Thank you so much, Terrence! For reading and then for your awesome commentary. I have not come across the Omega point but I see many of us walking the same path and reaching similar conclusions. I especially like your thoughts about AI. Above everything, AI ia an invitation to understand our humanness better and understand the human capacities we all have which no machine or AI can ever replicate. I call that The Human Advantage.
"LIVING is Life's only purpose," said the sage Nisargadatta Maharaj.
I agree, and also say, "Your purpose is whatever is happening right now."
There is no way to not live your purpose. You are exactly what is needed. This includes moments of suffering or apparent separation, as well as the bliss of re-allignment and ease.
So simple.
The rest is just marketing. And egoic justification, which is always fleeting and not ultimately satisfying.
I spent so much of my life “aligning” with my life’s purpose and “helping” others align with theirs. Now it just seems funny to me. Like I could corral and harness a bit of the ocean. This is beautifully written, as usual. Thank you!
Thank you, Heidi ! Many of us did that, and many continue! It's stage one of waking up to life being much more than a materialistic pursuit. But we are so much beyond that, so it made sense to me to call it out. 😍
I say both AND allow yourself to capture it in the moment without holding it for the next - allow yourself to revel in 'finding it' and let it go to be embraced again and again. Whilst it can be elusive it is glorious to grasp even fleetingly... just like our own aliveness ... we see it we allow it to continue to become. This is the way for purpose - that it grows alongside us - walks with us and expands as we do. May we each find many to evolve over the course of our lives
I agree, Cari! It is indeed 'both' as long as we do not hold on to it and we understabd its true nature. I love how you put it: "we see it we allow it to continue to become." Beautiful! Thank you!
When I speak of ego it really captures this sense of trying to control everything, to name it and file it in its proper spot on the shelf. BTW, this has been a lifelong tendency of mine and I still to this day struggle with it. But when we try to define things so strongly, like a particle, it escapes into the wave and eludes us altogether—the more we try to capture it the quicker it evades us and we find ourselves chasing solutions in life without ever grasping them. I've only very recently begun to allow myself to simply be immersed in the flow of life and live within it. The more I do, the more easily I recognize the illusion of certainty.
Thank you, Aaron! I agree with you and I feel that many of us find ourselves at that same journey- trying to let go of the need to control and define things, and instead, immersing ourselves in the flow of life. Me personally, the more I progress, the more rewarding I find it. And is you say, the more obvious becomes the illusion of certainty.
Yes! Beautiful..."meant to be lived, not captured". This makes me think of all the distraction created in public forums that have been 'industrialized', like commercialized 'big' media and how dangerous they truly are. It doesn't take much to throw you off. All the hours of watching and listening to the crafted manipulations and opinions 'out there' can lead you astray from the most subtle desires for self expression and creativity. The continued separation from our inner voice can create confusion and ultimately loss of meaning.
The loss of meaning in one's life, I believe, is a mistaken perception. There is always meaning but if one loses touch with that meaning or can no longer recognize it, this can mean a lifetime of hard choices. The presence of emotional vampires and abusers in one's life is a sure sign that you've lost the plot of your inner being. Redrawing boundaries and daring to spend time alone, in reflection is often a necessary form of healing. Setting aside time to create, play music or learn a new craft or spending time in nature are all meditations that bring me back to myself.
I find the directive — “you need to find your life’s purpose” — as something of an imposition. Do we need to have a sense of purpose to validate our own self worth? What if our value is relatively negligible? Is the need to have a purpose connected to the idea that our lives or our impact may be relatively inconsequential? That’s possible reality is something that’s not easy to accept.
Alan Watts says, “The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.”
Maybe I could go with that. As I do more spiritual contemplation, I’m beginning to see things differently than I once did. Purpose speaks to ‘telos’ — where we need to arrive or where we need to go. If I am present, what purpose is there other than to be present?
Hi, Terrence and thank you for your comment! I am not aware of the Omega Point but I feel many of us are on the same journey and a lot of people are pretty alligned despite that we come from different angles and we call things with different names. I could not agree more also with your way of looking at AI- yes, it can become a force of good for humanity... or not - and the answer is within us. As I have written previously, the appearance of AI is a wakeup call for us to realize and embody our humanness and the unique ways in which we are different from machines, no matter how sophisticated their algorithm is. It's about recognizing what I call The Human Advantage. There is more about that here: https://nataliablagoeva.substack.com/p/when-we-fear-ai-who-are-we-really
Thank you so much, Terrence! For reading and then for your awesome commentary. I have not come across the Omega point but I see many of us walking the same path and reaching similar conclusions. I especially like your thoughts about AI. Above everything, AI ia an invitation to understand our humanness better and understand the human capacities we all have which no machine or AI can ever replicate. I call that The Human Advantage.
Huzzah! Thank you for nailing it, once again...
"LIVING is Life's only purpose," said the sage Nisargadatta Maharaj.
I agree, and also say, "Your purpose is whatever is happening right now."
There is no way to not live your purpose. You are exactly what is needed. This includes moments of suffering or apparent separation, as well as the bliss of re-allignment and ease.
So simple.
The rest is just marketing. And egoic justification, which is always fleeting and not ultimately satisfying.
Thank you, Natalia!
I spent so much of my life “aligning” with my life’s purpose and “helping” others align with theirs. Now it just seems funny to me. Like I could corral and harness a bit of the ocean. This is beautifully written, as usual. Thank you!
Hahaha! Corralling the ocean. Beautiful image!
Thank you, Heidi ! Many of us did that, and many continue! It's stage one of waking up to life being much more than a materialistic pursuit. But we are so much beyond that, so it made sense to me to call it out. 😍
I say both AND allow yourself to capture it in the moment without holding it for the next - allow yourself to revel in 'finding it' and let it go to be embraced again and again. Whilst it can be elusive it is glorious to grasp even fleetingly... just like our own aliveness ... we see it we allow it to continue to become. This is the way for purpose - that it grows alongside us - walks with us and expands as we do. May we each find many to evolve over the course of our lives
I agree, Cari! It is indeed 'both' as long as we do not hold on to it and we understabd its true nature. I love how you put it: "we see it we allow it to continue to become." Beautiful! Thank you!
When I speak of ego it really captures this sense of trying to control everything, to name it and file it in its proper spot on the shelf. BTW, this has been a lifelong tendency of mine and I still to this day struggle with it. But when we try to define things so strongly, like a particle, it escapes into the wave and eludes us altogether—the more we try to capture it the quicker it evades us and we find ourselves chasing solutions in life without ever grasping them. I've only very recently begun to allow myself to simply be immersed in the flow of life and live within it. The more I do, the more easily I recognize the illusion of certainty.
Thank you, Aaron! I agree with you and I feel that many of us find ourselves at that same journey- trying to let go of the need to control and define things, and instead, immersing ourselves in the flow of life. Me personally, the more I progress, the more rewarding I find it. And is you say, the more obvious becomes the illusion of certainty.
Gorgeous repudiation of huge pressure. X
Indeed! Thank you for reading, Karen!
Yes! Beautiful..."meant to be lived, not captured". This makes me think of all the distraction created in public forums that have been 'industrialized', like commercialized 'big' media and how dangerous they truly are. It doesn't take much to throw you off. All the hours of watching and listening to the crafted manipulations and opinions 'out there' can lead you astray from the most subtle desires for self expression and creativity. The continued separation from our inner voice can create confusion and ultimately loss of meaning.
The loss of meaning in one's life, I believe, is a mistaken perception. There is always meaning but if one loses touch with that meaning or can no longer recognize it, this can mean a lifetime of hard choices. The presence of emotional vampires and abusers in one's life is a sure sign that you've lost the plot of your inner being. Redrawing boundaries and daring to spend time alone, in reflection is often a necessary form of healing. Setting aside time to create, play music or learn a new craft or spending time in nature are all meditations that bring me back to myself.
I thank those vampires, they were my teachers...
I find the directive — “you need to find your life’s purpose” — as something of an imposition. Do we need to have a sense of purpose to validate our own self worth? What if our value is relatively negligible? Is the need to have a purpose connected to the idea that our lives or our impact may be relatively inconsequential? That’s possible reality is something that’s not easy to accept.
Alan Watts says, “The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.”
Maybe I could go with that. As I do more spiritual contemplation, I’m beginning to see things differently than I once did. Purpose speaks to ‘telos’ — where we need to arrive or where we need to go. If I am present, what purpose is there other than to be present?
Anna, love your reflections on purpose. Indeed, what other purpose than being alive and being present. Thank you!
Indeed, Mia! 'Industrialized' and 'commercialized' promises of meaning creating confusion and loss of meaning... Thank you for reading!
"The surest way to deny our purpose is to search for it outside ourselves — or worse, to let others define it for us. "
--Brava!!!
This will ease peoples minds because some go over the top about this with worry! This can calm people down!
Indeed! We are spending way too much energy in the wrong places!
yes!!!
Hi, Terrence and thank you for your comment! I am not aware of the Omega Point but I feel many of us are on the same journey and a lot of people are pretty alligned despite that we come from different angles and we call things with different names. I could not agree more also with your way of looking at AI- yes, it can become a force of good for humanity... or not - and the answer is within us. As I have written previously, the appearance of AI is a wakeup call for us to realize and embody our humanness and the unique ways in which we are different from machines, no matter how sophisticated their algorithm is. It's about recognizing what I call The Human Advantage. There is more about that here: https://nataliablagoeva.substack.com/p/when-we-fear-ai-who-are-we-really