Category: The Power of Purpose

Cosmic Evolution

Craig believes that there is a cosmic or divine force that is directing evolution in the universe. This force is manifested in all things. His idea of cosmic evolution follows this course:

• Starting with the Big Bang
• Which then evolved into stars
• Which then evolved into galaxies with stars
• Which then evolved into stars with planets
• Which then evolved into stars with planets with life
• Which then evolved into stars with planets with sentient life
• Which is now evolving into stars with planets with sentient life that is merging with tecnology. (The tecnhoverse)

Now, being a scientist, I can say that planets don’t evolve. There’s no natural selection or mating involved. I’m not sure what two planets mating would look like, but I’m sure it’d be pretty explosive.

This overriding evolution is directed by a cosmic force, or divinity, or some kind of guiding influence that is separate from each of us.

Now regardless of whether or not there is a cosmic force that drives us to improve and succeed, the focus of purpose is identifying what you feel urged to do and following that urge. If the source is a cosmic separate entity, then we need to find out how to tap into that source in order to discover our purpose. If it is an inner will that we are born with or developed in our upbringing, then we need to identify if it is real to us and if so, how to follow it.

This drive, or force, which causes to improve is easily identified. It causes us to do certain things like:

• Learn
• Take risks (even life threatening ones)

Evolution of conscience

He also believes in an evolution of morallity which follows this pattern:

• From Animals who live a life of finding food, fighting, or escaping and live in fear of other animals.
• Tribal Humans who live a life of finding food, fighting, or escaping, and sometimes cooperate instincts who fear other tribes. (The Hatfields vs the McCoy)
• Modern Humans who live in societies that cooperate for food, fighting, and prospering yet fear other societies. (The Americans vs the Canadians)
• Global Humans who live in cooperative societies, who cooperate for food, and no longer have a need for fighting and live as one happy global family. (I’m a moral human being or a Saint)

Shedding Fear and Following our Hearts

In order to move from an animal to a global human, the thing we need to shead is fear. In our current age, it is our fear that keeps us from following our passion and our purpose.

Tapping into that divine to access the higher power can give us the power we need to overcome our ego (which is our selfish, fearful side). As you learn to shead fear and follow your hearts and trust in the divine influence of whatever cosmic force is out there, it will feel good to you and allow you to move forward despite the fear. In the end there are two sides: One that lives in fear, and one that follows the higher purpose. You choose which one to follow.

Our need to feel in control can keep us from moving forward and imprison us in a “safe zone” when the reality is nothing is safe. We could all lose our jobs at any moment or our economy could collapse or any number of tragedies could happen. learning to roll with the punches while still moving forward is key to being able to succeed.

However, you don’t just start wondering off. Make a long term plan, work toward it, and trust that things will work out.

Mike Robbins is the author of the book Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken. He was interviewed for the power of purpose summit and here’s a few takaways that I got from him.

Freedom Through Failure

In life we’re driving to succeed and even if we’re not doing well at it we’ll try and try and try until the very bitter end. That is if you’re a driven individual. Many people do not have a lot of drive and therefore they float through life with out ambition, goals, or any indication of a path that they’re on. However, most people work, slave away, and try to earn more and more money and work very hard to support their families and themselves. Sometimes we get so caught up in working and succeeding that it takes a catastrophic failure to move forward or switch gears.

Steve Jobs spoke about this during his Stanford commencement address when he talked about getting fired from his own company. Looking back, he can see that it was for the best because it freed him from the responsibility and burden of Apple and allowed him to create Pixar and Next. If he’d never been fired, the world would have never been blessed with Monster’s Inc. or Toy Story.

My friend talked about this when she was beaten up by her husband. For years she endured emotional abuse, but when he finally physically abused her she felt that it was socially acceptable to leave. Before, with just emotional abuse, she was worried people would think that she didn’t try hard enough or wasn’t a good enough wife. However, no one would justify a man beating up his wife. Thus she left and was free to get a divorce and eventually meet a great man who loved her and cared for her.

Mike Robbins also encountered this when he was injured while playing baseball. His life was setup to be a professional baseball player and when he injured himself, he was greatly saddened, but deep down felt a kind of relief from the burden of social and family expectations to be a great baseball player. By himself he couldn’t tell everyone who had been rooting for him and supporting his baseball for almost two decades that he didn’t want to do it anymore. However, by being injured and being unable to play, he was freed from the burden of responsibility and allowed to change direction in his life.

Freedom without Failure

Now the reason each of these people tell their story is to help teach us through their example. They are working to free your mind from it’s self imposed social, familial, and other obligations that are not really there and allow you to move onto a new path freely and without having to endure the pain that they felt.

Hidden Obligations

The second main benefit from Mike’s failure is that it revealed to him some of the driving forces and reasons for continuing baseball even as he was feeling as though he didn’t want to pursue it anymore. A primary one, and one that many people feel, was an obligation to be the the “good kid” or the “perfect child”. The siblings who go off the deep end and reject their parents ideals and beliefs are viewed as “lucky to still be alive” and the parents will love them while telling the other child that they’re lucky they have “at least one good son” or “one of the kids turned out okay” all the while the “good son” or “good daughter” is living a life that is unsatisfying. This came up in the truth box where people want to get out of their religion, or career, or place they live, or degree program. But expectations set by the parents, leaders, and other outside forces keep them on the straight path to “happiness” as defined by their elders. Mike was able to discover that he had been secretly working to please his mother. His mother had come to all the games and sacrificed and after seeing her enthusiasm and her support, he couldn’t “let her down” and just quit. He felt trapped.

 

For more information you can buy his book, Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken from Amazon. or check out his website at mike-robbins.com

The people over at the ManKind project put on a online summit called the Power of purpose. See here: http://otp.mkp.org/powerofpurposesummit/

The Premise of Purpose

I decided to go over some takeaways that I took from listening to the summit. In the introduction Chris Kyle and George Daranyi ask some poignant questions about purpose. They set up he basic premise:

That people are born with an innate purpose or reason for their existence. Nothing happens by accident and we all are here because we have something to give to the world.

Regardless whether or not you believe in this premise, this must be true for us to set out and discover our purpose. Now some may think this is narcissistic or overly grandiose but what the heck?A little narcissim is normal for everyone. Only when it goes crazy and becomes a personality disorder do you need to be worried. Also, believing that your gift to the world is teaching others or helping lift others up or some kind of benevolent giving action isn’t a bad thing.

Finding Purpose

George and Chris set up two questions that are to be answered:

1. Have you answered your inner call to your purpose? In this question it is assumed that we all have some inner drive to accomplish something or do something and finding what that something is may or may not be easy and may or may not be something that we have done yet.
2. If you have found your purpose, what have you done to fulfill it? The idea being that many people may have found their purpose, but in the interest of dealing with the minutiae of life, they relegate their purpose to a hobby in the workshop in the basement. This is especially true for men.

The next point they made was about the different types of purpose:

Collective Purpose and Individual Purpose

Some people find purpose in a collective way such as in a religion (The Pope), or political group (The President), or some other group working toward a higher purpose.

Some people find purpose in an individual way such as a painter (Thomas Kinkade), sculpture (Michelangelo), writer (Stephen King) , computer programmer (Richard Stallman).

For more information go to the ManKind Project: http://mankindproject.org

You can also find out more about Chris Kyle from : http://www.ascendantcompany.com/

and George Daranyi from: http://www.georgedaranyi.com/