Of Passion And Purpose

Our path is tends to be a maze, rather than a road...
- Img byAshley Batz on Unsplash.com

As one might expect of a blog adorning the word "passion" (Kefi, Greek), I might one day discuss it. This is a topic one is familiar with from an early age, in so any words:

• What do you want to be when you grownup?
• Get a job you're passionate about!
• Study what you love!
• It's important to find your purpose in life!
• Do everything with passion.

Yet when my husband and I dwelled on our life purposes, we came up with radically different answers. First off, he answered the question. I, on the other hand, asked myself another question - How does purpose manifest?

My first reaction was that I was still hungover on academia. However, after a few hours, I ended up with a letter-sized, color-coordinated pseudo-philosophy of the manifestation of purpose, set with my own esoteric and awkward terminology. All of which, I will spare you the agony of reading.

Regardless, I sorted out a few conflicted thoughts. Passion can be difficult to define, as even more difficult to apply. Not because it isn't inherent,
but because of our external environments, what we are told about our passions. And what we are told about ourselves.

As might be typical of those with a religious background, I first divided identity into two parts - the external identity and the internal (which I deemed "eternal" but that's secondary). Here's the breakdown:

Family is a big part of influencing our life purpose.
- Img by London Scout on Unsplash.com

The external deals with - as you might expect - all things relevant in the material world: our cultural, ethnic, linguistic, political, social, racial and religious identities. Anything that we associate with our identity based on our outside appearance or actions is in this category. This classification has to deal with the changing environment. Our perceptions of all these things change over time, but they contribute to our environment. 

The internal/eternal deals with intrinsic personality traits we are born with. It's the 'core' of each individual, and while the environment encourages and discourages certain traits, I feel like they never truly disappear. 

Basically it's not anything unknown to you. Hundreds and thousands of more articulate and intelligent people than me have had these ideas and written them down. However, I have connected it to another divide.

In breaking down the internal self, there's two main thought processes:

• One Purpose / linear
• Multi Purpose / non-linear

And it's perfectly normal to be somewhere between those two ideas. Basically, a linear thought process deals with concrete goals: house, retirement, kids, job I like, etc. A non-linear process deals more with verbs: to create, to make, etc.

A linear process is one I believe tends to be more practical. A non-linear process may be more jumbled up, and the individual will have to carve out a path based on more abstract ideas. These ideas, too, are nothing new. 

So what does that have to do with anything?

Well, a "life purpose" can be multifaceted. Often, I find myself pulled towards numerous "purposes", and I become a bit paralyzed, and am thus unable to accomplish any of them. And dealing with a non-linear type can be particularly straining, because it's far more abstract and may not fit into the "external" world fully. Thus, if you're interested in simply "creating X,Y,Z", you may feel like you are not completing your purpose to sustain your family, to reflect cultural expectations and the like.

Basically, I feel like the multi-purpose road, if not channeled properly, can end up being a roadmap to no where. But I also realized that there's also the ability to have at least more than one "true" purpose, if we want to get away from the "epic" allegory.

• You need linear purposes to survive
• But your non-linear ideas may support this as well.

Basically, this is a long-winded way of saying you need to understand what you want vs what you need. And once you write that list out, it's important to mediate how you can use your abstract passions to fuel your practical life. 

It's very easy to get lost, burnt out, or just loose interest
in life and purpose....
-Img by Anubhav Saxena on Unsplash.com

However, this isn't just a feel-good talk about do what you like and make it work for you. It's important to also avoid some less-productive and more soul-sucking imbalances like

• over indulgence in consumption of goods/overworking
• creating nothingness (creating goods that have no intended value and thus saturate everything; making something to get rich quick, etc.)
• inaction (refusing to do something because of fear/apathy)

These things listed above, I think, constrain the individual on either the material or internal end of things.  They can sabotage creativity and possibly your practical life, if you hold off for too long.

Most of these ideas are no doubt elementary and possibly borderline new-agey; and I suppose I may think something completely different in the next year. But without reflecting on it, I can guarantee I wouldn't get anywhere.