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The topic of mission and purpose

compels us to look back across our lives and consider how conscious and mindful of purpose and mission we have been in our life direction. Sometimes refining one’s sense of purpose leaves the kind of trail you might find if you could follow a bloodhound tracking down a scent.

Anne went from climbing the corporate ladder at BellSouth to turning down corporate enticements and perks in favor of new life directions, eventually settling on a career in energy medicine and helping people raise their consciousness. I, Peter, knew early on that I would be involved in a helping profession. But my exact mission statement was vague and ill-defined, and my trajectory wobbled somewhat through my first years in college. Ten years, two degrees, and a graduate diploma later, when I became licensed as a physical therapist, my focus became increasingly refined, with my initial passion in orthopedics and manual therapy progressively deepening to include subtle energy medicine. My interest in energy healing became my chief passion, and my mission was to serve through my evolving skills in this area.

When I experienced the onset of clairvoyance, I made a commitment that day to investigate and gain competence working in the elusive, invisible world of subtle energy. It was a choice that in many ways took me down a separate path; increasingly I felt as if I were functioning in a whole new world. I believe that my willingness to pursue such an uncharted path attracted more help from the other side—a medically minded subtle energy muse, if you will—and I garnered more and more insights through important visions that kept recurring at regular intervals. Things I knew nothing about would suddenly appear as salient archetypal symbols in front of my eyes (astrological and kabbalistic symbols, for example), and I would have to study esoteric books to discover the core meaning of what I had seen or been shown.

To give an example of what I experienced and to show its relevance to the topic at hand, I recall a vision I had in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in which I saw all the planets arrayed in the Aura in 2002. Rather than discounting the vision, I took it seriously and shared the vision both with Anne, who took notes, and the client we were treating (whom we had not realized previously was a practicing astrologer). The vision was instantly supported by the universe, and our astrologer client returned later that same afternoon with a list of the physiological correlations for each of the planets, e.g., Mars consciousness is associated with the muscular system and motor nerves, the adrenal glands, the bladder, the head and face, red blood corpuscles.

It turns out that one of the planets has much to do with this quarter’s topic of core purpose and meaning/mission in life. In fact, the very nature of the symbol implies that a tremendous source of energy is to be found here.

Imagine our solar system without a Sun—our earth would be cold and lifeless. It is no different in our own energy system, which is a microcosm of our solar system. Study astrology and you will quickly conclude that the planetary archetypes give a fairly rounded view of the different aspects or departments within the human psyche.

Thus Venus represents our ability to love, to love ourselves principally, and to attract to ourselves love and wonderful life experiences through the projection of our own worthiness. Saturn represents our ability as limitless spirits to hunker down and deal with reality and the limitations of physical form and existence, mastering structure and economy of resources—and even time and, ultimately, death. It is all good, including the Grim Reaper. And so each of the planets represents a different face within our overall psyche.

Consider that passion, purpose, and meaning/mission go hand in hand with the vitality of the Sun. This is to say, living with purpose and meaning brings the energy required to achieve your goals and ambitions. By implication, when people neglect in their lives what is meaningful and what provides a sense of purpose (e.g., they choose or are forced to work at jobs that give no sense of fulfillment), then they will suffer from a lack of vitality in what they are doing and will be susceptible to depression and disease.

One person’s drudgery is another’s passion. And a person can choose to find meaning in work they may have originally considered uninteresting. In that way, the Sun in the psyche has a lot to do with positive, active attitudinal cultivation. When you are positive, you are letting your Sun shine, and it will lead you to an abundance of energy and a sense of purpose.

Another quality of the Sun is that it inspires and brings illumination. Cultivate your sense of Essence, core will, and sense of purpose, and you are sure to uncover a unique path in life due to your Sun’s ability to illumine and inspire. In daily life, having a well-formulated written mission statement is basic to living a purposeful, meaning-filled life; it is a guiding light in its own right and forms the tracks on which your life will roll along. For those lacking a clear sense of direction, the motto “Do what you love” is a good starting point. No matter what your stage of life, whether you are “in the groove” (which is not always a good thing) or still formulating your life direction (a blessing in its own right), an up-to-date mission statement brings life into focus and serves to attract the circumstances that facilitate achieving the identified goals.

One last gift of the wise ones from the past. They say the energy of the Sun lives in the heart and nourishes the heart. People whose lives are lived without meaning and passion are subject to diseases of the heart. The ancient Taoists also point out that the so-called good life—too much joy—can hurt the heart. That is something to think about. Perhaps it tells us that the heart needs a certain amount of challenge and difficulty to stay healthy. Within bounds, the heart gets its exercise metabolizing stress and hard feelings to get back to its strong suit: love and passion and sense of meaning and pride and purpose. The Sun—that is another name for your spirit—finds the heart its palace. And when the heart has its way, it will produce a meaningful, purposeful life.

Published in the October 2010 issue of The LENS – a quarterly E-Newsletter

Peter Selby

Peter has worked as a Clairvoyant Angelic Healer and medical intuitive since the early ’90s. He has been a registered physical therapist since 1978 and is licensed in the State of Montana. He holds a B.A. from Stanford University and a degree in Rehabilitation Medicine from the University of British Columbia, with postgraduate training and certification in Orthopedic Manipulative Therapy, acupuncture and studies through the advanced level in CranioSacral Therapy, Myofascial Release, and Osteopathic Visceral Manipulation. This work draws on conventional wisdom and integrates alternative approaches.