Living a Life on Purpose

As someone interested in making the world a better place, I believe change first starts from within.  Or to use the words of Ghandi, "Be the change you want to see in the world." 

Author and life coach Brad Swift describes in the early part of his new book Life on Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life, how when he sees the negative events around the world highlighted in the media it exemplifies a world without vision, and people without purpose.  I absolutely share his desire for the number of headlines focused on the creation of lasting peace in the Middle East, the end of hunger within a decade, or celebration of the largest spiritual gathering of interfaith leaders Jerusalem to outweigh those that dominate the news today. 

A significant portion of the book is dedicated to assisting readers in creating their life purpose.  Some points worth noting:

• Your life purpose isn't about what you do, it is about who you are
• Your life purpose is meant to nourish and nurture you and others
• The basic elements of an enpowering life purpose are Vision, Values and Being

To discover these basic elements, Brad suggests examining your answers to the following questions:

• What are the core values that you would give your life to uphold?
• Who are you and what can we count on from you?
• What context or vessel could shape the rest of your life and all that you do?

Brad explains how a life purpose is based in love.  It inspires what you do.  This contrasts from one's inherited pupose or default mechanism (important distinction), which is based on fear.  Once you have done the internal work to understand both your inherited purpose and life purpose, you can take steps to build your Life on Purpose.  Something Brad highlights is the importantance of your life purpose not only being in your consciousness, but also in the consciousness of others.  Valuable tools to achieve this are offered such as identifying purpose partners who know and relate to you as your create life purpose, participating in a purpose pod or a group of like minded people who are supportive in your living true to your life purpose, and creating a purpose project that kick starts your process of living a life on purpose. 

Since I will soon be beginning an Integral Studies Masters program, an area of personal interest to me was touched upon with the reference in the book to Ken Wilber's 2001 Theory of Everything.  Refinements in Ken's four quadrants can be explored further in the 2005 Integral Operating System 1.0, which may help readers understand how the theory relates to Brad's topic of Life Purpose.  Wilber's four quadrants are identified as the "I" representing the interior individual (intentional), the "it" being the exterior individual (behaviorial), the "we" the interior collective (cultural), and the "its" the physical exterior collective (social and environmental).  All four of the quadrants have stages of development.  So, for example the "we" progresses from egocentric, to ethnocentric, and then to worldcentric consciousness.  As more individuals and societies evolve toward universal consciousness the potential for planetary peace and wellbeing increases exponentially.  Living a Life on Purpose is a step in that direction.