![]() I am thinking of someone who, like my father, a simple man, knew that being a good dad was one of his fundamental responsibilities in life and said no to anything that might get in the way of it or someone who is given custody of a precious ring and must get it from point A to point B, who must evaluate any and everything that comes his way in the context of the mission. ![]() There is no vacillating, no menu anxiety over the choices of life there is a sense of duty around which everything else falls into place, and the “wanna hop on Zoom?” requests are quickly put into perspective.įor those who do not have this strong sense of purpose yet, the best place to start may be with the incarnate realities you are already immersed in. The best part about gaining a clearer sense of your purpose, in all its specificity, is how much easier it becomes to say “no” to most things-so that you can say yes to the few things that you must. The extent to which this has simplified my life cannot be overstated. If I were to say yes, it would simply be keeping me from doing the thing I was put on this earth to do. If an opportunity falls outside of it, then it may indeed be a wonderful opportunity-but it is for someone else to fulfill for whom it is more in-line with their own sense of purpose. I have recently learned to apply this principle in a different way, though: when it comes to my own decision-making about what to say "yes" or "no" to, there is no need for complex decision-trees I have developed my personal Occam's Razor to cut through all of the noise, and that razor is simply my personal vocation-the specific purpose that I believe I am called to fulfill on this earth. The principle of Occam's Razor, attributed to English Franciscan friar William of Ockham, essentially says that when there are competing theories, the simpler one is to be preferred. “The true inner self must be drawn up like a jewel from the bottom of the sea, rescued from confusion, from indistinction, from immersion in the common, the nondescript, the trivial, the sordid, the evanescent.” -Thomas Merton
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