When seeking to discover our life’s purpose, it is common to look for direction outside of ourselves.
Whether it be from teachers, gurus, therapists, life coaches, educational institutions, or wisdom traditions, most people seek external guidance hoping to make sense of the presumably random circumstances of their lives so they can actualize their dormant potential.
And while various forms of external guidance do indeed have a role to play in the story of our lives, the principle of specific Divine Providence, as elucidated by the Baal Shem Tov, teaches that the greatest indicators of our life’s purpose are embedded and can be found in our inner world, composition, and makeup. Hence, the greatest guide to seeking and finding our purpose in life is our own Divine design.
This was the fundamental philosophy set out by the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, R. Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, in a letter to young Eliyahu Tzvi Einbinder as he set out in search of his purpose in life:
“The Torah states: These are the offspring of Adam. [The Hebrew term for] toldot Adam, offspring, can also be read as life story—the life story of a person is a book that he must study. That book must be a guide for the person’s life.
“Toldot adam can also be translated as a person’s birth. Here it means:
1. The purpose for which this person was born into this world;
2. to whom this person was born;
3. in which place this person was born;
4. in what time this person was born;
5. what kind of training (upbringing) and education this person had;
6. the kind of environment in which this person grew up;
7. which talents this person has;
8. what kind of natural character traits one has;
9. what kind of hobbies and interests one has;
10. what kind of Divine Providence guided the person until he became self-directed and took a stand in life.
“Taken together, these ten things compose the life of a person. They form a book that the person must study and then choose to follow in all of their affairs, both in their relationship with G‑d and in their relationship with other people.”1
This ten-point guide provides a comprehensive framework for discerning how each part of your inner world and personal circumstances are Divinely imparted to help you identify and fulfill your mission in life.
The Golden Rule
According to the mystics, every single aspect of creation is crafted and guided by the hand of G‑d for a reason. This monumental notion is a cornerstone of Chasidic thought, as introduced and elucidated by the Baal Shem Tov, who sparked a revolution in thinking about G‑d’s immanent involvement in creation. This foundational principle is what we might refer to as the “Golden Rule” of spiritual perception and consciousness—in Hebrew Hashgachah Pratit, which translates as Specific Divine Providence or synchronicity.
The Torah teaches that G‑d not only created the world but that He continues to direct it throughout all time. G‑d is therefore referred to both as “the Creator” and “the Director” of the world. In the Book of Ezekiel, for example, the prophet passionately decries those who think that G‑d has left the world to its own devices and is no longer intimately involved in its everyday unfolding.2
Maintaining this interconnected, big picture view of life is an avodah, spiritual labor, in and of itself. Indeed, we find numerous times throughout the ages when this perspective is submerged beneath other philosophical streams that seek to limit the scope of the Creator’s involvement with creation. In dialectical fashion, such periods of hester panim, occlusion of G‑d’s presence, are inevitably rebalanced by an eruption of mystical consciousness and spiritual renaissance—revealing G‑d’s Face and Hand where it had been previously imperceivable.
In the case of the Chasidic revolution, beginning in the eighteenth century, it was the Baal Shem Tov who insisted that G‑d’s Providence guides every single detail of creation, not just human life. In the illuminated eyes of the Baal Shem Tov, even a single drop of rain is part of the master plan of creation.
As elucidated by the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, R. Yosef Yitzchak: “The Baal Shem Tov taught us the [deeper] meaning of Hashgachah Pratit: Not only are all the detailed movements of each creation governed by G‑d’s Providence, and this [Hashgachah Pratit] is actually their very source of life, but every move of each individual creation has a place in the larger story of the entire creation…”3
The delicate specificity of G‑d’s involvement in creation is highlighted in a moving story of the Baal Shem Tov. As he walked through the forest with some of his students, he drew the attention of his students to a single leaf that had blown off a tree and floated down to rest in front of them on the pathway. He related that this particular leaf had fallen from that exact tree, precisely at that moment, because it had been so orchestrated by G‑d.
He then asked one of one of his students to lift the leaf, which he did, discovering a worm that had lain suffering in the summer sun, praying to G‑d for respite. The fallen leaf was the answer to the worm’s prayers, providing it shade from the sun.4
Here, the Baal Shem Tov connects the seemingly random, unrelated dots of circumstance to reveal a stunning constellation of Divine Providence encompassing every aspect of creation—the path of a falling leaf, the wind that loosed it from its branch, the worm that it fell to protect, and the journey of the students, whose precisely-timed arrival presented an opportunity for a demonstration of G‑d’s will at work in the world. Each aspect, guided by G‑d, is a precious part of a greater wholeness, with each contributing something crucial and indispensable to the larger story. From this integral perspective, everything has a purpose, and every purpose is part of the perfectly orchestrated dance of creation, even if we fail to recognize it.
Divine By Design
Through this lens, the book of your life emerges from the unique aspects of your Divine design. Indeed, each and every one of us is constructed quite precisely. Not just certain parts of us but our entirety. Even what you may perceive as flaws and imperfections are in their own way perfectly imperfect features of your existence, because they were written into your life by the Hand of G‑d. This is true no matter how small, simple, disconnected, or randomly appointed these characteristics may appear at first glance. By looking inward and reflecting on your inner makeup, natural gravitations, and dispositions, as well as your personality, character, passions, natural gifts, talents, and even vices and struggles, you will find that you have a host of internal indicators that become clues and tools to help you discover and fulfill your Divine purpose. This is equally true of the various circumstances, events, people, places, and challenges that occur throughout your life.
Through the kaleidoscopic lens of Chasidut, we begin to see the world as more than just a random place of indifference, or as Joseph Heller described it, “a trashbag of coincidences blown open by the wind.” Rather, Hashgachah Pratit consciousness reveals the world and history to be a convergence of subtle orchestrations and gentle nudgings arranged to help us discover the higher purpose in every moment, event, and encounter in our lives. This elevated and elevating perspective reveals to us that, in fact, there is a Divine plot that informs our human storyline, and our purpose is realized at the intersection of Divine Providence and human initiative.
With this in mind, the circumstances of our lives begin to shine in a new way. In telling stories about how you met and married your spouse, for example, you may emphasize that you were drawn by their sense of humor, beauty, intelligence, or note that you met by chance at your favorite coffee shop one afternoon. And while all of that may be true, there is a deeper truth to be found in the qualities and circumstances that brought you together. This is the truth of Divine Providence—that your appreciation of blue eyes and a good sense of humor, and your gravitation toward the coffee shop where you would eventually meet, were written into the book of your life as plot devices in the story of your unfolding Divine purpose.
Whatever the details or circumstances, awareness of Divine Providence emphatically asserts that no part of us, nor anything that happens to us, is superficial or inconsequential. Of course, we are always free to choose how to react to our external circumstances and natural dispositions—what we make of and from them. But the raw materials, as it were, were given to us by G‑d and arranged by Divine design.
A Task Done Well
The circumstances we are born into and encounter throughout our lives are preordained and are all perfectly coordinated and choreographed to create the conditions for us to achieve our ultimate purpose.
As the Rebbe taught:
“Whoever has faith in individual Divine Providence knows that Man’s steps are established by G‑d—that this particular soul must purify and improve something specific in a particular place. For centuries, or even since the world’s creation, that which needs purification or improvement waits for this soul to come and purify or improve it. The soul, too, has been waiting—ever since it came into being—for its time to descend, so that it can discharge the tasks of purification and improvement assigned to it.5 6
Indeed, for each of us, somewhere out there is a marriage of soul and circumstance waiting for us to intercede.
This was the lesson sent in a letter by the Baal Shem Tov to his disciple, the great scholar R. Chaim Rapaport, who was instructed to travel to a specific place in the forest outside the city and study Torah there in depth, recite afternoon prayers, and then return home. Despite not knowing the purpose behind the numerous instructions, the disciple followed them, traveling to the forest to begin his studies. After studying for a while, R. Rapaport became very thirsty and sent his companions to search for water. While searching amid the forest undergrowth, they discovered a fountain that provided fresh water, which they brought back to relieve the rabbi’s thirst. After drinking, he also used the water to wash his hands before praying, after which they all returned home.
Soon after, the rabbi visited the Baal Shem Tov and told him that ever since returning from that forest, his eyes and heart had been opened in Torah study and the service of G‑d like never before. He thanked his teacher for sending him there.
The next Shabbat, during a meal attended by his close disciples, the Baal Shem Tov addressed R. Chaim, saying, “With G‑d’s help, you succeeded in your holy task, [and] with this journey, a very significant mission was accomplished! It is written in the holy Zohar that ever since G‑d separated the lower waters from the upper waters on the second day of creation, the lower waters have been weeping and begging to appear before the Holy King, that they be used for holy purposes, such as hand washing before prayer, immersion in a mikveh, or having a drink of water that is preceded and followed by words of thanksgiving to its Maker.
“Near the place where I sent you, there was a fountain that had been weeping for five thousand, five hundred nineteen years—since the creation of the world: Why should it be less than all the other fountains in the world? Why should its waters be denied their elevation? Since the Holy One, Blessed Be He, created it, no one had ever made a blessing over its waters, and they had never been used for holy purposes. That day, when you drank its water and used it to wash your hands for prayer, you elevated that fountain. This was all the working of Divine Providence. Every creature and creation has a time for its elevation, and it is preordained when it will occur and by whom. And that is true for each and every soul; it, too, has its time for elevation.”7
The insistence that everything in the world is part of G‑d’s Providence was a cornerstone of the Rebbe’s teachings, and it inspired him to constantly repeat the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov that everything a Jew sees or hears must serve as a lesson in one’s service of G‑d.8 As the Rebbe once wrote, “I have grown accustomed to searching for the Hashgachah Pratit in every opportunity.”9
Recognizing Hashgachah Pratit at every step of our lives unlocks abundant opportunities to live better, more productive, purposeful, and optimistic lives. By following the threads with which we are woven into creation, we find a wholeness and sense of fulfillment that no other pursuit can provide.
No matter where you are in your life, from the lowest lows to the highest highs, G‑d is there, guiding you and everything that surrounds you with Divine precision and loving intention. By choosing to view life through this clarifying lens, you are positioned to both read and write the Book of Your Life, borne by a stream of perpetual grace that is carrying you and everything else toward ultimate fulfillment and completion. Indeed, start right where you are. In all likelihood, it is exactly where you are supposed to be.
Quiz Yourself
Do the Thought Exercise
Identify 2-3 important people or events in your life. Think about how they came into your life, and try to trace the trail of Divine providence that brought them to you.
Take the Challenge
The Baal Shem Tov Taught: Not only are all the detailed movements of each creation governed by G‑d’s providence, but every move of each individual creation has a place in the larger story of the entire creation.
Write this quote on a piece of paper and keep it in your pocket. Throughout your day, whenever something unexpected happens, or when something doesn’t go your way, take it out and ask yourself: How can I find and actualize the Divine providence in this moment, event, or encounter?
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