Who Am I? A Life On Purpose Perspective
I've had a feeling for sometime now that there's a deeper level
to go with the Life On Purpose Process. It's been incubating for
several months, surfacing from time to time, often while I'm
reading something of a spiritual nature.
I'm now ready to give a first cut at it. I'll begin with the
idea that with the Life On Purpose Process we can address the
question of "who am I?" For example, when someone says, "My life
purpose is..." Who is the my/I that they are referring to?
During the first part of the process, it becomes clear to people
that they've been living a life of 'mistaken identity,' as they
uncover their Inherited Purpose. In this process they realize
that they are not their Inherited Purpose, but instead they have
an Inherited Purpose. With this insight comes the possibility of
shifting from being the Inherited Purpose (or perhaps it's more
accurate to say, 'being had' by the Inherited Purpose) to only
having an Inherited Purpose.
So, if we're not our Inherited Purpose, who are we?
Well, it might be natural to say, we're our true, divinely
inspired life purpose, also known as the created life purpose.
While this is closer, it's not quite accurate. Here's what I see.
In the Prime Your Passion exercise that we use to clarify a
person's true life purpose we use the metaphor of standing in
front of a canvas. Previously, what was on that canvas was the
picture of the person, or at least of whom they've considered
themselves to be - their Inherited Purpose. And then in the
process of uncovering the Inherited Purpose for what it truly
is, they are able to lift it from the canvas, leaving themselves
with a blank canvas upon which to create. And what they then can
create or paint on the canvas is their true, created life
purpose.
So, based on all of that, who are we? Try this on.
It appears to me that who we truly are, is the blank canvas. Or
perhaps we're both the blank canvas AND the artist. It resonates
for me to view myself, the individual as the canvas -- the
canvas being the individualized soul that resides here on earth
in the body. It's this individualized soul that I am, also known
as the observer or witness. Then there's the artist who could be
thought of as the oversoul or God, but in a sense it is all one
and the same at this level. (A bit like a wave being an integral
part of the whole ocean.)
Just to finish out the metaphor, the paints we use are the
different "pigments of meaning" (composed of thoughts and
feelings) that we dab onto our blank canvas with the brushes of
our heart and our mind. What becomes possible is our personal
life on purpose masterpiece.