Personally, I’m a little surprised that nobody has called me out on what a spoiled brat I am…
So let me…
If you don’t have Higher Purpose, you have a commodity. Commodity is about affordability and efficiency. You will probably do quite well if you follow the formulas and work hard. It is absolutely necessary to have commodities in this world. Without them, the majority of the world could not survive.
I find this World Values Map incredibly enlightening (although not surprising). It shows a very stark difference between our Western World drive towards self-expression (where, in our post-scarcity economy, we have the luxury of pursuing Higher Purpose, etc.) opposite of the still ingrained necessity of survival. Within the economic strata of even the post-scarcity countries, though, is the reality that not everyone can afford to make statements of self-expression with each purchase. Sometimes we need to buy the cheapest brands. I know, personally, most often I need to buy the items on sale to make rent…and I’m severely privileged. I may desire the boutique brands, but I’m no Warren Buffet.
In other words, Community and Higher Purpose and Boutique and self-expression are all ideas that we evolve to because we are far from thinking about survival. We are pretty lucky to be able to even think about these things.
Saying this, being privileged shouldn’t be a point of shame, but a point of understanding of difference and the need for our tools to not only allow us for personal self-expression, but to get the rest of the world to the point where self-expression is taken for granted. There is still a big need for that. [In other words, I will still not be railroaded from my own Higher Purpose of fighting for the institutional valuation of human beings over money. I think that's pretty universal.]
But Higher Purpose is a personal thing. What’s important to me may sound like a crock of crap to another. At some point, I’ll discuss that phenomenon, but right now it’s a loaded subject.
17 Comments
As you know Tara, my interpretation of the “higher purpose” thing is a little different to yours (I try to live on the Buddhist-like philosophy of karam - striving for a happy + content life by helping others. Maybe that is a higher purpose, maybe that isn’t).
My first point/question is whether when you use the word ‘privilege’ you mean ’stability and opportunity’ (be it economic, social, etc)? Privilege is defined as:
Now, if I inherited $100,000 then I would say that would be a privilege - by virtue of the definition above. I’m guessing you would agree.
If, on the other hand I started out with no money and earned $100,000 by virtue of hard work then to me it is not a privilege to have that money. One could argue I was in a privilege to have the opportunity to earn that money, but then all of us living in the Western World have that same ‘privilege’ - its what we do with it that counts, and there are countless tales of people starting with nothing and ending up with money (or other measures of success).
So in conclusion, having economic stability - and not having to worry about the rent, being able to buy what brands I like, may or may not be a privilege depending on how I came to be in that fortuitous position in the first place.
My second point is that ‘higher-purpose’ is a lot easier (perhaps to a certain degree *only possible*) to adopt and strive for when one is in a position of ‘economic/social abundance’ (regardless of whether one got there by privilege or hardwork).
In fact in much of your writing and our conversations you seem to infer that one should sacrifice one’s opportunity to become rich and successful in order to strive for one’s higher purpose.
I would aruge that it is a lot easier to think of others, strive to further a cause you believe in, etc when one is not having to worry about where the rent or food on the table is going to come from next week.
Warren Buffet ‘found his purpose’ once he had all that money, but I would guess that he didn’t *start out* with the desire to earn lots of money to help people (which is what he ultimately did with the money).
Equally I don’t believe Al Gore gave a flying frak for the environment when he joined the democrats. Like all politicans he wanted power and when he got that power he *then* decided to do something useful with it.
I’m a firm believer in ensuring one should create a stable and successful position for oneself and one’s family first because it is from there that one is then able to make a greater difference socially (be that for ‘higher purpose or otherwise’).
If Al Gore had been interested in the environment from the beginning he probably would have forged a career in politics to become a lowely environmental campaigner. Who knows where he would be now. But I doubt he would have the power and influence to assert his ‘higher purpose’ as he does now given the base he established for himself. Same for Warren Buffet.
However, having established stable and successful positions for themselves they are now both able to wield influence and opportunity many, many multiple magnitudes greater than if they had embarked on their higher purpose straight off the bat.
For the above to be successful an important rule must be followed. Those who find themselves in those powerful and successful positions must then use that power for their higher purpose, otherwise it doesn’t work. That’s why I’m glad to see Al do the environmental thing, Warren and Bill give their money to good causes etc. Of course there are many who sadly don’t.
But if everyone sacrificed their *privilege* to earn lots of money, become influential etc then the world wouldn’t have the big hitters like Al Gore who can wield their higher purpose from a platform far greater than many of us ‘masses’ combined.
Wow, this is a long comment so I’ll end it up by saying that I hope you and Chris understand where I’m coming from with my desire to earn ’shit loads of cash’ as I often jest.
It’s not because I’m greedy or evil, but because I feel I have the *privilege* to realize that goal, and from there be in a position to have a positive effect on many many times more people than if I live my life on moderate income, moderate influence and moderate stability.
And like Al and Warren, maybe when I get to that point then I’ll know what my higher purpose is. Until then, I’ll keep striving for to get to that position, even though I don’t yet know what I’ll exactly do with it when I get there.
I think we can say it is fair to assume that anyone reading your blog here is privileged enough to consider more than their own survival, and they probably didn’t click through from a coconut stand in Sri Lanka.
Whether what I call what I do ‘higher purpose’ or not, all I know that is my inspirations come from a place that feels greater than myself and my own survival and bigger than just expressing myself. Just feel it can’t be only about me and how I am putting food on the table for myself any longer. Once I had strong inclinations and visions, I’m couldn’t be sure it was in anyone’s best interests to abort them and pretend them away.
To that end, though, I don’t believe that any sacrifice is in order, and I spent far too long on a renunciate path to know that is misguided as well. As Ben says he “infer[s] that one should sacrifice one’s opportunity to become rich and successful in order to strive for one’s higher purpose.”
I suppose that I don’t really buy into that binary view. I think being motivated/captivated/enchanted by the higher purpose is in itself the driving force that will get one to wake up in the morning and do everything possible to see it through. It’s hard for me to be motivated by the carrot of future riches and future purpose dangling.
I suppose that I have had this VERY same discussion with a friend of mine that is concerned about me: he says that I should be practical and seek my own stability in wealth, and then I can be a philanthropist later. He doesn’t know me (or believe my stories) from my days when this is PRECISELY what I tried. I came close enough to being a dot-com millionaire on paper. As luck would have it just about the time the whole house of cards was collapsing that I read Randy Komisar’s book in 2000. Waiting for higher purpose someday later he refers to as the deferred life plan.
This is it folks, you can be hit by a truck or a tsunami any moment.
(BTW, his WONDERFUL book for entrepreneurs is “The Monk and the Riddle,” and Randy is a VC at Kleiner Perkins. He’s one to assert both/and too: values driving success. Just recalled that he is Buddhist. Another Buddhist book that is about higher purpose AND wealth that I absolutely loved is “The Diamond Cutter”.)
As for the purchasing part of the post, I don’t consider when I purchase something ’boutique’ that it is about self-expression. It just simply feels right to buy it. I hardly know why as I don’t evaluate my purchases that logically. A housemate asked my a question last night about intuition, and I happened to glance at the refrigerator magnet: “Ask your heart what’s right, and follow it.” Sometimes I don’t even buy things that seem to speak to who I am in any identity sense, but there was a quality of rightness and beauty in the purchase nonetheless. Maybe it’s just karma thing, though
— supporting others (through shopping even) whom are working from their deepest inspiration seems like second nature to me.
Thank you for the very interesting link to the World Value Map. But I’m confused by the talk of ‘privileged’:
“My second point is that ‘higher-purpose’ is a lot easier (perhaps to a certain degree *only possible*) to adopt and strive for when one is in a position of ‘economic/social abundance’ (regardless of whether one got there by privilege or hardwork).”
Anyone anywhere on the planet can live a life embodying their HP anytime they want to. It has nothing to do with the size of their 401k. As Zarathustra said 3100 years ago “Think good thoughts, say good words, do good deeds”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroaster
http://www.livius.org/za-zn/zarathustra/zarathustra.htm
William
I’ve come to believe, after a long tenure of believing in nothing
at all, that learning of ones “higher purpose” does not come from
gaining great or small priviledges (i.e.immunity, enjoyed by.)
Timothy Leary once spoke of the horrors of evil, he said “…hereinafter we may present them in most rigid manifestation of a firm and manly will”. Some would argue that it’s not until we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything, that’s not my perspective. I will also have to prescribe the notion that a fruitful life should be sought before ever doing for others. It’s a question of time and effort
as is all things, in fact. I’ll infer it as a question, as to what higher purpose? To which all questions must have an answer if we are really who we say we are. Therefore, a higher purpose is referring to the solution to a problem. Maybe it’s one of inconvenience, which most men have all but conquered yet. Maybe it’s one of an evolutionary outlook or perhaps it’s your business, but it still has to have benefits. For if it were all wrapped up into one, as the internet has and will be becoming of,
the consequences may be dire. Maybe the world just needs more Al Gores, who knows?
William Halverson said:
I think you miss my point, which I make further down my comment.
Yes it is true anyone anywhere can live a live embodying their HP at anytime. My point is that if one first concentrates on establishing a greater platform of stability, influence and to some extend financial abundance then one is able to execise one’s HP to far greater degree (see references in comment to Al Gore, etc).
It is generally difficult to further ones’s stability, influence, financial abudance, etc AND further one’s HP at the same time. The two are mutually exclusive goals… in his 20’s Al Gore could become a politician or an environmental campaigner.
If he had become an environmental campaigner than he would not be in the position he is now.
If he became a politician of environmental causes than unforantely ditto, he wouldn’t be in the position he is now either (people don’t vote for single issue politicians).
I assert he put his HP aside, or perhaps didn’t even have a HP, to become a powerful influencer (and wealthy) from which he was then able to wield far greater possibility with his HP.
Not everyone will get there, sure. But for those of us privileged to be in a position to try and get to the top, why not go for it and then explore our HP from there?
Two things:
#1. I never said you can’t become filthy rich and have a HP. All the power to ya, really. I know you can do much more with money. I have it and hope someday to have more, but it doesn’t drive me.
#2. I guess what I mean in regards to this post is that because we are in a post-scarcity society and don’t have to worry about survival, we have the privilege to think about this stuff. However, even in survival cultures, I’m sure that there is alot of HP.
You keep using the word “privileged”. If you inherited your wealth, I’d guess you are privileged. But what have you done to deserve to keep it? I knew one of the Rothchilds while I was in graduate school. Very privileged. But also very inculcated with the desire to discharge the responsibilities that came with the privilege.
If you want to “put your HP on hold” until you get enough wealth to “explore” your HP [not sure what that means though], doesn’t that make you a hypocrite? Aren’t you then just using your wealth to assuage your guilt?
William
I stress the word “privileged” as it was a key word used in Tara’s original post.
I’ve not inherited any wealth, and am proud of the fact that everything I own has come from hard work.
@ben metcalfe: “I assert he put his HP aside, or perhaps didn’t even have a HP, to become a powerful influencer (and wealthy) from which he was then able to wield far greater possibility with his HP.”
As said above, same debate I’m having with a close friend (whom is not wealthy and influential, btw). I can do more as a “philanthropist” later after I acquire power and influence and credibility and…. While another very wealthy and influential friend absolutely understands where I’m coming from and what I’m doing and why. I cannot speak for Gore, or anyone else, but I just got to a place for myself that wasn’t willing to wait for the “right conditions” and the “big audience” at some “later, someday convenient” date. So I think we’re all talking about making a sincere impact, making a difference with our lives. I guess I came to a personal crossroads, and it’s not something I’m sure anyone can persuade anyone else into believing, where I didn’t believe that greater possibilities lay in store by waiting for power, reputation, influence, platform. Sometimes the simple speaks louder and clearer in a world clamoring for bigger is better attention.
@miss rogue: #2, I feel that in US (and Europe) we have the luxury of time to THINK about our survival…usually playing head games like “what if…” that project out imaginary circumstances into the future. So while we are in a very post-scarcity world here in US and Europe for sure, I don’t see as many folks living that out yet. Sometimes I actually witness MORE fear in middle class folks here around survival than I see in other cultures when I travel. The people I have met in other countries are actually more attuned with the moment-to-moment survival needs they have right in front of them and sometimes that actually places them in more in a position to actually live out purpose (without stressing about “what is it?”) as its unfolding.
Hmmm, Frank Paynter mentiones Muhammad Yunus in his trackbacked post. You know Yunus never set out intending to create Grameen Bank. He just did the next most obvious thing that presented itself to him (well, and I say he followed that thread of inspiration, following his gut/heart).
Grameen Bank? It all started with a conversation Yunus accidentally had with a woman in his neighborhood that needed a little change to buy materials for her bamboo stool making venture (so she didn’t have to go through the usurious middleman).
Most people - and I see it everyday - they are a very busy professor like Yunus. The difference is they have no time for idle chitchat with some lady on the corner.
I’ve watched the last post on HP & this one’s thread and knowing Tara personally, and knowing that she walks her talk around being about people more than the majority of people I know working in so-called ’social’ media (as a friend says, “online community is an oxymoron”), I’m not heartened by what I see here. Mostly because what I seen offline is definitely someone that is following their thread of inspiration wherever it leads.
So Yunus gave the bamboo stool lady the money himself. One thing after another… yet it took years to unfold. This from a December 3, 2004 blog posts:
The first “loan” Yunus gave out was out of his own pocket to 42 people. Total cost: $27.
He went to banks to convince them to loan out money to these people on a regular basis. You saw the answers he got at the beginning of this story. [How can we lend money to poor people? They are not creditworthy. Our rules won't permit it. They cannot offer collateral, and such a tiny amount is not worth lending.] They wouldn’t lend money directly, so Yunu had sign off for the loans. “They warned me repeatedly that the poor people who receive the money will never pay it back.”
When they did pay him back, the bank manager then warned, “Oh, no, they’re just fooling you. Soon they will take more money and never pay you back.”
“And so it became a kind of contest between them and me… I came up with results they could not deny because it was their money I was giving, but they would not accept it becauase they are trained to believe that poor people are not reliable.”
“Finally I had the thought, Why am I trying to convince them? I am totally convinced that poor people can take money and pay it back. Why don’t we set up a separate bank?”
Grameen Bank has lent over $4.5B to date.
Tara,
I admire your (and all) efforts to develop a model for ideas that humans gravitate towards. Many of the arguments have been discussed for 150 years and are especially seen in the debate over democracy vs. socialism; theories on social psychology; and criticism of Keynesian economics.
The problems to avoid are many and a few that come to mind from your intro text: 1) many people are still in a struggle for survival, even in the wealthy “Land Of The Free” were (supposedly) freedom of expression is available and sacred; 2) survival isn’t always about economics but also has stronger social aspects related to personal relationships (ask anyone who committed suicide); 3) not all people in the world want freedom or can even recognize it; and 4) what gives anyone the authority to say they know how society (or parts of it) really should work? (ie: how democratic are your theories to be?)
Purpose always runs in the face of reality simply because purpose needs to be defined in language that can’t properly define things by creatures who can’t ever know the full and true impact of any action (you can’t retrospectively judge things in the present); thus, it is always doomed to fail or be corrupted and can rarely be dynamic. Compare contemporary corporations to those that existed before corporations had same-as-people constitutional rights and you may see how purpose is hardly beneficial to modern corporate America.
At an individual level, however you might define or frame the concept of “higher purpose, I suspect it’ll mostly equate to a false motivator which basically exercises group-mentality aspects of individuals and not, generally, free thinking aspects; after all, the very act of defining something reduces the ability of others to redefine it
Instead of directed motivation, I find being open, honest, and without deception (or hidden agendas) more than sufficient to live a happy life — for yourself and others. When honesty is present, actual motivation soon follows. People, institutions, or governments that fail to be open ultimately fail in other ways.
Honesty in words, actions, and intentions, as well as knowledge of oneself and empathy for others, all become a part of reality without any need for explanation. Though, I squirm at my own simpleminded terms used here.
Maybe it’ll help if you first discuss the visions of Your World you feel could or should be before theorizing about the role of motivators like “Higher Purpose”. Knowing the final vision might help you explain it to others
Bleh, this is awkward to proof read in an HTML form.
Best,
Joey
Ah, I’m happy to see Yunus mentioned.
One of my dearest friends wants to also start a micro bank in some country he has yet to pick. His agenda for doing so is his heart felt desire to improve the human condition, in whatever ways are possible. His motivation isn’t driven by any purpose, higher or lower; rather, he’s come to his goal by many years of serious philosophical contemplation. I haven’t decided to contribute money yet but certainly wouldn’t do it out of any sense of purpose beyond enjoying that I can do it and getting yet another complication out of my life (money and (other) “friends” who expect you to give it to them). I’m not sure this Higher Purpose framework is useful; but I’ve heard my share of requests using some rather good ones.
Best,
Joey
I received an email from someone whose opinion I respect and whose judgment I trust. I hope he doesn’t mind me quoting it. He says,
That goes along with your observation,Evelyn, “that she walks her talk around being about people….”
Here’s why I think the discord and tension around these few posts has been valuable: There are many assumptions that we make based on ideas we are given that we take at face value. A lot of this material is ginned up to support an existing structure that is rotten to the core. When we hear that Henry Ford was an anti-semite, we can’t be expected to say, “Oh wow, that changes my whole outlook,” but if we share this kind of information enough and question the value of assertions like “we live in a post scarcity economy,” then we are taking small steps toward a more informed world. If we don’t permit this clash of ideas, then the bullies will win, because they certainly aren’t shy about asserting their “needs.”
It’s nice to know that Tara is one of the good-guys. It gives me hope through her blog she will occasionally leave that comfort zone of “post scarcity” assumptions and help to open more eyes about what’s really going on in the world…
Thanks for relaying that, Frank. I was beginning to think that maybe I was fooling myself into thinking I try to be a good person with good intentions. But the road to hell…right?
I’m glad that Chris Locke enlightened me about Ford. I didn’t mean to dismiss that concern. I do want to address these things. I just wasn’t in that head space at that time. I was still trying to understand other stuff. Ford was an aside to me…not as an example of someone who is great and had a HP, but provided a quote about being forthright about it. It was lazy for me not to dig deeper.
And when I say “WE live in a post-scarcity economy”, I don’t mean “WE” as in the entire world. I mean “WE” as in my little world of friends. I guess when I invoke the oversweeping ‘economy’, that is wrong. I didn’t think about how that might be interpreted. And maybe this is still naive, but I was saying…and actually in response to a conversation with a single mom on a shoestring budget (which I used to be) who said to me, “I don’t have the time to think about Higher Purpose, I live month to month.”…which made me start thinking about the fact that I’m preaching this and that and totally missed the fact that I have more time and resources to stand on my pulpit. Then I came across the world values map:
http://www.worldvaluessurvey.com/statistics/some_findings.html
and wrote this post. It wasn’t particularly well thought out, so I added an ‘Aside:’ to the title.
I certainly did not mean to imply that in this country, while some feast, others aren’t still in the survival mode. Nor did I mean to imply that there aren’t people in countries whose economies are still struggling that don’t have a HP or dedicate their lives to others. In fact, as per your example of Yunus, I’ve heard more examples of people with nothing that give everything to make a better community and world than those, like Evelyn starts to discuss in her fabulous post, who have way more, but talk about waiting for the right time to give (but often never get around to it).
But you know, Frank, I’m a really emotional, feeling, empathetic person and when people make judgements of me, I internalize them strongly. I know I should be stronger than that, but that’s part of the problem of being a ‘feeling’ person. I don’t have good defenses set up against personal criticisms. This comment helps me start to heal, so thanks.
Hi Joey,
Great comments.
“The problems to avoid are many and a few that come to mind from your intro text: 1) many people are still in a struggle for survival, even in the wealthy “Land Of The Free” were (supposedly) freedom of expression is available and sacred; 2) survival isn’t always about economics but also has stronger social aspects related to personal relationships (ask anyone who committed suicide); 3) not all people in the world want freedom or can even recognize it; and 4) what gives anyone the authority to say they know how society (or parts of it) really should work? (ie: how democratic are your theories to be?)”
Totally agree with all of your points. I think I irresponsibly posted this before I could think out all of the angles (or write them out, because I was thinking about what you’ve written here…but failed to discuss it in this post).
“Compare contemporary corporations to those that existed before corporations had same-as-people constitutional rights and you may see how purpose is hardly beneficial to modern corporate America.”
I know…that system totally has to change. Totally. I don’t know how or if there is someone working on it, but a ‘person’ without compassion and only driven to increase wealth is a very very scary person.
“the very act of defining something reduces the ability of others to redefine it”
Totally. It’s so tempting, though…because I don’t want it to be misinterpreted. But I know, the very act of putting it out there opens it up to that…and it has…
“Maybe it’ll help if you first discuss the visions of Your World you feel could or should be before theorizing about the role of motivators like “Higher Purpose”.”
Great idea. I think I’ve discussed it so much offline that I’ve forgetten that I haven’t put it into context online. Thanks for that suggestion. I think it’s the missing ingredient here and what has caused much of the misunderstandings in the comments (as well as my knee-jerk defensiveness).
Consider yourself called out.
http://www.meankids.org/?p=46
The day is short, the night is long.
Why do we work so hard to get what we don’t even want?
We work so ahead to get ahead of the game; work half our lives until we’ve won. And then one day, we sit at the edge of our bed and think: Lord what have I done?
The day is short, the night is long.
Why do we work so hard to get what we don’t even want?
Man in a suit, comes home and kisses his babies goodbye. Daddy’s gotta go on a trip honey, oh no don’t you cry.
He’s gone for a week and then he’s home for a day. Well, pretty soon the babies won’t cry when daddy’s gone away.
The day is short, the night is long.
Why do you work so hard to get what you don’t even want?
You know we go to the mall and we go from store to store, yeah. Everybody seems to be wasting time until death walks through the door. And then you look at all your merchandise and you see. We’ve paid too high a price, you’ll see.
The day is short, the night is long.
Why do you work so hard to get what you don’t even want?
Why do you work so hard to get what you don’t even want?
All the Best,
Charles Knight
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Higher Purpose - Now or Later?…
I’m a firm believer in ensuring one should create a stable and successful position for oneself and one’s family first because it is from there that one is then able to make a greater difference socially (be that for ‘higher…
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