TRANSKRIP 🔗
WEBVTT
00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:04.959
Welcome to Truth in Motion with Dr.
00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:09.279
Jocelyn, where insight, clarity, and wisdom help you thrive.
00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:11.439
Hello, fellow seekers.
00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:13.919
Thank you for joining me today.
00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:17.760
Yesterday we asked what the body is for.
00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:27.280
We watched William Harvey look at the tiny valves in our veins, ask why they were there, and discovered that our blood goes around.
00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:33.280
We saw that we can't call anything broken or well until we know what it's for.
00:00:33.439 --> 00:00:36.880
And we saw that the body isn't a shell we carry around.
00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:40.320
It's how we live our purpose in this world.
00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:42.719
That leads to the next question.
00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:45.439
How can we know what we're for?
00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:51.600
Today we look at how purpose is found and three places you can start to look for yours.
00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:57.600
Let's start with a small organ that sits behind your breastbone, just above your heart.
00:00:57.759 --> 00:00:59.920
It's called the thymus gland.
00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:03.200
For centuries, no one knew what it was for.
00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:11.840
The scientists who studied it wrote that the thymus had long been, quote, an organ in search of a function, unquote.
00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:17.040
Immunologists believed it had become useless over the course of evolution.
00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:21.200
Some called it a graveyard for dying white blood cells.
00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:26.319
And because doctors believed it had no purpose, they treated it carelessly.
00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:31.200
Early in the 20th century, some babies were found to have a large thymus.
00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:36.719
Doctors thought the normal thymus was small, so a large one looked like a disease.
00:01:36.959 --> 00:01:45.040
When an infant died under anesthesia, the death was sometimes blamed on the big thymus instead of on the anesthetic.
00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:48.719
So some doctors prescribed radiation to shrink it.
00:01:48.959 --> 00:01:59.599
In Rochester, New York, researchers later followed 1,303 people who had been x-rayed as infants for an enlarged thymus.
00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:04.319
Over the decades, 50 of them developed thyroid cancer.
00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:12.879
Among 1,768 of their brothers and sisters who were never x-rayed, there were 13 cases.
00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:21.680
The irradiated group had the far higher rate, and the risk was still there more than 50 years later.
00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:28.960
Then in 1961, a young researcher in London named Jacques Miller tried something simple.
00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:32.319
He removed the thymus from newborn mice.
00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:34.879
The mice grew normally at first.
00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:39.599
Then, after weaning, many of them wasted away and died.
00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:43.520
Their blood had fewer of a certain kind of white blood cell.
00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:47.680
They couldn't even reject skin grafted from other animals.
00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:51.919
Miller published his findings in The Land Set that same year.
00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:54.879
The thymus wasn't useless at all.
00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:59.439
In early life, it is where the immune system's defenders are trained.
00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:00.879
Think about that.
00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:09.759
Millions of us are walking around today with a thymus that did its work quietly when we were young, whether anyone understood it or not.
00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:12.400
The purpose was there the whole time.
00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:14.879
It didn't change when we discovered it.
00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:16.240
We changed.
00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:22.159
And once we knew what the thymus was for, we stopped treating it like trash.
00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:26.560
That's why this question matters for your health.
00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:31.039
When we decide something has no purpose, we treat it carelessly.
00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:34.960
That's true of an organ and it's true of a whole person.
00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:42.560
If our bodies are just accidents and our lives are just random, then there's nothing to protect and nothing to aim at.
00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:45.919
Health becomes whatever keeps the parts running.
00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:52.080
But when we believe purpose is real and that it can be known, everything shifts.
00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:54.000
We start looking for it.
00:03:54.319 --> 00:03:58.960
We protect what serves it, and our healing has somewhere to go.
00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:06.719
My notes on the foundations of this work include a simple sentence, purpose can be known, at least partially.
00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:09.919
Here's why that matters to me as a practitioner.
00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:20.480
If purpose exists but can never be known, then no one can say whether a body is working well and no care could ever be aimed at anything.
00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:23.040
We'd be shooting arrows in the dark.
00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:26.000
And at least partially matters too.
00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:29.839
We don't need to know everything to take the next right step.
00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:32.800
A good map doesn't show every pebble.
00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:35.360
It shows enough to get you home.
00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:39.839
We've already laid the foundation for this earlier in this season.
00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:45.279
We saw that real science is what we can observe, test, and repeat.
00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:48.720
Then we spent a whole week on how we know.
00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:52.720
We looked at James Lind comparing sailors with scurvy.
00:04:53.199 --> 00:05:01.199
We looked at doctors followed for 50 years, and talked about fair tests where chance decides who gets what.
00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:11.519
Again and again we saw that careful observation, honest
Load full transcript
comparison, and a willingness to be corrected led us closer to the truth.
00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:15.439
Knowing what something is for works the same way.
00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:24.560
We look closely, we compare, we notice what happens when something is missing, and we stay open to being wrong.
00:05:24.879 --> 00:05:27.040
The same is true of purpose.
00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:31.199
The thymus had a purpose long before anyone believed it did.
00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:36.079
Our opinions didn't give it one, and our ignorance didn't take it away.
00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:39.439
Purpose is discovered, not invented.
00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:42.639
That doesn't mean our own meaning is a free-for-all.
00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:49.279
What we make of our lives is real and personal, but it's shaped by what's actually true about us.
00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:51.120
So how do we find it?
00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:53.600
I see three places to look.
00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:56.480
The first place is the body itself.
00:05:56.800 --> 00:05:58.959
Form tells us about function.
00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:03.680
Harvey looked at the valves and asked why they were there.
00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:10.160
Miller looked at an organ everyone had dismissed and asked, what would happen without it?
00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:18.639
Both of them learned what something was for by paying close attention to how it was made and what happened when it was missing.
00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:21.680
You can do the same with your own body.
00:06:21.920 --> 00:06:25.759
Ask, what does this part of me do when it's working well?
00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:27.920
And what happens when it can't?
00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:31.519
Your body is still telling the truth about its design.
00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:42.879
It has hands that grip and hold, a face with more than 40 muscles built to show what we feel to the people around us, a voice that can comfort a child in the dark.
00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:47.519
We were built to reach, to connect, to make, to move.
00:06:47.920 --> 00:06:49.920
Look at it from the other side too.
00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:57.759
What happens to a person who is cut off from all touch, from all meaningful work, from moving their body at all?
00:06:58.000 --> 00:06:59.680
We already know the answer.
00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:01.040
They wither.
00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:06.720
What a body suffers without tells us a great deal about what it was made for.
00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:11.439
This is part of how Chinese medicine or East Asian medicine works.
00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:19.360
We watch how a person's whole system is functioning, and the patterns tell us what the body is trying to do and what's getting in its way.
00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:21.920
The body's design isn't hidden.
00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:24.480
It's waiting to be noticed.
00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:28.319
The second place to look is our own lived experience.
00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:30.560
Some things make us come alive.
00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:38.319
Time disappears, our energy rises, we feel a deep satisfaction, even when the work is hard.
00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:45.839
Other things leave us drained and frustrated, and no matter how hard we push, these signals mean something.
00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:51.360
Joy and satisfaction often tell us we're moving in the direction we were made for.
00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:57.839
Frustration and a heavy, flat feeling often tell us we're pushing against the grain.
00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:00.879
Notice where you feel those signals.
00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:04.160
It's not only in your thoughts, it's in your body.
00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:12.560
The lift in your chest when you're doing what you love, the tightness in your shoulders when you're living someone else's plan for your life.
00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:16.480
The body often knows before the mind can put it into words.
00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:18.399
So how do we use this?
00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:23.600
Look back over your life and ask, when did I feel most like myself?
00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:28.480
Not happiest necessarily, most like myself.
00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:30.079
What was I doing?
00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:31.920
Who was I serving?
00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:36.559
What did I keep coming back to, even when no one asked me to?
00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:40.080
Those threads usually run through a whole life.
00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:47.360
They show up in childhood play and in the jobs we loved, in the things we do when we have a free afternoon.
00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:50.399
Other people can help too.
00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:55.200
Sometimes the people who love us see our gifts more clearly than we do.
00:08:55.440 --> 00:09:00.639
When several people keep telling you the same thing about yourself, it's worth listening.
00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:06.240
And the third place to look is revelation, what God has said about us.
00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:08.320
I want to tell you where I stand.
00:09:08.559 --> 00:09:15.679
I believe we were made by someone who knows exactly what we're for and who hasn't kept it a secret.
00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:20.639
The psalmist wrote, I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:30.639
And the Apostle Paul wrote, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:32.159
Workmanship?
00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:36.720
Something crafted on purpose by a maker who had a plan.
00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:40.559
That means our purpose isn't something we have to build from nothing.
00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:43.840
It's something we get to discover and walk into.
00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:48.080
And notice that the verse says good works were prepared beforehand?
00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:50.639
That means the purpose came first.
00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:57.440
We don't invent it, we walk into it, the way we'd walk into a room that was prepared for us.
00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:00.559
How do we listen
for that?
00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:06.480
Through scripture, through prayer, through quiet, and through people God places in our lives.
00:10:06.799 --> 00:10:17.519
Often the answer doesn't come as a voice from the sky, it comes as a pull that won't go away, a door that opens, or a piece that settles in when we make the right choice.
00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:28.159
Whatever your faith, I invite you to sit with that possibility that you weren't an accident, that there's something you were made to do, and that it can be found.
00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:30.639
Now I want to be honest about this.
00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:33.679
None of us will figure this out all at once.
00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:35.919
Paul wrote about this too.
00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:40.720
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.
00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:46.559
Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:48.720
I find great comfort in that.
00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:51.600
We know in part, that's enough to begin.
00:10:51.840 --> 00:10:57.919
We don't need the whole map to take the next step, and every step shows us a little more.
00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:01.360
And purpose often unfolds in seasons.
00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:06.799
What we're for at 25 may look differently at 45 or at 70.
00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:10.879
A young parent's purpose may be poured into raising small children.
00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:17.360
Later, that same person may be called to teach, to build, to mentor, or to pray for the next generation.
00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:24.480
The core of who we are stays the same, but the way it's expressed grows and changes with us.
00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:26.639
That's freeing.
00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:32.240
It means we don't have to get it all right today, and it means it's never too late.
00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:37.840
A season of illness, loss, or change isn't the end of our purpose.
00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:41.519
Very often it's the doorway to the next part of it.
00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:49.120
The design of the body, the signals of our own experience, and what God has said all point in the same direction.
00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:52.159
When they line up, we can walk with confidence.
00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:58.080
When they don't, it's a good time to slow down, pay attention, and ask again.
00:11:58.399 --> 00:12:01.279
So here's one thing I'd like you to notice this week.
00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:04.000
Not a list, just one question.
00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:07.600
When do I feel most fully alive?
00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:15.919
Pay attention to what your body does in those moments, where you feel the lift, what you were doing and who you were with.
00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:18.000
Those moments are clues.
00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:20.399
They're your design speaking up.
00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:23.759
Today we asked how we can know what we're for.
00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:35.519
We met the thymus, an organ once called useless, treated carelessly because no one knew its purpose until one researcher found that it trains our immune system.
00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:39.279
We saw that purpose is discovered, not invented.
00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:42.320
And we looked at three places to find it.
00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:49.360
In the design of the body, the signals of our own lived experience, and what God has said.
00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:53.440
We know in part, and that's enough to take the next step.
00:12:53.679 --> 00:12:57.360
Tomorrow we ask what being well really looks like.
00:12:57.519 --> 00:13:04.639
If health only makes sense in light of what we're for, then well has to mean much more than nothing's wrong.
00:13:04.879 --> 00:13:08.159
I'll meet you there, with you every step of the way.
00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:09.840
Keep the conversation going.
00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:14.720
Find your next steps in notes from a fellow traveler, my blog.