Putting Our Sense of Purpose into Sustainable Action

Now isn’t the time to mince words about our current state of affairs. We need a physical and psychological healing to remedy the sense of separatism, isolation and individualism that has driven us to our narcissistic views of the world. There has to be a populist uprising of purpose to change the world for the better.

One person is not going to cure the schizophrenia of the world’s situation, and with the splintering and divisions of communities and values, we are witnessing the antithesis of unity in these current times. This quest toward evolutionary purpose is a rally cry for each of us to take the first step right now, in whatever way we can contribute. These small steps gain power and will lead to a movement, the ultimate evolutionary wave.

Unfortunately, there have been many movements with potential, but they haven’t been sustainable. In fact, it feels as if we’ve been treading water since 1968, rather than gaining any ground toward a shoreline. All those years ago, I was worried about civil rights and climate change and these issues are still at the forefront of global conversations. I will be honest, I feel very frustrated. Sometimes I wonder if we’ve gotten anywhere in our evolution.

The true essence of what we’re striving for is giving people their basic rights, freedoms and services required for human dignity upon which a transformed society can be built. If you don’t feel good, you can’t change the world, and if the society is ill, you can’t transform a community. But what is it exactly we are hoping to find if we do successfully navigate our global transformation? Pierre Teilhard de Chardin called this ultimate goal of evolution the omega point, but to avoid sounding too new-agey, we can perhaps instead collectively visualize a sense of sustainable unity awaiting us at our next evolutionary milestone.

In the series of articles to come, I want to focus on what we can DO to create change. How do people come together to collaborate for global transformation, how do we embrace our sense of purpose and what are the key elements we will need to thoughtfully and intentionally create a world that is cooperative and compassionate? There is hope in finding our way, but it will require innovative solutions that benefit the whole rather than a few.

There are a lot of answers I’m unsure of, but what I do know is there must be a collective sense of urgency and commitment to finding ways to collaborate rather than perpetuating fear. Like a swimming pool filled with people all splashing and swimming in different directions, the waves of our current situation are too choppy to rely on any one figure to swim without struggle. But if we can align ourselves with our personal and global sense of purpose, we might just create enough coherence in these evolutionary waters to build a wave with enough power and momentum to carry all of us toward lasting transformation.

The key is to help people find their true purpose and give them opportunities to put that purpose into practice.  We need to take action now, before things spiral out of control.  I am working closely with a group of fellow visionaries to develop a new guide to bring Purpose to the People.  In forthcoming additions of this newsletter this concept will be explored in more depth, as well as at the Purpose Summit San Francisco coming up in November.  Stay tuned as we explore the path forward together, creating small groups of sacred activists to fuse into a movement of global purpose that this time will have staying power.