Choice 22
The Power of Purpose
Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.
—Viktor Frankl95
Difficult challenges and difficult feelings are an inevitable part of life. Sometimes things can seem so dark and gloomy that it may be all we can do just to carry on with our work and lives. These times are especially challenging when our efforts lack a sense of purpose. Eventually we must all face the questions: “What has my life contributed of lasting value? What was it all about? Why was I here at all?” And when these times come, we will be greatly aided if we have exercised the emotional discipline to harness the power of purpose.180
In his book The Power of Purpose, Richard Leider wrote:
Purpose is that deepest dimension within us—our central core or essence—where we have a profound sense of who we are, where we came from, and where we’re going. Purpose is the quality we choose to shape our lives around. Purpose is a source of energy and direction.96
Indeed, when life is its most challenging, we need a sense of meaning and purpose to provide us with the energy and direction that can help us sustain ourselves. But what can provide us with the sense of purpose we need? One primary source of purpose is service to others that is driven by an altruistic spirit. For those who might question the realism of prescribing altruistic service as a valuable source of finding meaningful purpose in our seemingly self-centered world, a creative perspective on the subject was proposed years ago.181
The well-known author Hans Selye, in his classic writings on human stress, coined the term “altruistic egoism.” Selye argued that by helping others (altrusim) and “earning their love” while at the same time recognizing our own needs and enhancing ourselves (egoism) we can enjoy a rewarding lifestyle, free of disabling stress. He explained that we possess a natural biological drive toward self-preservation. Consequently, according to Selye, it is only through marrying this “self-centered” nature with altruistic efforts to win the goodwill of others, that a happy meaningful life will result.97
One avenue for manifesting this kind of purpose in our lives is through our life work. The best-selling author and influential contemporary poet, David Whyte, who has consulted and made presentations for many Fortune 500 corporations, has addressed the powerful uplifting potential of doing meaningful work with a sense of purpose. He speaks of work that we really believe in and value because of the way it contributes to our own and others’ lives.
To have a firm persuasion in our work—to feel that what we do is right for ourselves and good for the world at the exactly same time—is one of the great triumphs of human existence. We do feel, when we have work that is challenging and enlarging and that seems to be doing something for others, as if… we could move mountains, as if we could call the world home; and for a while, in our imaginations, no matter the small size of our apartment, we dwell in a spacious house with endless horizons.”98182
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are good examples of how the power of purpose can help shape a successful career and rewarding life. They started their famous Ben & Jerry’s ice cream company after early career failures—Ben to become a potter and Jerry to get into medical school. They both loved food, so they decided to create a profitable business married to a social purpose for pursuing this interest. Through their business they made a commitment to “Be the best ice cream company in the world … be viewed as master ice cream makers… (to give) customers what they want, when they want it, every single time.”99
In terms of benefiting society and the world, they built directly into their mission statement a commitment to “Support nonviolent ways to resolve conflict… create economic opportunities for the disenfranchised… practicing caring capitalism … the environment.. . family farming. . .”100
Ben and Jerry combined passionate interests in food with being socially conscious. In doing so they created a successful business founded on a solid purpose of serving not only their customers but the world at large. Ben and Jerry have set a striking example of creating a sense of purpose as a crucial emotional discipline choice that can help in reaching positive dreams. The challenge for each of us is to discover our own sense of purpose.
For many, at the heart of a search for purpose is discovering what is frequently referred to as their “calling.” During a recent trip to St. Petersburg, Russia, my wife and I visited the famous Hermitage Museum. While we were there we were informed that the mostly artistic (and often priceless) holdings were so vast that if a person were to spend a mere minute looking at each piece of art it would take eight years to see everything in the museum. We were struck by the immense beauty and value of the art by famous artists such as Van Gogh, Rembrandt, and Da Vinci while so many people on the streets outside the museum walls were struggling to simply make ends meet in St. Petersburg’s suffering economy.183
So why so much art when there is a great need for seemingly more practical effort to help meet the harsher realities of life such as the need for food and shelter? The answer, we simply concluded, is that is what artists do, create art. It’s their calling and provides their sense of purpose in life, not to mention the inspiration that beautiful art brings to others, perhaps especially when their lives are mostly filled with continuous efforts to simply survive.
Abraham Maslow put it this way,
A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be at peace with himself. What a man must be, he must be.101
In his book Let Your Life Speak author Parker Palmer addressed the issue of our vocation as a key source of a purposeful life. He especially emphasized the importance of listening within (a good strategy, by the way, to combine with “the power of silence,” the focus of Chapter 20). He put it this way:
I must listen to my life and try to understand what it is truly about…. That insight is hidden in the word vocation itself, which is rooted in the Latin word “voice.” Vocation does not mean a goal that I pursue. It means a calling that I hear. Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am. I must listen for the truths and values at the heart of my own identity, not the standards by which I must live—but the standards by which I cannot help but live if I am living my own life.102184
This kind of deep inner listening is a form of profound emotional discipline. It requires patience and a process of letting go. At its most basic level it requires a transcending of the ego. Palmer had more to add to this insight:
Behind this understanding of vocation is a truth that the ego does not want to hear because it threatens the ego’s turf… this is what the poet knows and what every wisdom tradition teaches: there is a great gulf between the way my ego wants to identify me, with its protective masks and self-serving fictions, and my true self.103
Ultimately, choosing to discover a personal purpose can help us to find authenticity in our lives. Aligning our work and life pursuits with our unique nature can introduce authenticity into our experiences. And living authentically, with a sense of purpose, can be a primary source of emotional stability and inner peace. It can free us from the turmoil of being tossed in swirling winds of fluctuating mental and emotional forces. Nineteenth-century English author James Allen put it well in his book As a Man Thinketh:185
Thought allied fearlessly to purpose becomes creative force: he who knows this is ready to become something higher and stronger than a mere bundle of wavering thoughts and fluctuating sensations; he who does this has become the conscious and intelligent wielder of his mental powers.104