What is the purpose of my life? Meaning: What am I meant to do?

[inavalan]

These are the questions that started my quest of discovery. I've searched / browsed to find Seth's answers to those questions and compare them to mine. I'd like to read what Seth said about the evolvement of the identity, of which the current earthly personality is part of. I couldn't find anything specific.

I'd be grateful if anybody could point me in the right direction. Thank you.

In DEaVF1, Seth was commenting exactly on this questions, but he didn't get into specifics.

"Many people ask, for example: What is the purpose of my life? Meaning: What am I meant to do? but the purpose of your life, and each life, is in its being. That being may include certain actions, but the acts themselves are only important in that they spring out of the essence of your life, which simply by being is bound to fulfill its purposes."
Session 899, Page 225

...

"Physically speaking, man's purpose is to help enrich the quality of existence in all of its dimensions. Spiritually speaking, his purpose is to understand the qualities of love and creativity, to intellectually and psychically understand the sources of his being, and to lovingly create other dimensions of reality of which he is presently unaware."
Session 901, Page 238

I know that my answers are likely distorted, as even Seth was warning about his teachings (Session #47):

Truth contains no distortions, and this material with all my best efforts, and with yours, of necessity must contain distortions merely in order to make itself exist at all on your plane. I will never condone an attitude in which either you or Ruburt maintain that you hold undiluted truth through these sessions.

...

Inner data, even this, must make its entry through some distortion. We must always work together, but you must never consider me as an infallible source. This material is more valid than any material possible on your plane, but it is nevertheless to some degree conditioned by the camouflage attributes of the plane.

There must be no rigidity here. This is a living, vital and valid experiment. I suggest that all you take a brief break, and if you are in accord then I will continue for a short time. However, I want to make it plain that we are certainly not setting up a new dogma. By all means take your break.

[Sena]

"Physically speaking, man's purpose is to help enrich the quality of existence in all of its dimensions. Spiritually speaking, his purpose is to understand the qualities of love and creativity, to intellectually and psychically understand the sources of his being, and to lovingly create other dimensions of reality of which he is presently unaware."
Session 901, Page 238

inavalan, good question. The answer to your question is above, in general terms. The details are different for each individual.

[jbseth]

Hi inavalan, Hi All,

I regards to the evolvement of the identity, in TES3, Seth talks about the 3 dilemmas and the relationship between action, identity, and consciousness of the self. In NotP he talks about mans "psyche".  In DeaVF1, as you've already pointed out, he talks about man's evolution. Seth may have said something else about this topic in one of the "Unknown Reality" books, but nothing specifically comes to mind.

You might want to do a search on "identity" using the search engine. There may be other books (TECS, TPS) that also contain comments from Seth on this topic. For example using the search engine, I found the following by searching on "Identity"

TECS1 ESP Class Session December 10, 1968:

Identity is not the same thing as personality. Personality is that part of identity that manifests itself within physical reality and within your time. Identity is far greater than personality. Personality represents only those aspects of identity that you are able to actualize within three-dimensional existence. The inner self knows who it is. The inner self communicates with your present personality. In your dreams you have communication with that larger portion of yourself that is your identity. Personality may be to some extent molded by circumstance. Identity uses the experiences. Identity is not carried willy-nilly, but holds its own.

If you had read more of the material and if you had studied the information more carefully on action and identity, then you would know what I mean. You can consider the whole self as an onion if you wish. There are layers and layers and layers, but these layers all grow from the inside outward as though the inner identity forms layers and layers of personality. These personalities are part of the identity but not the entire identity.

It is true there are no limitations to the self, and in one respect you can say that the self reaches out and encompasses the environment. Current feelings regarding personality, however, do not take into consideration the existence of telepathy or clairvoyance, nor the fact of reincarnation. And so what you have, in effect, as I have said often before, is a one-dimensional psychology. You need a multi-dimensional psychology for identity operates in many dimensions beside a physical one. If you examine your own dreams, you know that for yourself. Now, that is for your record.




In regards to the topic of "What is the meaning of life?", I think one of the best answers I've ever come across, comes from Viktor Frankl. Viktor Frankl was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor.

According to Viktor Frankl, "We can discover the meaning of life in three different ways: (1) by creating a work or doing a deed; (2) by experiencing something or encountering someone; and (3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering".

He also said that, "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

-jbseth

[Deb]

What is the purpose of my life? Meaning: What am I meant to do?

Good question, Seth seems to talk about that quite a bit in the books. When I was growing up, I was given the belief that we all have our one "special purpose" in life. Since not everyone automatically knows what their purpose is, it's our duty to pressure ourselves and tirelessly search it out and then do it in order to justify our existence. Or we die a failure.  Thanks to Seth, I no longer feel that I have one specific purpose in life, it's much simpler than that. Now I feel that we all have our talents and inclinations, and putting them to good use is the best we can do. We can't all be brain surgeons, but we all have purpose.

"By looking at your own life, you can quite easily discover in what areas your own abilities lie by following the shape of your own impulses and inclinations."
—WTH Chapter 5: April 12, 1984

As jbseth mentioned, the

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gives background.

As to value fulfillment:

"Value fulfillment is a psychological and physical propensity that exists in each unit of consciousness, propelling it toward its own greatest fulfillment in such a way that its individual fulfillment also adds to the best possible development on the part of each other such unit of consciousness."
—NoME Chapter 10: Session 868, July 25, 1979

"You are born loving. You are born compassionate. You are born curious about yourself and your world. Those attributes also belong to natural law. You are born knowing that you possess a unique, intimate sense of being that is itself, and that seeks its own fulfillment, and the fulfillment of others. You are born seeking the actualization of the ideal. You are born seeking to add value to the quality of life, to add characteristics, energies, abilities to life that only you can individually contribute to the world, and to attain a state of being that is uniquely yours, while adding to the value fulfillment of the world."
—NoME Chapter 9: Session 862, June 25, 1979

Here's a nice essay I just found about value fulfillment. http://www.valuefulfillment.com/what/essay.html

From the essay: "Yet part of what makes up the values of an individual is the meaning that she applies to her life. Human beings will not go on living without some meaning in their existence, according to Seth. That meaning is basically up to the individual to determine, couched in a framework where 'each species...is concerned...with an intensification and fulfillment of those particular qualities that are characteristic of it' (ibid.)." The author explains in more details after this quoted paragraph.

Also I've been holding onto this (exciting) quote from The Early Sessions 1, which addresses where we (in this reality) are headed:

"The consciousness will expand on your planet, just as it expands for those who go beyond your plane. The scope of consciousness will be so broadened in the future that all personality fragments, split personality images, and even individual fragments in succeeding incarnations, will be held in clear focus without strain. It is toward this that evolution on the earthly plane is headed, though of course with its usual donkey-slow rate.

In the meantime, when incarnations on the planet earth are finished the entity moves toward this goal anyway. In any case by the time that this goal is reached on the earthly plane, those who have passed from it will have evolved in ways of which even I can only dream. Now rest your hand."

—TES1 Session 9 December 18, 1963

[inavalan]

Thank you for your replies, and help

[LenKop]

I think one of the obstructions we face when asking the questions inavalan posted is getting lost from the 'what' and ending up in the 'how'.

I find myself in a curious state when asking (about any particular situation) "am i meant to do this?", the crisis of confidence arises when I ask myself "am i doing this right?" or "how am I going to achieve such and such?"

The 'how' is clearly that great creative power that Seth often speaks about as Framework 2. Learning to plant the seed and not micro-manage its growth might be just as much a part of why we are here as any heroic duty that befalls us.

I have found that catching the 'how' in my mind has helped me unlock old belief systems, so maybe there is a point to that as well.

Len

[inavalan]

I think one of the obstructions we face when asking the questions inavalan posted is getting lost from the 'what' and ending up in the 'how'.

Thanks for your reply.

Reading your last reply on the 100+ Genders thread too, it seems that we look at some things from different perspectives. I'm looking more from the bigger picture, and later to the fine one, strategically firstly then tactically, "what" firstly then "how".

Or, it might be that the "what" is clear enough to you, and you're focusing on the "how".

[jbseth]

Hi inavalan, Hi All,

Thank you inavalan for starting this post. This is really a great topic.

Probably like many of us here, determining the answers to this question, "What is the purpose of life?" has been a lifelong pursuit of mine. Over the years, while reading the various Seth Books, I've highlighted many of Seth's comments that appear to be related to this topic. Below I've listed some of these.




SS, Ch4, Session 521:
The purpose of any given life is available to you, the knowledge beneath the surface of the conscious self you know. All kinds of hints and clues are also available. You have the knowledge of your entire multidimensional personality at your fingertips. When you realize that you do, this knowledge allows you to solve the problems or meet the challenges you have set, quicker, in your terms; and also opens further areas of creativity by which the entire play or production can be enriched.


SS, Ch4, Session 522:
Entities or souls, in other words, send out portions of themselves to open up avenues of reality that would not exist otherwise. (Long pause at 9:39.) The three-dimensional selves, in existing within these realities, must focus their attention there completely. An inner awareness gives them a source of energy and strength. They must, however, come to understand their roles as actors, "finally" from their roles, and through another act of comprehension, return to the entity.

[...]

Now: You are learning to be cocreators. You are learning to be gods as you now understand the term. You are learning responsibility — the responsibility of any individualized consciousness. You are learning to handle the energy that is yourself, for creative purposes.

You will be bound to those you love and those you hate, though you will learn to release and lose and dissipate the hatred. You will learn to use even hatred creatively and to turn it to the higher ends, to transform it finally into love. I will make this clearer in later chapters.




SS, Ch12, Session 551:
Jointly, each generation has its own purpose. It is this — to perfect inner knowledge, and to materialize it as faithfully as possible outward into the world. The changing physical scene throughout the centuries, as you know them, represents the inner images that have flickered through the minds of the individuals who lived within the world through the various ages.


SS, Ch14, Session 560:
This private multidimensional self, or the soul, has then an eternal validity. It is upheld, supported, maintained by the energy, the inconceivable vitality, of All That Is.

(11:00.) It cannot be destroyed then, this inner self of yours, nor can it be diminished. It shares in those abilities that are inherent within All That Is. It must, therefore, create as it is created, for this is the great giving that is behind all dimensions of existence, the spilling-over from the fountain of All That Is.


SS, Ch16, Session 565:
Now: The soul is not a finished product.

In fact it is not a product in those terms at all, but a process of becoming. All That Is is not a product, finished or otherwise, either. There are probable gods as there are probable men; but these probable gods are all a part of what you may call the soul of, or the identity of, All That Is; even as your probable selves are all a portion of your soul or entity.


NOPR, Ch2, Session 614:
I will elaborate much more specifically on this particular point later in the book. (A note added later: Seth does — in Chapter Eighteen.) You are in physical existence to learn and understand that your energy, translated into feelings, thoughts and emotions, causes all experience. There are no exceptions.


NOPR, Ch2, Session 615:
Your spirit joined itself with flesh, and in flesh, to experience a world of incredible richness, to help create a dimension of reality of colors and of form. Your spirit was born in flesh to enrich a marvelous area of sense awareness, to feel energy made into corporeal form. You are here to use, enjoy, and express yourself through the body. You are here to aid in the great expansion of consciousness. You are not here to cry about the miseries of the human condition, but to change them when you find them not to your liking through the joy, strength and vitality that is within you; to create the spirit as faithfully and beautifully as you can in flesh.



NOPR, Ch8, Session 634:
Generally speaking, you are here to expand your consciousness, to learn the ways of creativity as directed through conscious thought. The aware mind can change its beliefs, and so to a large extent it can alter its bodily experience ...


NOPR, Ch9, Session 636:
The mind is also equipped to see its own beliefs, reflect upon them and evaluate their results, so using this tool as it was meant to be used would automatically help man in recognizing both his beliefs and their effects. Part of this great permissiveness has to do with the fact that man is to realize that he creates his own reality. Free will is a necessity. The leeway given allows him to materialize his ideas, meet them in physical experience, and evaluate for himself their particular kind of validity.


DE&VF1, Ch1, Session 882:
Your closest approximation of the purpose of the universe can be found in those loving emotions that you have toward the development of your children, in your intent to have them develop their fullest capacities.


DE&VF1, Ch4, Session 893:
(9:14.) If it were not for this most basic, initial loving cooperation, that is a given quality in life itself, life would not have continued. Each individual of each species takes that initial zest and joy of life as its own yardstick. Each individual of whatever species, and each consciousness, whatever its degree, automatically seeks to enhance the quality of life itself—not only for itself but for all of reality as well.


DE&VF1, Ch5, Session 899:
In a fashion (underlined), it was a great creative and yet cosmic game that consciousness played with itself, and it did represent a new kind of awareness, but I want to emphasize that each version of All That Is is unique. Each has its purpose, though that purpose cannot be easily defined in your terms. Many people ask, for example: "What is the purpose of my life?" Meaning: "What am I meant to do?" but the purpose of your life, and each life, is in its being (intently). That being may include certain actions, but the acts themselves are only important in that they spring out of the essence of your life, which simply by being is bound to fulfill its purposes.


DE&VF1, Ch5, Session 901:
Man does have an instinct and a desire to live, and he has an instinct and a desire to die. The same applies to other creatures. In his life [each] man is embarked upon a cooperative venture with his own species, and with the other species, and dying he also in that regard acts in a cooperative manner, returning his physical substance to the earth. (Pause.) Physically speaking, man's "purpose" is to help enrich the quality of existence in all of its dimensions. Spiritually speaking, his "purpose" is to understand the qualities of love and creativity, to intellectually and psychically understand the sources of his being, and to lovingly create other dimensions of reality of which he is presently unaware. (Pause.) In his thinking, in the quality of his thoughts, in their motion, he is indeed experimenting with a unique and a new kind of reality, forming other subjective worlds which will in their turn grow into consciousness and song, which will in their turn flower from a dream dimension into other ones. Man is learning to create new worlds. In order to do so he has taken on many challenges.


Now, along with all this, in several locations throughout his information, Seth talks about the reincarnational cycle. He tells us that once it's started, it must be completed. He also tells us that typically before completing this cycle, the life of a child, a man and a women must be experienced. Then in session 452, he tells us about the last lesson that once learned, will complete this cycle. Since I'm participating in the reincarnational cycle, this also must be a life's purpose.


TES9, Session 452:
Now the weapons and the destruction are the obvious things that you see. The counterparts are not so evident, and yet it is the counterparts that are important. The self-discipline learned, the control, the compassion that finally is aroused, and the final and last lesson learned, the positive desire for creativity and love over destruction and hatred. When this is learned the reincarnational cycle is finished.

SS, Ch13, Session 556:
At the end of the reincarnational cycle, the whole self is far more developed than it was before. It has realized and experienced itself in a dimension of reality unknown to it earlier, and in doing so, has of course increased its being. It is not a matter, then, of a whole self splitting in half, and then simply returning to itself.


-jbseth

[Sena]

The purpose of any given life is available to you, the knowledge beneath the surface of the conscious self you know. All kinds of hints and clues are also available.

Jointly, each generation has its own purpose. It is this — to perfect inner knowledge, and to materialize it as faithfully as possible outward into the world.

jbseth, thanks for these useful quotes.

[Deb]

Wow jbseth, thanks for putting up that collection. There's a lot of great information there and it explains our purpose on multiple levels. I found this especially encouraging:

When you realize that you do, this knowledge allows you to solve the problems or meet the challenges you have set, quicker, in your terms; and also opens further areas of creativity by which the entire play or production can be enriched.

[Deb]

Here is a quote from Mike Dooley's Life on Earth, Understanding Who We Are, How We Got Here and What May Lie Ahead. I'm near the end of the audio book and heard the following quote the other day. I just had to find it in the book so I could share here. It's perfect for this topic, and reminds me of my all-time favorite Seth quote "You are unique. There is no other in this room like you. There is no other in this universe or any other universe like you. You are completely unique and through you the energy of All That Is flows in a completely unique, original and never to be duplicated pattern." Mike Dooley is 100% in alignment with Seth, but with a lighter, less complex presentation of how we make our own reality. The book is set up in a question/answer format:

I am constantly reminded that I have a purpose in being here. What if I don't know what that purpose is, or what if I feel like I've already achieved that purpose? Am I wasting my time?

If you're breathing, you're now filling that one sacred, special niche that no one else could ever fill. Your eyes see what no others will ever see, your ears hear what no others will ever hear, and your perspective and feelings will never, ever be duplicated. Without you, the Universe would be less.

This is your highest offering. Being "you" is a sacred role that no one else could ever fill. And so if you're here, you're doing it. Your "purpose" has no more to do with your profession or calling than the color of your socks or what you had for breakfast. It's not what you do or don't do, whether you love it or hate it or change it a hundred times. As long as you're here, you're filling that niche—being who no one else has ever been.

Thinking otherwise  puts you in that false mind-set of, "If there is one thing I'm supposed to be doing, that means that everything else I'm doing is wrong! There's a reason I'm here, and I need to find out what it is because until I do, everything else is just a 'dishonest' waster of time." Too much pressure and for no reason, as it's completely untrue.

So ultimately do what makes you happiest, or at least what you think might ultimately make you happiest. Follow your heart, and if your heart isn't leading you anywhere, then wherever you are right now is likely where you have the most the learn. These considerations will ultimately increase both your reach and impact on the world, not that you have to do either.

—Life on Earth, Mike Dooley, Chapter 9

Anita Moorjani said something similar in her book Dying to be Me. She came back from a near death experience with this information, made a fast and complete recovery from stage 4 lymphoma, having realized during her NDE what made her sick in the first place. Basically, not honoring herself:

"When you choose to live from a place of love, you are free to be yourself, to connect with your desires, and to take action from a place of empowerment. When you choose to live from a place of fear, you are always trying to fit in, denying who you really are in order to satisfy the expectations of others. The latter not only deprives you of tremendous joy, but it also deprives the world of the real you; the you that is unique, gifted, and a pure facet of the Universe."

Which leads to this (from her website):

"I believe this is the most powerful idea for each of us: realizing that we're here to discover and honor our own individual path. It doesn't matter whether we renounce the material world and meditate on a mountaintop for 20 years or create a billion-dollar multinational company that employs thousands of people, giving them each a livelihood. We can attend a temple or church, sit on the beach, drink a margarita, take in a glorious sunset with a loved one, or walk through the park enjoying an ice cream. Ultimately, whichever path we choose is the right one for us, and none of these options are any more or less spiritual than the others."

[Sena]

Mike Dooley is 100% in alignment with Seth, but with a lighter, less complex presentation of how we make our own reality.

Deb, thanks for recommending this author, who is new to me.

[Deb]

Deb, thanks for recommending this author, who is new to me.

You're welcome Sena! I like Tom Dooley a lot. I walk/bike a lot for exercise and like listening to audio books while doing so. He narrates his own books and he's very upbeat and expressive. Since he's so in tune with the Seth stuff there's not much new to learn, but it's nice hearing it anyway.