Is it enough to have purpose?
It is obviously essential for success to be purposeful in your actions in order to stay on track and fulfill the vision. But, what if it is not based on Truth and it’s hard to tell what THE Truth really is?
Is it worth rowing along in personal conviction if it is all based on Faith from within and personal interpretation of one route map to be followed in Life if fellow boaters do not acknowledge it and follow you down the same path?
In other words, is having a vision and pursuing it purposefully make Life whole, or is it more important to have the right vision & how do you discover it?
Explain, using examples and references, and relate your comments to the Four Principles for Purposeful Action.
This post was written by Jimy George, who will lead the discussion for the week starting on March 17.
I think that my interpretation of what is the “right” vision could be different than your interpretation. So it is important for your vision to be right for you. You must search deep within yourself through introspection to determine what vision will provide fulfillment in your life. It is important to think of others and the effect that achieving your vision will have on others. Pursuing a vision that hurts others or has a negative effect on others is not a purposeful vision. Take Hitler for example. He had a vision and achieving his vision provide happiness to him but this was not a purposeful vision.
You asked if it is worth rowing along based on your personal conviction if it is all based on faith even if others don’t have the same faith. Believers in the Bible do this every day. You follow a path based on your belief and your faith not really knowing if these beliefs are true or not. While others around the world don’t believe in the Bible. They may believe in other religions or Gods and they are rowing along based on their faith. Who is to say who is right? It is definitely important for you personally to believe in what you are doing and have faith in your inner beliefs. It is important that you act with purpose and act ethically. It is hard to follow actions that you don’t truly believe in.
I appreciate the honesty and vulnerability with which you came out and said that and thanks for verbalizing how I feel personally
Adding on, having Faith is also “knowing” although internally, more than just hoping, as it is the substance of that hope (taking from Hebrews 11:1) and believing it like that (like you’ve mentioned) will make it purposeful!
Nikki
You put into words what I was struggling with (and not just about believers in the Bible)
Who tells you what is the right vision? I believe that is an internal decision mades after much self-searching and study. If you depend on “others” for what is “right” then you dont have purpose, you have someone else’s purpose
Having a vision and working towards achieving that vision is an end in and of itself. It is the vision that serves as the catalyst for purposeful action. Certainly all of us that have a vision want to be successful in our pursuit of that vision but it is seemingly irrelevant whether the state we are striving towards is representative of a perceived truth. Truth can be a very personal and subjective thing and not everyone will perceive the same truth or put their faith in the same beliefs. But that is the role the leader plays - in inspiring others to come to believe what you believe.
It does not matter whether your vision is perceived as a right, or true, vision. What matters is that you believe in it enough to commit to it and work towards achieving it. Many of the great leaders we have read about over the course of this class illustrate that it is up to the leader to inspire others to believe, whether we are discussing Jesus Christ or Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Purposeful Action website, in it’s discussion of meditation, says the following: “Union with the Supreme Creative Force is the ultimate purpose of meditation—the essence of mental yoga or Gyan yoga. To reach this state of union, and the freedom from material bonds that the union provides, can take years of practice under the guidance of an enlightened teacher. Many try but few complete the journey.” This is the mindset I adopt when I think of working towards achieving a vision - even if success is not achieved the journey is still a worth and valuable pursuit.
http://www.purposefulaction.com/index.asp?mid=80&mid2=208&mid3=11
Josh
A very good observation. i agree with your comments.“Union with the Supreme Creative Force is the ultimate purpose of meditation is true.
I agree with the first few comments that it is not quite enough to have purpose. It is certainly more important to have the right vision and pursue it purposefully.
It would seem according to the 12 steps that a good vision that is not necessarily the right one that is derived from inner conviction cannot be pursued “purposefully” through the 12 steps or the Four Principles. If you do not have the right vision you likely would not be able to apply positive core values, you likely would not be able to dedicate yourself enough to obtain followers, your mission would never be clear, and it would be nearly impossible to navigate with others. I think it is fair to say simple purpose would never lead to fulfillment and satisfaction.
It might also stand that having only one reason usually does not suffice for undertaking something that requires a mission.
Finally, you might say that purpose is not enough because it is the action that gets you along the mission and direction that guides you. Having purpose does not guarantee the right action or direction. A quote from John F. Kennedy…….
http://www.purposefulaction.com
http://www.knowprose.com/node/14052
http://quotationsbook.com/quote/12091/
Who is to say whether your vision is the right vision or not? What matters is that the individual believes in his or her vision, so much so that he or she is willing to commit to it 100%. You mention that the 12 steps indicate that a good vision cannot be pursued purposefully if it is not the right vision. How so? There will always be others who disagree and criticize your vision and plan of action as being wrong or pointless.
If an individual has a vision, believes in it, and then commits to achieving that vision then I would submit that the vision is right - at least in the sense that it is right for that individual. The worth of a leader is independent of how many followers he or she has.
I agree with you completely Josh. What is the “right” vision? Really, who is to say whether my vision is the “right” one or the “wrong” one? Whatever is “right” in my eyes can be “wrong” in somebody else’s….
Of course, illegal and unethical visions that we want to pursue are out of question, but if we just focus on right or wrong vision, we all differ. If believe in something and you know it’s the right, ethical and legal thing to do - go ahead. Act purposefully and be committed.
Very true.
Any action can have a purpose, but if that action is incorrectly applied to the vision the action will ultimately not be purposeful in the overall vision.
Roy Mathai,
i like your story and comments,i agree with you that there are lot of such great stories under matthew and this is what we discussed in my sunday school session. i am glad to see this again.
I believe that it is not enough if we have a purpose, so we need to combine the other factors that will guide us to fulfill that purpose.
As the Purposeful action is defined as a series of events or steps motivated by commitment to a mission. In order to be purposeful, the mission for the action must be derived from inner conviction, and the action must benefit others beyond self.
By defining our purpose, I believe that the phase 1 is reached and there will be 2 other phases called Forming the Plan and Renewal of the Action. So in order to fulfil any purpose, there is a need to apply the twelve steps of purposeful action for effective and efficient results.
http://www.purposefulaction.com
Venkat, what you said is right. we have to combine the other factors that will guide us to fulfill the purpose.
An action is not purposeful until we enact upon it by follwing the right methodology. Well quoted Venkat.
An action is not purposeful until we enact upon it by following the right methodology. Well quoted Venkat.
The parable tells of a master who was leaving his home to travel, and before going gave his three servants different amounts of money. On returning from his travels, the master asked his servants for an account of the money given to them. The first servant reported that he was given five talents, and he had made five talents more. The master praised the servant as being good and faithful, gave him more responsibility because of his faithfulness, and invited the servant to be joyful together with him.
The second servant said that he had received two talents, and he had made two talents more. The master praised this servant in the same way as being good and faithful, giving him more responsibility and inviting the servant to be joyful together with him.
The last servant who had received one talent reported that knowing his master was a hard man, he buried his talent in the ground for safekeeping, and therefore returned the original amount to his master. The master called him a wicked and lazy servant, saying that he should have placed the money in the bank to generate interest. The master commanded that the one talent be taken away from that servant, and given to the servant with ten talents, because everyone that has much will be given more, and whoever that has a little, even the little that he has will be taken away. And the master ordered the servant to be thrown outside into the darkness where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
This is story from the Bible, from the book of Mathew Ch:25.
This story shows how important is to have right purpose. Right purpose help to change lives of everyone. In this story you can see the actions with a purpose, all of the acions were with a purpose. However, not all actions were not good.
Good story Roy. I believe though that the opinion of what was the “right” purpose was decided by the master because the last servant thought he was doing what was right. Who decides what purpose is “right”? The way I see it is everyone has to look deep within themselves to determine what is “right” for them. In this story I think the fault of the third servant was that he didn’t actually look within himself to determine what actions to do. He was more of a trustee and did what the leader expected him to do or rather what he thought the leader wanted him to do.