Let’s start the New Year by reflecting on a question that resides deep within the core of every human being, “For what purpose have I been born?”. Some of us are consciously aware of this query and live their whole life discerning and trying to fulfill their life’s mission while others move through life not quite sure why they feel unsatisfied even when they are financially comfortable and are surrounded by people who love and respect them.
How we become aware of our innate calling is dependent on several factors. What we hold in consciousness and what we allow to hold influence over our choices and actions has great sway over how we uncover and live out our purpose.
When we are born into this world, we are taught to believe that we should live our lives from the outside in rather than from the inside out. Cultural, familial, and societal views and norms often have greater influence over who we believe we are, what will make us happy, what roles we play, and what work we should do in the world, than our innate Divine Inner Wisdom. We come to believe that the answers we seek are out there in the world somewhere.
Eventually, we come to believe that our life’s work revolves around approval seeking, attracting the perfect life partner, and landing our dream job that will make us wealthy and/or famous, and will allow us to retire to a life of leisure and luxury. There isn’t anything wrong with notoriety, wealth, or luxury. However, when we are in pursuit of any or all of these things as our sole source of happiness, and in doing so we are not fully grounded in spiritual principle and our core values and most importantly do not call us into our sacred duty, we will not experience true fulfillment.
In the book, The Great Work of Your Life, author, Stephen Cope looks to the teachings of The Bhagavad Gita, the teachings of great mystics, and the stories of everyday people to give the reader a clear understanding of the meaning of sacred duty. Cope explains that one’s sacred duty, dharma, or vocation is to bring forth from within us our innate True Divine Nature in service to others. Discerning and living one’s sacred calling is not an easy task for the majority of individuals, therefore, throughout The Great Work of Your Life, Cope shares how to discern your sacred duty, describes how to identify and overcome the obstacles to living one’s dharma, and how one must allow one’s dharma to be fluid throughout his/her life and does not end when one retires from the work force.
On January 13, 2019, I will begin a nine week Sunday 10:30 a.m. talk series on the Four Pillars of Dharma and how these teachings can assist you in coming home to your True Self. I invite you to join me and discover how you can deepen your commitment to living a life of meaning and purpose.
“Every man and woman has a vocation to be someone; but he/she must understand clearly that in order to fulfill this vocation he/she can only be one person; himself/herself.” ~ Thomas Merton
