Why Are We Here?

By Shelley Swan (Class XXXI)
Why are we here? This question has been at the forefront of my heart since I was in the 3rd grade. I remember the very moment I started to wonder “is today the day my teacher will tell us why we are here and the purpose of our life—what is this all really for anyway?”. In school I was told that I spent too much time daydreaming and that I wasn’t very smart. I always thought that this assumption was such a profound missed opportunity for them, for me—for all of us.
We are living in a curious time with an accelerated invitation to examine why we are here. The time is now for each of us to put this question into practice in the deepest way possible. This is what ALF is all about—realize your innate potential, learn how to express it in your life, and put it to use to serve the highest good.
So, here is the question that is on my mind today—why do most of us wait until we are adults to contemplate our purpose? How much suffering do you think we could avoid if we were educated for whole life living and had the opportunity to explore who we really are from the inside out as children? What difference would this make in our ability to understand our own self, our connection to one another, to all of life? What if we educated for the advancement of our human technology, our very own being rather than something outside of us?
I believe we are given divine clues all day, every day about who we are, what we are drawn to in the world, and blessings along the way to help us to stay connected to them. Tomorrow Suzanne and I are hosting Leading with Purpose, a retreat at 1440 Multiversity in Scotts Valley with special guest Ela Gandhi, granddaughter to Mahatma Gandhi. Ela will be joined by my teacher Yogacharya Ellen Grace O’Brian—the teacher that shined the light onto my deepest question. During this experience of a lifetime, I am most curious about how our purpose is more about being, rather than doing, getting, or achieving.
I want to know if you wonder why you are here too…