A Thought on Purpose...
...and the Purpose of Thought.
It always makes me sad when I hear someone say they think there’s no consciousness beyond death and no spiritual aspect to anything. They “want to believe” there’s something more, but are completely content in accepting a purely clockwork universe with no purpose other than to survive. And yet… and yet… they say they believe in karma. What do you think karma is? It’s a Law. Instead of governing the physical world, it governs behavior. Does that sound like something that emerged out of dead nothingness? Does any law for that matter?
I think reason shows that there’s some kind of creative intelligence at work. First principle in Hermetics: All is Mind. Anything we do or create starts with a thought, so it makes sense that the same principle applies on a larger scale. We have Laws, both seen and unseen, that work flawlessly. Something has to put the pieces in the correct order and place for anything to work properly. You can’t toss all the parts of a laptop into the air and hope they land in the right spots to build a functioning computer. An intelligence has to do that. A creative mind.
So, it makes sense to me that there’s a Divine ordering force at work, whatever we want to call it. You could say I’m a deist, pantheist, or animist. I don’t think any label really defines the whole truth, though. The best we can do is acknowledge the Laws we were given, live by them, and teach them.
Most of us understand the basic Physical Laws as a species, but we’re still pretty oblivious to the Spiritual ones. People hear the word “occult” and immediately think “that’s all rubbish” or “that’s the devil’s work!” It’s just knowledge of consciousness and universal law. It needs to be de-mystified, de-occulted. The Great Work may start within, but a paltry few occultists isn’t enough to change things without. The world needs it. There’s too big of a knowledge differential between the masses and the shady sorcerers running the show. That’s why you need to teach what you know, not sit on it and get into online arguments. Be a way-shower so we have less people thinking oblivion is all there is or that there’s no purpose. We don’t evolve with that kind of thinking.
Whatever Intelligence is at work, I’m pretty sure that’s what it would want us to do. Not to grovel and worship and live ascetically, nor be 24/7 hedonists, nor be content slaves while lying to ourselves that we’re not. We’re meant to seek truth and speak it, to create real freedom and evolve in consciousness. We have minds capable of reason, discovery, discernment, and conscience. We have the free will to choose which path to take, but without the right knowledge in hand we end up taking the path to perdition.
At least religionists have some knowing that there’s more to life than existing and surviving. And sure, some atheists have a kind of soulful outlook on life, but both sides end up taking very rigid world views. One has a purely deterministic view that we’re all pawns in some deity’s grand design, and that keeps them believing that action is meaningless. It’s a “let God sort ‘em out” world view, and evil loves that. Evil thrives when we sit around waiting for a savior. The atheist has the view that everything is random and born out of chaos, and that our primary purpose is pleasure and survival. The only laws are the physical ones, therefore there’s no real Karma, just luck, chance and happenstance. Neither view seeks a higher purpose within themselves, nor considers what we call Natural Law. And again, evil thrives as a result, and makes sure we stay in these boxes away from any higher truth.
And the truth – from the occultist’s perspective – is that there’s both a deterministic and a random aspect to reality. Natural Law is deterministic. It never changes, never bends or breaks. It is flawless and in operation throughout the universe. No matter where you are, it’s governing your behavior. Free Will is the random aspect. We can always make the conscious choice to do the right thing or the wrong thing. We’re not living on rails or on some inevitable course to oblivion. We can change things. We are co-creating our shared human experience every second of the day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, and so on. Or more accurately, in the eternal present moment.
What we do matters. We all have a shared purpose. Is the religionist going to activate that within themselves? Probably not. Is the atheist? Probably not. This is a false paradigm; a polarization dialectic. It’s there to keep us anchored in a mental schism and far away from the truth, either in rigid left-brained survivalism or naïve right-brained religionism. If we are rooted in the left-brain it can create the controlling master mindset. If we are rooted in the right-brain it can create the willing slave mindset. There’s no sovereignty or freedom in that.
We need Unity Consciousness. We need to bridge the gap. We need to find the middle path. This is about being spirit in the flesh, with our heads in the cosmos and feet on the ground. Science and Spirituality go hand in hand just as the Left brain and Right Brain are meant to work together in balance. When you bring these things together you get clarity of purpose, both on the grand universal scale and the personal / internal one. You see how these two dynamics work together and that you are just as important as the Laws that govern us. This is what every occult tradition teaches at their core.
As above, so below.
As within, so without.
No matter how seemingly insignificant human beings may seem from the vantage point of a sun, we all have a part to play. That sun is there to give us life and light so that we can do this Great Work, not sit around being purposeless and powerless. Ancient civilizations didn’t revere it just for a good harvest. They didn’t equate it with truth and wisdom just to tell parables on stone. They knew a higher truth. The sun gives its life so that we may LIVE… the opposite of EVIL.
The mind, spirit and body are encoded with a higher purpose, and we spend our lives suppressing it. Evil does everything it can to make sure we continue on that path, giving us endless belief systems to latch onto so that we forget. They don’t care which one you choose, as long as you choose.
Pure survivalism isn’t living. Sitting on your knees in blind worship to a god or government isn’t living. Indulging in endless sensate gratification isn’t living. Accumulating wealth isn’t living. Being in a constant state of fear and stress isn’t living. So, what do you think IS living? What do you think your purpose is? To me, it is to learn, create, and evolve in consciousness; to deeply understand Who We Are and Why We’re Here; to understand how everything is connected beyond the illusion of separation; and then to help create a reality based in Truth, Agapé Love and Freedom. Part of that purpose is to help others learn, create and evolve, as well, by being teachers and way-showers.
If we can fulfill that purpose, imagine what else we could do. Not even the sky is the limit. Don’t sell yourself short. You’re not just some animal trying to survive, nor are you a lowly being in a deity’s agenda. You’re a co-creator of reality. You’re here to learn the truth – within and without – and to do amazing things. You’re here to change the world, not to be changed by it. And we were given all the tools we need to do that work, including Free Will and Natural Law.
If what you believe makes you live in fear – fear of death, fear of punishment, or even fear of life – it’s time to reevaluate things. Throw the bullshit belief systems away that hold you back and diminish you, figure out what you came into this world to do, and start doing it. Step into that slipstream of higher purpose. There is absolutely NOTHING to fear.