Finding Purpose, Seeking Meaning and Getting Clear About What Matters

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” — Mark Twain

Every person on this Earth has a mission to fulfill, a higher calling or purpose.  It is up to each of us to explore what our highest truths are and to pursue that which gives true meaning to our lives.  To use our given talents to help better society.  I believe we are all meant to evolve while living on this planet….to evolve as individuals and collectively as a species.

For me personally, as I grow older, I find myself stripping away things that no longer have meaning, whether that’s personal possessions, certain relationships, ideas that no longer fit with who I am, and so forth.  It’s an interesting place to be…..having done many of the things I originally set out to do, but realizing I have much more to give.  

What’s changed the most for me is my quest for more truth, more meaning and purpose in my life.  I find myself wanting to simplify and get back to basics.  I crave truth and deeper connections, and a desire to help change the world for the better.  

One of the good things that comes with getting older (and hopefully wiser) is developing more introspection and determining what we really value and where we want our energy to go.  I believe that to be fulfilled in a meaningful way, we must dig deep within ourselves and pursue what our hearts and souls are communicating to us.  To get really honest with ourselves about what sets our souls on fire, what makes us feel truly alive and to discover what our true purpose is in this lifetime.

Think about it…..on our death beds, we are not going to care about what title we held, how much money we made, how much stuff we accumulated, and so forth.  We are going to reflect on more meaningful thoughts and feelings, such as how much we loved and were loved, if we made someone else’s life a little easier, if we left this planet a little better….  That we have made a difference (for the better) by being alive on this planet….that is a life well lived.  And these are thoughts worth reflecting on.

We must ask ourselves – what kind of world do we want to leave behind? 

We are surrounded by so much beauty and magic in the natural world, and yet as a species, humankind is sadly not doing a very good job of protecting our life-giving Earth.  The planet is changing rapidly and is “losing animal species at 1,000 to 10,000 times the natural rate.  As many as 30 – 50 percent of the planet’s species may be extinct by 2050”, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.  With 7.7 billion humans and growing, the effects humans are having on the Earth are grave and concerning.  

The natural world is declining at an unprecedented rate….and humans are the cause of this.  Deforestation and habitat destruction, pollution, overfishing, hunting, poaching, animal agriculture, ocean dead zones, plastics, etc are all contributing to climate change and species extinction.  We are destroying not just the planet and other species, but ultimately ourselves.  All that we depend on for life and survival will be impacted from our actions (or inactions).

Consider this – the dinosaurs lived on this Earth for around 165+ million years, while humans have lived on this planet for just about 200,000 years.  “Civilization as we know it is only about 6,000 years old, and industrialization started in earnest only in the 1,800’s”, (excerpted from universetoday.com). In this extremely short time, humans have managed to wreak incredible havoc on our beautiful, life sustaining planet!

We need massive change on a global scale in order to reverse the damage we have created as a species.  Each of us has a responsibility to be caretakers of this planet.  Otherwise suffer very dire consequences.

We need to change our focus from the material world to the natural world.

Sadly, we are fed so much garbage.  We are inundated with shallow and superficial (so-called) entertainment and advertisements at every turn. I mean, who cares about what the Kardashians are wearing?  This has absolutely zero significance on our lives and ultimately takes our eyes off the ball of what truly matters.  

We must protect all lives that we share this planet with.

Every single living being matters, from a human to a dog to a cow to a pig to a chicken to a mouse to even a spider…. It has been said the more power we have, the greater the responsibility we have to protect those weaker than us.  

When I see the smallest of insects fighting for their lives when trapped inside my house, flying into the window over and over again to get back outside, I realize that these insects (as tiny as they are) value their lives just as much as we do! 

The fight for survival is in ALL of us, in every single living creature that walks (or crawls, swims, flies, etc) on this earth!

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Who are we to decide who lives or dies? 

Why do we feel the need to hurt others that are not as strong or powerful or smart as us?

We must cultivate empathy, not only for our fellow humans, but for all living beings that share the planet with us.  And we must nurture this life-giving planet like our lives depend on it, because our very existence does depend on the health of this planet!

As I began waking up to some of my own truths, these are questions that I have been pondering….

• Why, as a species, are we not doing more to protect our one and only life-giving planet?
• How will we live if we deplete Earth’s resources to the point of no return?
• Why are we killing billions and billions of innocent, loving, sentient animals every year, animals that want to live, just like us?
• Why are we still eating the dead flesh of animals instead of plant food that’s alive and healthful?
• Why are we drinking milk from cows, milk that is made specifically for calves?
• Why are we wearing the dead skin of tortured animals?  Dead skin that has been drenched in toxic chemicals?
• Why are we fishing our oceans to the point where we will have fish-less seas in the not so distant future?
• Why are we still hunting animals when we no longer need to?  And poaching endangered animals into extinction?
• Why are we using animals as entertainment, whether that’s zoos, circuses, rodeos, bull fights, etc when it’s so obviously cruel?
• Why are we still creating and using single use plastics?
• Why are we still spewing toxic waste into the seas, skies and land?

And on and on and on……

And most importantly, why are we not questioning all of these things more???  

Karmically, we must evolve as a species.  There is too much violence, apathy and ignorance in our world.  What we are doing to each other, to the innocent animals, to Mother Earth,….is not ok and will be our undoing.  We are killing countless species, insects, trees, forests, waterways, all that is good and natural in this world.  And future generations will pay the ultimate price. 

We are the ones who need to be worried.  When the oceans die and when whole ecosystems collapse, it is humans who will suffer.  The planet will rejuvenate once we are gone.  Mother Earth does not need us, we need her!  We must wake up to this very real truth! 

Everything we rely on to survive and thrive on this planet requires a healthy balance of nature, biodiversity, healthy ecosystems, healthy oceans, clean air, etc.

We must all take it upon ourselves to preserve, cherish and protect this beautiful planet we live on, if not for ourselves, then for our children and children’s children.  We must learn to deal more kindly with each other and to respect all sentient life forms on this Earth.  

We have the capacity to undo the destruction we have unleashed on this planet and to learn to live peacefully and lovingly on this planet.  We must do these things for our own survival….and soon!

Each of us has it in our power to Be The Change!  We can each take steps in our daily lives to make a difference. Everything we say and do has a ripple effect.  We never know who we are affecting by our words and actions. 

I’ve said this before because it is true.  And I will keep saying it. One of the biggest ways we can each make an impact is to live a vegan life and eat a plant based diet.  I believe that we can reverse the course we are on by making this important change and other changes in our every day lives.

It takes a village – if everyone can unite and work together, then we have the ability to undo the damage wrought on Mother Earth, bringing her back to a place of balance and health.  But we must work together!

“There are no passengers on the Spaceship Earth.  We are all crew.” ~ Marshall McLuhan

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi