Passionate Purpose

Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
---Ralph Waldo Emerson

What inner force lifts a man out of the mainstream of mediocrity into the lonely chase of his dream? What mysterious power is so mesmerizing that it leads one to relinquish the luxuries of life in order to respond to the lure of the unthinkable? What intriguing pursuit has the power to pull one into a circle of commitment that eliminates all other fascinations outside that ring? What sacred cause awakens a man from the slumber of indifference to pursue the scent of the impossible?

This strange phenomenon is called passion. Passion is the fire of life and the energy of the soul! It is the wind that gives loft to the eagle, lifting it above the masses locked in the drudgery of apathetic inactivity. It is the fire that warms the heart in the midst of the coldness of a culture set adrift. It is a man's friend in the dark hours of the night when others abandon him. It is the inner support that keeps him awake in the night seasons when others are fast asleep. It is the power of the race, the propulsion for the jet, the spark for the fire, the wind for the sail, and the contractions for the birth.

Every successful man and woman has experienced the transforming power of passion. Like a silent hunter, this unseen force captured them with its reality and catapulted them into the race for the inaccessible. These men and women became its prisoners, coerced by the allurement of its dreams.

This kind of success demands that a man reach deep down within himself for an inner strength that can be produced only by this passionate zeal.

Passion brings forth a harvest of dreamers and visionaries. It is the dynamic link that connects a dream to its reality. A dream is not enough; it always must be accompanied by the intensity of passion that drives one into the lonely arena reserved for those who attempt the impossible and track the invisible.

Those who have not seen the invisible realities of their dream worlds think such people are mad. The contented are disturbed by their zeal and fervor. The elite misinterpret the driven actions of such people as a direct assault on them. All isolate them for fear of catching this horrible disease that challenges one to move outside the comfort of the traditional and conventional. They endeavor to segregate these people in order to safeguard their own comfortable and secure lifestyles.

Not every passion is legitimate. Some passions are destructive and even dangerous. The drive for wealth, fame, and power can motivate people to betrayal and domination of others. It can possess them to the point where they manipulate those around them and destroy their own souls.

In spite of the fact that some passions can be negative, you must understand that you cannot achieve anything without passion. Without the fire of passion, a person will slip back into the slough of mediocrity and be tempted to return to the shelter of anonymity. The absence of passion will leave one isolated in his own fantasy world, always dreaming of the great possibilities of life but never committing himself to their fulfillment. If you discover the passion behind a man's success, you will have found the key that unlocks the door to his dream world.

--The Inner Circle

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