Intuitive Prosearch - Dharma by Dr. Laurel Clark

The Soul’s Purpose

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 from accomplishing 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 if 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. Most people feel relieved or comforted when they hear this, as if their soul is whispering to them, “Yes, this is you!”

Knowing Your Dharma Changes Your Life