Purpose is the antithesis of despair.
Whatever despair will tell you, purpose will say the opposite. And if you
want to understand purpose, listen to the person in despair and invert his
words.
Personally, I don’t know how a human being could have come up with this idea,
this notion that life has purpose. Who first managed to look at life from beyond
life and see that it is was made to go somewhere? Perhaps it could only have
been through a Divine voice. Perhaps to Abraham. Perhaps it was known from the
dawn of human consciousness, but then forgotten and rediscovered. Certainly, no
idea is as empowering and as vital, as integral to the human psyche.
Without the idea of purpose, what is life other than a snare to escape? Why
would we value the dignity of a human being if none of our lives had inherent
worth? What would drive us to preserve our world and treasure its beauty if we
believed that nothing is of lasting value?
Purpose is the idea that just as the universe appears intelligent within
space -- with a oneness of design, an elegance of repeated patterns and
symmetries, to the point that as scientists we are convinced there must be a
single, unifying principle behind it all -- so too in time: with a beginning, a
middle and an ultimate goal. That at the core of all that exists lies not a
placid stillness; not an indifferent, transcendent Being contemplating his
navel; but a burning purpose -- along with a boundless delight in seeing that
purpose fulfilled. That every croak and buzz; every blade of grass; every
planet, rock and sub-atomic particle plays a unique part in achieving that
purpose. And that it is a purpose in which each and every human being plays the
leading role; because we are the radical factor, the being that chooses the
notes it wishes to play.
What is the purpose?
The One Above desires to dwell in those things below. The transcendent within
the mundane.
Meaning that a breath of G-dly life should descend below, dressed up within a
body and human personality. And they will negate and conceal the light of this
G-dly soul.
And nevertheless, this soul will purify and elevate the body, the person and
even her share of the world.
And what is the reason behind this purpose?
There is none.
That is why it is all-consuming and unbounded. For it is a desire of the
Essence.
Before your soul descended to this world, it was determined she would
succeed. If not in this lifetime, then in another, or yet another -- eventually
she will fulfill her entire mission. And in each lifetime, she will move further
ahead.
It was this knowledge that conceived her. It was this inspiration that
brought the world to be. It is this vision of her success that lies at the
essence of all things.
We were not placed here to do the possible. Let the heavenly beings bring
cause into effect, potential into actual. He did not breathe from His innermost
depths into flesh and blood to achieve the facile and the ordinary.
We are here to achieve the impossible: To teach the world tricks it thinks it
cannot do. To bring into its boundaries that which it cannot contain. To make
the blind see, the deaf hear, darkness shine. To make everyday business into
mystic union. To rip away the façade of the world and cause it to confess its
conspiracy with the Divine.
When they tell you, “You can’t go there! It’s beyond you!” - grab that path
as your destiny.
The history of humankind is not about the rise and fall of empires, nor about
their wars and conquests. It is about a different sort of battle, the battle of
whether the Divine Presence belongs here below or in some heaven above.
Those who believe She belongs in Her heavens destroy the earth. Those who
believe She belongs on earth, they build heaven here on earth.
That is the battle each one of us fights, and that is the story of all
humanity’s journey. And that is all that really matters. For that is all there
is to any human being.
Prayer, meditation, acts of kindness - those all fulfill our needs. We need
air, we need water, we need to stay connected with our Source above.
Your work, your family, your path in the world - those fulfill a Divine
desire. It is He that wishes to find a home in this world He has made.
There are those who chase the infinite - and find they cannot live.
There are those who chase all things finite. Their life is not worth living.
Redemption is when the infinite is at home within our finite world.
This goal, when will we reach it?
It was once far, but now it is near.
When will we hold it in our hands?
When we will open our eyes to see it is already there.
