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The Sense of Calling
- By Diane Dreher
- Published 07/19/2008
- Meaning and purpose
Diane Dreher
Diane Dreher is the author of a number of books including The Tao of Inner Peace and Your Personal Renaissance, which draws upon her research on the lives of over one hundred Renaissance artists, writers, scientists, and saints, as well as leading research in positive psychology. She has a Ph.D. in Renaissance English literature from UCLA as well as credentials in spiritual counseling and holistic health, and is Professor of English and Research Associate at the Spirituality and Health Institute, Santa Clara University. http://www.dianedreher.com
Seeking your calling is a process of discovery that continues throughout your life, informed by your questions, your conflicts, and your deepest dreams.
It is the journey known by many names, from Homer’s Odyssey to the pilgrimage in Dante’s Divine Comedy and the quests of the knights of the round table, to the vision quests of Native Americans, and the path of the Chinese sage, Lao Tzu.
Abraham Maslow called it self-actualization. Joseph Campbell knew it as “the hero’s journey.”
It is the dynamic voyage of self-discovery central to the Renaissance, and it is our journey, yours and mine, as we seek to live with greater joy and purpose, becoming more deeply, more authentically ourselves.
As you become more aware of your calling, it weaves like a bright thread through the daily fabric of your life, and as you move through life’s seasons, into new roles in your work, family, and community, every stage in life invites you to discover your calling on another level.
In the Renaissance, Shakespeare and his contemporaries realized that each of us goes through many seasons, “plays many parts.” Ideally, we all begin developing our callings in childhood by exploring our world and discovering what we love to do.
During your teens to early twenties, you move forward in your calling as you enter college or take your first job. You may discover new callings in love, marriage, and family life or be called to community service, caregiving, or mentoring others.
Your quest will begin again with each promotion, downsizing, or desire to reach out in a new direction, and as you mature, you will hear a new call to creative retirement.
Psychologists see the sense of calling as essential for fulfillment in life, finding it the “most important life value” in the United States, Italy, Canada, Belgium, Portugal, South Africa, Poland, Croatia, Israel, Australia, and Japan.
Pursuing your calling can make you happier, healthier, and more energetic, filling you with the joyous engagement known as “flow,” and bringing greater meaning to your life.
Creative Discontent: The Source of Calling
In whatever season of life you find yourself now, your inner restlessness is a sign that your life is changing. You are poised on the edge of possibility, ready to begin the journey to become more fully yourself.
Hundreds of years ago, men and women knew a powerful secret: that creative discontent is the first stage in the archetypal journey of renewal that leads to your calling in life. To understand more about your sense of calling, let’s go back over 500 years to a time when the quest for calling inspired the Renaissance, an era of dynamic change much like our own.
The invention of the printing press unleashed a flood of information equaled only by the advent of the computer and the Internet. Explorers sailed boldly across uncharted seas to discover new worlds, as modern astronauts have walked on the moon and ventured through vast oceans of space.
With his telescope, Galileo discovered the moons of Jupiter and a new vision of the solar system, while our astronomers have discovered new planets and sent space probes to Mars.
Exploring new worlds within them, William Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood and Antony van Leeuwenhoek invented the microscope, discovering red blood cells and bacteria, while our scientists have developed nanotechnology and mapped the human genome.
In an age of unprecedented exploration and creativity, Renaissance men and women were empowered by the sense of calling or vocation (from the Latin vocare, to call).
Martin Luther, John Calvin, and generations after them believed that everyone had a calling, from kings to commoners—artists, artisans, bakers, carpenters, diplomats, doctors, farmers, lawyers, merchants, ministers, teachers, parents, husbands, wives, and people like you and me.
Believing that their lives held divine significance, that they were each given special talents, Renaissance men and women became artists, poets, humanists, saints, scientists, political leaders, devoted parents, and committed citizens.
Their identities were informed by a sense of personal destiny, faith in a meaningful universe and their place within it.
By contrast, our own new millennium is filled with what psychologist Martin Seligman has called an “unprecedented epidemic of depression.”
Suffering from chronic anxiety, isolation and lack of meaning, too many people today feel powerless, experiencing what Seligman has called learned helplessness, the feeling that nothing they do in life will make any difference.
We could be on the edge of another Renaissance, but there is one vital difference: unlike today’s victims of learned helplessness, Renaissance men and women believed in their own inner resources, seeing themselves as creative agents, not passive victims of fate.
Their philosophers proclaimed the human power to discover, choose, and create; Shakespeare’s plays linked characters’ fates with their choices; and Francis Bacon affirmed that knowledge is power.
Today, while we have worlds of information at our fingertips, we too often lose touch with ourselves, ignoring our own inner resources.
Because many people don’t take time to look within, to ask where they’re going, too often they race down the road of life, full speed ahead—in the wrong direction.
Renaissance Principles
Your calling is your vocation of destiny, bringing greater joy and meaning to your life.
Your daily choices shape your life and inform the world.
There is a part of you that is forever young, playful, curious, and true that leads you to your calling.
Detach from the noisy world around you to follow the deepest values of your heart.
You are here to discover your gifts and use them to fulfill your destiny.
Discernment means following what inspires you and releasing what diminishes you.
You excel by focusing on your strengths, not dwelling on your weaknesses.
New Renaissance men and women affirm creative growth for themselves and one another.
Small actions over time produce monumental results.
When you reach out to follow your calling, the universe supports you with a world of possibilities.
~ ~
From the book Your Personal Renaissance: 12 Steps to Finding Your Life’s True Calling by Diane Dreher.
Excerpted by arrangement with Da Capo Lifelong (www.dacapopress.com), a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2008.
It is the journey known by many names, from Homer’s Odyssey to the pilgrimage in Dante’s Divine Comedy and the quests of the knights of the round table, to the vision quests of Native Americans, and the path of the Chinese sage, Lao Tzu.
Abraham Maslow called it self-actualization. Joseph Campbell knew it as “the hero’s journey.”
It is the dynamic voyage of self-discovery central to the Renaissance, and it is our journey, yours and mine, as we seek to live with greater joy and purpose, becoming more deeply, more authentically ourselves.
As you become more aware of your calling, it weaves like a bright thread through the daily fabric of your life, and as you move through life’s seasons, into new roles in your work, family, and community, every stage in life invites you to discover your calling on another level.
In the Renaissance, Shakespeare and his contemporaries realized that each of us goes through many seasons, “plays many parts.” Ideally, we all begin developing our callings in childhood by exploring our world and discovering what we love to do.
During your teens to early twenties, you move forward in your calling as you enter college or take your first job. You may discover new callings in love, marriage, and family life or be called to community service, caregiving, or mentoring others.
Your quest will begin again with each promotion, downsizing, or desire to reach out in a new direction, and as you mature, you will hear a new call to creative retirement.
Psychologists see the sense of calling as essential for fulfillment in life, finding it the “most important life value” in the United States, Italy, Canada, Belgium, Portugal, South Africa, Poland, Croatia, Israel, Australia, and Japan.
Pursuing your calling can make you happier, healthier, and more energetic, filling you with the joyous engagement known as “flow,” and bringing greater meaning to your life.
Creative Discontent: The Source of Calling
In whatever season of life you find yourself now, your inner restlessness is a sign that your life is changing. You are poised on the edge of possibility, ready to begin the journey to become more fully yourself.
Hundreds of years ago, men and women knew a powerful secret: that creative discontent is the first stage in the archetypal journey of renewal that leads to your calling in life. To understand more about your sense of calling, let’s go back over 500 years to a time when the quest for calling inspired the Renaissance, an era of dynamic change much like our own.
The invention of the printing press unleashed a flood of information equaled only by the advent of the computer and the Internet. Explorers sailed boldly across uncharted seas to discover new worlds, as modern astronauts have walked on the moon and ventured through vast oceans of space.
With his telescope, Galileo discovered the moons of Jupiter and a new vision of the solar system, while our astronomers have discovered new planets and sent space probes to Mars.
Exploring new worlds within them, William Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood and Antony van Leeuwenhoek invented the microscope, discovering red blood cells and bacteria, while our scientists have developed nanotechnology and mapped the human genome.
In an age of unprecedented exploration and creativity, Renaissance men and women were empowered by the sense of calling or vocation (from the Latin vocare, to call).
Martin Luther, John Calvin, and generations after them believed that everyone had a calling, from kings to commoners—artists, artisans, bakers, carpenters, diplomats, doctors, farmers, lawyers, merchants, ministers, teachers, parents, husbands, wives, and people like you and me.
Believing that their lives held divine significance, that they were each given special talents, Renaissance men and women became artists, poets, humanists, saints, scientists, political leaders, devoted parents, and committed citizens.
Their identities were informed by a sense of personal destiny, faith in a meaningful universe and their place within it.
By contrast, our own new millennium is filled with what psychologist Martin Seligman has called an “unprecedented epidemic of depression.”
Suffering from chronic anxiety, isolation and lack of meaning, too many people today feel powerless, experiencing what Seligman has called learned helplessness, the feeling that nothing they do in life will make any difference.
We could be on the edge of another Renaissance, but there is one vital difference: unlike today’s victims of learned helplessness, Renaissance men and women believed in their own inner resources, seeing themselves as creative agents, not passive victims of fate.
Their philosophers proclaimed the human power to discover, choose, and create; Shakespeare’s plays linked characters’ fates with their choices; and Francis Bacon affirmed that knowledge is power.
Today, while we have worlds of information at our fingertips, we too often lose touch with ourselves, ignoring our own inner resources.
Because many people don’t take time to look within, to ask where they’re going, too often they race down the road of life, full speed ahead—in the wrong direction.
Renaissance Principles
Your calling is your vocation of destiny, bringing greater joy and meaning to your life.
Your daily choices shape your life and inform the world.
There is a part of you that is forever young, playful, curious, and true that leads you to your calling.
Detach from the noisy world around you to follow the deepest values of your heart.
You are here to discover your gifts and use them to fulfill your destiny.
Discernment means following what inspires you and releasing what diminishes you.
You excel by focusing on your strengths, not dwelling on your weaknesses.
New Renaissance men and women affirm creative growth for themselves and one another.
Small actions over time produce monumental results.
When you reach out to follow your calling, the universe supports you with a world of possibilities.
~ ~
From the book Your Personal Renaissance: 12 Steps to Finding Your Life’s True Calling by Diane Dreher.
Excerpted by arrangement with Da Capo Lifelong (www.dacapopress.com), a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2008.