The Purpose of Life

CHAPTER 1

“When the universe was birthed in fire and majesty, when the wind of creation filled all of space, your ancient soul dwelt even then among the endless stars.  The cradle of your birth is but a gossamer dream passing you from the glory you have known to the brilliance you shall become.  You are a twinkling star that has illuminated the sky, flown now from the heavens to light the world.

You were not born by idle chance nor intended to walk the Earth in forgotten trepidacious steps.   Your life has a greater purpose than simply living, a grander promise than mere relaxation upon the morrow.  Abiding within your essence are wonderful talents and abilities that uniquely proclaim your name.  Seek earnestly to develop the alluring pursuits that beckon to you; resonant endeavors which compel your enduring interest, passion, pleasure and excellence.   Upon their wings you will soar and in the purposeful expansion of your divine endowments you shall discover a sweetness of life that ever abides.”

What of Balance?

CHAPTER 2

“The journey of life is like the formidable challenge of fording a mighty river.  Swift and furious rush the turbulent waters; pushing, pulling, surprising with bursting waves of cold, unexpected fury.  Only with vigilant attention, carefully treading along the unseen conduit of a narrow, passable ford, cautiously balancing upon every small, rounded and slippery rock beneath the restless waters may the bounty and peace of the beautiful, faraway shore be safely reached. 

Balance and the renewing cycles of life created from the harmony of its sweet song, is the firm foundation of the universe upon which all things exist.  The smallest atom hears its voice.  Every planet circling a sun dances to its music.”

What of Character

CHAPTER 3

“The steadfast nobility of your character is the robust rock upon which you build the incomparable temple of your life.  Whether your life becomes a towering edifice, awed and respected, or a crumbling ruin destroyed by a weak foundation of vacillating, self-centered principles, is decided by every choice you make. Your character is not a birthright but a chosen path.  It is the manifestation of your secret inner thoughts, motivations, judgments and opinions into standards of conduct and parameters of action that define your life and legacy. Ultimately your character is an inescapable reflection of your own self worth.  It is either a noble inner light or a petty, unworthy darkness and you must decide each day and with every action, which it shall be.

It matters not how high you have risen in the tempestuous world, but only how far you have soared inside the quintessence of your inner nobility, for character has no connection to wealth, education or social position.  The character you weave into your soul becomes the very essence of your eternal life force and does not fade into mist when the body turns to dust.  Long after you have passed from the earth, the permeating energy of the character you exhibited, for better or worse, will linger and influence everyone whose life you touched.”

What of Habits?

CHAPTER 4

“The radiating sun that rises and sets each morning dependably creates a day followed by a night and each serves a valuable purpose in the harmonic cycles of life.  As does the precisely predictable tide coming in and going out and the body’s obligatory cycle of sleep and awake. Like many other cycles in life, they permeate the colorful fabric of existence and resonate through the dynamic core of the soul, instilling a deep unconscious compulsion within every life upon the Earth, to emulate and create patterns for their existence.

Your meandering life is like a sparkling river predictably flowing in a wide, well-worn channel, deeply entrenched by the translucent passage of time.  Your worthy desires to make beneficial changes in your life are the periodic flooding of the mighty watercourse of your aspirations.  As the river of hope runs over its banks, the fleeting abundance of water opens auspicious possibilities to cut fresh, new channels and purge the accumulated sludge of the past, even as your opportunity to create beneficial new habits and traits, forsaking the deadwood of yesterday, increases with the fullness of your desire.  To forever repudiate the old habits and successfully embrace the new, your yearning for meaningful change must be more compelling than the spurious comfort of remaining within the disadvantageous, unfulfilling present state you know so well.”

What of Friendship?

CHAPTER 5

“Gaze deeply into the silvery mirror of infinity.  The retrospective reflection you see is your inescapable twin and enduring life’s companion, your best and truest friend.  Love yourself first, in forgiving humility, with sincere objectivity, firmly supported by honesty, truth and understanding that only one who has lived the labyrinth depths of your life can have.  Then, with dependable alacrity, turn and give that same clarity of compassion and depth of understanding to your dearest friends.  From such a firm foundation, an uplifting relationship of harmonious souls that spans the passing of time can be built.

You will sift through the inconsequential chaff of many empty acquaintances before you discover a meaningful enduring friend of enlivening depth and vitality.  The chaff blows away at the first light wind of steaming adversity or blustery tempest.  Some flitter about longer, but in the end, because they have no significant substance, they will swirl away into nothingness, leaving you alone.  Throw them high so they are carried away quickly, that your time is not squandered in fruitless experiences or idle chatter.”

What of True Love

CHAPTER 6

“The delicate flower of new love is blushed in innocence.  It bestows soft, sweet caresses that rapturously quicken the heart with coursing, carefree passion.  The romantic love of two hearts reverberating in harmony and desire is an intricate flower, rare and beautiful, delightful and delectable.  So exquisite and joyful, it beckons with a siren call that enraptures the heart and mists the mind.  Were it not so, few would risk the journey in pursuit of the euphoric ecstasy and expansive, all consuming fulfillment that only an abiding love filled to its depth and breadth can bring. 

The rarest form of amorous love is true love; a trustworthy, passionate embrace of enthralled lovers, joyously resonating on many levels with common foundations of life principles, embellished by shared and varied interests.  Such a love is clothed in sublime majesty and destined for great treasures of fulfillment discovered in a memorable life forged together.” 

What of Marriage?

CHAPTER 7

“When you love, sweet and pure, and desire to always bask in the enlivening glow and enduring warmth that only such love bestows, you may yearn to enter into the consecrated covenant of marriage, to enshrine the light of love that supports your cherished dreams and everyday tenderly lifts the careworn spirits of life.  A noble desire, but consider well before you step, for marriage is the highest level of commitment to another person, a sacred trust between blended lives and depending upon diverse factors both before and after, it will forever change you for better or worse. 

If love is the refining fire that presents you with an abundant reward more valuable than pure gold, then marriage is the intricate and fabulous design created from a purposeful partnership of master jewelers, melding the unadorned gold of love into a magnificent treasure that will endure for gratifying years of continual wonder and joy.  But it is a dreamy destiny, only possible in a grounded union anchored in mutual respect, navigated with common ideals, lifted by an expansive shared vision of tomorrow and empowered by a passionate desire to create it together. ”

What of Children?

CHAPTER 8       

“Children are the most radiant gems of heaven.  Marvel in their glory and be humbled in their brilliance for in a little child are the keys to life and happiness. 

You should cherish them forever, but you can never own them or live again within their lives.   They are independent spirits of tomorrow and their future is beyond the veil of your years.  Teach them well, nurture them with love while they are in your care and they will bless you with treasures beyond price for all of your days.”

What of Happiness?

CHAPTER 9

“Happiness is sought by all, tantalizingly tasted by most, but a constant companion only of those who accept and are in flowing harmony with themselves. For most people, happiness is a beautiful, beguiling phantom, teasing with dizzying heights of joy and fulfillment, only to leave them dazed and melancholy when it dissolves into the turbulent mists of life.

The elixir of happiness once tasted is forever sought.  Yet, the greater the pursuit the more distant it becomes for it is not a destination nor a prize to be won, but a humble love of self, a principle of mind and a way of life.  It is not found at the end of the winding road but in each step of the journey along the way.  It does not dwell in exotic, faraway places to be discovered on tomorrow’s journey, but swells inside of your loving heart and tranquil mind, surrounded by the blessings that are already yours, waiting to be savored today.  Go on a grand voyage of inner discovery and find it there, for it is futile to seek it elsewhere.”

What of Play & Relaxation?

CHAPTER 10

“You are like a mighty river flowing in majesty down to the azure sea.  At times the river runs fast and tumultuously, others days it gently meanders with languid leisure and grace.  In the larger bends, the water frolics playfully in the shallows, tinkling and rippling with excitement as it flows over many small, rounded rocks.  Whenever its long run depletes its power, the river slows to rest in deep, quiet pools and shimmering, reflective lakes, revitalizing its energy before resuming the relentless drive to its destiny. 

Each aspect of the river is necessary for its health and vitality.  To only flow rapidly would soon expend its essence, leaving it gasping in meager trickles.  To merely meander slowly would doom it to never fulfill its great potential.  If it remained always playing in the shallows, it would never have depth and majesty.  If it exclusively laid still and reflecting, it would soon stagnate from inactivity.”

What of Health?

CHAPTER 11

“Your miraculous body is an incomparable temple of luminous, living light.  If you take prudent care of your physical abode it will take marvelous care of you.  But if you profane your own temple of wonder, what solace can it then give to you?  Revere and cherish your tabernacle of your flesh, as is its due and it will bless you with radiant health, zestful vigor, youthful countenance and extended longevity. 

Verily, you are the High Priest of the golden temple that bears your name.  You alone decide what will enter it or be forbidden, how it shall be adorned and how it shall be perceived by others.  Within its hallowed sanctuary it has the power to grant you physical, mental and emotional well-being in proportion to the love, care and devotion you give to it.”

What of Success

Chapter 12

“A luminescent fire burns within your resplendent depths; a kindling passion to be more than who you are. For many, a reality hoped for, a truth not yet seen.  Oft times the troubles of life howl with chilling winds upon your guiding flame, blowing you down and dampening the effervescent light of hope.  Some moments only faint embers are left glowing ethereally, clinging expectantly, waiting for your steadfast fortitude to fan the flames of true desire once more.  Upon this crossroad of the future pass the great judgments of introspection and life.  Many relinquish their tenuous hold to the luminous majesty they could create; their flickering fire goes out never to be rekindled and they live and die in forgotten mediocrity.  But brave champions of noble mien, with sprites of fire still dancing in their gleaming eyes, determined not to live and die as they began, rise again to joust with the sardonic vicissitudes of fate.

Success in any worthy endeavor begins with the daunting heroes and dastardly villains of thought dwelling within the recesses of your remarkable mind.  Even as you are the arbiter of your health, more so are you the master of your thoughts and the provocative attitudes that proceed from them.  With health, despite all that you may do, painful misfortune can still knock on your door.  But not even one aimless thought enters your mind that you did not put there by choice or allow to reside there by impassive default.  Your thoughts are the catalytic pathways to your actions and if you would attain grand success crowned with fulfilling personal growth and expansion, you must build uplifting trails to your cherished dreams. ”

What of Knowledge?

CHAPTER 13

“The incomparable virtue of a wide-ranging knowledge that embodies both breadth and depth is a grand power that can be gently held within a most inconspicuous soul. It is a splendid rainbow of glimmering light that can dazzle and humble even the mightiest monarchs of the land. 

To have the opportunity to learn of things unknown is the cocoon of education from whence the splendid butterfly of true knowledge retained and utilized may emerge, if coaxed with love and open-mindedness.  But to blindly accept the former as unquestionable truth, simply because it is comes to you by way of venerable teachers or respected sources, is no guarantee of eventually possessing the latter.  For who in ignorance knows if the sealed cocoon discovered will open to reveal a drab moth or a multi-hued butterfly of wonder?  Education is simply an elementary introduction to knowledge. It consists of both the worthless and the priceless, the worthy and the unworthy. It only coalesces into a valuable treasure as you winnow the important from the trivial, the true from the false and choose to retain the precious because its guiding light illuminates your path of life.”

What of Passion & Serenity?

CHAPTER 14

“Amid hushed anticipation the imminent landfall of a formidable hurricane reverberates with a primordial resonance within the anxious hearts and minds of those in its path, even as it fills them with unforgettable awe and spine-tingling wonder. Unlike lesser winds that have no substance or stamina and are easily rebuked, no mustered force of man or nature can deter the mighty cyclones from their chosen path of destiny. For the unconquerable titans of the restless sea are centered from within by a placid calm, allowing them to increase and sustain their invincible power as they whirl in primal majesty around the gentle peace and tranquil serenity of their core.  Thus is the potential of the incandescent passion smoldering within you, when it is centered by a quiet serenity that resides there too.

Passion alone soon burns itself up, singeing friends in its blindness and ultimately making a fool of the passionate.  Serenity reflecting only itself quickly dulls the spirit and removes the spice from life.  But focused passion, tempered by reposing inner serenity, lights glowing fires in quickening souls, making impossible aspirations achievable and dreams of effervescent fancy into elemental reality.”

What of Imagination & Vision?

CHAPTER 15

“On a sparkling, clear dawn of a timeless new day, a shimmering, brilliant yellow sun of summer rises above a barren, parched desert floor silhouetting the towering, improbable enormity of the ancient pyramid of Giza as the final, smooth white capstone is placed 481 feet above the festooned crowds, surging like awestruck ants far below.  Millennia into the distant future one of two brothers standing atop a nondescript sand hill, mounts an ungainly mechanized contraption created in their small bicycle shop and leaping into the ocean breeze lifts free from the bonds of earth, soaring untethered on currents of air, into a realm reserved for birds alone since the dawn of time. Before two more generations pass, even the distant, luminescent moon of romance, eternal guardian of the ethereal night sky, separated from the planet-bound by the vast, frigid void of space, shall bear the footprints of daunting explorers.  These and many other world impacting feats all began as a murmuring wisp of an idea twirling within the boundless imagination of those who dared to see that which had never been.

Alone in his sparse studio, a young man ponders a colossal block of snow white marble towering skyward four times his height just delivered from the famed quarries of the verdant mountains of Carrara.  His imagination envisions the sublime form frozen inside the cold, crystallized stone waiting to be released.  Then with measured deliberation, he begins to chisel, ever so carefully, freeing the incomparable perfection of the immortal David that swirled alive in his mind.”

What of Creativity & Art?

CHAPTER 16

“Tingling and swirling with welling illumination, billowing and coalescing with emerging virtuosity, a divine spark of creativity reverberates as a rhythmic stimulus of genius within every mind and an awakening quiver of passion in every heart; prodding and motivating, restlessly clamoring to be set free.

To create: oh what a beautiful fulfillment!  From the immemorial dawn of time humans have marked their ascendancy by ingenious creations that give ease and comfort to their life and an astounding array of art, writing, dance, music and performance that titillates their mood and quickens their spirit.”

What of Adversity?

CHAPTER 17

“Sailing upon the boundless ocean of effervescent life, if you wish to travel from your current location to a destination of greater reward, contention with the billowing winds of adversity is an essential catalyst not merely an inconvenience to be petulantly tolerated.  Even as a wise mariner cannily catches the swelling force of the quickening wind to fill the languid sails and suddenly propel his ship, so too can you use the swirling adversities of life as welcome conveyances to prodigious growth and achievement. A becalmed sea may be serenely peaceful and for a time restfully recharging to the body and soul, but when idleness is prolonged too long the listless aimlessness becomes an abyss of apathy, sucking away all the enthusiasm and joy of living. 

A life without stout challenges to bring forth the finer, nobler qualities restlessly swirling within the heart and mind, will be plagued by endless unfeigned boredom and periodically jarred by a disquieted awareness of unfilled potential.  Like thunder rumbling on a distant mountain, you will often sense the latent power lurking in the distance, beyond the horizon of your current reality.  But to be illuminated by the light of the storm, you must first be willing to contend with the wind and the rain.”

What of Respect?

CHAPTER 18

“To cultivate a conscientious habit of unfeigned respect for every precious life upon the bounteous earth is one of the wisest choices you will ever make in the eloquence of your sojourn.  It is a priceless gift you can freely give in generous abundance that will shower you in reciprocating bounty both seen and unseen, a thousand times over.

The luminous halo of reciprocating respect should extend to all of life, for all that lives makes everything that you have possible.  Life in all its countless forms should be ever cherished and never injured gratuitously. Honor the lush green plants, tall noble trees and abundant flowers bursting with color.  They give you life-filling oxygen to breathe, bounteous food to eat, shelter for your family, medicines to heal, clothes to wear and unsurpassed beauty to behold.  Respect the innocent animals, birds and creatures of the sea, dwelling upon the earth in majestic diversity.  Many can become cherished friends and companions, others clothe you, some give their lives that you may continue yours and all teach joy in the simple pleasure of living.”

What of Freedom & Responsibility?

CHAPTER 19

“Freedom, the indomitable torch of aspiring hope, radiates into the shrouded darkness and ignominious oppressions of life.   Illuminated by the brilliant light of freedom, the magnificence of humanity rises to embrace the blazing sunrise of boundless potential, and the walls of pernicious suppression crash down in a thunderous tumult upon the rusted dust of yesterday’s shattered chains.

Throughout history, freedom has been a catalyst for an explosion and expansion of the marvelous and progressive, conceived by adroit individuals contemplating, creating and laboring in its warm, gentle winds.  The boundless inspiration of original innovation proliferates in the pervasion of freedom even as it is stifled in the perversion of restriction.”

What of Stewardship?

CHAPTER 20

“Your life is a shimmering treasure; a priceless gift beyond measure, for it not only gives you the wonders of living but also the opportunity to grow and expand from your varied experiences, ending your long journey far greater and more ennobled than you began.  To pass through your sojourn you have been given a most marvelous planet to live upon, containing an abundance of everything you need to create comfort, health and longevity.  You have been blessed with dutiful guardians who were ever diligent to care for you when you were too young to care for yourself and faithfully provided you the security and opportunity to develop your magnificent mind and body.  You have further been gifted with the opportunity to gain tremendous depth and wisdom from your rich experiences and interactions with caring teachers, wise friends and helpful associates.  Thus endowed with such a bounteous largesse, can you do anything less than be a good steward and preserve the remarkable inheritance that has been passed on to you, enriching and enlarging upon it that you may gratefully bestow a grander world to your posterity?

In the trackless immensity of space there are countless billions of galaxies.  Within each unfathomable galaxy there can be many billions of suns, an infinitesimally small number of which twinkle as stars in your night sky.  Orbiting around many of the suns are planets as innumerable in sum as the countless sands of the seashore.  The small solar system of your yellow sun and the nine planets it sustains in orbit with its gravity, are a mere dust speck in the vast breadth of your single galaxy.  Yet the third planet on which you dwell, the one called Earth, is a scintillating jewel in the vastness of the infinite universe; a loving matriarch who gives exhilarating life to all.  In shameful ignorance is she profaned even as she continues to reward all with an extraordinary Eden to which none can compare.”

What of Faith?

CHAPTER 21

“Faith is the fresh scent of blossoming flowers in the warm spring air, abiding in the cold, desolate depths of winter.  It is the welcoming songs of awakening birds before the break of dawn and fields of tall corn waving in sunny, summer breezes as the farmer seeds the barren, fresh tilled earth on a cold day in early spring.  It is the trusting serenity of a child that all will be well, the continuing sacrifices of a parent for the visions of tomorrow and an expectant gaze for the refulgent coalesce of a rainbow through the misty veil of showers. 

Faith is not a rare treasure found by just a chosen few; it is a divine force of the universe, permeating all things, the very breath of expectation upon which every action in life is taken. By faith, you rise in the morning to labor at your livelihood, with trust that you will be paid for your efforts.  By faith, you marry your sweetheart with rising hope that your devoted love will see you safely through all the tempestuous trials of your journey together.  By faith, you savor a tasty variety of food each day, believing you are giving your hungry body the necessary nourishment to sustain your life.  Even the spiritually barren are upheld by lingering faith in every breath and action, for its ever abiding golden light intricately weaves scintillating threads of hope and motivation throughout the miraculous tapestry of life.”

Love Yourself

CHAPTER 22

“Love yourself enough to love yourself; for your capacity to give love to others is only as great as your willingness to cede it to yourself.

Love yourself enough to use common sense; for a momentary thoughtless choice can bring a lifetime of grief, even as well considered actions can grant you a lifetime of peace and happiness.

Love yourself enough to be true to yourself; that you may always be guided to paths that will expand and delight you.

Love yourself enough to have faith; for it is the power by which you may accomplish all things.”

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