A Quiz for the Spirit
Sporadically and for some time I have been attracted to questions that “get to the soul of the matter”–that induce us to enter the realm of spirit, rather than psychology, biology or social context, for answers to life’s challenges. I have collected eight of them and want your thoughts about them. Think of them as an early draft.
1. Do I know for what purpose my life has been preparing me?
2. Do I trust my experience and intuition?
3. Is my character aligned to the requirements of my soul?
4. Am I making good use of my life?
5. Do I meet the requirements of each moment authentically?
6. Do I frequently leap between the spiritual and the mundane in my thinking?
7. Am I fashioning a life that supports my spiritual understanding and my worldly purpose?
8. Is my genius at work?
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◊ Filed in: Is Your Genius At Work? | Life's Lessons | Great Questions
September 14th, 2005 at 11:45 am
Hiya Dick…
I’m not sure what KIND of thoughts you’re looking for in response to this quiz. Maybe you could be a little clearer as to how we can help you? I can offer some general observations on the quiz. I can offer my own answers to the questions. What are you after?
A global comment on the quiz… The questions seem to fit into a coherent framework, all directed at helping a person understand whether or not they’re trapped in a pattern of behaviour that doesn’t fulfill their purpose.
All of the questions induce a certain level of anxiety in me, even though I can answer many of them in the positive. The anxiety is mostly a useful or productive anxiety for me… I WANT to be able to answer these questions better. And I want to make changes to myself to be able to do so.
I’m finding the very first question a bit too big. (And a separate issue… I’m really not fond of iron-clad grammar, in particular, split infinitives. If I were your editor, I’d say, “Please word this colloquially.” As in: “Do I know what purpose my life has been preparing me for?” It reads much better, and sounds friendly.)
I say it’s too big cos I don’t really know HOW to answer that. “Purpose” is a very big word, and it’s not terribly well framed. In other words, for me, that question is daunting.
However, the next questions all shed light on the first one. They all seem to be facets of “purpose”. So I’m wondering if it wouldn’t be better to make the first question the LAST one? This would allow the reader to use inductive reasoning to lead them to their purpose.
In terms of rhetoric, the way the questions are ordered now poses an almost un-answerable question: “What’s your purpose?” The questions that follow are more bite-sized. But they lie in the shadow of that big, fierce, first question. By putting the question last, the bite-sized chunks LEAD one to the conclusion, making it a friendlier, more engaging journey.
For me, I can answer “Yes” clearly and easily to these questions: 2, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Blue skies
love
Roy
September 14th, 2005 at 1:27 pm
Roy — you are brilliant! Thanks. In truth, I didn’t know what I was asking for, except maybe an answer to, “What is this, anyway?” I know, I know, specific questions produce specific feedback. Forgive me?
I am grateful that it created a reaction, especially “anxiety” - often a sign that something important is going on. You are right about the rhetoric, and right about the question order.
At some point soon, I’ll take this back to the drawing board, and then back here.