The System vs. The Self: Finding Purpose in a Structured World
By System, I mean a set of interconnected and interdependent social structures and institutions which put forward a set of norms and rules, procedures or policies designed to regulate and govern our lives.
This includes any activity or process which regulates and maintains order and stability, particularly in politics, economics, and culture, to achieve a common dependent goal or purpose. cannot predict life; we can only manage expectations.
System-Good or Bad?
The System’s motive is to align the domain with its objectives. This may not be entirely aligned with our personal purpose.
The process by which we fulfil our motives (in spite of our present circumstances) requires careful planning, because the odds forcing our conformance with the System far outweigh our internal and external resources to breakthrough.
It is important we do not conclude the System is being malicious, even when its working objective may currently not be in line with our purpose. The System has actually attended to our survival, and we have thus far stayed alive because of our social contract with the System to keep it sustained.
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Avoiding an Overt-Reliance
We can see everywhere this overt reliance on the System, whether the System be corporations, state or nation. It expects our reliance without factoring in our personal responsibility towards self-actualisation.
Remember this, if the System is torn between its own survival and ours, it would preserve itself at the detriment of ours. It is one thing to realise the intent of the System, it is another to work at putting our own fate and survival into our own hands by learning how to bloom through the potential chaos of the System!
Our Task Within the System
Although you could be a cog within the System, you may find yourself living a life which ultimately is not of your choosing. Your purpose is to thrive and bloom, to live a life which ultimately is one which you are meant for.
It is necessary to appreciate the benefits of the System, for, without law and order, checks and balances introduced by the System – albeit, possibly curbing your potential, we will individually be more susceptible to a mutual destruction of one another.
In order to build momentum and thrive within the System, we have to be proactive and purposefully prepared. We need to begin by setting goals. Purpose begins with goals.