In thinking about the importance of having an aim, Gurdjieff and Mr. Bennett come to mind.
Let’s start with Gurdjieff. In his book, Meetings with Remarkable Men, he begins with a curiosity that becomes his life’s work. He goes on a quest to learn ever more about the sense and purpose of man’s life on earth and his rôle in it.
Men With Aims
Gurdjieff emphasizes the importance of aim as a guiding principle. Then he periodically sets “smaller” aims to move himself in the direction of the larger aim. For instance, he takes the inner task of using every opportunity to step on the corns of those he meets. This allows him to study human nature in others and to not identify with the natural tendency of wanting to be liked. All in the name of learning about cosmic laws, consciousness, and developing his own objectivity.
J.G. Bennett had an aim before he met Gurdjieff. In World War I, he was gravely wounded. His awareness separated from his unconscious body and could operate without it. Once recovered, his aim became understanding what he had experienced. This resulted in his search for transformation.
Both men stressed the importance of aim. Both had a central aim for their life and used smaller ones to guide them forward.
Sharing an Aim
In his Call for a New Society, Bennett stressed the importance of a community having a shared aim as a guiding principle. Without that, it just becomes a collection of individuals perusing their own desires. There is no glue or objective reason to live together.
A shared aim, say the wish for transformation and a path to follow, can transcend the ordinary slings and arrows between personalities. The recognition that someone else is struggling towards the same goal as oneself offers a way to connect outside of ego.
Aims Large and Small
Yet I must find my own aim, one that is real for me. The wish “to be open to that which is being asked” resonates. It stays with me in the background, but infiltrates things like my decision-making for the day. Looking at my options, I can choose to focus on the task that affects someone or something other than myself. Perhaps my aim today is to check-in with Bjorn or Katy, whom I haven’t been in contact with for two weeks, but was seeing regularly before.
What must I adjust in my life to serve my aim? To not just think about aim but to pursue it actively. I can only employ what is possible for me to do. So my little aims become all important.
I do not want to underestimate the importance of Aim, no matter how small it may seem.