硬核推荐purpose(purpose什么意思)

人生意义究竟长什么样？

 

这几天在读一本书，书名是《True Purpose: 12 Strategies for Discovering the Difference You Are Meant to Make》这是一位视觉引导课老师Oscar推荐给我的书，他在这本书的作者Tim Kelley举办的三天工作坊中，第二天就找到了自己的人生意义。

今天分享给大家的是第二章《What Does Purpose Look Like?》What Does Purpose Look Like?人生意义长什么样？The Components of Purpose

人生意义的构成Our purpose itself is at the root of ourbeing, the essence of who we are. It is fundamental, foundational. And it is as much about being as it is about doing. This makes it difficult to comprehend and describe, because our ego perceives our life and the world through doing. Many modern languages describe “doing” with far greater precision than they describe “being”.

我们的人生意义（purpose）是我们存在（being）的根基，是我们的本质它是最根本的，是根基它与存在（being）相关的程度，就和与行动（doing）相关的程度一样这让人们很难掌握和形容它，因为我们的自我（ego）是通过行动（doing）来看待我们的生活和世界的。

许多现代语言在描述行动（doing）方面比描述存在（being）要精准得多As best I can tell, each of us has a single purpose and it does not change in the course of a lifetime. However, our understanding of it changes as we age and explore, so our perception of our purpose will surely change.

就我所知，我们每个人都仅有一个人生意义（purpose），它在我们整个人生旅程中都保持不变但是，我们对它的理解却会随着我们年龄的增长和不断的探索而产生变化，所以我们对自己人生意义（purpose）的看法会必然产生改变。

Egos have some difficulty understanding purpose, because egos and souls do not speak the same “language”. Egos tend to divide things into groups, to categorize and judge them. Souls do not. But ultimately this search for purpose is a search of the ego, because your soul already knows your purpose and does not need to search. So your purpose must be understood by your ego in order for your need to know to be satisfied.

自我（egos）在理解人生意义（purpose）时会遇到一些困难，因为自我（egos）和灵魂（souls）说不同的“语言”自我（egos）倾向于把事情分组，去分类和评价各种事情灵魂（souls）不会这样做。

但最终寻找人生意义（purpose）的主体，其实是自我（ego），因为你的灵魂（souls）已经知道你的人生意义（purpose），所以不需要寻找所以你的人生意义（purpose）必须能够被你的自我（ego）所理解，这样你“渴望知道人生意义”的需求才能被满足。

* 注：作者用灵魂（soul）指代在我们的精神领域中其实已经知道自己“人生意义”的那部分自我In order to aid your ego in understanding your purpose, I have divided the single concept of “purpose” into three categories. These categories are arbitrary, a construction of my ego to assist yours. This is how our egos make sense of the world, by making categories. Without these categories, it is difficult for the ego to grasp the answers that the soul provides.。

为了帮助你的自我（ego）理解你的人生意义（purpose），我把这个单一概念“人生意义”（purpose）划分为三个类别这种分类是有些武断的，是我的自我（ego）为了帮助你的自我（ego）去理解而进行的概念构建。

这是我们的自我（egos）给世界赋予意义的方式，就是通过分类来进行没有这些分类，自我（ego）很难掌握灵魂（soul）提供的答案

Essence实质Essence is the most fundamental aspect of purpose, and the most difficult to describe. It is the aspect of purpose that is pure being, without doing. You are your purpose, even when you are standing still or asleep. This component of purpose is usually the most unconscious, that is, the least apparent to you.

实质（essence）是人生意义（purpose）最为根本性的方面，也是最难描述的人生意义（purpose）的这个方面是纯粹的存在（being），没有行动（doing）你就是你的人生意义（purpose），即便当你仅仅是站立或睡着的时候。

人生意义（purpose）的这个组成部分通常是最为无意识的，也就是，对你来说最不明显的This most basic state of our being has an impact, however. It is subtle and pervasive. Everyone you meet is affected by it, whether they are aware of it or not. And it forms the basis for the other two aspects of purpose. Imagine that each of us, everyone alive, is walking around in a vast field and it is dark. But it is not completely dark. Each of us is giving off a glow, shining our light on those nearby. There are subtle differences between the lights. Each is a slightly different color. No two are exactly alike. This subtle light is our essence. The part I am curious about isthe unique quality of each person’s essence, the “color” in this metaphor.

然而，我们存在（being）的最根本的状态会带来影响，它是微妙和普遍的与你见面的每个人都被它影响，不论他们是否意识到这一点而且它是人生意义（purpose）另外两个方面的基础想象一下，我们每个人，每个活着的人，都在一片很大的田野里走来走去，天色昏暗。

但不是完全看不见我们每个人都在发出一些光来，照亮我们周围的一些人这些光亮有一些微妙的不同每个都是稍微不同的颜色没有两个光亮是完全一样的这个微妙的光亮就是我们的实质（essence）令我好奇的是每个人的实质（essence）具有的独特属性，也就是这个隐喻当中的“颜色”。

This metaphor also explains why it is so difficult for you to know and see your own essence, and how easy it is forothers to discern it. Imagine that you were born with a bright red lightbulb on top of your head, shining all the time. Picture yourself walking into a roomful of people: one of the comments is “Wow, it sure just got red in here.” And you say... “What’s red?” Since everything you have ever seen has been under a bright red light, you don’t even know what red looks like. You have no contrast by which to understand and describe “red.” But other people do, because theycan see the difference between when you are present and when you are not.

这个隐喻也解释了为什么你想要知道和看见自己的实质（essence）是如此的困难，以及对他人来说，识别你的实质（essence）是如此简单想象你出生时头顶就有一个亮红色的电灯泡，一直都在发光在头脑中想象一个场景：你走进一个都是人的屋子，其中一条评论是“哇哦，这里确实变红了啊。

”而你说……“什么是红色？”因为你所见到过的每个人都被笼罩在这个亮红色灯光下，你不知道红色是什么样子的想要理解和描述“红色”，你完全没有可比对的东西但其他人可以，因为他们能看出来你在场和不在场时候，场面有什么不同。

Essence operates just this way. When you arrive, so does your essence, and everyone around you is immediately affected by it, whether they are aware of it or not. But you are the person least likely to be able to identify it. It has been with you since the moment you were born, and you don’t know what it’s like not to be surrounded by it. Later we will discuss a method for using the perception of others to identify your essence.

实质（essence）就是这样运作的当你到来，你的实质（essence）也到来，你周围的每个人迅速地受到它的影响，不论他们是否意识到了但你是最难识别它的人它在你出生以来就一直跟随你，你根本不知道没有它包围着你，会是什么样子。

稍后我们会讨论一个方法，运用他人的视角来识别你的实质（essence）What isessence like in practice? People often use feeling words to describe theiressence, since most languages are not very good at describing being states. Itcan be a struggle to formulate essence in words. I have heard souls use wordslike “love,” “joy,” and “enlightenment” when describing a person’s essence.Later you will see what purpose statements based on essence look like.

实质（essence）在现实中是什么呢？人们经常用感受的词语来形容他们的实质（essence），因为大多数语言并不是很擅长描述状态要把实质（essence）用词汇描述出来确实是一个挑战我听过灵魂（souls）用诸如“爱”、“欢乐”、“启发”来描述一个人的实质（essence）。

稍后你会看到基于实质（essence）的人生意义宣言（purpose statements）是什么样子Knowing your essence can help your search for purpose in several ways. Whatever effect your essence is having on those around you, it would serve you (and potentially them) to know it. You can place yourself in situations where the effect you have is most needed. And whatever this most basic quality of being is for you, you can make your life more fulfilling by choosing activities (doing) that are more consistent with your essence (being).

对你的实质（essence）有所了解，会让你获得找寻人生意义（purpose）的一些途径无论你的实质（essence）给你周围的人带来什么样的影响，你对它有更多了解，这对你（以及对他们）都有好处你可以把自己置身于那些最需要你的影响力的情境中。

而且，无论你的这个最基础的存在属性是什么，你都可以通过选择那些与你的实质（essence）更加一致的活动（doing）来使你的生活更有满足感

Blessing幸事Blessing is the bridge between being and doing. It is when your essence moves into action. Think of it like this: You are a catalyst, a facilitator of some process. You do this process with those around you, probably unconsciously. Certain people need your process, and they are naturally drawn to you and you to them.

幸事（blessing）是存在（being）和行动（doing）之间的桥梁它就是当你的实质（essence）采取行动的样子可以这么想：你是一个催化剂，某种过程的促进者你与周围的人们一起完成这个环节，也许是无意识就在这样做。

一些人需要你这个环节，他们天然被你吸引，你也被他们吸引This process is pervasive. You have done it in some form in every job you’ve ever held and in every significant relationship you’ve ever had. You have been doing it since you were very young. When you are most successful and most fulfilled, you are doing your blessing.。

这个过程是普遍的你过往的每一份工作，每一段重要的关系中，你都以某种形式在实践这个过程你从非常年轻开始就一直这么做当你最为成功和满足时，是你在实践你的幸事（blessing）的时候Let me use an example. I know a skilled coach whose blessing is to heal men who didn’t get enough love from their mothers. Before working with me, she didn’t know that this was her blessing. She was just going about her business, working with men and women. But she had noticed that certain kinds of men were drawn to her, attracted to her. They usually experienced this attraction as romantic, but the relationships that resulted were disastrous.。

让我举个例子，我认识一个技术娴熟的教练，她的幸事（blessing）是拯救那些从他们母亲那里未能获得足够的爱的男人与我一起工作以前，她不知道这是她的幸事（blessing）她只是在做自己的业务，男性、女性客户都有。

但她注意到，有一些特定类型的男性会被她吸引他们通常用浪漫的关系来体验这种吸引力，但是这些浪漫关系的结果往往都是灾难性的When she came to understand her blessing, she could see why this had been occurring. It enabled her to channel these men into more appropriate coaching relationships, where they could get the help they needed.

当她逐渐理解了自己的幸事（blessing），她就知道为什么这些事不断发生她就能够把这些男人引导到更加合适的教练与客户的关系中，这样他们才能获得真正所需要的帮助It is useful to break the blessing down into the actual steps. Here is my fellow coach’s blessing, step-by-step:。

A man is wounded, having not received enough love from his mother.He is drawn to the coach, and she to him.

He begins to open up. He tell sher all about himself, things he has never told anyone, because he trusts her right away.

She tells him exactly how she sees him, what she sees in his soul. She has the ability to see past the surface, the mask, to his inner child. She tells him who he truly is.

This builds his belief inhimself, his love for himself. It makes him stronger.At some point, he becomes self-sufficient and the relationship ends.

当把这个幸事（blessing）分解成几个实际的步骤，会更有帮助这是我这位教练同伴的幸事（blessing），一步一步来看：一个男人受伤了，没有从他母亲那里获得足够的爱他被这个教练吸引，这个教练亦然他开始敞开心扉。

他告诉她关于自己的所有事，他从没告诉过其他人，因为他立即就信任她了她告诉他，她看到的他是什么样的，她看到他的灵魂（soul）中有什么她有这个能力，看透表面、面具，看到他内在的小孩她告诉他，他到底是怎样的人。

这帮他建立了对自己的相信，他对自己的爱这让他更强大起来在某个时候，他变得内在充足，这段关系就结束了It is important to remember that the blessing is usually unconscious. You are doing it all the time without realizing it. As I said earlier, this woman had a series of relationships where this pattern played out, until she was able to understand that this was part of her purpose.。

很重要的一件事，就是要记住幸事（blessing）通常是无意识的你一直在这样做，尽管没有意识到我之前说过，这个女人有过一系列的关系，这个模式不断展现，直到她能够理解这是她的人生意义（purpose）的一部分。

To derive the maximum benefit from knowing your purpose, you need to be fully aware of your blessing. You must understand completely the different aspects and nuances of it. Many people have a simple,vague purpose statement, something like, “to teach” or “to help people achieve their dreams.” This is not nearly specific enough to qualify as a fully expressed blessing. Teach whom? What are the specific steps of finding someone’s dreams? There are many more details tounderstand about a blessing, and the details matter.

为了能够从知道你的人生意义（purpose）中获得最大的价值，你需要完全地意识到自己的幸事（blessing）你必须完全理解它的每个方面、每个细微差别很多人有一个简单的、模糊的人生意义宣言（purpose statement）,比如“去教”或“去帮助人们实现他们的梦想”。

这种表述距离一个表达清楚完整的幸事（blessing），还远远不够教谁呢？对于找到一个人的梦想，具体的步骤是什么呢？要理解一个幸事（blessing）有许多的细节，而细节最为关键Your blessing is the key to finding the right job or career. Purpose does not specify a career, but your blessing will help you understand which careers are the best choices for you. For example, awoman with a blessing for motivating downtrodden people will likely feel unfulfilled as a corporate audit accountant but fulfilled as a neighborhood activist, a city councilperson, a social worker, or writing a column in the local paper. The more closely your job responsibilities match your blessing,the more fulfilled and successful you will be.

你的幸事（blessing）对于找到适合你的工作或职业尤为关键人生意义（purpose）并不能指明一个职业，但你的幸事（blessing）会帮你理解哪些职业对你是最好的选择例如，一个女人，她的幸事（blessing）是激励那些受压迫的人，很可能会感到在公司里面做一个审计会计并不如做一位社区活动家、地方议会成员、社会工作者或在当地报纸撰写专栏，那么具有满足感。

你的工作职责越匹配你的幸事（blessing），你就会越感到满足和成功

Mission 使命A mission is just what it sounds like: aspecific task that needs to be performed. When I think of mission, I remember the classic TV show Mission: Impossible (and the more recent Tom Cruise movies). “Good morning, Mr. Phelps. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to...” Just as in the TV show, your mission is an instruction that is given to you. And just like in the TV show, you can accept it or decline it.

一个使命（mission）就像它听上去的意思那样：一个具体的需要被执行的任务当我想到使命（mission），我记得有一部经典的电视剧系列《Mission Impossible（不可能的任务）》（以及更近期一些的汤姆·克鲁斯的电影）。

“早上好，菲尔普斯先生不论你是否选择接受，你的任务是……”就像电视上那样，你的任务是一个给到你的指示而且就像电视上那样，你可以接受或拒绝它A mission can take many forms. It can be an instruction to serve a specific group of people, a problem you have been designed to solve, or a change that you are to create in the world. As we’ll see later, in the course of finding your purpose you may be given many instructions. Your mission is the highest level instruction you’ve been given by your soul.

一个使命（mission）可以有多种形式它可能是指示你去为某一个特定群体提供服务，一个你注定要去解决的问题，或你要为世界创造的一种改变就像我们稍后会看到的，在寻找你的人生意义的途中，你会被给予很多的指示。

你的使命（mission）是你的灵魂（soul）给你的最高等级的指示Your mission is invariably a specific application of your blessing and essence. While there may be many ways you could do your blessing, your mission emphasizes a particular way or a particular outcome. It may ask you to use your blessing with a particular group or to have some specific impact.

你的使命（mission）一定是你的幸事（blessing）和实质（essence）的具体应用确实有很多方法，你可以实践自己的幸事（blessing），但你的使命（mission）着重强调一种特定的方式或特定的结果。

它可能让你对某个特定群体去实践你的幸事（blessing），或者去创造某种具体的影响For example, my blessing is to “show people their path.” In practice, this usually means helping people identify and live their purpose. There are many situations that call for this service, usually when people are at a crossroads in their lives. Here are some examples of circumstances that cry out for path-showing:     。

Mothers whose children have recently left home     People who have recently been fired or laid off     

People being released from prison      Newly retired people      People who have been diagnosed with a life-threatening disease

例如，我的幸事（blessing）是“为人们指明道路”在实践中，这通常意味着帮助人们辨识和活出自己的人生意义（purpose）有很多情境都需要这种服务，通常是那些处于他们人生的十字路口的人们这是一些需要这种服务的情景：。

那些孩子最近刚离家独立的母亲那些最近被裁员、开除的人们那些从监狱中被释放的人们刚退休的人们那些被诊断出一种有生命危险的疾病的人们All ofthese are situations that would benefit greatly from finding life’s purpose, and all are well within the scope of my blessing. However, I’ve been instructed to help leaders find their path. When I am true to my mission, I restrict myself to high-level leaders and large organizations that are meant to change the world.

所有这些情况，都是通过找到生命意义能够获得巨大帮助的人们，而且所有这些都在我的幸事（blessing）范围之内然而，我被指引的是，给领导者指明他们的道路当我真实面对自己使命（mission）的时候，我把自己限定在为那些高级别的领导者和那些注定改变世界的大型组织提供服务上。

Some of the better known people of our time were driven by their mission: Mother Teresa, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi. Their choice to pursue their respective mission affected hundreds of millions of lives. In each case, the task was specific and formed the basis of their life’s work.

有一些我们这个时代的知名人士是受到他们的使命（mission）所驱动的：特蕾莎修女、马丁·路德·金博士，以及甘地他们选择追求自己的使命，这种选择影响到成千上万的生命在每一个案例中，任务都是具体的，是他们一生奋斗的事业的基础。

Not all missions are so public or so sweeping in scope. One of my wife’s dance students is a forensics expert; she specializes in identifying remains found in mass graves. Her name may never appear on the front page of a newspaper, but many of the tragedies in Bosniaand Africa have begun to heal with her help.

不是所有的使命（mission）都是如此公众化或影响广泛的我妻子的一位舞蹈学生是一名法医专家；她的专长是辨认那些在大型墓地找到的遗骸她的名字可能不会在报纸的首页出现，但许多波斯尼亚和非洲的惨案经由她的帮助得以抚平。

For many people the mission is the scariest aspect of purpose, and usually the last tobe revealed. Most people have mixed feelings about having a mission: They both desire to have the meaning and guidance a mission provides and fear the responsibility such a task demands.

对许多人来说，使命（mission）是人生意义（purpose）中最为令人害怕的方面，而且经常是最后才被揭示出来的大多数人对于有一个使命（mission）的感受是复杂的：他们一方面渴望拥有一个使命（mission）以及由此带来的指引，另一反面又害怕这样一项任务所需要承担的责任。

For this reason, the soul is often reluctant to disclose the details of the mission. If the mission is disclosed prematurely, the ego could, out of fear, shut down progress towards the purpose. “Who am I to pursue such a mission?” “What will people think of me?” I have felt this feeling of “clenching” in response to my mission, and so have many of my clients. These concerns are healthy and normal, and a person usually must deal with them before the mission can be revealed.

正因为如此，灵魂（soul）经常不愿意去揭示使命（mission）的细节如果使命（mission）过早被揭示出来，自我（ego）会出于恐惧，关闭迈向人生使命（purpose）的进展“就凭我还想实现这个使命？”“人们会怎么看我啊？”我感到过对于我的使命（mission）的这种“捏紧”的感觉，我的许多客户也有过。

这种顾虑是健康的，也是正常的在使命（mission）能够被揭示出来之前，一个人肯定要先处理好这些顾虑I have experienced changes in my mission over time. For years, the highest level instruction I had been given was to help leaders and organizations find their purpose. I came to understand, however, that this wasn’t really the mission. This was a strategy for changing how business operates, while the true mission is to change how capitalism functions. My task is to change business from something that is driven by egoneeds and desires to something that is driven by purpose.。

随着时间，我也体验过使命（mission）发生改变很多年来，我得到的最高级别的指示是，帮助领导者和组织找到他们的意义（purpose）但是，后来我理解到，这不是真正的使命这是一个改变商业运作方式的策略，然而真正的使命是改变资本主义的运作方式。

我的任务是把商业从被自我（ego）需要和欲望所驱动的，变为被意义（purpose）所驱动的Now, having lived and spoken that mission for several years, I am beginning to see that even that is just a strategy fo ra larger mission. The larger mission is to change society and how it operates, and altering the business paradigm is a means of achieving that goal. Over the next few years I expect this larger mission to come into sharper focus.

现在，我已经践行和宣传了这项使命（mission）有几年了，我开始看到，即使这个也不过是一个更大的使命（mission）的一项策略这个更大的使命（mission）是，改变社会和它运作的方式；而改变商业模式只是达成那个目标的一种手段。

未来几年，我期待这个更大的使命能够更加敏锐聚焦This brings up an interesting point. Your mission can change at any time! Your soul can give you a new instruction that is at a higher level than your current mission. (That’s what keeps happening tome.) As I said earlier, your soul will tend to withhold the really global, sweeping stuff (if any) until you’re ready to hear it.

这把我们带到一个有趣的点上你的使命（mission）可以随时发生改变！你的灵魂（soul）可以给你一个新的指示，比你当下使命更高级别的使命（这一直在我身上发生）就像我之前说过的，你的灵魂（soul）会倾向于隐瞒那些真正的全球性的、范围广泛的东西（如果有的话）直到你准备好聆听它。