Self-driven people are unique. They are truly fascinating and must be treasured. Being self-driven requires not only determination but also a sense of purpose beyond regular desires or small random wishes.
Our life is fueled by desire. Desire is the battery which moves the wheel of Yin and Yang. Every single action is a result of desire. Yang is doing and Yin is being. When we try to explain our actions will not always come easy, mainly because some of our wishes are not conscious.
Needs & Desires
Studying the Maslow Pyramid may give us a rough indication about the basic needs of a human being. From nourishment and life security, all the way to the needs of having something to believe in, spiritual needs are on the top of the pyramid. This classification can be taken out of the context of everyone’s astrological chart, since we all have different needs. Some are born creative and have experienced the need to create since very early childhood. In other words, not every individual has to start from the bottom, however, until we become breatharians or androgenous, we still must eat every now and reproduce.
While I was searching for the image of a Maslow’s pyramid on “Shutterstock”, I found one that had at the bottom WIFI and social media. It made me laugh out loud, because it is so true. Stop by in a coffee shop and observe how people forget even about eating their food when they get trapped in their phones.
In my book “The Ki Train Method” I explain the difference between the cravings and the addictions. Cravings comes from the body and addictions come from the mind. In a way, we can use the analogy to explain the similarity between needs and desires. Needs come from the soul and desires come from the Ego. If we truly listen to our inner nature, a lot of our desires become irrelevant. We can survive with a piece of bread and some water, but some would die without dining in a five star restaurant. Flying economy versus business class in a small airplane where even the offerings are the same, but the status is different is a classic example of needs versus desires. I could go on with examples, but I figure that the reader got the message.
The danger of living against your needs/desires
Needs and desires are so tricky. They are deep engraved into our mind at different levels. Conscious, sub-conscious and unconscious, at times we don’t even realize how deep they are, and as a result they cause a lot of suffering.
A classic example of getting sick: we live without respecting our inner truth. Become aware of our needs and desires is not that easy. We must peal the multilayer of beliefs and values, built on our mind. Faced with social, family or religious immovable beliefs, one would turn their attention to something else, failing to address burning desires from within.
Such a person who fails to recognize the origins of needs and desires will rather get sick than suffer than letting go. I met people who suffer because they don’t fly business class, others would rather starve than eating any available food. Our mind will always protect our desires, so we better know them well and why they are there.
Purpose
Finding true purpose is often ignored or forgotten, especially that humanity has been forced into slavery through the money game, education and work systems. Although the concept of freedom exists in the vocabulary of English and probably many other languages, the society we live in is money driven. Some need money to eat, others need money to satisfy their ego needs. I don’t feel sorry for anyone anymore. I used to feel compassion towards those in need, and if I can help I will. Nevertheless, the issue is not helping them with food or shelter, or money. Lets dig in the deepest core programming of humanity on Earth to find out true purpose of humans.
What better example should I choose than a part of my own life story. While I was completing my high school, I wanted to pursue the conservatory, the highest academic school of music in the country. I have been growing up with music in my family, my grand father was a musician and an opera singer, my mother was also into music and she played in a band when she was young. After thinking about what I want to do with my life, instead of choosing music, I ended up going to a business university. One of the reasons at the time was talking to people who followed this path. I realized that, those who follow this academic path, they mostly end up being music teachers, with a small salary buried in a provincial school. Unless they become very famous (less than 1%), in the music business, they end up in a teaching job which I found at the time unacceptable.
What made me choose a career where I make more money than being a teacher? Simply observing the society. It does not take a genius mind to realize that you cannot do anything here without money. You cannot buy a house, a car, clothes, you cannot travel, you cannot have a relationship without money unless the person you love loves you without any other expectations. Live of the grid, drink spring water and eat berries.
What is the true purpose of a human? Could it be just survival? Could it be ethical? Moral? If God created us in his image as religions say, shouldn’t be our purpose at least close to God’s purpose? And by this, I mean creation too. Shouldn’t we create experiences for ourselves and others? I refuse to believe that our only purpose is to eat and sleep, and yet look around and observe the majority.
Purpose, Health, Longevity
When we lose the perspective on purpose, the message we give to our body is one of a “self-destruction”. Life without purpose is synonymous with death. The health of each cell is determined by purpose. Our entire organism is driven by the reason of being. When we have an accident, breaking a hand, a leg or other disasters, we do not collapse immediately. We use a drug stored in the adrenals glands within the kidney system. It is called as you know adrenaline. This powerful drug is self-injected to allow us to reach the hospital, or the phone to call an ambulance.
Use this as an analogy: adrenaline for survival is like the purpose for longevity and lasting health. Injecting ourselves mentally with a purpose will allows us to continue in life.
What if Purpose was Joy?
As children, we find joy in everything. We smile, laugh and move on easy. Almost like joy was the initial purpose. What if the entire life is just a game, and playing a game should be fun?