What is the Purpose of Life?

As I was thinking about the subject of this article, I went within to ask for guidance.  The answer came back as the question you see here.  You might agree the topic is a bit overwhelming, and perhaps, even pretentious.  Is there really an answer to this question?  Although, my path has been leading in this direction, at the outset I wasn’t sure what to write.  But as I began, thoughts started flowing and clarity emerged.  Once again, I was gently reminded that we are not alone.

So, here’s what I want you to know about this article.  There is an answer to this question.  But the answer comes from an expanded view.  An awareness limited to the physical senses may find some of the views expressed here challenging.  However, try to keep an open mind.  And remember, though it may be repressed, we all have within us the ability to recognize truth.  The information shared here is not intended to be kept secret and excludes no one from its discovery.  What follows is an invitation to witness an expanded view that reveals the true purpose of living.

The nature of evolving consciousness leads to spiritual awareness.  The process of turning our attention inward increases awareness of our inner dimension.  At the outset of my journey, I didn’t know this.  However, as my awareness expanded, I was increasingly aware of a spiritual element.  This surprised me.  I recall thinking at the time, if I’d known this was a spiritual path, I might not have taken it.  Some might agree, but looking back, I see it was just fear of something I didn’t understand.  Today, spirituality is what I embrace most.  You may wonder is this the same spirituality recognized by religions around the world?  It is.

However, with one major difference.  Most religions teach that we are separate from the Creator, just as we believe we are separate and apart from each other.  But an expanded view makes clear that we are not separate from our Creator, or each other.  This fundamental difference in views can be traced directly to different levels of conscious awareness.  An awareness that sees only with the physical senses concludes we are separate from all else.  But through turning our attention inward our spiritual side begins to emerge, bringing new levels of awareness that are undetectable to the physical senses.

From an expanded view every human being possesses the potential to expand their awareness.  It begins with a will to consider there is more to our consciousness than we know.  However, rising above the perception of separation from each other and God, requires more than an intellectual understanding.  Meaning, thinking by itself can only take one so far.  Yet it’s no more difficult than turning one’s attention inward.  This seems simple, and it is, just be aware that one should not expect to be instantly rewarded with profound spiritual awareness.  It’s essential to suspend one’s expectations, to have patience, and to take a steady, measured approach to allowing higher awareness to reveal Itself.  Still, by attuning oneself to subtle changes and experiences, it will bring new awareness and signs there is more to learn.

Another way to conceive of this journey is to imagine a vertical spiral.  The spiral represents conscious awareness as a continuum.  Every individual’s awareness has a location along the spiral.  Most people are clustered at the level where physical sensory input defines their reality.  This level of awareness does not conceive of the ability to expand one’s awareness.  Yet as we learn this is possible, and succeed at expanding our awareness, we move up the spiral.  Each higher turn reveals a fuller—more comprehensive view of our existence.  For example, through this process, we begin to see how our limited perception of separation drives everything we think and do.  And how the limits of sensory awareness prevent us from discovering the true purpose of life.  Using the spiral to depict different levels of conscious awareness shows how easily our understanding of life can be limited.   

The French Catholic and Jesuit Priest, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881 to 1955) is credited with this quote: We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.  We are spiritual beings having a human experience.  Here, he is speaking from a higher turn on the spiral.  His view extends beyond what our physical senses can detect.  This revelation lies at the core of our being—the very essence of our true selves.  Without this awareness the purpose of this life eludes us.  Unwittingly, we have accepted the ego (aka the lower-self) as our guide.  But the ego knows only what the physical senses can detect, reinforcing the limitations of sensory input and the apparent conclusion that each of us is separate from all else.

To better understand the purpose of life, we need to first become more familiar with the human experience.  As we’ve discussed, most people’s beliefs are based on the perceptions of their physical senses.  But from an expanded view there is much that we can’t see.  For instance, did you know we choose to come into this world confident that we can consciously overcome the obstacles associated with physical existence? Yet the very first hurdle, the one that most never succeed in overcoming, is the loss of memory of what we’ve come here to achieve.  Which means every life begins with an awareness limited to the perception of our physical senses.  From this innate sense of awareness, we draw our conclusions from the world around us—with no idea that consciousness extends well beyond the limits of sensory perception.

Experience on the physical plane is harsh.  Our attention is focused on the immediacy of survival.  Suffering and sacrifice seem to be a natural part of existence.  Knowing nothing else, we take these demands as a challenge and pit ourselves against nature, each other, and God.  We are born into a race and learn the ways of the world from those with whom we’ve chosen to enter this life.  Our sensory-based awareness focuses on our differences.  Ethnicity, customs and cultures, shape our beliefs and animate our thinking, which then serves as the catalyst for our actions.  The results of those actions constitute our experience and become the foundation on which reality is built.  Even within our own race and culture, we see ourselves as separate and apart from one another.  What is not part of our awareness is that beneath our physical differences, we are all spiritually equal—all here for the same purpose.  Each life begins with the same goal, to remember our true spiritual nature.  Yet sensory perception convinces us of our separation. The belief in separation is the source of an illusion that we all have spent many lives trying to overcome.

What I’m sharing can only be fully understood through an expansion of conscious awareness.  Without that benefit, what I’m saying is next to impossible to comprehend.  However, being exposed to this information offers an alternate explanation for the purpose of life.  And, if one is genuinely interested in discovering the true self, then let the insight here be an incentive for attaining that purpose.  Remember, truth must ultimately be discovered from within—through one’s own path of inquiry and comprehension.

As we access higher states of consciousness, the reality of a Creator begins to transcend the awareness of a purely physical existence.  Across different cultures and religions many names have been attributed to the Creator.  To this day, these differences remain a cause for righteousness and conflict over religious beliefs.  Here, the names of Source, Creator, God and Spirit, are used interchangeably.  No offense is taken if you choose to substitute another name more resonant with you.  However, in the end it matters not by what name we recognize the Creator, for there is but one Source responsible for all creation.  And that Source, by any name, is One with all of us. 

While our full conscious potential brings us into awareness of our Oneness with God, our limited awareness sees us as separate.  Working from this limited point of view, humanity has attempted to explain God in the language of separation.  For instance, the very idea of a Creator suggests that something separate and apart from us is our Source.  Other examples speak of God as the Father and we as His children.  Speaking of Jesus as the Son of God is often misunderstood to mean a single individual. Yet an expanded view holds that every human being, regardless of gender, is meant all-inclusively when referring to the Son of God.  Believing we are separate from one another and God makes it impossible to comprehend our true relationship.  And relying on words that infer separation only serves to confirm that belief.

In the absence of an expanded view of the Creator, we have projected God in the image we hold of ourselves—one who is vengeful, punishing, and select in His benevolence.  We cry out: If there is a God how can he possibly let the horrors of this reality exist?  What we can’t see is this reality is created by our belief in separation.  And because we are looking outside of ourselves for answers, God makes a convenient scapegoat for our suffering. But here, we’re confusing our sensory-based reality with the reality of Creation, which is well beyond the comprehension of the senses.  In other words, we have no way of discovering our true reality as long as our awareness remains limited to the physical world.  Under these conditions our knowledge of God, and the integral part our spiritual selves play in creation, remains hidden.

To believe we are separate from God is to live within the illusion of a dream.  We are not separate from our Creator—we never have been and never will be.  Yet, we hold onto the idea of being separate from God because we want to believe in our individuality—believe that we control our thoughts and determine our destiny.  And to the extent of our limited awareness, we’ve made that happen—albeit in a hellish sort of way.  Maintaining the reality of separation forces us to compete with one another for everything.  Individual struggle and sacrifice are rules we impose on ourselves.  The price we pay is that small, but constant, sense of doubt and uncertainty that comes from believing we are alone in the world.  So, why do we resist our connection with God?  In a word, fear.  Fear of the unknown.  Fear of losing control—such that it is. Fear that we will be punished for our misdeeds.  But nothing is unredeemable in the eyes of God.  As spiritual beings our mission here is to see beyond the illusion of separation and the fear that holds it in place.

On the contrary, we go to great lengths to convince ourselves separation is real!  One example is the inquiring mind.  We try to console ourselves with the idea that we already know everything; yet our awareness extends no further than our physical existence.  We cultivate relationships, have families, and connect socially with others, all as a means of trying to repress the feeling of being alone.  Yet none of these things can overcome the perception of the separate self.  It only delays awakening to a deeper awareness that patiently awaits our discovery.

The good news is we aren’t alone!  Spiritually, we are not separate from each other, or God.  Of course, this is impossible to know without having discovered our spiritual selves.  But that’s the whole point to expanding our conscious awareness!  While many believe in God, there’s a difference between believing and knowing.  To know of God’s existence on the spiritual plane, we must discover the spiritual side of our being.  This requires turning our attention inward.  Which is the means to expand our awareness beyond the limits of sensory input.  As has been shared repeatedly, it’s the reliance on our physical senses that affirms our belief in separation and reinforces the idea that we are alone.  Consider our perception of death.  No one likes to think about dying.  It represents the end of us—at least, what we’ve identified as us.  Part of the fear of dying is not knowing what happens after death.  Those who believe in God may find some comfort in their belief.  Beyond that what the physical senses can tell us about life after death, is nothing.

It might make more sense, and perhaps be easier to comprehend, if we stopped thinking of God in the image of ourselves and start thinking of God as the Mind that gives rise to all that Is.  Mind creates and communicates through Consciousness.  Mind expresses Itself as a spectrum of consciousness that exists within all beings, all physical forms and all non-physical elements.  Ultimately, through Creation, Mind shares Itself with everything that exists.

Mind as the Source is eternal—limitless and unchanging.  By comparison the reality perceived through separation is finite—bound by time and constant change.  The essence of the Source is love.  While the essence of separation is fear.  Given the contrast, we need to look realistically at what we’ve created.  In a world divided by separation, do we live peacefully and easily with ourselves and among our neighbors?  It would be seriously delusional to say we do!  And so, as creators, we have manipulated a little bit of mind to serve the delusional belief in separation and fear.  And while that little bit of mind is divided by fear, it cannot know love in its purest form.  Nor can real peace be known without bringing full conscious awareness to the source of fear.  Awareness of this existential dilemma is beyond the perception of the physical senses.  Only through an expansion of consciousness can humanity set aside the illusion of separation and awaken to the true purpose of living.

Summary

As I said in the beginning, the answer to the question: What is the purpose of life, cannot be truly answered without the benefit of expanded awareness.  While the expanded view challenges the common perception of life, it’s not intended to offend.  Rather it’s intended as an invitation to view life and our purpose from a perspective beyond the limits of our physical senses. 

In attempting to share an expanded view, we are required to look deeper into the human experience.  It’s my hope through this short overview you will have gained some new insight into our collective condition.  In the next article, I’ll have more thoughts on the human experience.  For now, expect the expanded views shared here to challenge the perceptions of your ego.  But as I’ve said, at one time, I too would have found these expanded views difficult to comprehend!

Let me be frank, it’s not for me, or anyone, to tell you who you truly are.  This can only be known through one’s own desire to know the truth.  And each of us must decide if it will be this life, or the next, when we finally choose to awaken to the higher-self.  Each of us is gifted with the ability to expand our conscious awareness.  However, this ability is largely obscured because our conscious attention is fully focused on the sensory input of the outside world. The perception of reality conveyed by our physical senses is unmistakable—we can see it, hear it, touch it, taste it and smell it.  How could there be anything else?  Yet what I have shared here is my own realization of a deeper truth.  That underlying the physical density of flesh and bone can be found the wholeness of our spiritual being.  The discovery of which is what is meant by awakening to the higher-self.

Spirit does not force us to know of Its presence.  It simply waits patiently for our awakening.  The means to return to Oneness have always been present.  The challenge before us is to see through the belief that conscious awareness is limited to the perception of our senses.  To recognize that pain and sacrifice are the conditions imposed by our belief in separation.  We can overcome this limited awareness by simply turning our attention inward.  And through an ever-expanding awareness, experience our Oneness with the Creator along with the love, peace, and joy, that was originally and forever bestowed upon us.  At our core, we are spiritual beings!  The purpose of life is to fully awaken to our true Self!

Want firsthand experience expanding your awareness?  Try this exercise!

In choosing to expand one’s awareness, it’s worth knowing that it doesn’t happen without confronting some barriers.  Anytime we contemplate a decision involving the unknown the experience of fear will arise.  Fear is frequently masked as doubt, uncertainty, or apprehension, but its purpose is always the same–to block our progress.  The source of fear is the lower-self, or more accurately, us.  We feel safe with what we know.  So, anything we don’t know makes us uncomfortable.  Yet fear of the unknown is largely imagined!  I can assure you of this from personal experience.  Each of us must then decide whether the benefits of stepping into the unknown outweigh the challenge of overriding our imagined fear.

As I’ve shared in previous articles, expanding awareness can come from both internal and external sources.  In this exercise, I’m asking you to use your powers of observation on the world around you.  Look to see how many ways the belief that we are separate from one another impacts our lives.  What effect does that have on society and each of us?  Make notes of your observations.  Let what you observe be the experience that expands your awareness!