How does one create a life full of passion, full of meaning, and full of purpose? Pick up any book on the subject matter. Preform a google search on the subject matter. Pilfer through the pages of books, articles, research and studies: And yet, one still comes away with an unsatisfactory answer. How is it possible that so much has been written and taught over the centuries continues to escape the grasp of many people today? Compound this with competing religious ideology as to “which church is right and true?” People are hungering for true authentic human experience, yet, seem incapable of finding genuine happiness in their lives. We tend to further complicate the issue with political viewpoints. Supporting the right politician, for example, tends to create derision and contention. As a society in America today, we are ever grasping, yet never achieving a sense of authenticity. We have essentially lost sight of true human authenticity and conscious living.
In the introduction of his book, 365 Daily Inspirations for creating a life of passion and purpose (available for purchase at Amazon by clicking the link). author Gay Hendricks provides ten provocative premises for living a conscious life. He calls these “…foundation ideas on which anyone’s journey of conscious living is based…” The are as follows:
Guided Premise One: Authenticity is essential. A truthful life is both the outcome of the journey and the means of getting there. A successful life is an authentic life. Happiness and creativity rest on a foundation of transparency to yourself and others. Knowing your own heart and speaking clearly to others keep you on the path.
Guided Premise Two: Things that [may] be felt and seen – peace of mind, happiness, and the humane treatment of others – are higher-priority goals than religious concepts such as original sin or beliefs about life after death. The journey of conscious living is based on getting to a deeper level in yourself than beliefs and opinions, in order to experience the essence of what unifies people, not divides them.
Guiding Premise Three: Conscious living depends on finding out what goals are important to you, and moving toward those goals at a pace that allows you to feel vibrant.
Guiding Premise Four: The journey of conscious living begins when you take full responsibility for your life, and slams to halt when you avoid responsibility for anything
Guiding Premise Five: Happiness, success, and sound relationships depend on letting go of controlling things that are beyond your control. Examples of things you cannot control are the feelings of others, the future, the past, and whether or not other people like you.
Guiding Premise Six: Spiritual growth comes through a deep embrace of reality; not through flights of arguable fancy: Transcendence is best accomplished by thoroughly acknowledging – rather than ignoring or denying – such human realities as emotions, sexuality, and conflict.
Guiding Premise Seven: It is possible to make rapid shifts in consciousness – from scarcity to abundance, from defensiveness to openness, from fear to love – and these shifts in consciousness will change the outer circumstances of your life.
Guiding Premise Eight: Peace of mind comes ultimately from making your deepest creative contribution to the community around you. When you make your full contribution, you feel happy; fulfilled, and at ease. When you don’t, you don’t.
Guiding Premise Nine: Commitment to certain key values – honesty, responsibility, gratitude – not only gives you an inner flow of harmony but also rewards you with an authentic form of power that can be recognized by others. Authentic power comes from authenticity; false power comes from control and ego-aggrandizement.
Guiding Premise Ten: You [may] choose to become the source of attitudes such as gratitude and responsibility (rather than waiting for the events of life to inspire you to adopt them). If you wait for events to trigger those attitudes, you remain locked in a consumer rather than a producer mode, and keep yourself trapped in scarcity.
These may serve individuals well in a secular and social context. However, there is greater concern on the more spiritual level of human existence. This greater concern rests on the reality of something far more greater than ourselves when it comes to human authenticity and conscious living. The departure from Hendricks is more focused on the power of the spiritual sense of authenticity as it relates to how we interact with others, base our key values and beliefs on, and engage in the social climate of today.
Therefore, we will examine each premise in a more sacred and spiritual application to further anchor the foundation as to what human authenticity and conscious living looks like. The attempt here is to restore and revive the heart and message of spiritual revival and awakening in the heart of humanity, and hopefully, in order to move toward a more sacred sense of transcendence.
Each premise will be given attention in their own essay as to the spiritual and sacred connotations, applications, and development for a more “enlightened” sense of reality. This also requires individuals to take an honest examination of themselves by answering three fundamental questions:
- Who am I?
- What is my purpose?
- How may I be of service toward others?
These are three definitive questions we want to wrestle with. In answering these three questions, we are able to lay the foundation for our own sense of authenticity and conscious living. Upon reading, meditating, and honest search of the heart, may reveal how a true and authentic Christian life is based on these ten pillars of truth.
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Mindful Latter-day Saint Apologetics 
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