PODCAST: A constancy of purposeWe all have enough to do. Whether it be discharging responsibilities or the manner in which we address conventional expectation, the pressure to become ever more productive seems never to cease.
Yes, we volunteered to undertake many responsibilities—desiring financial prosperity and a family, perhaps, or in service of an obligation such as the care of an aging parent. But regarding demands made by the cultural zeitgeist, we seem to have no choice but to meet them—the consequences of a failure to do so can be dire. Take parenthood, for instance. It is not a discrete accomplishment. Along with it come many other conventional expectations and time commitments.
Especially if we find ourselves on playing fields wherein our temperament, personality and skills are not a natural fit, our responsibilities can be anxiety-producing. Comparisons are omnipresent. We may judge ourselves harshly when we compare our performance in these arenas to those whose temperaments and skills are a natural fit.
Nonetheless, despite the fact of all these functionary roles and their demands, the spirit wanting what it wants is an axiom of life—for most of us as convincing as gravity. And if we ignore this human spirit, our lives, however occupied, feel impoverished, incomplete, hollow.
So, though a successful, social personhood is expected of us, the more private, interior self has its own needs. It is here that we generate peace of mind and stability—no matter how busy. It is here that we make sense of the world that we live in. It is here that the spirit soars.
But it’s not a given, this spirit. Though it wants what it wants, it must be refined to be made meaningful and to make a difference to the lives of others.
A creatively intelligent and responsible expression of this spirit is a result of a carefully acquired and practiced capacity. It is not a mindset or belief or feeling easily accessed. It begins with an understanding of ourselves as not only instruments or role players but as transcendent possibility.
Of course, we can seem to get by without really acquiring spiritual maturity, without cultivating affinity, compassion and generosity. We don’t go to jail if we are egoistic, verbally aggressive, antagonistic or thoughtlessly submissive.
But life can feel hollow, and we can feel less than who we might be, without it. Yet, too often under the pressures of the everyday, we shortchange or sideline our commitment to the fulfillment and contribution that spiritual depth yields.
Too easily we are derailed. Too easily we lose our focus. Too easily we are implored by bandwagons to mindlessly conform to the selfishness, nastiness and resentment that now characterize much of politics, the media and other institutions.
We want to be standard-bearers for another possibility. The expression of a deep and abiding soulfulness requires a constancy of purpose and transcendent practice—the act of getting over ourselves. So it is important to stay on track with the practices—not with rote lip service but boldly. Power, inspiration, momentum, creativity and transcendence favor the bold.