Those of us who believe we have a purpose in life are considered well blessed. Having a purpose gives us goals and direction, and provides value for our lives. It can be a career path, something we enjoy doing, are good at, or just something we think is worthwhile for others or for the world. 
There was a time when I equated purpose with passion. But I have learned that they are really quite different.
Purpose is outer oriented and involved with other people and the physical world. Whether it’s the production of things or services, or the creation of widgets or the solutions to problems, purpose is externally directed, rational, linear and qualitatively measured. We plan and set goals, and base our success on how many people are affected, how many customers served, how many clients seen, how many albums or books sold, or how many workshops sold out.
We derive our self-worth from these numbers, and if the numbers are high, we feel valued and successful. Often we feel our purpose is even bestowed on us by some higher power and it is our destiny to fulfill that purpose in this life. It gives us a sense of importance and belonging.
Passion, on the other hand, is inner oriented and self-directed. It is usually not based on rational planning or what others need or want. Passion comes from purely internal motivation even if no one else is interested, which is why those following their passion are often thought of as slightly wacky.
Creating from passion is a multi-layered, multi-dimensional process – it often proceeds without a specific plan and is guided by intuition rather than reason. It’s valuable because it is your own self-expression, your own creation and you feel completed and whole while you are engaged in passionate creation. While you may be frustrated that large numbers of people don’t value it as much as you do, you are nonetheless compelled to keep creating and keep looking for ways to share your creations with others.
Purpose is what satisfies most humans as they navigate the physical world. But purpose is dependent on the outside world and as such is always precarious since it relies on external circumstances external attention (energy). This source of personal value can vanish at any time.
Passion is what brings joy and wonder, and often results in emerging genius. Think of Van Gogh who sold hardly anything during his lifetime, or J. K. Rowling who was turned down by every major publisher of popular fiction. Passion is internal and survives even the most extreme externally battering. In fact, passion can be the one source of joy and healing that keeps us balanced when our external world gets crazy.
In the last few years some of you may have noticed that what you had always thought of as your passion has left, often with nothing to replace it. You feel bereft and purposeless. You feel you have no value and have thus lost interest in life. This may be because, you, like me, have confused passion and purpose. What you have lost is purpose.
In my experience this in-between time (although uncomfortable) is a necessary and important bridge between purpose and passion. It signals a time when we are required to generate our own feelings of value and self-worth. Ultimately our value here on Earth is simply our own unique experience and how that experience adds to the experience of all humans. The life of a beggar on the street and the life of the highest paid CEO are equally precious. It is important that I realize I don’t have to DO anything to be valuable. Simply existing is enough.
It may take some time, but this space between purpose and passion is often necessary in order for us to learn to derive our value from the inside rather than from the outside.
Once we have struggled with, and accepted for ourselves, this inner oriented validation, we are ready to find and fully unleash our passion. Passion comes from the sum total, the whole of our life experience, expressed in our own unique way, in whatever form intrigues us. It is our soul’s self-expression.
For me, my purpose and my passion turned out to be the same things. But since my creations are now inner directed, they no longer require effort. I can’t wait to get to work even if I have no idea what I will create that day. My creations come easily and I love the process.
My passion directs my focus and my behavior. I have no idea whether any creation will be accepted or valued by others, but it doesn’t matter. I am compelled to create in certain directions anyway. And when I am engaged in my passions, all time falls away and I am delighted by even the most mundane tasks necessary to bring them to fruition (tasks I hated before). Now I create with ease and joy.
I had to be patient with myself. Self-validation did not come easily. But the difference between passion and purpose is worth it.
For more on the energy realm, see my book, It’s All About Energy: Adventures in Expanded Reality”, available on Amazon, in local bookstores and on my website: www.transformationalexpansion.com