When I first read the topic for this reading reflection, I thought what a perfect opportunity to understand how to identify the call on your life from another perspective. In Hillman’s writings The Soul’s Code In Search of Character and Calling I find myself contemplating the though of your “calling�, a familiar phrase in my faith. Let me first of all explain that I’ve had a lot of teaching and food for thought on this topic that is outside of academia. A lot of what he tries to explain is similar to what I believe but just coming from a different source this time with a different voice. Hillman tries to use a lot of different schools of thought to explain the “call�.

I found Hillman’s reading to be a close comparison to my views and beliefs on how you get to where you are as far as choices you make or may have made. Do we suddenly stumble onto a particular path or are we led or called to this path? Are you born with a particular character that you have no control over that defines your destiny or do you groom yourself to become who you want to be? Are there dreams and hopes that we had as children that have been long abandoned because of how society and defined our destiny? Hillman goes on to explain that our personality development have been tainted and reshaped by the toxins of and trauma from early childhood that has altered or wrongly shaped our destiny. This writing is intended to uncover or juggle the memory of our childhood that would have shaped us into what we were really meant to be had it not been for the influence of our surroundings or environment that may have pushed us in another direction rather than that of our choice. Hillman then tries to take us back to remember our childhood and some of our earlier memories. Would we really be what we are now if we had been left to make our own choices and decisions without external influences? Do you remember how when you were a child people would ask you what you wanted to be when you grow up? Can we look back and remember what some of our answers were? Did we fulfill these dreams or goals? Would some of us say that once we grew up this seemed to be out of our reach?

There is the belief that we all have “a sense of personal calling�. What does this mean for most people? There are different schools of thought on the topic of your “calling�. Hillman’s writing is intended to draw our attention to the fact that we all have a calling regardless of our beliefs or background. He wants us to look back and realize that we all are answerable to an innate image. We all have qualities we were born with that should be used to shape and define our destiny. It is intended to do a soul search on your call. Are you doing what you were called to do? Was this the intended purpose of you life?

Sometimes I wonder whether or not I am living the kind of life I was meant to live. When I think about where I have been and all I have done, I sometimes wonder if I have chosen the right paths to travel down or did my environment actually shape and change my destiny. Perhaps I could be living a life of ease, or one filled with fame and fortune. Perhaps I could have made a name for myself, one that would live in the history books forever. Perhaps I could have been of service to others. In spite of all my perhaps, I cannot change where I have been, or where I am now. The question then is can we do anything to change our future? Do we really know if we were called to something else? Are we comfortable with who we are or are we still looking to define our “call�? The choices, of how we should live, are many and all people have their own opinions of what is morally correct, and what is not. What if the kind of person I should be is just be the kind of person I already am today. (Did I discover my “calling�?)