A spark isn't a soul's purpose. Oh, you mentors and your passions. Your "purposes." Your "meanings of life." So basic. -Jerry, Counselor, Soul
One of the greatest pleasures of my life has been to enjoy the Disney Pixar movie- Soul.
Soul is about a piano player named Joe who has spent his life trying to get ‘the big gig’ so he can finally feel like he’s living his Soul’s purpose.
He ends up exploring the great unknown in the all that is (aka heaven, source, energy etc.). Essentially, he ends up talking to the people in charge of the all that is, like Counselor Jerry, about the meaning of life.
In one of the best lines of the movie Jerry speaks to Joe about what motivates a person to feel they have a meaningful life on earth. He calls this limited perspective, quite frankly, basic.
Hmph.
At first I bristled at this. What do you mean we have no meaning to our lives? I thought. Do we really have no purpose?!? What, exactly, might we being doing here, if that’s the case?
I thought. I stewed. And, well, now I think I might believe Jerry.
Hang with me here.
I am not saying that what we be, do, and are in this life does not have meaning. But I am wondering if our definition of meaning might not be big enough.
We spend our lives looking for why we are here. For connection. For that something big we do that might impact the world. But what if the ways in which we connect to one another are actually the meaning. What if it is not what we individually do, but how we connect that truly makes the difference?
The butterfly effect proposes that a small change, like a butterfly flapping its wings, can make a big impact somewhere else on the planet. The example often used is that a butterfly flapping its wings in South America can affect the weather in Central Park. And if the year of the pandemic has taught us nothing else, it has reminded us that what each of us do deeply affects outcomes.
But what if a thousand butterflies flap their wings? Tens of thousands? Or maybe 7 billion? If one butterfly can affect the weather over three thousand miles away, what can one human do?
If we can be the change we want to see, we can light a fire on this earth of love and kindness that’s contagious. If we can give, love, and support one-another we too can flap our wings together to impact the world. And the effects will reverberate into infinity.
Think bigger Jerry says methinks.
You are NOT basic. You are Divine.
So flap those wings to the sound of the greatest love you can personally bring to this gorgeous planet. Change the temperature of our lives my friends. You are one wing flap away from transformational revolution dear ones.
Shine on light chaser!