The Onion

I once read a book called, 'The Supper of the Lamb', written by a Presbyterian Minister in which he writes a full 8 pages about peeling an onion. He sensed mysteries in it's layers and worked at bearing witness to it's secrets.
From a cook's presepctive there's something quite ironic that such a simple, humble vegetable could have such a sgnificant impact on that with which it shared a pan with.

Even if you won't eat the onion there's no way to cook without it and still get that certain herbal sweetness that it imparts to everything it touches.

I bring up the onion, and the book, because over the past month or so I've been working at discovering what my vision is. My mission, my purpose whatever you want to call it, or lack thereof has driven whole industries from books, movies and seminars.

A friend of mine who is a professional speaker and trainer was in Miami and needed a place to stay so we blew up the air mattress, chilled a bottle of wine and settled down for, what I thought would be, an intresting weekend.

You see my friend, Darren Jacklin has no doubt about what his mission is and because he is so committed to it that he lives and breathes it. Every conversation he has revolves around his mission in life and for some who don't live with that kind of drive, he can be a bit exhasuting. But he never faulters because his vision feeds him, fuels him and drives him like only a few I've ever experienced before.

It wasn't like he was conducting a seminar, removed from the crowd on a stage. I sometimes imagined that Dr Wayne Dyer must collapse into a chair back stage after a presentation because it looks and feels like he gives so much during his lecture; he leaves it all on stage - not an ounce left to give.

But that's not the way it is; these guys are energized by their comittment to their mission whatever it might be - they are 100% completely bought in to what they do and it breathes fire into their bellies.

Darren was much the same way as we drove to Whole Foods to get wheat grass shots or late at night on the balcony looking west into the gloam of night.

He suggested that I read this book called 'The Way of the Superior Man' by David Deida. It's about men and the challenges they face at work and in their primary relationship with women, A spiritual Men are from Mars thing. I had read highlighted excerpts from the copy that Darren carried around with him and found it intriguing.

I could write an entire post about the book and not cover half of what's in there and certainly without the stunted eloquence of the writer but his basic hypothesis is that men who have a strong masculine core - who are attracted to women of a strong feminine essence, must have a mission in life.

Men's lives are about mission and purpose while women's lives are about the flow of love in their relationships. I know that I'm making it sound simplistic but we all know it's not.

A man on a mission makes all else worth living - some men's purpose could be having a loving and nurturing home, some could be of political leadership; only they can say.

Having gone through losing a job, having a significant back surgery and getting a little long in the tooth I thought that it might be a good thing to ponder my mission. The author then goes on to say that our mission or purpose in life is like the layers of an onion. The purpose that drove me through my 30's served me then until I paid my karma for that particular cycle, then it would be time to peel back the layer and get to the next purpose.

Sometimes that purpose dosn't show up immediately and then, as Deida puts it, it's time to wait until it shows up.

Deida's got some specific strategies in his book for someone like me, on a mission to find my mission so I got about the business of discovering my purpose.

No TV, no Talk Radio, no Newspapers, nothing to read that didn't have a higher aspiration, no sweets, candy, gum or ice cream (dammit!), no sex or fantasies thereof; execerise, meditation, affrimation, straighten up & fly right - austerity to the extreme.

Sitting Shiva for my Past.

I was lucky, I didn't have to spend 40 days in the desert like Jesus did before the Devil showed up - my demons were of fleeter feet. After a week of the simple life one dayI was meditating - more of an awakened dream than chanting or sitting uncomfortably with my legs crossed (for those of you who know me know that for me, those type of poses are laughable) and it came to me. Just like that, in the moment of least resistance and most allowance.

Now I had my purpose, my vision for my life but I had no idea how to make it happen and apparently, that's okay. Once the mission is clear then the chances to serve your purpose show up, and they have - in abundance.

I don't know exactly how it all works but knowledge of the laws of the universe is not a prerequisite for those laws to work. They work with or without my acceptance or aquiesence

but you sure can maximize your opportunities working with the laws rather than against them. I'm learning fast.
Question now is, do you know what your mission is?

If not, why not take the time to find out - the world will be waiting for you when you get back. Then we all can get busy!