The Path to Common Sense- 18th April 2010

DIVINING reason is not always or exactly through the mechanical conduits of brain-based thinking. As logic would have it, there are many linear conclusions that all appear 'reasonable' when aligned from the same starting point, yet in the main can be as nonsensical and unhelpful as an egg counter is to a chicken.

Reason and commonsense thinking involves a practicality that has bearings all of its own. It needs to pertain to something defined that has a purpose, also which is clearly recognized; and therefore there is the ability of foresight, which is required from the outset. So we cannot have practical and helpful thinking without the ability to foresee what it is we are trying to achieve via our mind's collective.

Now purpose, or at the very least, a sense of purpose, is also necessary for us to be able to begin and carry through with our cognitive enquiry. This is a very interesting point, because all learning - and this follows also for the highest of learning - must begin with either a conscious or innate purpose driving it. The very key to unlock any knowledge is Right Purpose.

And what is 'Right Purpose'? Firstly, the word 'purpose' does relate to a cause - but mainly it is also a very distinct feeling or emotion experienced quite strongly either in the heart or the gut or the chest, by the plaintiff, knowing what is missing from their lives so far.

Purpose drives all of nature, and in its highest aspect it becomes the sensing and being of the Divine Will. It is not the Life itself that drives the Divine Will - although it can 'feel' like it - but rather the sensing and the moving with the current of this massive life-force which inspires all energetic happenings around us. It is a motivator to sense this purpose - but purpose itself is the sensing of this Divinity moving and expressing its way through All.

Every aspect of nature and being is fundamentally and principally aware of and emanating Divine Purpose. This is the living realization of that which the Divine Will operates, moves and manifests through.

In more archaic times, when folk spoke of sensing or feeling the purpose of something, they literally meant that they had consciously come to know the feeling of the life, pulse and Divine presence within something, which was confirmation to them of it being 'real', or with the strong possibility therefore of becoming made real.

The act of coupling which could eventuate with a newborn, is given to this push and presence of strong purpose being experienced - bringing an elevated experience of the driving force within.

The scientist or the artist is often encouraged past physical endurance to work to tasks because they can sense and also bring to themselves, some of the energetic life which moves to enable the fruition of their tasks or projects envisioned.

It is this fundamental sense of purpose which motivates every movement within our own bodies, and daily enables us to wake, to eat, to speak and to participate in a concert of society; this sensing of the life within; a feeling for the Divine Will and its own knowing. Without this principal sensing, an individual can become ill in a variety of ways: lose coordination in body or function, in speech or rationality, in optimism or spirituality. 

This is why one never meets a happy atheist - because fundamentally they have lost their ability to sense the Divine Will and its energetic Life moving all around and within them. Without this faculty of sensing, is no sense of divine or personal purpose. Without this sensing or knowing of its presence, they have not the faith in there being purpose, which is greater than themselves or wonderful within themselves. An all-pervading sense of futility prevails instead.

Optimism requires the ability to sense and believe in happy outcomes. This is relatively easy when one 'feels' purpose all around. We are content that even if we do not have the foresight to know exactly how something might be arrived at, there is the experience nonetheless of the pure purpose which is getting us there. Without this there is little or no confidence, and only the negatives around us are perceived.

The question here is how an individual can find their way back to being able to experience the purpose and Divine Will all around them? Folk who have difficulty with purpose are often within situations which make it generally worse for them - never themselves being involved in tasks which have a beginning, a middle and an end. They are rarely if ever, investing themselves in a labor that requires foresight, hope, reasoning, projected outcome, purpose and positive outcome.

Folk who nurture crops experience great purpose with planting and also the results. This experience spills over into a generalized sensing which affects all parts of their lives and thinking.

It does not have to be growing one's own food that will enable this however, basically any labor that is actively participated in, that has a beginning which is different to the end, and takes some time and effort to achieve, will bring success in this.

The individual whose mind has unraveled into a futility or hopelessness could have arrived there by quite a few means. The person of wealth often lives their life within short compartments, rarely getting the opportunity to do or even witness the long chain of laboring events that lead to positive outcomes. The less they exert themselves in 'whole' areas of work, the less they begin to perceive its functioning everywhere like that. It is symptomatic of the modern era.

Individuals whose minds have been scattered, using thought diffusing intoxicants, often feel the blackness of a hopeless depression, because their own sensing of purpose has been annihilated also. It is a desperate state to be in, and often the anger, pessimism and atheism to follow, is just symptomatic of this terrible loss in relation to the Divine Will moving through them and through others.

When you see groups of recovering individuals doing craft works - perhaps to sell at a charity stall - this is tremendously remedial to their situation. It is not just a casual pursuit or something to keep folk occupied with, it really is the road home to recovery.

Creating and working a garden, knitting a garment, preparing and cooking a meal, any industrious act which requires planning, effort, time and delayed yet worked-for outcome, will be the most positive remedy to give to the person who is suffering from Divine Purpose sense deficit.

And now to Right Purpose: We have just discussed what it is to know and to not know, the sensing of Purpose in general as it moves around us in our every day lives, but what of one's own personal purpose? That which has driven us into this life, and gives us our own sense of meaning which is especially significant to our visions and goals?

Right Purpose is, quite naturally, distinctly and inextricably connected to its brother, Right Conduct. This is the first principle to realize of Right Purpose.

How often our own personal paths give way to doing the wrong thing morally, believing it is in the name of our overall personal purpose, not realizing that it only ever takes us many steps back once entered into.

With hand on heart we all sense our own primeval purpose. Whether recognized, or on the way to becoming made real or not, every individual has a higher purpose and gift to Creation that is signature to them. This is not a mere nicety or placating sentimentalism offered to the hopeless, it is a truth which speaks to the nobility of Spirit and the promise that it offers each and every one. For you see it is not enough within Creation to just be beautiful. Creation likes to see you do things as well.

 Beings thrive on activity, and the souls of men and women are no different. Inactivity is not natural to any world - either here or beyond.

However, if an individual is participating in conversation or activities or employment, where they are going against their innate sense of right conduct - against their heart's discerning – then this will block their higher purpose's design, effectiveness and becoming.

This may appear simple - i.e. just do the 'right thing' - however, as most of us reflect, we are singularly compromised daily with all kinds of thoughts and behaviors that are less than we would ideally visit and become.

The Christian repentance serves to swiftly realign the purpose in a positive way. It does not of its own, accomplish any recompense of course, but it does automatically (if sincere) get the individual back on track with their path to Right Purpose.

Realizing infringements is key to reform. If one has a general sense of purpose in this, there will also be the optimism that it is worthwhile in the effort, and sainthood can be achieved!

One very important point about the Path which is often overlooked, is that we all have already traveled a very long road and achieved so very much already. None of us (including the Masters) are yet complete, and nor expect to be any time soon. We all work with the task at hand, and learning to do this is in itself a great virtue.

Honesty, frankness and pragmatism are requirements for self-assessment when it comes to entering the path of reason. Demons of the personality do not like these three (Honesty, Frankness and Pragmatism) and hide behind such concealments as vanity, pride, false egoism, and indulgence.

These Demons deter one also from finding their true purpose. They work to feed themselves; and work hard they do. All of the personal energy of the individual who entertains them gets spent defending and protecting the continuation of deadend exploits that prop up and support their grave façade of usefulness.

Foresight is not logically arrived at, in respect to it being relative to that which has not already occurred; and having not yet actualized, has no clear and distinct patterning as to its logical pathways. One can presume patterns will follow past patterns, but higher logic realizes that with the multitudinous variables in any circumstance, the future is always unknown until it arrives.

Putting it more plainly, foresight is not mere reasoning alone. It is a mix of intuitive sensing, planning, hoping, purpose, some logical surmising and inspiration. And four of the six of these are not logical, mathematical, or purely rational, but rather imbibed with imagination and spiritual induction.

The Path to Common Sense is the least dangerous road traveled. It defers to the conscience as much as it does the logic of past happenings, and all the while so buoyantly held and delivered by the swift push of purpose onto the glory of its divine delivery!