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A Sense of Mission or Purpose
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| Dr. Stephen L. Sokolow Executive Director and Founding Partner |
Synchronicity abounds in our inner and interconnected Universe. My to-do list for today was to write this article. I recently finished reading the main body of Bruce Lipton’s insightful new book, The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter, & Miracles. My inner voice prompted me to return to the book to read Dr. Lipton’s Acknowledgments, where I found this passage: “I would like to honor some very important teachers who have provided guidance in my scientific career. First and foremost, my father, Eli, who instilled in me a sense of purpose….” In this award-winning book, Dr. Lipton recounts his life’s journey and how he discovered his ground-breaking ideas. The path to his life’s purpose was difficult, meandering, and anything but clear. Nonetheless, through synchronicity, tenacity, and good fortune, he discovered his purpose, which is to understand how consciousness affects our biology and the very nature of reality.
One of my favorite books (and movies) is The Lord of the Rings. In many ways, I think Tolkien’s trilogy about the battle over the future of Middle Earth is a relevant metaphor for our times. Bilbo Baggins charges the young hobbit, Frodo, with a mission. He entrusts Frodo with an ancient ring and tells him he must embark on a quest to destroy the ring by throwing it into an inferno in the realm of Mordor, which is under the control of the evil wizard Sauron. Frodo encounters and battles the forces of darkness relentlessly on his arduous, often life-threatening journey. As a superintendent, often battling forces that seemed quite dark to me, I identified with Frodo and his quest. He had a lot of help along the way, but only he could accomplish his mission, for it was his and his alone.
Through a somewhat mysterious process, many people discover their purpose, or their purpose finds them. From a very high vantage point we can ask, what is the purpose of life itself? Philosophical and religious treatises abound offering countless perspectives on this question. Then we come down to earth and ask more specifically, what is the purpose of my life or your life? Best-selling author Caroline Myss says the purpose of life is to grow spiritually and fulfill our “sacred contract.” In her book, Sacred Contracts, she describes the process by which each of us develops and enters into a contract that governs many aspects of our lives. So where is this contract? Who has a copy of it? According to Myss, the repository for our individual sacred contract is our very own soul.
I’m intrigued by this concept. According to this view, we not only have an obligation to fulfill the terms of our contract, but we must also figure out what’s in it. The good news is that we are not alone in this quest. Our soul can enlist spiritual forces and circumstances that will point us in the right direction and help us, just as Frodo received all the help he needed to accomplish his mission. On the other hand, the journey is never easy; it is up to us to actually use our gifts and talents in the service of our purposes(s).
While the Lord of the Rings saga is full of interesting characters whose lives are interwoven in an intricate plot, the overarching theme of the trilogy is the ultimate battle of the forces of light against the forces of darkness for the soul of Middle Earth. The winning side hangs in the balance until Mother Nature weighs in on the side of the forces of light. Many people (myself included) believe that we are living in a time that mirrors many elements of this story—only this time it is the Earth rather than Middle Earth whose future hangs in the balance. The Mayan calendar, the Age of Aquarius, and many religious traditions hold the view that we are living in unusually potent times. On almost every front, economic, political, environmental, religious, cultural, and ideological conditions are heating up and creating great upheaval throughout the world.
Books like The Biology of Belief provide scientific evidence for the power of consciousness in shaping our personal biology and our collective reality. Life is becoming more chaotic. We know from Chaos Theory that small changes can have very large effects in non-linear chaotic systems like those bubbling up all around us. This is a time when our actions, small and large, can easily be magnified. Look at what happened when a pastor from a small church in Gainesville, Florida threatened to burn copies of the Koran. In potent energetic and spiritual times, the forces of light as well as the forces of darkness can grow explosively and exponentially, creating quantum leaps in our unfolding reality.
That is why I asked our contributors to focus on the theme “A Sense of Mission or Purpose” for this issue of The Lens. This is an especially good time to reflect on and recommit ourselves to our respective missions and purposes. What we do this year and during the next few years will have repercussions for the next millennia. Most of what we do will be local—in our families, places of worship, communities, organizations, etc. But in an inner and interconnected Universe the collective effects will be global. This is a time when we can become disillusioned and disheartened or energized and empowered to make our world a better place.
In times of turmoil and chaos, the forces of darkness and light do battle; the forces of fear and love do battle. If we ground ourselves in universal spiritual principles, and keep our focus on the positive possibilities that are omnipresent, our collective consciousness and actions can ensure that our story unfolds like that of The Lord of the Rings, ushering in an era where the forces of light and love prevail over the forces of darkness.
Center for Empowered Leadership ®
Email: info@cfel.org
Phone: 1.609.259.7911