your lower emotions is a good idea. For instance, if one of these lower emotions prompts you to do something that is inadvisable, for whatever reason, it is probably best to rein in that lower emotion, whatever it is. On the other hand, though: "Religion," they say, "was invented to control the masses." Sometimes, it would seem, the masses MUST be controlled. The problem, though, is that the masses were never MEANT to be controlled; the masses, individually speaking, are meant to control themselves. Saying that "religion was invented to control the masses" usually means, not simply trying to keep the masses under control, or acting correctly, but propagating a particular way of acting, namely their own. This again, is not necessarily a bad thing, if it is a good religion, but too often, those in power use their power selfishly, to their own selfish ends, rather than for the good of all concerned. Unfortunately, in such cases, these abuses of power usually give the religion itself a bad name ( if it doesn't already have one ). On the other hand, if ones religion helps him or her to control their own urges, this is a good religion, though it be wrongly applied sometimes. In Essence, Self Control, not Organized Religion, is the Answer we seek!

To get back to our Purpose here, being Driven is not in itself a bad thing. The issue is what one is driven to do & why one is driven to do it. If, as in many cases, one is driven by the norms of society, then that one must examine their own heart, as to whether they're following their heart or simply obeying the dictates of Society. 

Again & finally, it is good to have purpose in your life. Is it necessary to have a definable purpose, a stated purpose? My readers must answer this question for themselves, but in my opinion, being able to 'state your purpose' is overrated. This may be semantics, but 'intention' is better than 'purpose'! My intention, for all of this thing we call Life, is to simply BE. "Is that the same as 'Purpose'?" Again; "You be the judge!" In my opinion though, 'intention' speaks more to our Will, our Power, whereas 'purpose' has more a connotation, at least in popular ( religious ) use of something coming from outside ourselves, as in 'God', 'Allah', etc. So, in conclusion; does it really matter if one cannot state what his or her purpose in life is? No, not really, though there is nothing wrong, either, with being able to state ones purpose. In my opinion, it is better to state ones intentions, but hey, maybe that's just me: I AM rather semantical after all!

Namaste' & Blessed Be!

Sage Charles

21 Grams; the Aura of Divinity

 When Caycee woke up that morning so long ago, she intuitively knew that something had changed!

'No; that wasn't quite right"............... Nothing had changed, for she felt like it had been there all along, but overnight, a long night it seemed, her perception had been altered. Almost imperceptibly at first,  Caycee was beginning to see colors! "No, it wasn't like she had previously been like a deer in the headlights, seeing only the base lights, or even just the most basic spectrum"........... Caycee was starting to see a faint glow of colorful rays of light emanating, first, from those she was more or less familiar & even intimate with, then, as she became more accustomed to this strange new phenomenon, even from total strangers. "These 'total strangers', of course, were not strangers at all, at least not totally, as they were acquaintances from previous lives that she simply had not yet met in this life!"

The year was 2032; Caycee, along with her 'invisible friend', Ed, who had been a constant since as long as she could remember, was really only one among many who were beginning to notice these 'colors'. The Day had finally come, as had long been prophesied, that we would, not only see each other through the 5 senses, but would 'know' the other by the aura that emanated from them! Many of those who first began to witness this 'strange' phenomenon blindly took their physicians word for it, that they were simply "seeing things", that what they thought they were seeing was merely an optical illusion. "Some foreign object must have gotten in your eye & is obstructing your view", they were told. Some of these even took these doctor's recommendations & had lengthy, extensive & expensive surgery to 'correct' this issue. For these & others, it was as if they had returned to the Matrix; life became 'normal' again: no longer were they seeing their neighbor's moods, they just made the mistakes they had always made, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, looking for love in all the wrong places & just generally making a mess of life!

The 'Change', for Caycee at least, had been a more or less gradual one. It wasn't quite as if she had simply woken up one day with a different perspective. Looking back on her 'normal' life, previous to The Big Change, Caycee had pretty much followed the crowd in the The Big Dream, the illusion of society. A nice big house with a white picket fence, two ( or more ) cars in the garage, 1.5 kids, a 9-5 that paid just enough to keep food on the table & the lights burning, a spouse that stoked the home fires & credit card debt up the wazoo ( whatever that is ). She had been there, done that & she was tired; tired of the rat-race, tired of 'normal' ( 'normal' was EXHAUSTING! )! So, when Don came along & showed her that there was a different, a better way of knowing, Caycee began to see things, well................differently!

Though the Change was itself gradual, Caycee immediately began to notice that things were not quite as they seemed! For instance, she had always accepted without question that 'normal' was the way things had always been, that it was normal to be selfish, that it was normal to own things. Our property consisted, not only of the land on which we lived, the house that we lived in, the vehicles we drove, but the animals we kept, as well: in some extreme cases, even our spouses were said to belong to us, if you can imagine! Thanks to the ministrations of this new friend, as well as myriad others, Caycee gained a whole new perspective on life: "we cannot & do not 'own' other individuals, including animals"; at most, we simply serve as stewards. When it comes to real estate, or land, we actually belong to It, rather than It to us. Our physical shells, anyway, consist of the Four Elements of our Mother Earth & upon expiration, will return to the Elements from which they came. Initially, of course, they will simply take the next turn in the Wheel of Life, providing food for the myriad of life-forms upon this Earth.

Caycee had been brought up, like so many others, in a religious setting, particularly in the Institution known as 'Church'. She knew then, about the spiritual aspect of life, of 'her', but she realized, thanks to Don & Others like him, that she didn't have to wait for the 'Afterlife' to enjoy Heaven on Earth. She could BE there Now! "It was her choice; always was, in fact!" She had always been taught that our choices determined whether we ended up in 'Heaven' or 'Hell' ( actually, the Church she was raised in taught that her fate had already been determined ), but now her eyes were open to the fact that in the dream of the planet, it was the normality of life itself that creates the 'hell' that so many spend an eternity in. On the other hand, strangely enough, even though they still, to some extent, blindly follow this broken dream, some manage to live in a 'heaven' of sorts, though they don't realize or acknowledge it.

So, to get to the point; Caycee KNEW that We were More than simple human beings: even the Institutional Church had taught Her that She had a soul. What it had failed to teach Her was that She WAS a Soul, that it was the Spirit within Her that defined Her, that made Her Who She was. The Husk that She wore, glorious as it was & integrally woven through with Her very Being, was simply a Vehicle for Her Spirit, her True Self. 

Knowing, as She did now, that Life would never be the same, Her Ego began to put in some major overtime: "How can I get the word out before this person or that passes away?" "How can I make them understand before it's too late?" "What can I DO?!" The Answer, with a little help from Her Friends, came just as quickly: "Let it be"! "We can only take care of what is our responsibility, the rest is up to them". They must make the choice.  This being the case, Caycee realized finally that there was really nothing she COULD do! She could only BE Herself & 'let the chips fall where they may', so to speak.

Much time had passed since that fateful Day. Caycee, once used to knowing others through her five senses, now knew Them more intimately through Their Aura & by the Energy They radiated. She knew without a word passing between Them how the Other was feeling & thus could more easily share in Their joys, or commiserate with Them in Their sorrows. As the phenomenon spread throughout the world, Those in the medical field were much quicker to appoint a more accurate diagnosis of Their patient's ailments. "Unfortunately yes, at this stage of evolution, there were still many who had not discovered Their Gift & so succumbed to the Dis-ease that plagues us all, in one way or another. For some too, it just came too late, sadly.

To say that Caycee saw things clearly now is a bit of an understatement. Not only did She see through the Eye of Her understanding; everywhere She looked, She saw all the colors of the rainbow, which, incidentally corresponded almost exactly with the seven chakras. Though at first this could be a bit uncomfortable, Caycee quickly became accustomed to the freedom brought about through this strange phenomena. With this new-found freedom, of course, came more responsibility. Because She knew immediately when the Other was being dishonest with Her ( "thanks, Ed!" ), that responsibility involved tactfully uncovering their dishonesty & facing Them with Her Truth. "As you can imagine, especially at first, things didn't always turn out well for Her!

More & more people were waking up to the glorious fact that We are More than just a bag of bones!  The Colors that Caycee had begun to see on that Day not so long ago, though it seemed like forever, were now open to the Eyes of so many Others! The Revolution had begun that day, the 21st of December, 2032. That Winter Solstice surely DID signal the coming of the Light!

As we approach the Winter Solstice of the year 2022, let us purpose in our hearts to open our Eye, as did Caycee, that we may become more in tune, not only with the Other, Who is actually Us in a different suit, but with our Mother Earth.

Namaste' & Blessed Be,

Sage Charles