Many of the spiritual books and websites that I have looked at over the years state that we come to Earth with a specific purpose to fulfil - this may be to work with the sick and dying, or at the opposite end of the scale, the very young; it may be to work with the Earth, with ley lines and vortexes, or it may be to work with animals or to create great works of art. These are all noble things, but in my opinion are nothing to do with what life is really about. What is life really about? The here and now.
I remember when I was new to the path back in the mid 90's. My first spiritual teacher, a mixed race woman who lived in Battersea, southwest London told us about a wonderful new medium that she had been to see at the college of Psychic Studies in London, who could tell us anything that we wanted to know, including our life purpose. I duly made an appointment, and went there on the train, all the way to Kensington on a blisteringly hot summers day.
I had not experienced anything like this before - I am not sure what I was expecting, but remember being surprised to find that the medium, who had a gift I seem to recall for communicating with animal as well as human spirits (I cannot recall her name beyond the fact that it was Annie), looked perfectly normal. When she asked me why I was there, I replied that I wanted to know my purpose. I was expecting some wonderful revelations along the lines that I was here to heal or to do something miraculous, and you could have knocked me sideways when she informed me that I was here to simply be happy!
To be happy, what a seemingly easy yet when you think about it very difficult thing. How many people do you know who are truly happy? I could count them on well, I couldn't, as I don't think there are any. I don't think I know one single person, including myself who could be considered to be truly happy - we all want something that we don't have - a better job, more money, a bigger house, Mr or Ms Right, three weeks on a Caribbean beach (or an Icelandic desert in my case). Of course what this really boils down to is that we do not want we already have - it equates to rejection of the now and of the present moment.
Our heads are perpetually filled with other stuff based in either the past or the future - what we did yesterday, what we need to buy at the supermarket, what time we need to pick up the kids, what to have for lunch, what time we need to be at work. None of this is anything to do with the present. The closest a woman probably gets to being in the present is on her wedding day, or possibly when giving birth as she has to do what her body tells her and these things can't be rushed, even then most women are probably concentrating on the outcome, of what their baby will be - boy or girl, and whether she or he will be healthy (I do not know for sure since I have never given birth myself and at 44 have probably left it a bit late).
Our purpose has nothing to do with what we do, but more to do with what we feel. Eckhart Tolle in his wonderful book, "A New Earth", which I highly recommend, takes it one step further and says that whatever we are doing in any given moment (sitting at our computer, drinking a cup of tea, listening to music or whatever - I am doing all three) - is our purpose for that moment. Remember that there is no such thing as past and future as they are well, in the past and the future respectively and so do not as yet, or anymore exist. The only moment we have is now - this is our only chance to be happy, for when that moment is gone it is gone forever. Of course the beauty of it is that the present is infinite and never ending - so we have eternity in which to choose to be happy or not. I intend to seize that moment of eternity with both hands.
I remember when I was new to the path back in the mid 90's. My first spiritual teacher, a mixed race woman who lived in Battersea, southwest London told us about a wonderful new medium that she had been to see at the college of Psychic Studies in London, who could tell us anything that we wanted to know, including our life purpose. I duly made an appointment, and went there on the train, all the way to Kensington on a blisteringly hot summers day.
I had not experienced anything like this before - I am not sure what I was expecting, but remember being surprised to find that the medium, who had a gift I seem to recall for communicating with animal as well as human spirits (I cannot recall her name beyond the fact that it was Annie), looked perfectly normal. When she asked me why I was there, I replied that I wanted to know my purpose. I was expecting some wonderful revelations along the lines that I was here to heal or to do something miraculous, and you could have knocked me sideways when she informed me that I was here to simply be happy!
To be happy, what a seemingly easy yet when you think about it very difficult thing. How many people do you know who are truly happy? I could count them on well, I couldn't, as I don't think there are any. I don't think I know one single person, including myself who could be considered to be truly happy - we all want something that we don't have - a better job, more money, a bigger house, Mr or Ms Right, three weeks on a Caribbean beach (or an Icelandic desert in my case). Of course what this really boils down to is that we do not want we already have - it equates to rejection of the now and of the present moment.
Our heads are perpetually filled with other stuff based in either the past or the future - what we did yesterday, what we need to buy at the supermarket, what time we need to pick up the kids, what to have for lunch, what time we need to be at work. None of this is anything to do with the present. The closest a woman probably gets to being in the present is on her wedding day, or possibly when giving birth as she has to do what her body tells her and these things can't be rushed, even then most women are probably concentrating on the outcome, of what their baby will be - boy or girl, and whether she or he will be healthy (I do not know for sure since I have never given birth myself and at 44 have probably left it a bit late).
Our purpose has nothing to do with what we do, but more to do with what we feel. Eckhart Tolle in his wonderful book, "A New Earth", which I highly recommend, takes it one step further and says that whatever we are doing in any given moment (sitting at our computer, drinking a cup of tea, listening to music or whatever - I am doing all three) - is our purpose for that moment. Remember that there is no such thing as past and future as they are well, in the past and the future respectively and so do not as yet, or anymore exist. The only moment we have is now - this is our only chance to be happy, for when that moment is gone it is gone forever. Of course the beauty of it is that the present is infinite and never ending - so we have eternity in which to choose to be happy or not. I intend to seize that moment of eternity with both hands.
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