A Journey of Purpose - whose Purpose?

Who hasn't asked the question to themselves, "What's the purpose of my life?" I've certainly asked it of myself many, many times over the years, and never really got a proper answer. I might have settled for one answer or the other, depending on where I was in my life at that time, but not entirely convincingly, or satisfactorily. So when I saw Pastor Rick Warren's book titled, "What on earth am I here for?" I was compelled to pick it up and bring it home.

The first line of his first chapter itself hit a nerve - "It's not about you."

And then he goes on to say, "The search for the purpose of life has puzzled people for thousands of years. That's because typically we begin at the wrong starting point - ourselves. We ask self-centered questions like What do I want to be? What should I do with my life? What are my goals, my ambitions, my dreams for my future?" And then the clincher - "If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose, for his purpose."

So I think I'm going to read the book and see what the rest of the 39 chapters talk about.

One exercise Rick Warren asks the reader to do is figure out what the reader's metaphor for life is. Some examples of what people said when asked to fill in the blank of "My life is a ______", are a roller-coaster, a carousel, a game, a puzzle, a journey, a symphony, a dance, etc. Pastor Warren says how you see life determines how you live - for ex., if you think life is a race, you want to win; if your metaphor for life is a marathon, you value endurance.

So I sat and thought about how I see life - yes, a journey, and a dream (or a nightmare sometimes), but mostly how I see it is as an illusion. To me, this explains why I'm always trying to let go of things. Every time I recall that this life is an illusion, hanging onto anything imaginary doesn't make sense. Over the past 6 years or so, I've let go of a lot of things that didn't seem meaningful or adding meaning to my life. Letting go makes life easier, simpler, free of distractions and attachments, most especially of beliefs. Letting go will then help hone in on what life isn't, and maybe eventually it will help answer my (soul's) eternal question - "Who am I?"