The Purpose Tethered Life

Aviv Shahar with Lisa Marcus, Patrick Summers, Kyriaki Nikandrou, Jerry Pike, and Peter Barry

July 28, 2022

It’s a word that can define or change a life or a community, and carries so much potential power and meaning, yet how many people can clearly answer the question, what is your purpose in life?

Purpose is usually thought of as the “why”, the reason a person exists; the central motivating impulse that guides decisions, behavior, and direction. Purpose can be that spark of passion and inspiration that causes someone to jump out of bed in the morning and embrace the day. For others contemplating a life’s purpose can feel overwhelming.

Even if we feel a sense of purpose, is it self-chosen with intention, or a blueprint for conformity influenced by our family, religion, or culture? Instead of fixing a definition, what if we think of purpose as a living process, an open-ended journey of discovery toward meaning that continually reveals itself through our passions, inspiration, and consciousness? In a time of multiple global crises, the question of purpose isn’t academic; a person or a community with a purpose can inspire and change the world. It’s also clear that our sense of purpose, even how we think about the “why” of our life, is as unique and individual as finger prints.

In this conversation, we bring together members of the Portals team to ponder the questions of purpose. Their many insights and pathways forward include:

  • Do we choose our life’s purpose? Or discover and liberate innate purpose through engagement and action, like Michelangelo sculpting David?
  • I will be the author of my own life; I’m defiant about anyone trying to impose a purpose on me. It has liberated me to discover things that mattered in a way that maybe didn't matter to others.
  • I prefer the word skopos, which is Greek for purpose; as a verb it means I think, I detect, I stay awake, I stay alert. It's a more fluid, evolving dynamic.
  • There's always been a kind of voice inside me, someone might call it my higher self. It's changed very little in my life. My journey has been to just honor that part of me.
  • At 14 I began volunteering, there was already a passion for mentoring young people. My intentions and passions led me to my purpose.
  • What is my part to play in the purpose of humanity? There's individual purpose, and something greater. We look at both together and form a direction for what our lives are about.
  • Life gives you this incredible freedom to choose whatever you want. You don't have to join a bandwagon of what other people think. It's a very intimate discovery process of where to invest your energy and time.
  • It was the impulse that there's something more going on here than we're seeing, or we're being told, and it's up to me to find it; I'm being driven to find something.
  • How do you discover your purpose? One way is to ask the core questions: What is most important for you? What values you want to nurture? What energizes you?
  • We need to make a decision about what we want to do with our lives. There are million things we can do, but if we want direction and purpose, we need to say yes, this is the path I'm going down.
  • Allow the flow and revelation from seeing we’re tethered to the great mystery of the purpose of life at large, and the purpose of this extraordinary playground we call the Universe.

This conversation is part of the continuing Portals discovery into what is emerging on the frontiers of human experience in this time of profound change. Information about upcoming special events can be found on the Events page. Also visit and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

There are two saliencies when I hear all the experiences with a purpose journey. The first is there isn't one path or one way to get into purpose; there are as many paths as there are people. And no two paths are the same. The second is that in many of the experiences, there was a tension between the need to discover from the inside, and resist and defy what other people expect from you.

Aviv Shahar

Lisa Marcus

Lisa Marcus

At home, we were always encouraged to ask the more enigmatic questions of life. Why am I here? Where did I come from? Where will I go at the end of my life? And the biggest question of all, What is my part to play in the great canvas of life?

Enchanted by the many different cultures and peoples from around the world, during my youth I traveled through my trusty Encyclopedia Britannica. Then came the wondrous day that I was able to travel by airplane. Committed to being a "Champion of Warmth," I continue my travels and interactions with others from all around the world, as together we create a "bouquet of humanity;" one that connects and offers companionship as we step into the future.

Patrick Summers

Patrick Summers

A seeker of the special places. Early on I used to enjoy sitting in certain churches after the service had ended and sensing what felt like fine, special atmospheres. Something was around I could feel but couldn’t see. The same with walks in nature and wilderness. The serenity and sense of healing felt connected to something deeper and finer in the earth, trees, flora and fauna. A type of energy? The planet’s soul?

I also began to sense what might be called the special places within, the inner lives and capabilities that can help us perceive and connect to finer sources of light and healing and knowledge all around us. Across the planet and into the universe; we’re all connected.

So many journeys of discovery. Shall we proceed?

Kyriaki Nikandrou

Kyriaki Nikandrou

When I was a child, staring at the starry night skies, I was filled with awe and wonder, about the mysteries of the Universe, Life, Time, the Human and its place in the Cosmos, trying to connect the dots that link everything with everything…

Some years down the line, I still do. I am seeking to be in conversation with others in search for keys, for tools of understanding and application and for the real questions, the ones that become portals to contemplative journeys, leading to uncharted territories that feel like home.

I believe we are on a trajectory of multiple and unpredictable changes; it is up to each one of us to rise to the challenge of our times. Now, more than ever before, is the time to be true to ourselves and fulfill our potential.

 

Jerry Pike

Jerry Pike

I find it strange that after all these centuries of exceptional progress and accomplishment, we still do not know how we got here, whether it is for anything, and is there something higher on the planet than just us? Such questions have been a central focus for my life.

The excitement however is that in the 21st century we now know so much that, if we can put conventional thinking and established beliefs to one side, we are in a great place to explore this enigma. This mystery is ripe for, maybe not solving, but opening up through not only intelligence, but also feelings and some of the exceptional experiences that we are now able to share with each other that was not possible before.

Peter Barry

Peter Barry

I don't think I can remember a time when I wasn't asking, Why am I here? Or wondering, What is the purpose of life? Seeking not so much to simply solve the mystery, but rather to find the settlement that comes from knowing one's place, and finding one's home, in this great unfolding.

Perhaps, then, one can become part of the living process, which sets one free to go out into the world and discover what is new, what is needed, and ask the question: How can I help?

Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar

Aviv is the Founder of Aviv Consulting, helping leaders unleash strategic innovation, and is the author of Create New Futures: How Leaders Produce Breakthroughs and Transform the World Through Conversation.