From Ambition to Meaning

Clebe McClary defined success as “Finding God’s purpose for your life early in life and sticking with it all of your life.”

Ambition to Meaning is a movie I highly recommend to anyone who asks the question “What is my purpose?” We mentioned that idea briefly in the previous post that when you fallow your heart’s bliss it will lead you to find your purpose. Raymond Holliwell’s book “Working with the Law” illustrates a point which could clarify the meaning of this desire for purpose.

In the book he describes a ‘Law of Non-Resistance’. This law would appear to be self explanatory but it goes deeper than doing what is easy or what comes naturally. When one aligns oneself with their higher purpose the difficulties that seem too great to overcome dissipate and are brushed aside almost effortlessly. If there is something that we are doing which requires a great deal of effort to overcome we are off purpose.

If you are a musician have you ever got caught up in practicing your latest song that hours few by and it felt like mere minutes? Or if you are a writer have you needed to set an alarm to remind yourself to take a break and go eat something? Didn’t it seem the best pieces of your work happened during those times? These ‘go with the flow’ states are more than just good times flying by, they are the events that contribute to the over arching purpose that one has for their life.

Now it does not mean that everything will come with ease, there are parts of this human existence that do require us to do something that we do not enjoy. But we can make the doing of it enjoyable knowing that it is leading us toward experiencing our bliss. In fact knowing that can make the act blissful. Doing the dishes is something that I don’t think anyone was put on this planet to do, but we can do it knowing that it provides a useful service that is needed for the enjoyment and function of life.

I have heard it in many different ways from many different people that they do not know what it is they are meant to do. Even to go so far as they ‘know’ there is nothing they are meant to do and that no one else has a purpose in their life. To them everything is a random series of events ultimately leading to chaos and catastrophe, dealing with it as a net loss of energy. I would stress to this individual to take their eyes off of themselves just long enough to figure out there is a greater meaning to life than what we can possibly describe. Start to focus on others and the value that they bring to this existence and see how their value may lead you towards finding meaning. In fact if this individual has such a hard time releasing the Ego and looking outward I would suggest DOING something that is focused outward. Do something in the act of selfless service. Do it without any hope of reward or return on your investment. Do this act and the purpose for your life will emerge. In the act of service is where one can find joy, honesty and humility in their life.

To put this idea into practical terms, ambition is not an intrinsically bad thing. Ambition without meaning is. Passion and the love you feel for what you do is not wrong, uncontrolled passions are. When we get ambitious about what we are doing not for the achievements associated with it but for the greater meaning that it represents we begin to live a life of purpose. Success is a by-product of a purposeful life.