Why Are We Here?

In our quiet moments, or in times of our personal crises or losses, we may wonder about the purpose of our existence. The question has a network of interrelated layers and extensions, from the personal to the universal, expanding from ourselves outward. If one person fulfills his or her own true destiny, then the whole of humanity is helped to move toward its destiny.

But how do we know what our personal destiny is? First, it is unique. If God is unique and if every one of us is, in our core, a particle of God, then we are each unique. So to imitate another will not work. A time will come when it just does not fit. Of course, we may receive hints of the range of possibilities of life by looking at the examples of other people who seem to have achieved their own destiny. But we are called to become ourselves, unabashedly and wholeheartedly. If humanity as a whole is to achieve its greatness, it can only come through each of us fulfilling our unique role, our individual, infinite singularity in the fabric of life.

Second, we can create our destiny. It is not laid out for us to discover. It is not hidden in the recesses of our personal psychology, nor in our personal history. It is not a function of the sum of our abilities and propensities. Rather, destiny is an invitation to fulfill the potential of our personal pattern, in the context of our family, society, and culture, and is brought forth by our own flair. We know in our depths what we love, what is worth doing, and what is possible for us. Within that mix lies our destiny. Through our labor and determination we bring it forth. Destiny cannot be pinned down, but is easy to recognize in those who achieve theirs.

Third, destiny has both inner and outer aspects. Outwardly, we may find, create and fulfill our destiny as a good parent, a carpenter, a nurse, a physicist, a poet, an artist, a chef, a salesman, a stock broker, or any of the myriad possible roles a human being can play. Inwardly, destiny concerns how far we may go in approaching the Divine. This depends on how assiduously we pursue the inner path of purification and integration.

Lastly, the seed of our destiny is planted in us at birth, and comes not from our parents, but rather from God. As a particle of God (which means the whole of God, since God is indivisible) we have free will. God is free and so are we. Within the constraints of our material circumstances and possibilities, we can choose how we shall live, how to respond to the events of our life, what to create through the vehicle of our life, what to contribute to the collective good. This gift of a Divine spark comes with a responsibility to serve. Through fulfilling our destiny, we may each repay the promise of our birth.

About Inner Frontier                                    Send us email 

Copyright © 2001-2024 Joseph Naft. All rights reserved.