Hi friends. Welcome to the YouTopian Journey. Today’s issue discusses why you must find what seizes you.
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THE MISSING PIECE
“Paul Gaugin was a perfectly prosperous businessman with a family and a house; then he became fascinated by what began to open up for him in painting. You start doodling with things like painting and they might doodle you out of your life – that’s what happened to Gaugin.”-Joseph W. Campbell, Pathways to Bliss
Previously we discussed whether or not to follow your passion. And it seemed to have resonated with many of you. If you haven’t read it, you can catch up here. But following your passion isn’t simply making a choice.
It is far more important.
For the true pilgrims of passion, it is a quest for the missing piece. This prize isn’t money or fame or social media clout. Instead, it is something intangible that can fill your soul and allow you to see stepping stones whereas everyone else sees mountains.
It won’t be simple to locate.
And in order to even begin the journey, you must hear the call. You must be willing to become seized by something bigger than you. This seizure of your mind and your body won’t be accepted by your friends and family.
It will be thought of as a phase.
As unrealistic.
As foolish.
But you will know it when you feel it. It will be a cause for concern because you will be throwing away what the multitude in our society strive for.
Survival.
Security.
Personal relationships.
Prestige.
Self-Development.
Someone who is seized by their passion, who has truly had an epiphany, will sacrifice all of this to fill that void. They will burn their ships to take the island. They will disregard whatever their peers deemed successful and look foolish for doing so.
They will look at these values and flee from them, gaining a reputation for madness.
Who in their right mind would love a job like that with steady hours and benefits?
Why on Earth would you throw away what you have worked so hard to gain?
Where will you go with that attitude?
How will you ever become successful with this foolish idea?
Understand that these values are what people strive for when they have nothing of their own to strive for. Nothing has truly awakened them. Nothing has caught them. Nothing has seized them with a mythic zeal that makes them challenge the status quo. Nothing has made them remarkable or worth talking to.
They are the bores of society and will transform you into a bore if you aren’t careful.
“A bore is one who deprives us of our solitude without providing companionship.”-Ortega Y Gasset
Don’t let this happen.
The opportunities are all around us.
You must discover them and in doing so, you may discover what seizes you.
Prepare for this.
“What is opportunity, and when does it knock? It never knocks. You can wait a whole lifetime, listening, hoping, and you will hear no knocking. None at all. You are opportunity, and you must knock on the door leading to your destiny. You prepare yourself to recognize opportunity, to pursue and seize opportunity as you develop the strength of your personality, and build a self-image with which you are able to live -- with your self-respect alive and growing.”-Maxwell Maltz
ZEAL REQUIRED
“All of the great cathedrals of Europe were built during this lunatic century between 1150 and 1250. People didn’t have enough money then to buy two cows, let alone two cars. What were they living for? And you mustn’t think of slave drivers; that isn’t what built the cathedrals. It was a community seizure, a mythic zeal.”-Joseph W. Campbell, Pathways to Bliss
It is not enough to be seized by an idea, you must adopt the zeal required to make it a reality. You must be able to follow through on this seizure of the soul.
All else is nothing more than talk.
Society has enough talkers.
Braggers and thought leaders, experts and gurus, it doesn’t need another.
Instead, you must act on your ideas. Let your body be filled with a zeal that leads to action. Being ineffectual is for bores and losers.
Taking action is the path to heroism.
Taking action in spite of the obstacles is the path to victory.
Having this zeal means you won’t care about the vanity metrics. It allows you to push past the naysayers and negativity. This zeal is how greatness is achieved. New societies were built from the zeal of a single believer.
Be that believer.
The time is now.
The perfect time to act is this minute.
It doesn’t matter if you can prove your thesis. If it generates money immediately or if it is widely accepted.
It will give you true meaning and with true meaning, comes true power.
Find what seizes you and follow it with the zeal of the truest believer. You will be surprised where you end up.
I promise.
“There is, however, a strong empirical reason why we should cultivate thoughts that can never be proved. It is that they are known to be useful. Man positively needs general ideas and convictions that will give a meaning to his life and enable him to find a place for himself in the universe. He can stand the most incredible hardships when he is convinced that they make sense; he is crushed when, on top of all his misfortunes, he has to admit that he is taking part in a "tale told by an idiot.”- Carl Jung
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See you next time.
Shaun
This is the way.
My mantra for a few years during the aughts was: "burn the ships."
There's no going backwards once you are committed to a dream fueled by passion. You have to give yourself over to the vision.