Labels by John Cali

posted in: Blog, channeling | 8

It’s obvious to most people around my town that I don’t have a “regular” job. So folks often ask me “What do you do?”

Till recently I would tell them, depending on how I read their energy, “Well, I’m a writer.” Or “I’m a spiritual teacher.” Or even “Not much — I’m sort of retired.” (Which is only a “half-truth.”) I call this sort of conversation “empty cocktail-party chatter.”

Now my response to that question, “What do you do?” is very different. I say “I’d rather talk about who you and I are, and not what either of us does for a ‘living.’”

People’s responses to that are interesting. Sometimes they’ll look at me as if I’m crazy, or maybe a spy. Other times they’ll warmly open up as if I’m a long-lost loved one.

As a society we’re so stuck on labels: what we do, how much or little money we have, how much power or influence we have, etc. Even our names are labels. But do any of these define who we really are?

Here’s what Spirit has to say:

“You live in an action-obsessed society that considers what you do more important than who you are. Labels mean more than anything else.

“You are God in human form. You have a purpose for being in this lifetime. That purpose has nothing to do with amassing wealth, power, influence, material possessions. Nothing wrong with any of that. But it’s not the reason you’re here.

“You didn’t come to do anything. You came to be who you are.

“You came to shine your light out to the world, to focus it into the dark places. The dark is not evil. You all deal with the dark parts of yourselves. The dark is simply those places where you have not yet let in your light.

“What you do is far less important than who you are. When you are aligned with your God and Goddess selves you are at your most powerful. Then your light is reflected and radiated in all you do.

“Some humans doing the most menial tasks are the most powerful people on your planet today. It doesn’t matter if you’re the leader of a country or its lowliest citizen.

“You are all equal, not necessarily in abilities or skills, but in the fundamental goodness of your beings. It’s not what you do that matters. It’s who you are. Simply be who you are. Then you will have accomplished all you came to ‘do.’”

****************************************

How do you react or respond to the question “What do you do?” Are you uncomfortable with it? Or do you prefer talking about superficial subjects and not about who you really are, what your innermost thoughts and feelings are? Please comment below.

8 Responses

  1. Ginny

    Interesting you bring this subject up..I dread that question “What do you do?” Presently, I have no career that I can put a label on. I am searching for what my purpose is. What am I supposed to be doing? Frantically, I search feeling a force within me that I should be doing something and that something is helping people in some way. But what is it???

    Because I am so uncomfortable with this subject, I feel insecure and incomplete when I am with others who quickly ramble off their title or label. Unfortunately, in this society what we do is how we are judged. Believe it or not, years ago when I was living in Florida and in a social arena I was asked what my zip code was.

    Being completely baffled by that question, I asked others why someone would ask me such an absurd question. It was because they wanted to know if I lived in the “City” of Boca Raton or the outskirts! Obviously, they did not want to be bothered with me if I did not live in the City. A little too much for a being such as myself.

    So, I have no job title but I have compassion, I have a tremendous capacity to love, and I help people heal. That is who I am.
    Ginny
    thepennyfriends.com

    • John Cali

      Thank you, Ginny, for your honest, insightful comments.

      When people ask you what you do, why not tell them what you just told us? — “I have no job title but I have compassion, I have a tremendous capacity to love, and I help people heal. That is who I am.”

      That’s a beautiful response!

      Hugs,
      John

  2. Joseph

    Ah, to ask is not to know; know that all are god in their chosen form. To create a label are you implying a judgment? Are you limiting – putting someone into a box? Defining the indefinable? Yet we all need stories to relate to one another, or do/should we?

    I heard today that kids today don’t know how to read a watch or clock if it is not digital – that could become then one of their labels/stories. Labels thus give our little grey cell the toys we need to play with in order to slowly pull back the label veils one layer at a time to get a the core truth of anything – it is all God/love/light.

    So label away so that you have the toy(s) to play with on this earthly journey, to begin the journey into the unknown known. Think about it – if we didn’t have a need to create labels 1- they wouldn’t exist, and 2 – we wouldn’t need to be taking this earthly journey at all. 🙂 Labels, like the Ego Mind and Money are some of our greatest teachers/tools on this planet Earth school of higher learning.

  3. George

    I confess that I remain inclined to begin a conversation with “what do you do?” It seems to be an easy opening for a further discussion. Once I see we are both interested in having a discussion, I am quick, probably too often quick, to jump into lots of my innermost thoughts and feelings. The other major aspect of my discussions is my concern for the welfare of the other person. I may be too quick to make suggestions. I am often asked, “Are you a teacher?” Of course, we are all teachers in our own way and I am happy to be reminded of that by being asked that question.

    Yes, we can eat chocolate and we also have challenges. I’m reminded of the guy who found himself in a place where everything seemed OK. When he was told that nothing ever changes, he suggested it would be like Hell. The reply, “Well, where do you think you are?”

    George

  4. Jerry

    If we, as light beings, use labels to denigrate others, it’s not helping to lighten up the planet. Sometimes, labels are not too bad! People always give me the label of smiling all the time. I’ve been on this planet for almost 60 years now and there is no more joy in my life than giving smiles to people. Sometimes people even want to hug you… what is better in life than this.
    I like to think of the label ‘we are all spirits’, so lets make the rest of the universe jealous and lets have some fun… were else in all the universe can we eat chocolate!

    Love to all,
    Jerry

    • John Cali

      Thank you, Jerry. I love your comment, especially the part about where else in the universe can we eat chocolate. 🙂

      Love and blessings,
      John

  5. Susan

    This is such a beautiful area for discussion. I struggle deeply with purpose…a prompting to become more. The gray area between occupation and heart’s desire is a difficult road to navigate for me personally. While I know God’s not through with me yet, to coin a popular phase… I struggle with the needs and desires of this life which appear to be in constant turmoil with the desires of my heart. I think we call that an occupational rut. So how does one balance the need to provide for family, retirement, etc with that every gnawing pull away from the ordinary? I’m working on that and feel an urgency I’ve never experienced. The universe is experiencing exponential change, the speed of which alarms me. I long to be simply satisfied but for some reason cannot just settle and be still with my career. Perhaps that’s a good thing. Is that lack of peace simply the message that I am to do more on an occupational level? Or is the lack of peace with what IS the real issue? Great topic to explore.

    • John Cali

      Thank you very much, Susan, for sharing. I think most of us have been, or are now, in the same place you describe. As you said, it’s a great topic for exploration and discussion.

      Blessings,
      John

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.