Three Questions to Reanimate Purpose

One of my mentors once shared…,

I confess that there is nothing to teach; no religion, no science, no information which will lead your mind back to the Tao. Today I speak in this fashion, tomorrow in another, but always the Integral Way is beyond words and beyond mind. Simply be aware of the oneness of things.

It is such sharing that cultivates courage to, what I would call, be in a river and current of wholeness. To live with commitment and surrender to kindness and consciousness for Life itself.

Such words often aren’t a part of a group or organization’s culture. They aren’t the words that appear in the mission statement. Yet, I’ve learned that many people, though less familiar with such language, often have yearning hearts to discover such ways.

I’ve learned over the years to take such ideas and invite a deeper path with the groups that I work with. It often begins with sharing such a provocative notion, and then offering a few questions to engage together through thoughtful listening and clear-enough speaking. Circle, World Cafe, and other participative forms serve so well for such yearning.

Three questions in particular go with this passage for me.

What is the bigger story here? (What is the bigger story that gives purpose to what we do in the day to day?)

What have we forgotten about the bigger story? (What has distracted us or distorted us from that deeper purpose?)

What is important to do, and to be, to reclaim this bigger story? (What awareness, what awakening, and what simple steps help us welcome more meaning to what we do?)

Here’s to mentors. Here’s to courage. Here’s to reanimated purpose that lifts our eyes to the grandeur of what is beautiful and yearned for.