From “Soul Medicine for a Fractured World: Healing, Justice, and the Path of Wholeness” by Liza J. Rankow
In what is probably his best known book, Jesus and the Disinherited, Thurman introduces what he referred to as the “life’s working paper” as a way to approach that exploration. Each of us, he said, has a working paper that emerges from the totality of our personhood – our life experience, commitments, cultural and faith traditions, and our responses to the journey of living. In particular, the working paper comprises the values that guide our life, the questions we wrestle with, and how we respond to the compelling issues of our time. Thurman talks about the working paper of the prophet and teacher Jesus of Nazareth, and explores how it might serve as an invitation to our own. In other writing and speeches he talks about Life’s working paper – the purposes of Life itself – and how through careful examination we can find clues toward a fuller appreciation of what that might be.
As you contemplate your own purpose – and its expression in relation to your working paper – you may wish to ask:
What are your special gifts and capacities?
What can you see from the vantage point of your experiences and social context?
What are your core values?
What is the urging in your heart for how to express and serve and make a difference?
Recall the most challenging things you have faced, and notice what qualities or learning you developed as a result. It is often our struggles and hardships that become the greatest source of our insight, and lead us to the unique contribution we offer the world. In Spirit nothing is wasted. Everything can be placed in service to purpose.