Answering the Call

“Your profession is not what brings home your weekly paycheck, your profession is what you're put here on earth to do, with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.” So said the eminent Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh in a moment of certain clarity at the height of his artistic powers. Encouraged by his mother to take up drawing and painting at a young age, van Gogh quickly discovered his passion and talent for art, and the focus of his life thereafter lay in conveying the depth of his emotions on canvas. One might say he was born with a paintbrush in his hand. But what of those of us who are not serendipitously passed the tools of our would-be trade in childhood? How does one go about finding one’s calling?

A good place to begin would be to establish what is meant by “calling.” The term suggests that one is being summoned toward a particular pursuit by an inscrutable force—that some power is calling out to us to fulfill a certain destiny yet unknown to us. Whether it is your preference to describe this in rational or metaphysical terms is unimportant; what is true under any rubric is that a calling is an exercise of love, a pursuit of passion. To discover one’s calling is to come in touch with what excites one’s heart. The living out of one’s calling thereafter is a matter of expressing that passion in service to others.

Passion blossoms early in the most fortunate among us, as they are able to begin cultivating interests close to their hearts from a young age. For others, the process of discovery is longer, and many nets must be cast into the sea of ideas before they catch the one that best suits them. Finally, there are those who progress through life without ever having found that which sets their hearts and minds aflame with zeal. How are we to account for this latter group? Is it a question of bad luck, such persons having never come into contact with something that truly excites them, or can it be that some of us are simply not born with an underlying passion?

I would humbly offer the opinion that neither of the above propositions is correct. We are all endowed with a calling, and the question of whether we discover said calling is not a condition of luck, but one of self-awareness and perseverance. To put it plainly, you have to know what you like before you can know what you love, and in order to know what you like, you have to know who you are. This is vital, but admittedly not simple. In my experience, it is invariably the case that people who are not in touch with their passions are not in touch with themselves. They have not done the work necessary—and it is work indeed—to understand themselves at a fundamental level, to know what they stand for, what they oppose, what makes them happy, and what makes them unhappy. If this base level of introspection has not been conducted, how can one expect to be passionate about anything? “I’m not really good at anything, and nothing really interests me”—to accept this as a natural scheme of life is to relegate oneself to a wan existence of withdrawal and unfulfilled potential. For such stoic individuals who feel that they are living lives without meaning or direction, the first step to discovering their passions is to discover themselves. This will open the door to a world of color and substance in which one’s heart is sure to find attachment before long. In the meantime, one must persevere. Keep in mind that the voice that is calling does not have infinite range; one is likely to miss it unless one comes within its orbit, so try many things, dabble, dip your toes in many waters. Discover empirically what is better for you, until at last you find what is best for you.

Give no thought to the nobility of your calling, as this will have no bearing on its ability to enrich your life to its fullest potential. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.’” Whether you are called to rule a nation or called to assemble pencils, if you answer this calling, you will find a spiritual fulfillment that supersedes all notions of class and social standing. It is a pursuit that by dint of nature you will engage in passionately, and the quality of your efforts will be exceptional. In sharing your work with others, you will find further reward still. Money may come as a natural consequence of providing excellent service to others, but even when it does not, you are guaranteed the priceless satisfaction of having stoked the flames of your heart to their brightest heights.

Let not age, time, or the rigors of daily living be your barriers. Find and follow your calling in life, and share the fruits of your labor with others. Rise to the potential that is uniquely yours to realize, and the rewards you reap therefrom will be immeasurable.

“If God gives you something you can do, why in God's name wouldn't you do it?” ―Stephen King