This body and mind is an instrument by which something in you is expressing. But what is that something, what is its origin what is its momentum? Karma.
Everyone has an individual mind. From where has it come? Why do you have the unique nuances of individuality that you have? Karma. There is diversity of expression in the commonality of humanity. This is amazing, don’t you think? Every single human being on earth, throughout time, has been original and unique in the particular nature of their expression. We recognise common themes in one another because we are like-minded but, even in that like-minded sharing there is a hierarchy of individual priorities. I suggest to you it is beautiful to recognise the originality of your mind. Perhaps sometimes you doubt yourself and think you should be like someone else. But isn’t it more beautiful to, with wisdom, acknowledge the important uniqueness of you? You cannot avoid that expression so it is wise to express yourself skilfully, with wisdom, and make the best of it.
Where does it come from, this originality? It’s the seeds of the past that have flowered in this particular moment as the drives within you. By the past, we mean the long past. It isn’t necessary to remember what that was, to feel the importance of your own motivations. They are there whether you remember them or not.
What is the purpose of life? What’s the mystery of your own immortality, the something that pervades beyond death and is therefore prior to birth? It would be a bold person who said, “It is this!” But perhaps we could agree that surely the purpose for you is to fulfil your destiny, whatever it is, your particular destiny.
That’s a big word, destiny. It means your motivations. What is it that motivates you? Karma. In practice, this manifests in your instincts, your motivations, your desires, what you want to do because those things are in you. You might not have a big obvious goal in life but is that true? Maybe you do. There probably is an arena of possibilities that you would like to fulfil. That’s the purpose of life. We can’t say exactly what these fulfilling things should be but we can say there is a drive. That drive to build, develop and express, to follow through is the purpose of life, your own individually. Collectively, the purpose of life can be said to be the evolution of individuality.
Something huge is going on. Nature is doing something. We don’t know exactly what it is but we are right amidst it, acting on its behalf. We don’t know the big picture but there’s no need to know the big picture for us to sense that it’s good. The world has some issues. Societies have some difficulties but all growth is like that. It’s turbulent at times but all growth and change is like that. I look at our garden. Our garden is full of universes; we share our garden with billions of creatures. Some we can see and some we can’t. A garden is full of universes. We’re one of them. Every day, in our garden, and every night, there are dramas – death, birth, sacrifice, fighting, trouble, territorial rights, selfishness and mothering and benevolence and birth and growth and disease and plants fighting to evolve. All of nature is like that.
If we did have the big picture, I’m certain you would not see any of that as bad. But in the small picture, things often appear bad. Also, why should we think that human beings should have all their own way? It’s mad! Nature is in charge. Something is going on. It’s immense. It’s been going on for a long time. It’s full of vitality. You’re involved in it. Collectively, it’s evolution and individually, I’m declaring that the purpose of this very life that you are experiencing is to move towards fulfilling your destiny as part of that evolution. In other words, that which is important to you to address, or discover, or pursue, or achieve, or claim, or let go of, or give up. It’s pretty exciting I think and if some of that is hard, well, never mind