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Life is no “brief candle” to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations. George Bernard Shaw

What are the conditions needed for your soul to manifest your individual contribution, your generosity of spirit, the gift of your lifetime, your light for the future?

I am sitting here, puzzled. I don’t know where these conditions are understood or taught. They are fundamental to being human and becoming I and I would think that sometime around 15 or 16, we should have a class on the conditions for showing up in the world with our unique and cosmically necessary gift.

“Human generosity is possible only because at the center of the solar system a magnificent stellar generosity pours forth free energy day and night without stop and without complaint and without the slightest hesitation . . . each of us joins (a) cosmological lineage when we accept the Sun’s gift of energy and transform it into creative action that will enable the community to flourish.” Brian Swimme

I remember taking an aptitude test when I was 17. It was going to tell me what I was interested in and had a talent for. My scores were high across the board. I could do anything according to the test. What a curse! It meant that whenever I got bored or met a challenge, I could go do something else. The inner conditions of commitment and perseverance dried up, suffocated, froze and hidden in the dark cave of missing of selfhood.

According to the values measured by the aptitude test, I had no internal conditions naturally limiting me, narrowing my choices, pointing me in a direction, illuminating a particular goal. I was full of extraordinary potential, completely undefined.

And everyone thought that was wonderful. No one had the wisdom to see and help me deal with the dilemmas I was going to face.

Of course, your experience might have been just the opposite – restrictive limitations and rigid definition. Leaving you with little or no sense of creative freedom.

What were your limitations, your given choices, your given directions, your particular goals? Did you feel capable, able to fly to your stars? Or were you swimming on the edge of a whirlpool of possibilities?

One inner condition that needs to be awakened is the confidence that in our greatest weakness we may find the hidden purpose of our lives. We need to have a self-love that encourages us to open our inner shame to the light of creative possibility. We need to know that what appears to hold us back may actually be leading us forward. I am pointing to learning that our great truths are often revealed in paradox.

What are the paradoxes in your inner conditions?

Then beyond inner conditions, there are the outer conditions. A seed needs outer conditions of right measures of water, oxygen, temperature and light to germinate, to break out of the seed coat, to root and shoot.

What do human beings need? What outer conditions do you need?

Here a a few outer conditions I wish I had had…

A wise and compassionate questioner who understands forgiveness and knows how to celebrate.

A few noble models intimately close who show how to name and overcome inner and outer demons and obstacles.

Someone at my back whispering to me of freedom.
Someone at my side sharing my journey, laughing with me and sometimes at me.
Someone way out in front of me calling my true name.
Someone with a big foot to kick me in the behind – often.

A schooling that awakened a practical consciousness of contribution.
A training for my will.

And education, support and skills for the practical aspects of my contribution.

For human beings to germinate the essential outer conditions are mysterious and amazing.

What outer conditions are you looking for? Please don’t mention winning the lottery – everyone wishes for that.

In spite of and because of…

I can go back over my life and see all the struggles, all the lack of satisfaction, all the feelings of being attacked or abandonned by inner and outer conditions, and see the essential hairpin turns of my journey to my full self-expression, the grand, surprising fulfillment of my destiny. I am here doing work that is such a right-on-the-mark expression of who I am.

You will get there. You just need to know where to look and how to recognize what you see.

Listen to your inner observer. Let your inner friend hold you warmly. And follow your inner guide. They, your three higher selves, will help you grasp the right conditions, take a leap forward, sing your heart out to the world.

And it is never too late or too soon. Age is a condition that may be just right!

Please post a comment sharing with me and others your sense of the inner and outer conditions need for your self-fulfillment. Ask questions. Let us know what inspires you to keep seeking your Selfhood.

I also offer the compelling, empowering Inner Winter Intensive

Imagine Your Contribution & Fulfill Your Destiny

a fundamental schooling in manifesting your purpose

Learn about the benefits, the content, the dates & times, the cost here.

I will continue to write posts throughout Inner Winter focusing on the question of your destiny and your work in the world.