It’s incredibly important to start here with this foundational context. Many spiritual traditions and theories of human development seem to converge on some version of this.
It seems like life purpose is a combination of finding purpose and creating purpose—you don’t necessarily choose your life purpose (you find it), but you do choose what you do with it (you createfrom it).
Another way to view this could be fate and free will working together—loving your fate and actively choosing it with your free will.
And yet another way to view this could be inner purpose and outer purpose working together—aligning your inner purpose (being) withyour outer purpose (doing).
What does that mean?
Primary Inner Purpose (Being) — In a spiritual sense, your inner purpose is shared with all humanity (awakening and staying awake). In an ikigai sense, this could be described in ways like: the feeling/spiritual meaning that life is worth living, universal human experience, humans as spiritual beings, the joy of living, the happiness and benefit of being alive, feeling that life is valuable/worth living.
Secondary Outer Purpose (Doing) — Your outer purpose is unique to you and can evolve throughout your lifetime (what you do). In an ikigai sense, this could be described in ways like: the object/source of value in one’s life that is worth living for, things that make one’s life worthwhile, something to live for, cultivating one’s inner potential, allowing the self’s possibilities to blossom, the realization of what one expects and hopes for.
We are each searching for the alignment of:
Life is Worth Living (Being) + Worth Living For (Doing) = Ikigai
Inner Purpose (Being) + Outer Purpose (Doing) = Awakened Doing
“Awakened doing” is language from Eckhart Tolle, but it could also simply be called “ikigai.”
Here’s how that looks in the ikigai 2.0 diagram that I’ve proposed as an evolution of the viral 4-circle ikigai diagram. Notice inner purpose (being) and outer purpose (doing) are foundational elements at the heart of the diagram.
Important Context:
There is an order and priority/weighting to the circles—starting with #1 (the largest circle) and moving clockwise because each step is a filter for the prior circle. Moving counterclockwise offers a good system of checks & balances to “pressure test” yourself.
#1 (Largest Circle) — What You Love / Are Deeply Passionate About
#2 (Medium Circle) — What You Are Encoded For (Genetic Talent / Gift)