Evolving Consciously:
Removing the Barriers to Our Soul

For more than five centuries, millions of visitors to Florence, Italy, have admired the boldness, the beauty—the perfection—of Michelangelo’s masterpiece David. When he was asked how he had carved such a magnificent statue, the great artist replied, “I took a block of marble and simply chipped away all the parts that were not David.”

It seems his simple statement holds a clue as to how we might craft a similar masterpiece from the base material of our own lives.

Within each of us is a “David”—the in-dwelling goodness, perfect in every respect, that many call the Soul. But enveloping this work of beauty is the “block” of our hurts, fears, anger, self-pity, victim mentality…all of our habits that inhibit the full expression of that inner beauty.

At the Center for Purposeful Living, we have found an effective tool for chipping away many of the parts that are not the Soul. It’s called being TRP, or striving to become the Totally Responsible Person. Taking personal responsibility for our actions and responses to all of life’s situations has been experimented with and explored at CPL for more than 20 years. We have practiced learning to stand back and look at our thoughts, words, and behaviors objectively—seeing them for what they really are. This provides us with opportunities to make conscious choices to change or eliminate those that are not Soulful.

Throughout the ages, there have been exemplary people who have uncovered their Souls. Though they have lived at different times and in different parts of the world, they all have something in common: leading lives of service in their chosen field.  They are the Mother Teresas, the Albert Schweitzers, the Martin Luther Kings and the many more, known and unknown, some of whom may even be our neighbors.

Their example calls us to our higher possibilities and speaks directly to our higher selves.

This should not be surprising. In an upward-moving spiral, the more we serve, the more the Soul becomes manifest, which in turn promotes service—and thus more Soul, and so on. Furthermore, service calls us to release our petty, selfish interests. When we serve as selflessly as possible, we become “less” the self. What remains is the Soul—the “David” within us all.