When I was a kid, I had a big question: Why was I born in a small town?
When I grew up, I had an even bigger question: Why was I born anyway? What is my purpose here on the earth?
I used to ask the first question because as a kid I was comparing myself to those who were born in big cities and in richer families than mine. I asked the second question because deep inside, I was not satisfied with life. I was not happy. I wanted to know the meaning of life.
Time passed and I could not find satisfactory answers. I tried though, I looked for them by getting my PhD in engineering, by becoming interested in astrology, palm reading, and energy healing, and even by moving to a big city and then to Canada. Nevertheless, I still did not know the purpose of life. Still the main question was on: Why are we here on the earth? Eventually, the answer came through an old story.
It was the story of a very poor candle-maker who once heard of a mysterious island full of diamonds. He decided to go to the diamond island and return rich. After a long trip, he arrived at the island and realized that what he had heard about the island was actually true. Diamonds were everywhere like sands on the seashore. He became so excited and began filling his bags with shiny diamonds. After a while, one of the inhabitants of the island saw the candle-maker while he was collecting diamonds. He came close and said: “These diamonds are worthless here. You are wasting your time.”
“Why?” the candle-maker asked. “Because the boat you just came with sails to the island once every seven years! You’d better to do something to support yourself”, the stranger responded.
Therefore, to support himself the candle-maker started making candles, and soon he became very famous on the island. In the blink of an eye, 7 years passed and one day the boat arrived. The candle-maker packed quickly and jumped on board to go back home and tell his family how famous he had become on the island. When he returned home, his family eagerly looked in his bags and found nothing but a bunch of candles! That was when the candle-maker realized the truth. He had forgotten the purpose for which he had gone to the island, and now he had nothing more valuable than when he left.
After reading this story, I understood that our physical world is like the diamond island. We as human beings are like candle makers, who have come for a visit to the island, and the numerous opportunities available to us for giving, sharing, and fulfilling our true purpose are like the diamonds on this island. The opportunities exist all around us. The problem is that as soon as, we want to use them to fulfill our purpose someone tells us that they are worthless. We are told that in order to survive, we need to think of ourselves only, and we accept that idea. After a while, we get busy with our physical life and simply forget the purpose for which we came here on earth. As a result, we leave this world without meeting our true objectives. In other words, we go back home empty-handed like the candle-maker in the story.
Through this amazing story, I got my questions answered. It doesn’t matter where I was born. It doesn’t matter what country or culture, I am coming from. It doesn’t matter whether I am black or white. It doesn’t matter whether I am well-educated or not. However, it matters to make use of the numerous diamonds on our diamond island, the earth. It matters to fulfill my purpose in order not to go back home empty handed.
I am here to live in joy and fulfillment, to share with you and others and to transform myself. Now, simple acts of kindness and care such as smiling at others even when they are angry with me, a pat on the back too say thank you, and changing my daughter’s diapers are like collecting precious diamonds to me.
So, I realized my purpose. However, this is not just my purpose. It is your purpose too. In fact, it is the purpose of humanity. To fulfill our united purpose, we should always look for ways to serve each other through sharing and giving. Let’s take advantage of the numerous opportunities and collect as many diamonds as we can so that when we leave our diamond island, we leave as rich souls.
Kamran Akbarzadeh
Founder of Dream Achievers Academy
