Three Purposes

There are three purposes of life in the form of a particular body mind. 

The First Purpose is to experience what we are not. 

Aliveness, consciousness, intelligence and unconditional love are absolute, infinite in time and space, beyond definition, beyond concept and are all that exists. 

For any experience to occur there has to be a form. Whether this is thought, emotion, mind, body, self or object, the form is by definition limited in time and space. 

It cannot be the infinite and absolute, it cannot exist outside of perception and therefore it cannot have an objective truth. 

Any experience of the form is an experience of what we are not. The ultimate experience of what we are not is the creation of a separate, objectively ‘real’ individual self in a separate reality. 

The human mind wired for learning, creation, adaptation and concepts creates a belief structure which has at its core the separate self identity. 

The more insecure the space in which that belief structure develops, the more insecure the identity. 

The mind lost in its own creation is a lived experience of separation. It is an on-going existence of lack and isolation, of need, fear, insecurity and shame projecting an apparent reality that the self must resist in order to survive. 

The suffering in this experience can be immense because it is so far removed from the actual truth of what we are. 

This is why suffering points the way over and over again to the Second Purpose. 

The Second Purpose then is for the lived experience of what we are to align to the truth of what we are. 

That’s it. 

There will be another purpose but that comes later. 

For the moment though, there is only this one purpose and that is for the mind to align to reality. 

The mind aligning to reality means that the lived and believed experience of a separate, independently deciding self in a separate, independent reality ends.

This confusion of the ‘identified mind’ ends.  

The mind settles into its truths. 

Its first truth is consciousness. The mind is attention and the sane mind is open attention, receiving whatever arises in experience without identification, separation or belief. 

Its second truth is creation. The mind is a creative super-power. It is the place of imagination, concepts, design, plans, analysis, problem-solving and stories. 

The confusion of the mind arises when its truths are misunderstood. 

In confusion, the creations of the mind are taken as real. At the core of this confusion is the belief in and experience of a vulnerable, lacking separate self that can make choices and which exists separately from its environment. There is no such thing. 

In confusion, the empty, witnessing space of consciousness is hidden. Attention is caught up in the creations of mind. The mind is completely lost in the past wound tensions of fear, need, insecurity and shame.  

In this confusion, the identified mind has a purpose. It is to reclaim the peace, bliss and sanity that was all there was before identification took hold. 

The mind is trying to find wholeness in separation. 

It is trying to find peace by controlling emotions. 

It is trying to find bliss by switching its own self off. 

Purposes such as trying to have an impact, trying to be successful, trying to be loved, trying to earn money, trying to be healthy, trying to be a great parent, boss or citizen are all a proxy for this desire to return home. 

As long as the creations of the mind are believed, as long as attention is lost in the story of separation then these purposes, even if fulfilled, will never hit the spot. 

Purpose from this space is a purpose of confusion. It is a mind fighting its own projections. It is a mind that is not operating in reality. 

Therefore the Second Purpose of every single body mind on the planet is a return to reality. It is for the mind to settle into its truth as  consciousness. It is for the creations of the mind to be understood for what they are: creations of the mind. 

This is the experience of what we are aligning to the truth of what we are. This is a mind and body returning home. 

This means the end of trying to secure the separate self. It is the end of the exhausting fight between imaginary me and imaginary other. The purposes that were only ever containers of that fight are over. They serve no purpose now. 

This purpose of aligning experience to reality is not an easy one. It is the hero’s journey that no hero wants to undertake because it means the end of the hero. 

It is the hardest journey because at every stage the identified mind must turn towards its own annihilation. A lifetime’s attempt to control, numb and silence is over and this can be terrifying.  

Confronting, terrifying, uncomfortable… and ultimately sanity, freedom, truth and reality. 

And now what?

Time for the Third (and final) Purpose: living, creating, exploring in a world that will continually take us back to the second purpose of healing.  And then beyond that…? 

Who knows?

Who knows what will be created when actions are no longer the slaves of a lost mind?

Who knows what relationships will form when other people are no longer used as devices to secure an isolated self? 

Who knows what discoveries will be made by a mind unbounded by belief?