How To Find Your True Purpose - Manly P. Hall - Alchemy - Metaphysics - Philosophy

The Purpose of Human Life

In this section, the speaker discusses how every human being has a particular purpose in life and that nature does not produce non-essentials. However, many people are not aware of their purpose due to societal pressures and conditioning.

The Confusion of the Average Person

• Many people are confused by artificial pressures placed upon them.

• People are not aware of their purpose because they are conditioned to believe that adjustment with the world is of primary importance.

• Children come into this world with a sense of mystery and purpose, but societal conditioning often blocks this internal pressure.

Society's Conditioning

• Society conditions individuals from a young age through religion, education, and social norms.

• Individuals are taught to believe that success in the material world is the most important thing.

• People are exposed to all kinds of conditionings, which prevent them from making use of their own resources.

Fulfilling Individual Existence

• Individuals must give expression to their individual existence or else their lives will remain incomplete.

• Crisis moments such as physical or emotional reverses can remind individuals that they have an individual existence and must fulfill it.

• Material advancement is not enough; individuals must direct their energies towards fulfilling a universal procedure.

Finding One's Purpose

• To find one's purpose, individuals should study themselves at any age whenever the impulse arises within them.

• This moment of pause usually only comes during times of crisis or breakdown.

• Reverses and despair often indicate that individuals are not fulfilling their purpose.

Conclusion

• Material success is not enough to fulfill one's purpose in life.

• Individuals must find a way to acquaint themselves with the deeper reality behind themselves and fulfill their individual existence.

The Purpose of Humanity

In this section, the speaker discusses the purpose of humanity and how it relates to nature.

Nature's Purpose for Humanity

• Nature moves behind all processes and is not concerned with human achievements such as becoming a political leader or economist.

• Nature has created humanity to fulfill a common good and each individual is an instrument in this plan.

• It is important to understand why humans were created and what their purpose is in the environmental world.

Human Potential

• Episodes such as the fall of empires or tyrants do not overthrow the divine plan for humanity.

• Humans are not inherently good or bad, but rather have an incredible potential that has been perverted by false ambitions and ignorance.

• Humans are an extraordinary creation full of wonders that even scientists cannot fully estimate.

Reincarnation and Accumulated Wisdom

• The purpose of reincarnation is to enrich the inner life of individuals over thousands or millions of years.

• Through rebirth, individuals gradually mature into personal entities based on accumulated wisdom and experience.

• Genius is a composite subconscious subjective record of our experiences, which can result in great generalization of abilities.

Pressures Within Ourselves

• We have no way of explaining various intuitions, hunches, feeling pressures that arise within ourselves.

• These pressures divide naturally into levels: profession of mistakes which continue to hound us; imagination intuition; inward awareness of values greater than commonplace.

The Role of Individual Integration in Determining Genius

In this section, the speaker discusses how individual integration determines genius and that it is not primarily built around material success.

The Law of Heredity Does Not Explain Peculiar Genius

• Many famous creators have come from environments with no background comparable to what they attained.

• Physical heredity is inconsistent in explaining peculiar genius.

Internal Integration Determines Genius

• An individual carries a record of internal integration that dominates life if permitted.

• This record is not primarily built around material success.

Growth Program of the Universe

• The individual's purpose is part of the whole growth program of the universe itself.

• Growth is the unfoldment and revelation of potential.

Nature Demands Integrity for Evolution and Progress

In this section, the speaker discusses how integrity is a valuable factor for evolution and progress.

Struggle Between Integrity and Compromise

• There is forever a struggle between integrity and compromise.

• Nature intends that we develop internal strength of integrity.

Importance of Integrity

• Integrity alone fulfills natural requirements for evolution and progress.

• Integrity remains valuable even after departing from here.

Lack of Integrity Compromises Good Opportunities

• Lack of integrity has compromised most of the good opportunities.

• Nature must gradually prove to us that integrity alone fulfills natural requirements.

Conclusion

In this section, the speaker concludes that individual integration determines genius and that nature demands integrity for evolution and progress.

Importance of Individual Integration

• An individual's record of internal integration dominates life if permitted.

• This record is not primarily built around material success.

Importance of Integrity

• Integrity alone fulfills natural requirements for evolution and progress.

• Integrity remains valuable even after departing from here.

The Role of Growth Program in the Universe

• The individual's purpose is part of the whole growth program of the universe itself.

• Growth is the unfoldment and revelation of potential.

Struggle Between Integrity and Compromise

• There is forever a struggle between integrity and compromise.

• Lack of integrity has compromised most of the good opportunities.

Final Thoughts

The speaker emphasizes that we should focus on developing our internal strength, which will help us fulfill our destiny as part of the growth program in the universe. He also stresses that we must maintain our integrity to achieve evolution and progress, as it is a valuable factor both in this life and beyond.

The Desire for Integrity and Emotional Pressure

In this section, the speaker discusses the innate desire for integrity and how compromise is due to external pressure. They also talk about the emotional pressure of life and how most people do not achieve emotional fulfillment.

Innate Desire for Integrity

• The desire for integrity is innate.

• Compromise is due to external pressure.

Emotional Pressure of Life

• Most people do not achieve emotional fulfillment.

• People have moved towards gratification of physical appetites, only to discover that these appetites cannot be satisfied.

• The individual who tries to be happy is miserable, but the individual who tries to be right comes nearer to happiness than any other mortal can come.

Friendship as a Basis for Cooperation

In this section, the speaker talks about friendship as a basis for cooperation in nature and how it could end war and poverty. They also discuss how false conditioning has blocked the natural desire toward friendliness.

Friendship as a Basis for Cooperation

• Friendship is no longer a simple acceptance of inevitable relationships of life.

• Friendship is the basis of all cooperation in nature.

• Every human being has the same basic devotion towards friendship.

• Every relationship that is constructive and normal is beautiful, while every relationship that is not beautiful or has been perverted is abnormal.

False Conditioning Blocking Natural Friendliness

• False conditioning has blocked the natural desire toward friendliness.

• Serfdom is nearly always the result of a mistaken interpretation of personal freedom.

• The individual must gradually divide himself from the common environment and assume or reveal his own personal destiny.

Personal Destiny and Discipline

In this section, the speaker talks about personal destiny and how discipline can help individuals rediscover themselves. They also discuss how appetites and ambitions must be disciplined and curtailed.

Personal Destiny

• Personal destiny does not mean rugged individualism.

• Each individual has a place in the labor of growth involved in the unfoldment of all other human beings.

• The truth remains that we are here to grow and to serve.

Discipline

• Discipline can help individuals rediscover themselves.

• Appetites and ambitions must be disciplined and curtailed.

• We must break through the barriers of slavery serfdom.

Capitalizing on Our Basic Assets

The speaker discusses the importance of embracing change and using it to capitalize on our basic assets. He emphasizes the need to focus on internal growth rather than external possessions, and warns against relying too heavily on technology or economic gain.

Embracing Change

• Moving with change is better than avoiding it.

• Inventing things to think for us or ways of avoiding common learning is a mistake.

• Everything we do increases our skills and creative expression.

Internal Growth vs External Possessions

• Economic pursuits can lead to a loss of initiative and inability to meet problems.

• Separating external existence from internal existence is important, with internal existence being the most important.

• Creative self-expression is a means of producing maturity in an individual's life.

Relying Too Heavily on Technology and Economic Gain

• If we don't know how to take care of our lives, we will lose them many times over.

• Accumulating wealth does not bring permanent happiness or fulfillment.

• Material existence has its place, but relying solely on economic gain can lead to a lack of creativity and purpose in life.

Importance of Creative Self-expression

The speaker discusses the importance of creative self-expression as a means of unlocking an individual's potential and achieving personal growth. He emphasizes that creativity should not be driven solely by economic gain, but rather by a desire to serve others.

Creativity as a Means of Personal Growth

• Creative self-expression is a means of producing maturity in an individual's life.

• Creativity can be achieved at any age, as long as the desire to express oneself is greater than economic pressure.

• Bringing out creative and constructive manifestations can help individuals become servants of something greater than themselves.

Serving Others Through Creativity

• Economic gain should not be the primary motivator for pursuing a profession or career.

• Much good can be done in every profession, but economic factors often hinder progress.

• Material possessions have no permanent value, and serving others through creativity is a more fulfilling pursuit.

The Instinct to Serve

In this section, the speaker talks about the spiritual truth within man that drives him to serve others. He emphasizes that serving from a secondary motive is not enough and that the instinct to serve comes out in unusual ways.

The Spiritual Truth of Service

• The instinct to serve is a spiritual truth within man.

• This instinct comes out in unusual ways, such as when a stranger sacrifices their life to save another.

• Serving only for secondary motives, such as giving to charity for recognition, is not enough.

Resolving Uncertainties in Our Hearts and Minds

In this section, the speaker discusses how individuals can resolve uncertainties in their hearts and minds. He notes that most people believe in a divine providence and that it operates through humanity.

Belief in Deity

• Most people believe in deity, even if they consciously deny it due to societal pressures.

• People believe that there is a divine providence operating through humanity.

• This divine being is present everywhere but may be more dominant in some forms of life than others.

Purposeful Living

• Life's purpose is to express its own purpose, which is the highest purpose any human being can conceive of.

• We are here to prove that we are growing and not here to make all the mistakes we made over thousands of years.

• It's up to each person to recognize their purposeful background and work towards fulfilling it.

Overcoming Anxieties

In this section, the speaker talks about how individuals can overcome anxieties and live a worry-free life. He notes that there are two types of people who do not have anxieties: childlike people who have not yet accepted reality and wise people who have outgrown the error of Eve.

Living Without Anxieties

• Many people today do not have anxieties.

• If we continue as we are, we will continue to have the same anxieties.

• The only way to avoid psychic integration damage is to do better than we currently are.

Attaining Liberation

• Childlike people don't know enough to worry, while wise people recognize the operation of a universal principle and try to live in harmony with it.

• Nothing that is real can ever be destroyed, and nothing that is unreal can ever be preserved.

Living According to Nature

In this section, the speaker discusses how living according to nature is essential for achieving a larger vision of life. The individual must solve the mystery of misery within themselves and build an acceptance of the plan of things in order to cooperate with it.

Accomplishing Something Good

• Living according to nature helps individuals accomplish something good.

• It may manifest right here and now, giving people new objectives and reasons for existence.

• Life becomes more than just trying to endure the passing of years.

• Individuals who have little incentive will find new objectives.

Learning from Experience

• Individuals are surrounded by social disciplines that help them learn from their own conduct.

• If they cannot learn directly from their inner core, they can learn through experience.

• Nature wants us to live in a way that makes us happy, comfortable, and well-adjusted.

• We must gradually take hold of our own lives and break through complacency or hopelessness.

Purposeful Plan

• We are creatures fashioned according to a purposeful plan that exists forever as an archetype in the divine mind.

• Humanity is not merely four and a half billion people; it is an order of living things that we are agents of beauty for.

Humanity's Purpose

In this section, the speaker discusses humanity's purpose and how it can be fulfilled.

Gradual Collaboration

• The gradual collaboration of purposes and motives on a constructive level will allow humanity to fulfill its purpose as a collective entity.

• Humanity graduates from its current state when it outgrows its conditions by mastering them.

Misunderstanding of Good Life

• Many people misunderstand what constitutes a good life, believing that an opulent life is necessary for happiness.

• All ambitions directed towards a superior social state are related to Karma.

Testing of Power

• Achieving power is a test, and those who abuse it will lose it.

• Good karma moves in on reincarnation, and the person who has done a good deed is the recipient of one.

Preparation for the Future

• Fulfilling proper responsibilities contributes to the release of inner soul power.

• Growth occurs through dedication to fulfilling proper responsibilities and recognizing opportunities to serve others.

• Humanity is attempting to fulfill an archetypal pattern of perfect humanity.

Victory of Self

• The great victory is the victory of self over all circumstances.

• Perfecting oneself according to nature itself is difficult but necessary for growth.

Crisis as Initiation

• A crisis such as we are in now is definitely an initiation or test. Each individual should note carefully their natural reaction.

The Transformation of Social Structures

In this section, the speaker discusses how social problems will gradually fade away as individuals assemble and change their reactions. This transformation may take several lifetimes.

Dreams and Ambitions

• The speaker encourages listeners to imagine what they would have done with their lives if they could have lived it exactly according to their childhood hopes and dreams.

• Listeners are asked to consider what kind of person they wanted to be before ambition got in the way or before the pressures of other people affected them.

• People who had dreams that were blighted may find that those dreams come back later in life when responsibilities like raising children lessen.

Creative Expression

• Everyone wants to do something creative, whether it's writing poetry, acting, teaching, traveling, or completing an interrupted career.

• Developing a creative outlet can help individuals move past psychological or psychiatric issues and release themselves from frustrations.

• Deity did not create a lazy creation; everyone has something within themselves that they can use to make a more beautiful life. Prejudice only cuts off part of the glory of life that we should accept and use for development.

Overall, the speaker emphasizes the importance of pursuing one's dreams and finding ways to express oneself creatively while also working towards positive social change.

The Inner Life and Destiny

In this section, the speaker talks about how building our entire life upon outside circumstances leaves no chance for our inner life to speak. He emphasizes that unless we allow it to speak, we will never know what our real destiny is.

Understanding Relationships in Life

• Pythagoras said there are only three relationships in life: those who gave us birth, those whose knowledge and wisdom is equal to our own, and those whose knowledge is less than ours.

• The higher level of consciousness an individual has, the more perfectly they will understand all whose consciousness is less than theirs.

• By calling upon our inner life, we develop great sympathy for those with lesser consciousness instead of looking down on them.

Announcement of Upcoming Vacation

In this section, the speaker announces his upcoming vacation and introduces Don Irwin as a replacement speaker during his absence.

Introduction of Don Irwin

• Don Irwin is a friend of 40 years and succeeded Dr. Drake as vice president of the Society.

• He has profound concern on the Union system of psychoanalysis and widely experienced in religion and law.

• The speaker hopes that attendees will give him good attention during Sunday mornings while he takes a break.