The Twelve Core Modules We'll Cover
MODULE ONE: CARE OF THE SOUL
To live a purpose-driven life, creating a purpose-friendly environment is essential. In this opening session, we will explore ways to prepare for crossing the threshold between the life you live now, and the life that is calling you.
YOU’LL LEARN . . .
How to cultivate a “Miracle Morning” ritual that prepares you for living a life that harmonizes with your Soul.
How to clear space in your life, so that something utterly new, mysterious and generative may appear.
How to recognize your own soul right now and begin to let it animate your being.
What it means to practice “soul-embodiment” right now and how this differs from ongoing preparation for purpose awakening.
How to construct a “purpose altar” in your home to become an “axis mundi” for your purpose journey.
How to identify the most frequent traps and detours that occur on the road to a purpose-driven life.
MODULE TWO: PREPARING FOR THE JOURNEY
To live a purpose-driven life, understanding the layout of the journey is essential. In this session, we will lay out a road map for you to see where you are headed.
YOU’LL LEARN . . .
The 8 facets of your Soul’s Purpose: Vision, Values, Powers, Essence, Giveaway, Task, Message and Delivery System.
The 3 worlds of consciousness, which correspond to the triple purpose of life: to “Wake Up, Grow Up, and Show Up.”
Why we get so disturbed by life’s vicissitudes, and how to transform everyday disappointments into spiritual turnarounds.
MODULE THREE: DEFAULT PURPOSE
The purpose that moves your life forward, when you are not living from soul, is your default purpose: a combination of bequeathed values from your upbringing and the defensive mechanisms we learned during childhood. A default purpose leads you away from your authentic purpose, whereas the Soul's purpose draws you forward into living your destiny. As long as your strongest driving desire comes from a default purpose, your ability to fulfill your destiny is thwarted.
YOU’LL LEARN . . .
To distinguish between the two types of Purpose which propel you: Default vs. True, Defensive vs. Evolutionary, Inherited vs. Revealed, Socially Conditioned vs. Soul Conditioned, Unconscious vs. Intentional, Scarcity Based vs. Love Based, etc.
How to identify your specific default purpose that veils your True Purpose.
How to practice moment-to-moment attention in order to recognize the interactions, self-talk and behaviors that are rooted in your default purpose.
How to practice Purpose-Inquiry effectively: "What would Soul do?"
MODULE FOUR: DISCERN YOUR PURPOSE
When seeking your purpose, there are two approaches: direct vs. indirect, or inductive vs. deductive. The indirect path to purpose engages your mind's intelligence to detect or infer what your true purpose is. In Module Four you will employ multiple deductive (indirect) methods for discerning your purpose.
YOU’LL LEARN . . .
To discover “soulprint hints” from your history.
How your emotions, especially your passions, devotions and fervors, provide clues to your destiny.
To find the hidden evidence pointing towards your deepest purpose in your fantasies, aspirations, daydreams and the ways you wish to be remembered.
To look for soul clues in your readings, movies, hobbies and even the heroes you’ve been choosing.
MODULE FIVE: ENCOUNTERING RESISTANCE
There are parts of yourself that have resistance to living your deepest purpose, including the Critic, Skeptic, Controller, Rebel, Achiever, Protector, and Image Consultant. When one of these parts exhibits resistance during your attempts to embrace your soul’s purpose, you may experience tension, anxiety, paralysis, fear, or find yourself in a state of constant distraction.
YOU’LL LEARN . . .
That resistance to your Soul’s deepest purpose is natural.
Both the real and imagined risks of living your true purpose from the perspective of the voices of resistance.
How to uncover the authentic concerns of these parts of yourself.
How to work with your voices of resistance so that you can live your life’s destiny.
MODULE SIX: EVOLUTIONARY SPIRITUALITY
Evolutionary Spirituality is the journey of co-creating the future through embodying your Soul's unique purpose. You have been creating from the past and present, but not from the future. Let’s see what the wisdom of the future, specifically 10 years from now, has to share with you.
YOU’LL LEARN . . .
How the purpose of evolution and the purpose of soul are identical: to midwife more goodness, truth and beauty.
How Soul is the place where the future is arising out of the present.
How life is an evolving process and as such, our soul-work is part of that never ending development.
How relinquishing attachment to the ego's agenda is key in both - the spirituality of being and the spirituality of becoming.
A guided meditation that takes you to the place where the present meets the future.
MODULE SEVEN: SOULQUEST PREPARATION
The SoulQuest is a daylong solitary ceremony in nature, where you will fast and pray for a Vision of your purpose. You might ask, “Why would I want to leave the comfort and security of my home to go into wild nature to explore my soul’s purpose?” Humans have always gone to nature to find their calling: the Buddha awakened under a tree; Jesus went to the desert; Mohammad was fasting and praying in a cave when the Koran came to him; and Moses went to the top of a mountain to bring a vision for his people.
YOU’LL LEARN . . .
An ancient nature-based ceremony that has been practiced throughout the ages.
How to allow wild nature to mirror your wild soul to you, revealing undiscovered layers of depth in your being.
The 3 universal elements of the SoulQuest, including: immersion in nature, fasting from food and company, and transformational practices.
How to prepare for SoulQuest, what to bring, how to stay safe.
How to become an open vessel capable of being filled with your Soul’s sacred calling.
MODULE EIGHT: RECEIVING SOUL
Aristotle coined the term “entelechy” to describe the full actualization of a life form. He said that the entelechy of an acorn is an oak tree. It is the entelechy of the acorn that guides its development. This theory is sometimes called the “acorn theory of soul”. It proposes that you already possess the full potential and potency of your Soul, and that the task is to fully actualize your Soul..
YOU’LL LEARN . . .
How the dictum, “You can be anything you want to be” is dead wrong.
How your calling is inborn, and that your mission is to obey the imperatives of your Soul.
How to use the Entelechy Process for listening to the “oak tree of yourself.”
To use the “Ocean Cave Meditation” to awaken hidden dimensions of your Soul.
MODULE NINE: HIGH-DEFINITION PURPOSE (THE GIVEAWAY)
Your objective is to embody your soul's gifts, so you can freely share them with the world. Native peoples named this gift the Giveaway. The Giveaway is a contribution that adds to the development of another person, and is sometimes referred to as your unique transformational process. Performing your Giveaway is both a deeply fulfilling and at the same time an impassioned response to the world's needs. The theologian Frederick Buechner put this eloquently: "...our calling is where our deepest gladness and the world's hunger meet."
YOU’LL LEARN . . .
What your High-Definition giveaway is, specifically:
Who are the people for whom my Giveaway is meant?
What circumstances are my people in when they come to me?
When is the optimum time to meet my people and perform my Giveaway?
Where will my Giveaway happen?
Why does performing my Giveaway have personal and evolutionary significance?
How do I perform the Giveaway? What are the progressive steps of the ladder of my Giveaway?
MODULE TEN: ACTING PURPOSEFULLY
The path is made by walking it. So far we’ve approached purpose as something that we discover or uncover. Yet there is another dimension to purpose which is summed up by the proverb, the path is made by walking it. What undermines a life on purpose? “...the time you kill, the knowledge you neglect to learn, the connections you fail to build, the health you sacrifice along the path, the people around you who don't support and love your efforts.” (James Altucher)
YOU’LL LEARN . . .
A powerful method for making purposeful choices.
A practice for rooting out what is not purposeful for your evolution.
A technique for living purposefully immediately.
The wisdom of authentic failures.
MODULE ELEVEN: SOULQUEST INCORPORATION
Upon completing your daylong ceremony on the land, the incorporation phase of the SoulQuest welcomes you back into your soul-infused community of fellow questers and into your new life. The return from a SoulQuest is often a time of great energy and delight, honoring the wholeness that you have found. You will have the privilege of sharing your story in council while the guides honor and mirror back the insights and gifts you have recovered from your journey.
YOU’LL LEARN . . .
How to re-enter your former life, bringing your unique gifts to your people.
How to keep the flame of your Vision alive in the midst of an often indifferent world.
Practices for protecting your Vision from fading into a memory.
Practices for deepening and embodying your purpose in your relationships, work and ordinary life.
MODULE TWELVE: EMBODIMENT
Discovering your purpose is a momentous event. As Mark Twain noted, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” The challenge before you is to live a life in accordance with the deepest truths you have been graced to know at the core of your being. As the poet David Whyte wrote, “Hold to your own truth at the center of the image you were born with.” Module twelve is the point where you switch your focus from discovering your purpose to living your purpose with wild abandon as a demonstration of love and service to Life.
YOU’LL LEARN . . .
How to honor the Mystery with a propitiatory offering to initiate you into the embodiment process.
How to perform the assessment: discerning whether you have received sufficient information about your life purpose.
To perform the Immersion Walk: absorbing what has been revealed to you during your soul-encounters.
To construct a purpose statement that accurately distills the essence of your purpose.
To learn more about the philosophy behind The Purpose Discovery Program, have a look at this article: Soulwork and The Purpose Octagon. It is written by Jonathan Gustin, the founder of The Purpose Guides Institute.