The Purpose of Life – breaking free of illusion and knowing your true self
By Duane Hewitt
What is the purpose of life? If we say it is to love and serve God, does that say enough about such a supremely vast topic? Is not more likely that the real purpose of life is so much broader; so much more comprehensive?
The purpose of life is this: To break through the barriers of illusion; to step free of mankind’s contrivances concerning the world and of man-made beliefs. It is to evolve and to arrive at the awareness of your soul’s true nature – to grow beyond the world – to know the real you; unfettered by contrivance, artificiality, falsehoods, and illusions.
Imagine being thrown into a concrete jail cell. You have four walls, the floor, the ceiling, and perhaps one small window with bars that stands out of reach. Pretend that you will be in this cement cell for who knows how long. You know it is for a finite amount of time, but you don’t know whether it is for a day, a week, a month, or much longer. While confined to this cell you can’t help but be restricted. Your vision and your activities are limited – and yet… You know there is a greater world just outside your prison. You know of the blue sky, of rivers and lakes, of mountains, and of many places of beauty. You know of people and cultures – even those that you may not have experienced first-hand. You also know of art and music. You know of science, math, architecture, language, and a whole lot more. As you come to accept that you are in this concrete cell, you just as quickly realize that your active mind, your sense of self-worth and identify – the “who” you really are – is not confined. You grow past the enclosure of the cell by the very power that makes you, you. You have a rich intellect with rich thoughts and you are capable of much. As you exercise thought and imagination, you evolve beyond the confines of the cell. You are not the cell; you are a much greater aspect of creation than that confining space.
Our lives are just like this. We live in a very flawed and damaged world, but beyond the confines of this world is truth. And we must strive to find that truth. We need to come to the realization of who we each are. Many such answers lie inward. Even if you have deeds and patterns in this world that you feel are not you, such things may be nothing more than the residue created by this imperfect world. It’s almost as if the world serves as a testing ground or a schoolroom to make us grow and understand our true natures. The task at hand is to become aware and learn. The task at hand is to evolve. From this, all other good purposes will manifest.
Back to the metaphor of the concrete cell… let’s say someone enters and starts preaching at you about religion – not God, mind you, but the contrivances of mankind’s religion. They seek to burden you with their beliefs in guilt, fear, shame, and control. But you know this has nothing to do with God or creation. Right then, a little sparrow lands on your window and starts to sing as a gentle breeze enters with the pleasant scent of lilacs. This, you think, is God reaching out to you – and it has nothing to do with this angry fellow who wants you to buy into mankind’s religious views.
There are many contrivances in this temporary, artificial world. And they seem all too real as they bombard us day-in and day-out. But we must make the decision to rise above the falsehoods to find truth – real truth. To do this, allow the veil to be lifted. Pull back of the world without separating yourself from it or alienating others. Strive to grow beyond the deceptions, fabrications, and trappings. Learn who you are – who you really are. Dispel with illusion.
Life’s purposes can be manifold: to have the human experience, to live and learn, to grow in the experience, to help others, to make the world a better place, to complete whatever tasks you may have come here for, to fulfill a mission of your own choosing, and to find joy and love. But we will only be at our magnificent best if we evolve past the misconceptions and delusions.
Christ himself said, “take heart, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33). And now we all need to do the same and evolve beyond the artifice of the world to our higher, truer natures.
Copyright 2017 Duane Hewitt. All rights reserved.
