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Fri, Jul 22, 2016 08:46:52 AM


🎲 finding purpose 🎯
posted: Fri, Jul 22, 2016 08:46:52 AM

 

in my existence?
like many of my peers, this question and the quest to uncover this knowledge, obsessed me to no end. over the course of the days i have been clean, more and more, i think less and less on what is the purpose of my existence, and live more in the “what is,” instead of “what is it.”
okay back at it. yes, once i got clean and started to feel i was different, as in not creating chaos everywhere i went, i began to wonder if my life had some purpose, other than just living. after all, what i heard was that i was “saved” from the idiotic things i did in active addiction. my mind continued down that track as, “IF i was saved, it must have been for some larger and grander purpose, after all, why would i be CHOSEN and others left to die?” time and again, i came back to this premise and each time the answer eluded me, in the end, i always fell back on to the tried and true: “GOD works in mysterious ways,” cliché
as i stayed clean and grew in my recovery program, this question receded into the background chatter that is human consciousness, and up until today, i really have not pondered it much. this morning, however, after a very brief night of sleep, it popped back to the top of stack, as i read the JFT reading. to be clear, the reading in and of itself is all about the death of my spirit that would accompany my next use. it spoke of being nearly dead when i got here and how the recovery program, i choose to live 100% of the time, has nurtured it, restored it and continues to make it grow in both strength and intensity. i have no problem with any of that, as the evidence of my experience demonstrates. in fact my FAITH is that IF i keep doing what i am doing, i will keep getting what i am getting. for me, therefore, sometimes i dive a bit deeper and focus on a phrase or two, just because most of the rest of the reading happens to coincide in my current belief system. this morning it came to the notion of a purpose to my life and how that is an idea, that i have reconciled in this current set of steps.
having a “higher purpose,” or “ being more than ordinary” are two things i always thought were part of me, even back in the day. as i moved further and further from a deist world view, these two ideas gradually lost their veracity and became like an appendix is to my body, vestigial organs. they once served a purpose and were in place for a very good reason, but now they just hang out and did very little, except to get infected, inflamed and a threat to my spiritual health. as i sit in my 12TH step, and contemplate the spiritual awakening(s) i have been a part of, in this set of steps, i see that i really having to have a sense of a “higher purpose” is not part of who i am today. the steps have surgically removed my need to be spiritually more or greater than, and the purpose i sense in my life today, is just to live life the best i can today. make my plans, accept what happens is just what happens, and fret over the questions that drove me bat-shit crazy for all those years. i am becoming whole, i am becoming genuine and i am no longer reliant on the ideas i needed to pump up my low self-esteem and lack of self-respect. in my spiritual path, stuff happens, and i am clean today, because of a chain of events, some tragic, that forced me to stop using for long enough to clear the garbage from my mind. one may call that a miracle, and i would not disagree with them. i see it as an opportunity that was forced upon me with great prejudice, that i chose to avail myself to, after all, people like me do not get clean nor do they stay clean. OR DO THEY?
so it is off to the races and into this day i go.

∞ DT ∞

 

djtConsulting Brand
The views expressed on this page are solely the opinion of the author.
While the author is a member of a 12 Step recovery fellowship, these writings are not intended to endorse or express the published wisdom of any fellowship.
These writings are not meant to be socially or politically correct, and if you take issue with any opinions expressed, please seek the guidance of someone wiser than me.

Another Look!

spiritual life 235 words ➥ Thursday, July 22, 2004 by: donnot
α spiritual life ω 317 words ➥ Friday, July 22, 2005 by: donnot
↔ snuffing the spiritual flame i have worked so hard to restore in my recovery ↔ 375 words ➥ Saturday, July 22, 2006 by: donnot
∞ but i know what the consequence will be if i use ∞ 514 words ➥ Sunday, July 22, 2007 by: donnot
δ with the Twelve Steps and the love of other recovering addicts, δ 369 words ➥ Tuesday, July 22, 2008 by: donnot
∞ as a newcomer, i came to my first meeting with only a small spark of life remaining ∞ 489 words ➥ Wednesday, July 22, 2009 by: donnot
• for me, to use is to die, often in more ways than one • 777 words ➥ Thursday, July 22, 2010 by: donnot
∏ with the Twelve Steps and the love of other recovering addicts ∏ 509 words ➥ Friday, July 22, 2011 by: donnot
⌈ each day i choose to stay clean, my spirit is revitalized ⌋ 738 words ➥ Sunday, July 22, 2012 by: donnot
↔ when everything in my life seems to go wrong, ↔ 526 words ➥ Monday, July 22, 2013 by: donnot
∏ despite the fact that my life in recovery is rewarding, ∏ 750 words ➥ Tuesday, July 22, 2014 by: donnot
∩ too dear ∩ 418 words ➥ Wednesday, July 22, 2015 by: donnot
🏜 to use is to die, 🏝 719 words ➥ Saturday, July 22, 2017 by: donnot
🏎 honoring my 🏍 523 words ➥ Sunday, July 22, 2018 by: donnot
🌱 that whole, vital 🌼 431 words ➥ Monday, July 22, 2019 by: donnot
🕱 spiritual death 🕳 641 words ➥ Wednesday, July 22, 2020 by: donnot
👹 choosing 👺 436 words ➥ Thursday, July 22, 2021 by: donnot
🙃 if i choose 🙁 495 words ➥ Friday, July 22, 2022 by: donnot
🤝 extending a 🤝 565 words ➥ Saturday, July 22, 2023 by: donnot
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☯ The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao ☯

THE TAO TEH KING, OR THE TAO AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS
by Lao-Tse
Translated by James Legge

Book 1

2) The multitude of men look satisfied and pleased; as if enjoying
a full banquet, as if mounted on a tower in spring. I alone seem listless
and still, my desires having as yet given no indication of their presence.
I am like an infant which has not yet smiled. I look dejected and
forlorn, as if I had no home to go to. The multitude of men all have
enough and to spare. I alone seem to have lost everything. My mind
is that of a stupid man; I am in a state of chaos. Ordinary men look
bright and intelligent, while I alone seem to be benighted. They look
full of discrimination, while I alone am dull and confused. I seem
to be carried about as on the sea, drifting as if I had nowhere to
rest. All men have their spheres of action, while I alone seem dull
and incapable, like a rude borderer. (Thus) I alone am different from
other men, but I value the nursing-mother (the Tao).