Purpose Driven Life In Chinese

[Kemal Allan]

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Some of the lessons that I have come to learn from applying the principles in the book, "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren, don't always come directly from the book alone. Sometimes, the book itself, and everything that I have read from it forms the foundation that leads to something else later that helps to make sense of everything that is going on in my life.

The topic that I wanted to share about today has it's roots in a very simple concept called "hope". Yet, this simple concept known as "hope" is something that some of us growing up never seem to have experienced.

Growing up as a child, I considered myself blessed that at least I got parents who still loved me and cared about me. I considered myself blessed that I already understood the idea of hope long before I knew its meaning.

When we have hope in our lives, it is usually because we are hanging to some kind of belief that something better is going to happen in our lives. Hope is the one thing that keeps us going when we have nothing else to fall back upon.

I want to share about something in my life that's real. (This is also something that I've decided to do in recent times when I made the decision to become an authentic influencer rather than faking it online to garner likes and followers for the sake of it.)

4 years ago, when I made the decision to following my passions in life, and to also seek out my purpose in life, I left my full-time career behind and took a leap of faith. What some people will never know is that I already had approximately S$75,000 in debt from my maxed out credit cards as well as bank loans. Over the last 4 years of my journey, that debt has since increased to just over S$100,000 (to those that have helped me along the way). To be exact, the figure is now standing at about S$106,500.

Frankly, I have to give God thanks for His grace and mercy throughout this grueling journey. Honestly, if not for the hope that He has given me for a better future, I would honestly have given up a long time ago.

I've heard many stories about people who had only about $30,000 of debt, and they would end up taking their own lives by choosing to jump off the building. Reason, probably because they couldn't deal with the pressure that the debt has created.

I mean, I had depression when I was a youth, and I did share that thought once. But now that I am much older, and definitely wiser, I can't think of any valid reason for why someone would want to take their own lives because of a debt.

Sure, I'm definitely feeling quite stressed-out on some days, trying to battle between the idea of staying on course with following my passions, or to give it up because I have a 6-figure debt that I need to resolve.

Many friends, even relatives and family members felt that I should've given up on my pursuit of happyness because my reality is a more pressing matter and priority than to live out my purpose in life.

I think one of the most important lessons I have learned on this journey of discovering my purpose in life - is that, it teaches me the difference between having a short-term motivation and having a long-term one.

Short-term motivations is something that we set for ourselves so that we will be motivated towards achieving a particular goal that we can see in the near future. Short-term motivations can be anything from the desire to finish your homework so that you can catch up on the next (two) episodes of Game of Thrones to something like buying yourself that $5,000 watch when you manage close your first major business deal.

Short-term motivations are good. And I sincerely encourage you to have short-term motivations in your life, they are one of the important reasons that keeps us going while we are working towards something more long-term.

I think it's time for the most important part of today's lesson. While short-term motivations might be good to help us get to the next goal on our list, having many short-term goals in life doesn't necessarily mean that we are heading in the right direction.

Don't get me wrong though. Finding a way to work off my debts is still a really important priority to me, but so is finding a way to fulfil my purpose and mission in life. Trying to find that balance between the two is still something that I am currently working on. It's not as easy as it might seem. Truly, it is actually quite complicated from where I stand.

But it is however clear to me what I need to do in my current situation. Though finding a full-time career will put me in conflicts with my commitment to my purpose and mission in life, not having an income (however little) is also not an answer to my problems.

The balance here, from where I stand, is to find part-time gigs, something a bit more permanent (long-term). It doesn't even have to pay much. Just a few hundred dollars a month would be nice. On top of that, I would need to building myself up with a steady stream of freelance consulting gigs. It will not be as consistent or steady as the part-time gigs, but it will pay more and better over a period of a few months. By managing both options in parallel, I would have sufficient to survive, while also having enough to gradually work off my debts.

Like any other emerging concepts, there is no universal working definition of purpose. I will try to examine the concept and definitions of purpose from the perspectives of philosophy, Taoism and business.

William Damon (2008) defined purpose as a stable and generalized intention to accomplish something that is at the same time meaningful to the self and consequential for the world beyond the self. This purpose consists of three main components: long-term intention, actual action plan and commitment, and beyond-the-self motivation (Damon, 2008). In this sense, purpose can be interpreted as moral virtue from the perspective of virtue ethics. Purpose can be regarded as a virtue in virtually all eras and cultures, including Western, Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism cultures, although there might be minor differences in the concepts of purpose in each cultural background. For instance, Christianity regards purpose of life associated with a calling from God as one of the most fundamental elements for a meaningful and valuable life (Warren, 2002). In Eastern cultures, achieving the ultimate purpose of life, such as the completion of self-cultivation in Taoism and Confucianism or true enlightenment and Nirvana in Buddhism, has been morally admired (Rahula, 1974; Y.F.Ho, 1995).

Han (2015) argues that purpose is naturally a moral virtue that enhances flourishing. But it is a second-order virtue that plays a corrective role and moderates the performance of other first-order virtues and the strength of motivational force of behaviour. Purpose provides other virtues with the proper direction where they should aim, and when and where they should be put into practice. For instance, courage without purpose would be meaningless. Without purpose, although a person might possess and exercise individual moral virtues at a certain moment, all of those individual virtues, or virtue-like things, cannot appropriately facilitate the achievement of his/her flourishing at the end. Purpose is a second-order virtue that enables a person who possesses it to decide which actions to take and which virtues to exercise at a specific moment for the achievement of his/her noble long-term goal, and ultimately for flourishing. Purpose plays a corrective role to maintain the level of behavioral motivation at an appropriate level. A person with this virtue, a purposeful person, can maintain an appropriate level of behavioural motivation to achieve his/her ultimate goal at the end. This person knows when to act and when to stop, and where to spend and concentrate energy and where not to pay attention (Bronk, 2012). Thus, purpose can correct the two non-productive motivational statuses and guide a person to the ultimate happiness. Therefore, purpose can play a corrective role to decide a proper thrust and focus of endeavours, and to control the degree of behavioural motivation between two extreme ends: insufficient and excessive behavioural motivation.

Leider (2015) believes that our purpose is the essence of who we are and what makes us unique. Our purpose is an active expression of the deepest dimension within us - where we have a profound sense of who we are and why we are here. Purpose is the aim around which we structure our lives, a source of direction and energy. Through the lens of purpose, we are able to see ourselves - and our future - more clearly. You have a purpose no matter what age you are, how healthy you are, or what your economic or social situation is. Purpose is actively sticking to your values, leaning toward compassion for others, and getting up in the morning to contribute value to the world. Purpose is what gives life a meaning.

Taoism is an ancient Chinese system of thought, the most influential philosophy and religion in the world or religion. It views the universe as an interconnected, organic whole. Nothing exists separately from anything else. The universe is governed by a set of natural and unalterable laws which manifest themselves as a flow of continuous change. This natural order and flow is referred to as the Tao, or the Way. The Tao is the origin and source of all things in the universe, the law of nature and ultimate reality. The Tao is often described as a force that flows through all life. Therefore, a happy and virtuous life is one that is in harmony with the Tao, with nature. The philosophy of Taoism understands Tao as the one thing which exists and connects the many things. The Tao is also a tremendous energy in the universe and within the individuals, and available to be harnessed and utilized to guide people into the joys of more satisfying and successful living. The same energy can also assist people in living a life filled with meaningful contributions to their personal world, their family, their community, their nation, and the world.

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