Up: [[Life]] ![[Calvin and Hobbes I’m Significant cartoon.webp]] When I burned out and retired, I believed that I’d only have value in the world if I was continuing to be of service to others, probably through writing another book. That feeling stayed strong for a really long time. I am so easily stirred up by inspiring [[Quotes - Calling]]. I can practically hear trumpets blaring when William Danforth writes, *I dare you, while there is still time, to have a magnificent obsession.* This is a place where my all-or-nothing personality gets me in a lot of trouble because I know that a second major burnout will kill me. So, out of necessity, I started to ask myself the question, [[What if Calling Isn’t Vocation?]] What if it’s about an increasingly clear expression of our unique selves, both for ourselves and for the world? See [[Aspects of Calling]] What if it’s got more to do with **being** than with **doing**? And really, that makes sense. Calling has to be more than what I do, otherwise there’s no value to me after retirement. I found some really wonderful stories. There’s Plato’s [[Myth of Er]] and a lovely one about the reason for that little indentation under our nose, the [[Jewish tale of the Philtrum]]. Both of the stories are based on the ancient idea that we chose our calling before birth and that we are accompanied by a [[Daimon]], a soul guide who was with us before we were born and who stays with us through to our death, reminding us of our gifts, trying to help us align to our calling, but not imposing so that [[Calling is Neither Destined Nor Fated]]. It’s up to us to [[Risk Everything to Align With Our Calling]] What’s so interesting to me is that while calling is neither destined nor fated, there is an *inevitability* as a result of our unique daimon. The idea is that before our birth we chose our parents, our place of birth, even our particular form [[I Chose My Body to Support My Calling]]. It’s a mind blowing idea. We so often say that we wouldn’t be here if our parents hadn’t met, but that idea gets turned on its head with the argument that our parents wouldn’t have met if our daimon hadn’t selected them to create us. And then Hillman takes it several steps further by asserting that [[Parents Aren’t as Important to a Child’s Calling as They Think]] Does calling always require a time of [[Apprenticeship]]? Is apprenticeship required even for a calling that is a shift of life from doing to being? I certainly feel as if I am apprenticing to [[Hestia]]. ## Poems - [ All the True Vows](https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/W/WhyteDavid/AllTrueVows/index.html) - [[David Whyte]] - [The Box](https://hearingreaching.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/by-the-terma-collective-the-box-remembering-the-gift-2/) - The Terma Collective - [The Way It Is](https://reflections.yale.edu/article/seeking-light-notes-hope/way-it) - William Stafford - [My Time](https://stylenotesandscribbles.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/my-time-by-leonard-cohen/) - Leonard Cohen - [Clearing](https://www.mindfulnessassociation.net/words-of-wonder/clearing-martha-postlethwaite/) - Martha Postlewaite