…the second great barrier

In two previous posts (Part 1 and Part 2) I began exploring life purpose from what, for me at least, is a new perspective. Instead of asking the question that most people and most gurus of purpose ask — “How can we find purpose?” — I asked, “What prevents us from finding purpose?” I asked the latter question out of a conviction that finding purpose really ought not be the struggle that many people experience.

That shift in perspective proved fruitful. It wasn’t long before it became obvious that a major barrier to finding purpose is the fearful, self-centered urgings of ego, and that purpose can only arrive on the scene after ego has been transcended to some degree.

For about a week I thought that was that. But as I once again searched my experiences of both coaching people about purpose and interviewing people who held a deep sense of purpose, it became equally obvious that I know of no person who has arrived at a sense of purpose through any intellectual process. And I do know many people whose search for purpose has been frustrated and thwarted in attempts to “think it through” or “analyze their situation” or “inventory their strengths” or any number of other intellectual exercises.

Every person I have known who held a deep sense of purpose found it through a process that was experiential and spiritual rather than intellectual. In other words, they had some life experience that provided them with a call that they could not refuse.

One example is a man that I interviewed, an accomplished leader, who told me, “It makes no sense to spend a life this way.” He is a brilliant guy, with the requisite skills, integrity, and leadership ability to have made a success and lots of money in many arenas. Instead, he has devoted his life to providing learning opportunities for disadvantaged inner-city youths. When he says that his life choice “makes no sense” he means that it isn’t rational by contemporary standards. Neither is it irrational however. It is non-rational; it was born from his experience as an inner-city youth and his spiritual drive to make the difference that fulfills his life.

In short, you cannot think your way to your purpose. When it arrives it may make no sense to you.

So…to summarize this series of posts:

Finding purpose is neither a quest to pursue nor a puzzle to solve. Purpose will arrive on its own, sometimes subtly and sometimes obviously, dawning slowly or in a bright sudden flash, when the bonds of both ego and intellect have been transcended enough to allow you to heed its call.

This post is part of a series that was eventually intergrated in the article, The Path To Purpose