To Discover Your Purpose in Life, Write Your Own Book of Scripture.
“Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;” – Revelations 1:19
For Carl Jung, one of the founding fathers of depth psychology, 1913 was a pivotal year. It was the year in which he began his “confrontation with the unconscious”, developing a technique “to get to the bottom of [his] inner processes,”. Having “[grasped] the fantasies which were stirring… ‘underground’”, Jung recorded them in his Black Books. He then went on to revise these texts, adding reflections on them, as well as his own paintings, copying them into a book called Liber Novus (known as the Red Book).
Relative to much of his other work, Jung was quite guarded about the contents of the Red Book; it contained some of his deepest most personal writing and was only published for a wider audience posthumously. Some of the fantasies recorded in the book were interpreted as precognitive, presaging the devastating world wars to come in the twentieth century.
Although the book is said to have been unfinished, it was foundational to Jung’s life’s work, which was highly significant in the development of modern psychotherapy. In 1957, four years before his death, Jung wrote the following reflection on the significance of the Red Book:
“The years, of which I have spoken to you, when I pursued the inner images, were the most important time of my life. Everything else is to be derived from this. It began at that time, and the later details hardly matter anymore. My entire life consisted in elaborating what had burst forth from the unconscious and flooded me like an enigmatic stream and threatened to break me. That was the stuff and material for more than only one life. Everything later was merely the outer classification, and the integration into life. But the numinous beginning, which contained everything, was then.”
Whilst I’m not a Jungian, or even a psychologist for that matter, I find much of Jung’s work fascinating; not least what he calls his numinous beginning and various spiritual experiences. In reflecting on my own experiences of keeping a personal record, which I began in earnest in 2018, I can recognise a flood of personal revelation that has come into my life, marking the numinous beginning of my own work.
Not Just Jung
It can be tempting to think that only great names of the past, or so-called ‘spiritual gurus’, were, and are, capable of connecting with divine or otherworldly sources of inspiration to write a powerful personal record. Not so. Access is available to all who seek it. As Christ states in the New Testament, “For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Personal revelation from divine sources about one’s purpose and mission in life, as well as direction on how to fulfil them, is available to all with a sincere desire to serve others. The sincere desire to serve others is the key qualification in receiving personal revelation, not your perceived degree of significance in the world or status.
Personal Scripture
I have an orange book, which includes my record of 2018-19; a red book, which includes my record of 2020; and am currently writing my record of 2021 in a blue book. The orange and red books are invaluable reference points, enabling me to further reflect on, learn from and integrate past experiences into my life moving forwards, while the blue book enables me to process my experiences in life at every level.
It’s been highly rewarding to review the orange and red books to see progress that I’ve made along the way, “joining the dots” that have led me to a higher purpose. Whilst the dots can only be joined looking backwards through reflection, there is value for our present and future in keeping a personal record, as we start to recognise the breadcrumbs along our path which lead us to our higher purpose. A personal record, then, can soon become personal scripture.
How, though?
You may be wondering how this is to be achieved, though. How can you write a meaningful personal record that you may one day come to esteem as personal scripture? Again, the sincere desire to serve others is a key qualification for receiving divine inspiration about one’s purpose: service leads upwards, while selfishness leads downwards. If finding your purpose is about little more than self-aggrandisement, or what Friedrich Nietzsche called “will to power", then the nature, sourcing and sustainability of the inspiration you receive will be very different to that which is obtained by one who sincerely seeks their purpose in order to serve others.
Once intentions are in the right place, there are three main steps to keeping a meaningful personal record that may in time become esteemed as personal scripture:
Buy a specific book that is set apart to be your personal record. I always buy good quality books to write in – I want the records to last for my lifetime and for future posterity. (Jung was also known to have bought good quality materials to write on.)
Set aside dedicated time and space to write. This is crucial. It’s no good doing this in the midst of noise, chaos and other external distractions. You want a quiet space where you can hear yourself think and be uninterrupted. I often turn off notifications on my phone while I’m writing, or at least have it facedown. Notifications aren’t conducive to connecting with the inner-self or the divine. I don’t necessarily write every single day, but I always write a digest of each week as a minimum as well as all other strikingly significant events as they occur. (Jung was known to have had the luxury of having a cabin at the bottom of his garden to write in. Apparently, he was summoned for mealtimes by the ringing of a bell!)
Write. Write what comes to you that seems to be of significance: noteworthy experiences, lessons learned, enjoyable activities, trials and challenges that have been overcome, aspirations and dreams, dreams had in the night, goals and plans etc. There are myriad examples of what you can write that’s of significance. If in doubt, write it anyway – you’ll soon figure out what works best for you.
As you create a habit of keeping your personal record, you will start to see breadcrumbs appearing along your path to purpose. In time, you’ll be able to join the dots through reflection. Consistently keeping a meaningful personal record requires an investment of time, but it’s an investment that pays handsome returns.
From the Beginning to the End
Record keeping is a distinct feature of civilisation itself. Peoples across the world, and throughout time, have kept valuable personal records from which we’re blessed to be able to learn. These records are valuable primary source documents – each entirely unique.
Interestingly, in Judaeo-Christian scripture record keeping is mentioned from the beginning of the Old Testament to the end of the New Testament. Exodus makes reference to Moses’s record keeping and the book of Revelations includes the admonition to, "Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter…”.
That admonition applies to each and every one of us, because each and every one of us has a valuable and unique purpose to fulfil in serving others. Writing our personal record – which has the potential to become our personal scripture – will help us immensely along the way.
If you’d like to learn more about how to discover your purpose in pursuing sustainable success, or to book a free 30-minute call, then drop me a line: tom@3stewardships.com.