Discovering Individual Purpose and Meaning

How does one find individual purpose and meaning amongst the chaos of the times?  I believe purpose and meaning derive from the minimum of two disciplines.  One discipline is the endless pursuit of self-mastery within the entirety of one’s life and the second being the attainment of high-level proficiency through the mastery of a craft.  That craft mastery can either be of a free choice desire or the necessity of survival.

Self-mastery will be applied very broadly into every facet of one’s life and the discipline of craft mastery will be applied very directly to a specific area of focus.  Another way of thinking about it is self-mastery is changing your perspective from within to see the outside world more clearly, while craft mastery is seeing your creation of something outside of yourself to more clearly see the reality of who you actually are.  Both juxtaposing one another to create a balance of the way you see the world from within and how the world sees you from outside.  This allows you to remain true to who you are while constantly connecting to all other individuals.

In order to begin this process of discovery to one’s purpose and meaning the path must be intentional.  That is simply saying there must be an individual desire to apply oneself towards growth and the ownership to prove that desire through the actions taken on a daily basis.  No one can or will do this part for any individual, this must be earned through continual personal growth and the proof of deliberate action taken throughout one’s daily life.  We all need help and guidance to achieve our own purpose and meaning in this life, but only the individual can discover their path for themself.

Before I go any farther I want to break down a few of the words above.

Purpose and Meaning:  A life in which we constantly strive to become better on a personal level.  In return, we can more positively influence others in hopes for the creation of a better future.  A life in which we have clarity in our daily pursuits that will continually motivate us to be better no matter our current state or lot in life.

Discipline:  Areas of life in which we intentionally apply our time and capacity on a daily basis to become better individuals in order to better serve others.  One disciplinary focus needs to be internal (self-mastery) while the other should be an outer based focus (craft mastery.)  Each discipline is broken down individually to be studied, applied, and reflected upon daily to ensure growth and ownership through proof of practice.

Self Mastery:  The endless internal dissection towards the refinement of oneself and all experiences in order to become a better individual to be of better service to others.

Refinement: The reflection process in which you take all experiences to learn from the bad and what not to do, as well as why the actions are taken didn’t work. Then taking the good and deciphering why the actions taken worked and how to make the process even better.   This helps understand the past and present to more clearly craft one’s projection of what they are working towards in life, a more desirable individual future.  A process of constant improvement towards one’s purpose and meaning in life.

Craft Mastery:  An outer practice of a specified skillset taken to a high level of proficiency that allows an individual to relate their wisdom to benefit the rest of their life as well as the life of all others.  The principles of the craft transcend the specific to become a source in which you can connect and serve all others no matter what their disciplines may be.

Ownership:  Taking full responsibility for your life no matter the past or present.  Accepting the fact that no one is going to create your desired future for you, because no one knows where you want to be heading, not even yourself.  It is constantly changing with every bit of growth experienced throughout your life.  Your actions lead to results and those results guide your desired future.

What is the importance of finding purpose and meaning in life?  It helps make sense out of everything you experience in this life as well as drives you towards continual growth no matter what your circumstance is or what your desired future may be.  Purpose and meaning drives each person to make the most of each day in hopes of a better future for themselves, for others, and for the collective.  The experience helps relate us all together through our disciplines and the struggles we all are exposed to in this life.

Without this overreaching sense of purpose and meaning in life, we all revert into negativity and insanity by looking for superficial ways to escape our responsibility for our situation.  This is a scary place for anyone to be and the longer a person views the world through this perspective the more dangerous they are to everyone pursuing a better future.  The negative insanity loop will swallow all those who don’t have a true sense of what they are working towards in this life and why.

We must become clear about what that is to us in order to become impervious to all the temptations into mediocrity and negativity.  Once you are aware, there is no going back without grave consequences.  There is no easy journey, so why not apply yourself in a way in which you can look back at the end of each day or the end of your life with complete satisfaction upon your actions?  I can’t imagine waking up any day without a clear drive towards more purpose and meaning in my life.