Dharma: Finding Your Soul's Purpose

by Dr. Laurel Clark

I was taught by my parents that I could do anything I wanted, and could become anything I wanted. They believed in me. They encouraged me to explore my potential and to develop skills in any arena of life I chose. The problem was that I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I wanted to be able to receive some kind of direction from my inner self and wasn’t sure how to go about it.

Many years of schooling, including four years of college, did not reveal my life’s mission. I waited to feel an inner call and it did not seem to be forthcoming. Then, an acquaintance told me about the School of Metaphysics. I received a Past Life Profile which opened my mind to a realm of experience previously unknown to me — the world of soul growth and spiritual awareness. I felt the truth in this Past Life Profile resonate deep within me. It was the first step in a journey of self discovery that continues to this day.

The Past Life Profile revealed what I needed to learn so that I could progress in my soul evolution. I still wanted to know what I should do with my life to be fulfilled and to make a difference in the world. Like me, hundreds of thousands of people have received Past Life Profiles from the School of Metaphysics over the past thirty years. Many people who request these Past Life Profiles ask the same question I was asking, “What is my purpose in life?”

In response to this universal yearning, Drs. Daniel and Barbara Condron developed a particular intuitive report designed specifically to answer that question. This is called a Dharma Portrait. It identifies a cluster of understandings you have built throughout your existence as a soul. Dharma is a Sanskrit word which means “Duty.” Dharma is your spiritual duty, commonly known as your soul’s purpose. It is the gift you have to give to the world.

When I received a Dharma Portrait it was very centering. I knew that I was on the right path. I have drawn upon the knowledge to become a better teacher, counselor, minister, and friend. I have seen many other people breathe a sigh of relief when they find out what their dharma is, because it helps them to make sense of experiences they have had their entire life. It gives them what they need to be a force for good in the universe. When you are doing your dharma you are living the life you were meant to live, being who you were born to be.

We have developed a Spiritual Focus Weekend at the College of Metaphysics called “Your Soul’s Purpose.” Each participant receives a Dharma Portrait and learns how to live in harmony with it. One person who came to the weekend was so thrilled to learn about her dharma she said, “I think that every soul should have one of these reports when they are born so that they don’t have to waste any time. They can get on with their life the way it is supposed to be from the beginning!”

The stories in this book come from people who have attended this session. It has changed their lives. My hope is that their experiences will inspire you to discover your own dharma. I envision a world in which everyone knows their dharma so that we can each play the instrument that is uniquely ours in the orchestra of creation. What a beautiful symphony that will be!

I give you my circle of love,

Dr. Laurel Clark, September 2003

Author's note: The Akashic knowledge in this book is excerpted from Dharma Portraits given through the School of Metaphysics. You can study this intuitive research by becoming a member of the Society for Intuitive Research.

When I was a child, I used to lie in bed at night, imagining where the universe ended. I had been to the Planetarium and had seen pictures of the sky and stars and planets. I imagined that beyond this known universe there was some kind of a wall or boundary, and that beyond this wall there was more space. I’d lie there, imagining that outer space extending forever, until there might be another wall. Then I would imagine what space extended beyond that, and beyond that, and beyond that ... sometime in the process I would finally fall asleep.

Along with imagining the vast eternity of space, I also imagined that everything in the universe was connected. I could feel energetic connections between myself and other people, among plants and animals. It was as if there was a web that linked us all, like a gigantic spiderweb. As a child it was comforting to me to sense the immensity and the unity of all life.

Not so comforting was a great sense of urgency I felt to find my place in this great web. I believed that there was something important for me to do with my life and I wanted to know what it was. I needed to discover some form of expression, some way of giving myself to humanity and the universe. thing to do.” If everyone was doing what they really wanted, what they were called to do, then we would all live happily in a harmonious whole.

I imagined the world like a great jigsaw puzzle, with each person being a piece of the puzzle. If everyone knew what their piece was supposed to be, if they were fulfilling their intended mission, the puzzle would be whole. And if any piece was missing, the whole picture would not be complete. It pained me when I saw people being mean to each other. I did not believe that people were inherently cruel or heartless. I thought that they did unkind things because they were unhappy with themselves. That further strengthened my desire to find a way for everyone to know what they were here for so that they could be fulfilled.

As I grew older, I became more anxious to discover what my “piece” was. I had lots of desires and ideas. I loved to write, to make things with my hands, to design, to invent. I loved music, playing music and dancing to music. I thought about being a writer, a teacher, an architect, an inventor, a clothes designer, an interior decorator. I considered becoming an ambassador or a lawyer or diplomat. I had difficulty focusing on any one goal because I didn’t want to limit myself from being able to do everything I wanted.

In high school, I researched many different colleges to find the one I thought would best suit my needs and desires. I believed that somehow in college I would discover my calling. After attending State University of New York at Binghamton I transferred to University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in my search for my life purpose. I took many different classes: English, French, linguistics, psychology, philosophy, economics, archaeology, history, political science, law, Women’s Studies. I switched majors several times and finally settled on Women’s Studies as a major because it was interdisciplinary and afforded me the opportunity to teach as an undergraduate. I loved helping people and teaching a discussion group was extremely fulfilling.

I loved school because the interactions with people and with ideas were very stimulating to me. Women’s Studies was an interesting discipline because it was based on practicality rather than abstract concepts. There were opportunities to be an intern at women's clinics and the legal aid office. I learned about how language, media, and literature influence people’s attitudes. I learned how societal institutions, like laws and governments, are structured to support particular choices and actions. It was intriguing to me to discover how people could unconsciously form their identity by imitating role models they didn’t even know they were imitating.

I participated in consciousness raising groups, as they were called in the 1970’s. These were designed to help people become self reflective, conscious of attitudes about themselves. These classes stimulated me to explore my own attitudes, thoughts, feelings, expectations, and desires. I came to realize that my life and my choices would influence other people. This gave me much food for thought and fueled my desire to do good in the world.

What I learned in college helped me to understand myself better but it didn’t give me the certainty I wanted. It didn’t help me to know what I was here for this lifetime, how I could make a difference in the world. I had expected that somehow in the course of my education my destiny would be revealed. I was looking for some kind of inner knowing that would whisper to me, “yes! This is it! This is what you are here to do!”

I could see that the world needed some help and I tried for a short time to get involved in social change movements. For awhile I belonged to a group that opposed nuclear war. I read Karl Marx and then decided socialism was the answer to the world’s problems. I looked for ways to help people, volunteering in the law clinic and at a day care center. I was a vegetarian and volunteered at the local food co-op. I was a little fanatic about the dangers of chemicals and preservatives in food and often got on a soapbox to tell people to change their diets.

These activities did not fulfill the real inner urge I had to give myself to humanity. Telling other people how they should change just brought me more frustration. Trying to change society and its institutions was futile. I wanted to improve the world, didn’t know how, and wasn’t sure how I could make a difference. I hadn’t yet discovered what Mahatma Gandhi knew: “You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

At this time in my life, I met a woman who told me about the School of Metaphysics. She mentioned that the School did Past Life Profiles. I was intrigued and intensely curious. Past lives? I hadn’t heard much about that. This was in 1979, long before reincarnation was a popular word. Nowadays, popular bookstores have entire sections on reincarnation and past lives. At that time it was a subject relegated to occult bookstores.

I decided to have a Past Life Profile done, out of curiosity more than anything else. Eunice hadn’t told me much about what to expect, so I approached the intuitive report with an open mind. The report told me that in the significant past life I had been female, in Syria, around 1050 A.D. I was a dancer, in a small harem. I was charming. I was taken care of and didn’t have many responsibilities other than entertaining guests. I was close to the male who was the leader of the harem and together we had a son. After hearing these details the report related why that particular lifetime was significant to me this lifetime. It said that I needed to mature, that I was somewhat naive and had

“...the feeling of a lack of responsibility, a desire not to take on burdensome responsibilities — and would see that to be in her own words for we see that the burden of responsibility is only something she has practiced and manufactured within her own mind, that it goes along with the childlike attitudes noted.

Would see this one can begin and would suggest to her to begin, re-arranging attitudes about what true responsibility is: the ability to respond to situations in life as a form of self-expression, and that there is not a trap or burden in this, but simply a vehicle for maturing the self, and reaching a greater freedom for self ultimately.” (2-10-79-SMB-6)

When I heard that, I was floored. The woman who was giving the intuitive report did not know me. I had never met her before, and I didn’t even know Eunice (the woman who had told me about the intuitive reports) very well so I was certain she hadn’t told the intuitive reporter much about me. When the report described what I needed to learn, I knew immediately that it was true. It was not talking about some kind of surface attitudes. This had meaning that ran very deep, that resonated with the inner core of my being. Outwardly, physically, I was responsible. I had graduated from college with a B.A. and high honors. I had a job, I was supporting myself, I was paying all my bills. I had no debts or credit cards.

Yet, I was not being responsible for doing what I was here to do this lifetime. I was not fulfilling my mission in life. That was my big quandary. I was just kind of floating through life, not accomplishing anything of great importance or making a difference in the world. I knew that that was the deeper responsibility this report was talking about. The idea of considering responsibility as “the ability to respond to life as a form of self expression” was new, interesting, and highly stimulating to me! I was searching for an avenue of self expression, and here, in a few short sentences, I had received the answer I was looking for. What I needed to develop was a new attitude and a new awareness, not a new activity or occupation.

I also knew that I had no earthly idea how to go about putting this knowledge into practice. So, ten days later, I became a student in the School of Metaphysics to learn how to concentrate and listen to my inner Self. I figured that by being in greater conscious contact with my soul I would be able to find what this elusive piece of the puzzle was that I needed to give the world.

Since that time, I have discovered much about my unique vibration. I am very grateful for my School of Metaphysics education which has aided me to find my calling and fulfill my soul's purpose. I have learned to listen to my soul through interpreting my dreams. I have learned to listen to my Creator through meditation. I have learned to still my mind, to hear my inner voice, and to respond to its persistent whisperings. I have learned to create in harmony with Universal Law. I have learned how, through teaching and giving to other people, I discover more about who I am.

Many people yearn to know their soul’s purpose. What is life? What gives it meaning? How can I make a difference? What will bring me fulfillment? These are all questions that deserve answers. Living a purposeful existence gives us peace, security, contentment, joy, and understanding.

Some years ago a friend sent me a greeting card with a cartoon-style picture on the front. A frazzled-looking man is searching through a room. Tables are turned upside-down, vases and other objects are scattered on the floor. In the next frame, the man triumphantly pulls a strange-looking purple object out from under a couch cushion. It is spherical with weird appendages sticking out in all directions. The caption under the cartoon says, “Edgar finds his purpose.”

I laughed out loud when I saw the cartoon, because it reminded me of the way people often think and talk about purpose — as if purpose is a thing you have lost that you can somehow find somewhere if you just look long and hard enough. This is how I approached my life when I was a college student — thinking that my ultimate expression, my life’s purpose, was a piece of a puzzle that I could find somewhere by taking the right college course. I thought that it would be revealed to me in a flash of inspiration.

I have learned since then that purpose is the personal benefit you derive as you accomplish your ideals and goals. If you view life in terms of physical survival, your purpose might be a physical reason for doing something. When people seek fulfillment, they often think in terms of what they want to get out of life. They want to get happiness, to get physical things, to get the right mate or the right job. This getting is temporary and unsatisfying because everything in the physical world is in a continual state of change. The elation of one moment can flip to depression. Extreme excitement can be followed by the blues. The new dress gets worn out and the Cadillac deteriorates. The right mate may die before we do. The job can be eliminated when the company downsizes. If these conditions or things or people are the source of our satisfaction, they are also the source of our discontent when they change.

What does brings fulfillment? What kind of purpose is lasting? When you view yourself as a spiritual being, your purpose is soul growth and spiritual development. Fulfillment comes from becoming a better person.

The Golden Rule tells us,
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

In practical terms, this means that if you want kindness in your life, you must be more kind. If you want understanding, then you become more understanding. If you want to “get” love, then become more loving. Trying to “get something out of life” doesn’t give it meaning. Giving of yourself makes life meaningful. Being yourself is the greatest gift you can offer. You live a purposeful life by becoming more attuned to your Real Self. You develop yourself. Children have a natural connection with this need for Self development. They are curious, they want to learn, they reach for being. They try out new things, whether pulling themselves up on a chair to stand, seeing how far they can throw, or being entertaining or helpful or inventive. As we become more socialized, we learn to think in terms of what we want to do. Many of us are taught to imagine, or learn through imitation, that our destiny is a job or career or physical accomplishment. Kids’ books (written by adults) promote these ideas: Tommy is going to be a fireman, Susie is going to be a teacher, Lisa will be a doctor when she grows up. This can be confusing. Are we here to do some important work in the world? Or are we here to be ourselves?

The answer is both! You came into this life with a mission. Discovering who you are and giving yourself to the world is your destiny. Some people feel this sense of destiny as a kind of inner call which becomes a compass for their life. They may use meditation or prayer or quiet times to hear what their inner voice is prompting them to do.

Others learn to turn their attention outward, doing what is popular or what will please other people. They try to do what they think they are supposed to do. They look for meaning in the physical environment, relationships and work that make life comfortable. They may become deaf to who they really are, not even knowing their own thoughts because they give so much attention to what other people think.

Even though the conscious mind can forget, the soul remembers. We have an ever-present inner urge to become, to give, to cause our understandings to come into full bloom through our life’s activity. Throughout history, remarkable people who have gotten in touch with this calling have made a difference in the world.

Albert Schweitzer is one such example. Known as a doctor and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Schweitzer was a concert organist, minister, philosopher and teacher until the age of thirty, when he kept a promise he made to himself to give up music, preaching and teaching in order to spend the rest of his life in a different kind of service to others. He returned to school to study medicine, became a doctor and devoted his life to healing. During the last fifty-two years of his life, he fed, housed and treated an average of 1000 natives a day in Africa. Schweitzer died at the age of ninety. His rich life is an example of one who knows his purpose and fulfills it. As he said, “Everyone must work to live, but the purpose of life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others. Only then have we ourselves become true human beings.”

Knowing that you are fulfilling your life purpose brings you peace. This is why some people experience dramatic transformation after having a near death experience. They see their entire life flash before their eyes. They become aware of what they have given, how they have loved, and what good they have done. This life review gives them a perspective of what they have yet to fulfill.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (author of the book On Death and Dying) did extensive research with dying patients and learned there are universal questions people ask when they evaluate their life:

"Did I give and receive love?"
"Did I become all I can be?"
"Did I leave the planet a little better?"

Everyone wants to realize that they have made a difference. When you know your dharma you can accomplish these desires every day of your life. You don’t have to wait for your deathbed to look back. A Dharma Portrait tells you what your dharma is, how you can bring it forth, and what keeps you from being in contact with it. People feel relieved or comforted when they hear this, as if their soul is whispering to them, “Yes, this is you!”

Dharma is not something vague or elusive, but a specific quality such as joy, devotion, compassion, strength, usefulness, magnaminity, discernment, support, comfort, persistence, generosity, patience, or obedience. Your dharma is with you as you enter this life, and that is why you can feel its presence when your conscious mind is still and receptive.

Stephen Hawley Martin is an author whose book Omni Perception describes his experience at the “Soul’s Purpose” Spiritual Focus Session. He said that before coming to the weekend he had some sense of his dharma, but giving it a name changed his life.

One woman, an engineer from Chicago, said, “Having my dharma consciously revealed to me through the Dharma Portrait aids me in understanding and using the dharma of joy, the thrill of creation, to bring fulfillment and inner satisfaction to myself and others, and the world as a whole. ...Thank you so very much, what a wonderful gift you have given humanity!”

I received my Dharma Portrait two months after my husband died. I was experiencing a void, and a need to direct my energies. I loved my husband deeply. We had an intimate friendship and companionship and I helped him and supported him through a prolonged illness. The absence of his physical presence left me feeling lonely. Much of my energy had been intertwined with his and much of my giving had been focused on him. I had grown in my understanding of love through my relationship with John, and I had developed a closer relationship with God as we prayed together each day. Since John’s death, I had been praying daily to discover what God wanted me to do now with my life. I asked God to direct me in new purposes. I wanted to know my dharma to gain greater awareness of my Self and my destiny.

My Dharma Portrait helped me to identify what was missing in my awareness. It suggested “the cultivation of knowing the self as being.” I recognized that in many ways I had identified myself through my relationships, through giving and interacting with other people. The knowledge helped me to see the importance of developing a greater relationship with my whole Self so that I could release my attachment to a particular person and physical experience. The idea of knowing my self as being gave me a new point of focus to direct my mind.

When I learned what my dharma is, I understood more clearly why my college education was so stimulating and why interfaith ministry is so fulfilling to me.

“This [dharma] would be described as discernment. We see there is a strong proclivity for the capacity to hold within the thinking many different trains of thought simultaneously. As this is an urge and is responded to, there is the capacity for this one to reveal a kind of illumination of connected energies amongst seemingly variant thoughts or substances.” (11-4-00-BGC-1)

I was reminded when I heard this of an experience I had in college. One semester I was taking several classes in different disciplines: one course in Jungian Psychology, an English class in Fantasy Literature, a philosophy course called the Religious Experience. In the psychology course I learned about Jung’s theory of archetypes, universal symbols that exist within everyone’s psyche (mind) which appear in dreams and visions. These symbols showed up in the literature I was reading in the English course: fairy tales, ghost stories, and myths. In the philosophy course we read accounts of spiritual mystics throughout the ages. These archetypes were revealed in their mystical visions.

There was a flash of illumination in my mind.

As I was reading one of these accounts, there was a flash of illumination in my mind. The archetypes, the fantasy stories, and the religious visions were all connected. They were all related, like facets of one crystal. Even though the college curriculum had separated these courses into separate disciplines, the connecting link was that all three classes described inner experience. Literature concerned the imagination, Jungian psychology the soul, and Religion the spirit. In all of these realms the same symbols appeared again and again.

In my illumined vision, I became aware that there was a universal consciousness, there were universal symbols, and that all of us were related. Even though physically, outwardly, we look different and might have different conscious thoughts, inwardly, on a soul level, we are all related and there are universal truths that connect us. This revelation sowed a seed of desire within me to know these universal symbols, a desire that eventually led to my study of the Universal Language of Mind through the School of Metaphysics.

As I write this, I am struck by the beauty of Universal Law. I wanted my college education to reveal to me my life’s purpose. It did not do that directly, as I had hoped, but did so indirectly. At the time I didn’t realize how profound this experience was, but it did lead me toward finding my calling. The desire-seed to understand universal symbols was planted in my consciousness and grew as I studied and practiced dream interpretation. I learned to apply this knowledge to interpreting Holy Scriptures. The same symbols show up in all the scriptures from the so-called different religions. When interpreted in the Universal Language of Mind, all Holy Scriptures reveal an essential unity. I have a great passion for understanding this unity, which is clearly described in my dharma report as “the capacity for this one to reveal a kind of illumination of connected energies amongst seemingly variant thoughts or substances.”

I have responded to this by becoming a teacher of metaphysics and interfaith minister. These avenues of expression are fulfilling and resonate with my dharma. As my intuitive report revealed, my dharma is best fulfilled by “uniting the self in this one’s caring.” I have found that understanding Universal Truth and aiding others to do so is a wonderful way to care for people’s hearts and minds.

When you are fulfilling your dharma, you illuminate others just by being who you are. Think about your place of work. Is there someone whose presence you miss when they are not there? Perhaps you are not aware of the difference you make, but oftentimes you can tell the influence of another person. You can become mindful of your own light. Be aware of your radiance and give of yourself. Dancer Martha Graham, whose love and artistry has influenced people around the world, put it this way:

There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action. And because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. If you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open...whether you choose to take an art class, keep a journal, record your dreams, dance your story or live each day from your own creative source. Above all else, keep the channel open! Keeping the channel open begins with admitting that you are spirit. You have a creative mind, intelligence, imagination, and will. You have all of the resources you need to create anything you want. You exist for a purpose, and that purpose is above and beyond your individualized, physical self. Your duty here on earth is to live according to a destiny that began before your conscious mind was ever born.

Where do you find this destiny? How do you access it? That is the great adventure of our life experiences! Learning to listen to the inner self, striving to be the best you know how to be, reaching out to serve the needs of others, you can discover your purpose.