We all experience the injustices of life and wonder how there can be purpose. The suffering we see if not experience requires a level of empathy and resilience that not all can master. 

I once wondered if I could truly choose my level of suffering. It was an experiment of perception controlling experience.  Visualization verified results that what I reflected on impacted my mood.

Yet, happiness has loopholes. We are only happy if, when, how and why something may happen. But the simple truth is that we should just be happy.

What  if we removed attachment from outcomes to events? Then, we could be happy.

This is a common practice, not a new one featured in many belief systems. All attachments leads to suffering.

But…

What if suffering leads to purpose?

I idealized purpose. I thought it meant success. I thought leaving my school program was a societal failure. However, I did more good and felt more satisfied than if I had stayed. I still believe I made a greater difference by leaving both for my students and for the faculty that I had been contact with. I relayed my ideas for the education system later.

Failure, starting over, going the detour instead of original destination and fighting obstacles is also part of purpose. 

The idea of purpose stuck with me. It wasn’t meaning because not everything had a meaning or a why. Not every lived event was for one’s benefit. For example, if a friend of yours went through  a senseless tragedy, would your comforting  words be that they could use it to do good in the world? Not at first. Nor should it be. It would be wow, this is tragic. It would be a reaction.

Huh, reactions. Gut feelings. Forgot about those. Maybe they have some purpose. Afterall, how do we process anything unless we experience layers of emotions and reactions? The truth is we don’t. We are not robots and for those into AI, sorry, I don’t think the emotional intelligence is there yet.

We suffer because we desire. We feel because we look for meaning. We live so that we may have a purpose. 

Our purpose may not come right away to us, but be a major setback that we overcome in some manner. 

Reason is not the answer, either. Feeling has more meaning than fact. Unless feeling is a knowing that we experience and superior to reason. Madness unfortunately rules this out in certain exceptions, when feelings and facts are both distorted. But for the time being, let’s assume madness doesn’t play as a factor. Feeling is gravity. It weighs us. It makes us human. It brings us back.

It’s not how to live but what to live for. How does purpose differ? It’s not a reason for why things are happening or even what to live for. It’s a choice in  how one responds to life with or without meaning. And that has something to do with character, determination, integrity—the key elements of all the greats.

You can’t  play with purpose – you either have it or you don’t. Meanings you can make up anytime. Feelings can be  persuaded. The rest is fluid. Deciding to not suffer via detachment to life is not living life. It misses the point.

Your character may be flawed but the beauty of purpose is that you get to live out your truth. Your response to life, your way, for usually a meaning. So, yes, we are back to that. It influences our feelings to being empowered. It creates its own detachment from outcomes because inner truth and integrity are the go to fuels of your fire.

It dares to create where there is lack. It makes room for those without. It leads where no one else will go. It stays where not one person can stand to remain. And it suffers. Yes, it suffers. More often than not, more than most. But it is beautiful, it is real, it is purpose. No one can turn their back on purpose once they have found it. It’s elusive yet always there. It reaches us where we thought we could not be woken. It shakes us til we feel. It shelters us from the storm. It doesn’t seek to change or convince the nature of one’s circumstances. Your calling is your character. It creates abundance in character and the greatest evolutionary tool - love. It softens those jealous of you, it persuades those who would ridicule and it humbles though strengthens you. You do not have to be rich. You do not have to be well known. It starts in the simple things.

Whatever you are combatting, make room for purpose.