The Golden Thread: Creating a Life of Purpose

This life can seem so random

as if you came spurting out of your mother's body

into a swirling pool where you floated around

in bleary befuddlement, waving your tiny arms

fingers opening and closing on nothing

for mom has wandered listlessly away

as careless of your future as a mackerel

You get buffeted by waves and currents

and you spend most of your time just

trying to get to the surface for a breath

of air often enough to stay alive

But there are moments

when the bewilderment fades

when your mind focuses

on one thing

one solid thing

a slender gold thread

Instinctively you grasp it,

feel its taunt length

and among the waving

ethereal seagrasses

you stroke its slightly rough

sparking surface

It extends behind you

though you can't tell from whence

and disappears into the murk ahead

You don't know how

but you know this means something

This is significant

This is something you must not forget

But of course, you do forget

You lose the thread for years at a time

Just getting along the best you can

Building a life

Doing what you do

Hoping you're heading in the right direction

Most of the time, you think so

but often in the night

you feel adrift

The waters become dark as

a storm pounds down from above

the waves whipping you back and forth

till you lose all sense of direction

and are too exhausted to fight anymore

Just then

just at the brink of giving up

of sliding into the cynic's morass

your leg is brushed by stiff twine

The golden thread has reappeared

And somehow, it saves you

Now you know that this is your lifeline

It is why you are on this earth

It is what you are meant to do

to give

to be

It is made of where you've been

and who you are

your pain your gladness

your loves

You must not let it go again

but must follow where it leads

For when you do

the doubt leaks away

and all that's left is light and joy

and the settled afterglow

of a full heart

---

The golden thread is an image from Greek mythology and other ancient literature. The most famous story involves a young Athenian prince who volunteers to enter a dark, subterranean labyrinth so convoluted that no one could ever find their way out again. Theseus is determined to journey to the center of the labyrinth and kill the Minotaur, a half-man/half-bull monster who is fed seven Athenian youths every year as an appeasement offering.

The princess Ariadne falls in love with Theseus and secretly gives him a ball of golden thread to help him find his way back out. Theseus secures one end of the thread at the cave entrance, and after he (of course) kills the Minotaur, he follows the thread back out of the labyrinth and escapes.

Today, the idiom, "golden thread" is used most often to mean a guiding principle or feature that permeates throughout an organization, narrative, or system of ideas and provides cohesion and value.

But in speaking of a human life, the golden thread is something that gives meaning, purpose, continuity, and destiny to that life. It's not something that many, even most people would be clear about if someone asked them, "What is your golden thread, your life's purpose?" Some answers might sound good, like, "to be happy" or "to serve God," but they are so vague and general as to almost useless when it comes down to really knowing what you -- as distinct from anyone else -- were put on this earth to do. What are you called and equipped to do that no one else could ever do in exactly the same way?

How do you go about finding your golden thread and creating a life of purpose? You must be like a blood hound with your nose to the ground, searching for your own soul. Pay attention! Trace back to your childhood loves, that's a place to start. Run your finger along your broken places -- those are often excellent clues. Keep meticulous records, in your journal or your art, and periodically go back over them, looking for repeating themes. Hindsight can sometimes bowl you over with its revelations.

This is how I feel about my new book, Sherry and the Butterfly Lady. It is squarely within my golden thread, linking past with future. It is a big, fat clue about my life's purpose. And here's a hint: it's not about me. Pats on the back are all well and good, but I truly am more interested in whatever grace it is to accomplish for specific people in the world, and I'm totally on board for that.