Taking Your Own Path

The alternative is so close at hand: If we focus on our highest goal, our passion comes to us effortlessly. We know at some deep level that we have a distinctive contribution to make. But, as Carl Jung said, we make the mistake of going outside to find direction:

Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks within, awakens.

The highest goal is part of the human quest. Eastern traditions call life purpose “dharma,” or right livelihood. India’s The Bhagavad-Gita, for example, focuses almost entirely on dharma and the search for it. In it Lord Krishna says to his pupil Arjuna, “Better one’s own dharma, however imperfect, than the dharma of another perfectly performed.”

In this society we almost never follow Krishna’s advice. Too often, our parents, teachers and the media train us to define happiness in terms of external rewards.

We take one of the two paths in life shown in the figure below. Doing someone else’s dharma well starts when you do what society says to do, even though it is not something you like. Over time, you get experience with it and get good at it. So you get opportunities to do more of this work. You get promoted. You become the boss, the partner or a top executive. Everyone honors you and wants you to do more of something that isn’t right for you. And you experience your life getting more and more meaningless and unsatisfying.

The path of doing your own dharma starts with doing what you love and what is meaningful to you. In time you gain both experience and skill. You get very good at it. And, because of that, you get more opportunity to do the kind of work that represents who you really are. Even though you might get the trappings of success—money, fame, promotions, and awards—the work itself remains its own reward. Your life keeps getting more and more fulfilling. And your satisfaction gives blessings to your friends, family, community and the world.