What Is the Highest Goal?

So what is this Highest Goal? What is it like to experience, and how can it revolutionize your life?

Many philosophical traditions tell us that we have within us amazing potentiality, including that of the whole universe. In one tradition, the saints and sages talk about experiencing this potential as a tiny, shimmering blue pearl of light. They tell us that they gaze at the blue pearl, and it fills their body or it explodes to reveal the universe.

Eastern nonsense? Well, consider that as Western science catches up to this kind of “nonsense,” it has discovered that the power of many nuclear reactions is present in even a cubic centimeter of empty space—if only it could be utilized.

The highest goal is simply to be in this experience of connection or truth (no matter how you refer to it) all the time. That remains a goal, of course, because this is something you spend a lifetime working toward rather than attaining. But your commitment motivates, inspires and guides your journey, and gives you more and more time in this state of connection.

If you live for the highest goal, you are living a life of the spirit—whether or not you consider yourself to be on a spiritual path. If you consciously notice the larger aspects of life, always consider whether what you are doing coincides with these aspects, never forget the times when you were enlivened by the power of the highest goal, use those memories in new situations, and act with the knowledge of the support you have and the journey you are on—you will be living for the highest goal.

As one spiritual teacher put it, “On this globe there is almost endless diversity. Nevertheless, the greater fact is that when it comes to the treasures of the soul, differences vanish. In the place of the heart, only one light shines. This light is the same in all beings. Unveiling the Truth, becoming established in the experience of this light, is the goal of spiritual pursuit.”

Similarly, this spiritual pursuit takes many different forms, but the paths all lead to the highest goal. The great choreographer, Twyla Tharp, spoke of it when she said, “I work for God. Me and God.”

Bob Landouceur, a high school football coach who has led his team to more than one hundred and forty straight wins over a dozen seasons (perhaps the longest winning streak in sports at any level), says it another way: “If a team has no soul, you’re just wasting your time.” Every week he attempts to get his players to strengthen the bonds of community and openly speak of the love they feel.

“This is his ultimate goal every season,” observes Fast Company magazine in an article about Landouceur’s approach to the game. “His winning streak is a national obsession, but keeping it going seems to mean less to him than getting 45 boys to say the L word out loud.”