String That Bow

Yesterday, one of my friends in Facebook shared a nice article entitled To Find Happiness, Forget About Passion by Oliver Segovia. The article starts by relating the story of Segovia's friend who followed her passion for writing by getting a PhD and working in academe instead of getting stuck in a regular 9-to-5 job. Those were the happiest times of her life, but when the recession hit, it hit Segovia's friend hard, and she was faced with the uncertainty of a bleak economy and a shaky career future to deal with. Her dreams were shattered, and she's now left sorting through the pieces for enough to survive on.

Segovia then goes on to say that the tragedy of today is that we have all been taught to find happiness by following our dreams. However, like in the case of his friend, because such pursuits focus so much on the self, such dreams become vulnerable to the vagaries of our environment and society. He encourages us to instead focus beyond the self to solving big problems, to become a valuable contributor, and thus be compensated in bigger ways. He then lists some tips and suggestions on how one may achieve this worthy goal.

In Segovia's words: "Happiness comes from the intersection of what you love, what you're good at, and what the world needs. We've been told time and again to keep finding the first. Our schools helped developed the second. It's time we put more thought on the third." I wholeheartedly agree with Segovia's points, especially with the conclusion of his article. But I'd like to state something in a different way.

I still believe it's important to find one's passion. For me, true passion seeks neither convenience nor reward, and this can produce that added impetus to give it one's all to really accomplish great things, just like Vincent Freeman (played by Ethan Hawke) in Gattaca, who didn't save anything for the swim back, which is how he beat his brother. Also look at the lives of the great classical composers and the great painters and artists. Most of these guys only became famous after they were dead, but they did what they did anyway. Or ask the dedicated mountaineer why he would risk life and limb to climb a difficult mountain, and he would tell you, "Because it's there."

One's passion may temporarily take a backseat against the practicalities of daily living, but the spark of happiness is only fanned further the more closely one's life is aligned with one's passion. And if there's any tragedy in the modern world, it's that more often than not people are forced to bury their life's passion in order to make a buck and pay the bills. How often have we heard of parents discouraging their children from taking up Fine Arts or from becoming a singer because "there's no money in it"? Is it no wonder then that people with the caliber of a Beethoven or a Leonardo da Vinci have hardly been in evidence in the recent past?

Pianist Vidalito Infante probably says it best: "Do not be shy, especially when you have a gift worth sharing. I love music. I love playing the piano. This is what I am going to do until the day I die. So I try to share my passion whenever I can."

Don't get me wrong, it's definitely important to apply one's talents to what the world needs. But while one's life does not end with the self, it needs to start with the self, because one can't give what one does not have. It's all well and good to apply oneself to the issues of finding world peace, but a lot of people haven't even found themselves. Despite college educations, many people still can't say what they love or what they're good at. Forget income level; are they really HAPPY?

The danger of immediately applying oneself to big problems without at least coming to terms with one's self is the possibility of doing things by rote, out of obligation, to the concept of serving others. And that's one of the quickest ways to burn out if one is not careful. Being of service to others takes a lot out of you, so there's a reason it's called a labor of love.

One of my other Facebook friends posted a status message this morning that happens to be quite appropriate for this article. Talk about serendipity. The Buddha once said, “Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” If you want to have an idea where to start, you can take a look at this article about the top 5 regrets people make on their deathbed.

In the novel Siddharta, there is a line that goes, "Om is the bow, the arrow is the soul, the Brahma is the arrow's target, that one should incessantly hit." Let me then rephrase it. In ordinary life, let your life's passion be the bow and your soul the arrow so that you can fly straight and true to the realization of the Oneness that resides within us all. Once one discovers one's life passion, one becomes more aligned to one's soul mission. Once this mission is pursued within the context of world service, one then becomes a Divine Servant, and then one can truly change the world.