A Prisoner's Purpose

I found this Templeton award-winning article to be profoundly inspiring. Its author, Kenneth Hartman, is serving life in prison, and has been living behind bars since he was 19. This is the eloquently written, deeply personal account of his journey of awakening to his own sense of purpose in life. And his work, starting with his own journey of self-knowledge and liberation from the shackles of mental prison, has touched thousands of lives. As he writes:

“For me, after these years of struggle, and a lot of bruises incurred along the way, pursuing something worthy of sacrifice has altered my sense of myself. I am reminded of the words of Feoder Dostoyevsk’s Grand Inquisitor, that the secret to a life well lived is to have something to live for. I have identified my raison d’ etre, taking the hard-won knowledge I have earned from a lifetime of imprisonment and putting it to good use; more specifically, reforming the world’s largest prison system from within one of its cells. It has been, and will surely continue to be, a hard slog but it must be done. For some reason I am not fully sure of, luck of the draw, fate, providence, it appears to be my task.”

Check it out. I think it will inspire you as it has inspired me.

Ocean Robbins