SPIRIT Journey: PASSION
The origin of the word passion and its subsequent meanings is a complicated one. Like the evolution of the meaning, the application in real life is just as complicated and something that we humans seek our entire lives as we pursue education, employment, meaning and purpose in life.
The word passion originally comes from
the Latin word "patior", which means “to suffer”.
The idea was that there was some force outside of you that would cause you to do something, in some way to suffer. It was used to describe an intense desire that originated in a wide range of emotions such as joy, grief, hope, fear, love and hatred. It definitely had a more religious context and use.
Today, passion is used in so many somewhat controversial ways. It still is used to describe an intense desire and love for something or someone, but perhaps it focuses more on a force coming from within you rather than externally. To feel passionately about something today evokes either a strong love or a strong hatred.
So, I like to think of my passion in this way: Rearranging the letters of passion = I pass on.
In every moment, we must be aware and make conscious choices of what we are choosing to pass on to others. It is a critical to who we want to be and how we want to show up in the world. (more…)