The Purpose of Life, Part 2: Obstacles to Fulfilment
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The Purpose of Life, Part 2: Obstacles to Fulfilment
The jigsaw puzzle of modern life is complex, and the discussion group in Cambridge included people of a number of different cultures and nationalities. In view of this, it might be expected that there would be quite a diverse and lengthy list of potential ‘external’ obstacles to achievement of our purpose.
Factors such as lack of financial resources were mentioned, as were societal and family pressures, and these can certainly be important in affecting our actions.
But the greatest discussion was about things much closer to home: Ourselves.
Amongst the ‘internal’ issues which people cited as being potential obstacles were regret, fear, anxiety, self-doubt, feelings of inferiority and indecision.
While some might feel that there is a certain ‘heaviness’ about this list, I felt that it was both illuminating and encouraging.
Illuminating because it showed that that the people taking part had a good degree of insight into themselves, and this is not usually something which is taught in school or by parents – and, indeed, not something which is widespread in the general population, where blaming others is often the view taken of problems.
I found it encouraging because the first step to developing and growing is becoming aware – it is for good reason that an important part of many meditation practices is the development of ‘mindfulness’.
The other thing which is encouraging is that, unlike many external factors which influence our lives, what is in our mind can come under our control, once we know how.
I will write more about this in Part 3 of this series.
Until then
Warmly,
Chris
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on Saturday, August 4th, 2007 at 12:39 am and is filed under Meditation, Philosophy.
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August 11th, 2008 19:07
the obstacles listed above are natural human inferiority complex…and we should do something about them, so these obstacles wont hinder us from doing what we need to and so we can come out from our shells
September 16th, 2010 14:00
I have come to believe things such as money and environment, while contributing factors, are really more surface obstacles, or excuses, for why we don’t strive to reach our goals. What I mean by this is that I have come to believe that how much money or things you have or where you live can be changed through effort. These types of obstacles are masks for the true obstacles.
The true obstacles we must overcome lie within ourselves. We must overcome our own doubts, fears, and anxiety. These are the things that truly hold us back.
I’ve come to believe this because you can find many successful people who had little or no money or who grew up in a poor environment. But they did not let these factors keep them from reaching for their dreams.
I’ll admit, I’ve used the “excuses” myself. But when I really evaluate it, the reason I failed to reach for my dreams was more a lack of a belief that I could, doubting that I was worthy of doing it. As I have started to focus on doing what I can with what I have and working on moving past the internal issues, I am finding that the external factors are less of an issue.
Another great post!