|
THE SOUL'S PURPOSE
------------------
It often happens that when we look around ourselves, we see the life of another or others that look easier, where things seem to come more gracefully and with fewer obstructions. This is also true of those living conscious spiritual lives. For some, their spirituality appears to be light-filled and well-supported by outer experience, while for others, (and we often include ourselves in this), it may seem that obstacles prevail and moments of ease are much fewer.
These observations are true on the surface of things, for what another experiences is what they experience. Yet, it must be remembered at all times that each soul has chosen to learn what they need to learn in a given lifetime, and for some, a life of greater ease may serve that purpose, while for others, a life of greater hardship may do the same. Nevertheless, one must always remember that the inner and outer conditions that the soul has chosen are chosen only for a lifetime, and that those souls who have chosen an easier path in this life may have chosen a harder one in another.
There is a belief that is only partly true that one’s karma determines the ease or happiness of a particular life, and this is true insofar as issues in need of healing are always addressed through the unfolding of events. Yet, a soul who is proceeding well, lifetime after lifetime, along their own spiritual path, who is doing everything possible to advance the good that they contribute to the world and to live a life of love, may still encounter great hardships along the way, not because it is their personal karma generating these hardships as in ‘cause and effect,’ but because the hardships represent the best way that the soul has chosen in service to fulfill the purpose that they have come to fulfill.
This cannot be understood with the human mind, for the embodied being, due to the conditions of embodiment, would not consciously choose pain. However, the soul within that human being would choose pain as a path of service, in order to further their own expansion in light or in order to manifest a quality of Divine consciousness that will be of direct benefit to others. Often, both purposes are served.
For this reason, it is important not to judge oneself or others in terms of obstacles that may be encountered along the path of one’s spiritual growth, whether these obstacles be inner or outer, but to turn more deeply to the understanding that one is essentially and forever a soul, united with the Divine, and while the smaller self may feel too small to have chosen pain of any kind as a path of service, the larger self or soul may, indeed, have been generous enough, loving enough, and committed enough to its own sense of Divine purpose to make such a choice.
While embodied, human beings must learn, therefore, to not engage in comparisons with others to determine or define what their path is or how to evaluate it. Over and over again, the only real way to know what the path of one’s soul purpose is, is to ask to be shown from within. Sometimes the answer comes in a knowing that translates to conceptual understanding, but often the answer will come as an inner assurance that just by experiencing one’s life as it is, one is following one’s chosen path, given by God and by one’s soul to be of greatest benefit to oneself and to the Earth.
Such knowledge will not remove the pain often associated with encountering obstacles, especially those of a serious nature, but it can convey unlimited strength to the heart which has learned to hold its own experience of difficulty in the highest possible way.
|
