Reading Archive (Finding Purpose)
Is the Universe Friendly?
Albert Einstein
"I think the most important question facing humanity is, ‘Is the universe a friendly place?’ This is the first and most basic question all people must answer for themselves. &q...
Vulnerability is the Path
Brene Brown
Vulnerability isn't good or bad: it's not what we call a dark emotion, nor is it always a light, positive experience. Vulnerability is the core of all emotions and feelings. To feel is to be...
Don't Go Back to Sleep
Elizabeth Lesser
To be human is to be lost in the woods. None of us arrives here with clear directions on how to get from point A to point B without stumbling into the forest of confusion or catastrophe or wrongdoing....
What Breaks Your Heart?
Maria Shriver
What breaks your heart? What does your soul long for? And, how is that connected to how you are living your life now? I love this question because it’s made me think about my passion and purp...
Do You Remember Your Song?
Alan Cohen
When a woman in a certain African tribe knows she is pregnant, she goes out into the wilderness with a few friends and together they pray and meditate until they hear the song of the child. They recog...
The Place That is Free of Suffering
Eckhart Tolle
The world promises fulfillment somewhere in time, and there is a continuous striving toward that fulfillment in time. Many times people feel, "Yes, now I have arrived," and then they realize...
Letting Meaning Flow Into Purpose
Brother David Steindl-Rast
The only point where one can start to talk about anything, including death, is where one finds oneself. And for me this is as a Benedictine monk. In the rule of St. Benedict, the momenta mori has alwa...
Restoring Balance and Meaning in Ourselves
Alan Briskin
During a time of great drought, a Taoist master was asked by members of a village if he could help bring rain to their dry fields. They confessed trying many other approaches before reaching out to hi...
Meaning of Yin and Yang
Masahiro Oko
Everything has a right to live. Everything wants to exist and we have to respect that. The weaker side in any relationship naturally demands things, because of the need for mutual balance....
Meaning And The Song Of The Soul
Llewellyn Vaughn-Lee
Meaning is what calls from the depths of the soul. It is the song that sings us into life. Whether we have a meaningful life depends upon whether we can hear this song, this primal music of the sac...
Death Connects Us To Life
Somik Raha
Growing up with monastic teachings around the impermanence of life, I got the opportunity to apply them when my grandmother passed on, followed by my grandfather in quick succession. I told myself tha...
Be Alight with Who We Are
Mark Nepo
There is always purpose in being, but not always being in purpose. How easily we get caught up in defining who we are in relation to those around us. I remember walking home from school in fourth g...
A Heart Of Warmth Is Not Something Impossible
Tenzin Palmo
What does love mean? In the West, we mistake the meaning of love; we bandy the word around all the time, from “I love ice-cream” to “I love God”. But we mistake love for desire...
Perception Is A Mirror
Edited by Frances Vaughan and Roger Walsh
You respond to what you perceive, and as you perceive so shall you behave. Every response you make to everything you perceive is up to you, because your mind determines your perception of...
The False Duality Between "Job" And "Service"
Zilong Wang
Around the time when I set off for Asia in July, two of my dearest friends/teachers both went from full-time volunteer work to taking full-time jobs. Their decision to return to the "system"...
Nine Wisdom Steps From Spiritual Traditions
Sage Bennet
Each of the first eight [wisdom steps] introduces you to a different spiritual tradition -- Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Native American spirituality, Taoism, and New Thought -- a...
Cultivation of that Dormant Love
Radhanath Swami
Mother Nature is always speaking. She speaks in a language understood within the peaceful mind of the sincere observer. Leopards, cobras, monkeys, rivers and trees; they all served as my teachers when...