What Is Your Mission?
By: Pedro S. Silva II
July 18, 2004
In a poem that I wrote entitled
Serenity, these lines came from within
me concerning missions:
What is your mission, but to know Life
and live it?
No thought of receiving when your
Spirit’s led to giving.
And so for me, I can say that the
question that the title of this essay
poses was answered. All I have to do is
know Life and live it. That’s simple isn’t
it? Or is it?
I have very often heard people speak
concerning a mission. More often than
not it has been someone that’s been
around a while and been through
enough in their life that they are ready
to make sense of what a mess their life
would be if they don’t do something
meaningful. But when I looked up the
word mission in the dictionary, the only
definition that nearly matched the
context in which I often hear it used
was: A self imposed duty. To me this
definition suggests that our mission
could be whatever it is we decide it to
be.
The question for me now becomes, if
our mission can be whatever duty we
impose upon ourselves, why do so many
of us choose something so grandiose as
“I want to save the World” or “I want to
change this or that in society.” Why
can’t we just make our mission to get
some milk from the grocery store and
then have it over with? Why put
ourselves through the hassle or
stress of trying to have an effect on a
society we didn’t cause?
When dealing with people and guilt—
which seem to go hand in hand in this
society—I find that people usually tend
to have a desire to fix problems they in
some way feel responsible for. “I broke
your toy so let me buy you a new one,”
they may say. But rather than do
something for the sake of giving what I
find is we are often putting forth these
great efforts in order to release
ourselves from some sense of regret
or guilt whether the idea was forced
upon us or self imposed. We are more
of a payback society. In fact it is
evident in our seeming inability to
receive.
One of the most selfish and strange
phenomenon I have witnessed is when
someone will apparently give and give,
but when someone tries to give to them
you almost have to force it down their
throat or in their hand. Why is that? I
believe it is because the so-called giver
is trying to remain in the position of
power—he or she who has the object of
desire.
But this takes us to the second line
quoted above: No thought of receiving
when your Spirit’s led to giving. Giving
and receiving appear to go together.
But when you expect or look for a
return you are not giving, you are
investing. Now this is not to say that
investing is wrong. It is what it is. But
when we consider a mission and the
manner in which we use the word, it
appears that our mission is supposed to
service someone else. So in my
understanding we should expect
nothing from it just as we expect
nothing from a new born child—the
True Masters of Reception. For at that
stage they know nothing but “I need.”
Therefore it rings true to me that
whenever we give we must do so as
giving to babes. And in so doing I
believe the mission, if we choose to call
it that, of knowing Life and living it
becomes quite possible. For what is the
purpose of Life if it is not to fill every
emptiness, every void, every need? Life
and death do not commingle. Nor can
an emptiness be fulfilled and yet
continue to be empty. In so knowing, I
believe we can live out the purpose of
life daily with no sense of loss or
regret for in all we do we serve Life.
By: Pedro S. Silva II
July 18, 2004
In a poem that I wrote entitled
Serenity, these lines came from within
me concerning missions:
What is your mission, but to know Life
and live it?
No thought of receiving when your
Spirit’s led to giving.
And so for me, I can say that the
question that the title of this essay
poses was answered. All I have to do is
know Life and live it. That’s simple isn’t
it? Or is it?
I have very often heard people speak
concerning a mission. More often than
not it has been someone that’s been
around a while and been through
enough in their life that they are ready
to make sense of what a mess their life
would be if they don’t do something
meaningful. But when I looked up the
word mission in the dictionary, the only
definition that nearly matched the
context in which I often hear it used
was: A self imposed duty. To me this
definition suggests that our mission
could be whatever it is we decide it to
be.
The question for me now becomes, if
our mission can be whatever duty we
impose upon ourselves, why do so many
of us choose something so grandiose as
“I want to save the World” or “I want to
change this or that in society.” Why
can’t we just make our mission to get
some milk from the grocery store and
then have it over with? Why put
ourselves through the hassle or
stress of trying to have an effect on a
society we didn’t cause?
When dealing with people and guilt—
which seem to go hand in hand in this
society—I find that people usually tend
to have a desire to fix problems they in
some way feel responsible for. “I broke
your toy so let me buy you a new one,”
they may say. But rather than do
something for the sake of giving what I
find is we are often putting forth these
great efforts in order to release
ourselves from some sense of regret
or guilt whether the idea was forced
upon us or self imposed. We are more
of a payback society. In fact it is
evident in our seeming inability to
receive.
One of the most selfish and strange
phenomenon I have witnessed is when
someone will apparently give and give,
but when someone tries to give to them
you almost have to force it down their
throat or in their hand. Why is that? I
believe it is because the so-called giver
is trying to remain in the position of
power—he or she who has the object of
desire.
But this takes us to the second line
quoted above: No thought of receiving
when your Spirit’s led to giving. Giving
and receiving appear to go together.
But when you expect or look for a
return you are not giving, you are
investing. Now this is not to say that
investing is wrong. It is what it is. But
when we consider a mission and the
manner in which we use the word, it
appears that our mission is supposed to
service someone else. So in my
understanding we should expect
nothing from it just as we expect
nothing from a new born child—the
True Masters of Reception. For at that
stage they know nothing but “I need.”
Therefore it rings true to me that
whenever we give we must do so as
giving to babes. And in so doing I
believe the mission, if we choose to call
it that, of knowing Life and living it
becomes quite possible. For what is the
purpose of Life if it is not to fill every
emptiness, every void, every need? Life
and death do not commingle. Nor can
an emptiness be fulfilled and yet
continue to be empty. In so knowing, I
believe we can live out the purpose of
life daily with no sense of loss or
regret for in all we do we serve Life.
The Come For It Zone
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