Thursday, March 7, 2024
I taught music for 25 years, and I saw students choose music education and musical theater as a major because they saw it as a safer path towards employment. They were after the outer purpose, never realizing what the inner purpose of their life and work in music would be. I majored in organ performance, not because I was interested in employment per se, but because I was passionate and very interested in playing the organ! My inner purpose was simply to learn as much as I could about playing that instrument. My eyes were not on employment primarily, but on the enrichment of my soul and my love of playing organ music. In fulfilling my primary, inner purpose, employment followed easily.
When you chase the outer purpose, you’re doomed. The career that pays the most; the study path that will lead you to a “guaranteed job;” or whatever you think is a sure bet or a means to income or result is a recipe for disaster. Chasing the outer purpose will exhaust you and empty you.
But if you focus on the root of desire, you will be led to succulence. That’s not to say it’s easy, but the work is for the enrichment of your soul, not the lining of your pockets. I write on this blog because I have to, not as an obligation to make money, but because the depths of my being calls me. It comes from the root of desire. If money or a career follows, great. But that’s not why I write. I write because I have to. My soul demands it. There is something in me that needs to be said in words, and so I write. It satisfies me and nourishes me when I heed the call. It fulfills my inner purpose, and the outer purpose takes care of itself.