Jane Glad my commentary had something you could use. !. You wrote, "The NLP guy who's now running a casino.'Should we just ignore the perceptions of others in making these choices. Is this what you are referring to when you mention the reaction of people I'm associated with?" That captures it nicely - look, it's your life, right? Also take a lesson from Castenada in the sense of cultivating a practice of reducing self-revelation, be whatever you choose to be but explain nothing and forget that you have a background (or alternatively, keep your background to yourself). While being absolutely straightforward or whatever your style, there is little point to describing the past - you are what you are, you do what you do. People who make judgments about others based on their personal history are often seeking to categorize and predict behavior. These same people fail to note and respond to the person in the present. Of course, if my job is to vet potential intelligence sources, such a background investigation is warranted and relevant - otherwise, place yourself firmly in the present with a future dream as an orienting reference point and kick. 2. You wrote, "Assuming the mission/purpose belief is 'absurd' how would you account for individuals who very cleary have one area of professional focus which an observer (not me now!) might say they're destined for." A person can achieve success (again, note the lack of definition here) typically by focusing their attentions on some single point and excluding the remainder of experience available to them. I would suggest that the warrior in Castendada's sense is someone who is capable of holding focus as long as they choose (remember my comments about avoiding dilettanteism in my last email about setting a high level of competency each time you commit to some adventure) and as well maintaining the ability to shift completely to some other adventure with the same intensity and total focus. Life then becomes a series of adventures. Think about being an NLP modeler (as described in Whispering) - this resolves practically to a sequence of total commitments to assimilate excellence by jumping into a sequence of realities defined by a series of geniuses that serve as your mentors (wittingly or unwittingly). 3. You wrote, " Would you say that their careers were created purely through choices - and as individuals (Springsteen and Pacino) they could easily have chosen other directions?" Yes, I suspect that there were in the personal histories of these two men (as examples) deeply influential "accidents" - experiences that captured their imagination AND further that there could have been others that would have sent them off in other directions towards other adventures. Do you really think that there is only one rhythm, one song in your heart? 4. You wrote. "I assume you are talking about adding these new areas to your repertoire rather than necessarily continually replacing what you are doing with something else (I'm thinking specifically of career)" No, I am taking the somewhat more radical position of insisting that the same set of choices are available at every level of experience. Some choose comfort and predictability; others choose adventure - at levels of adding to the repertoire through career to ....   Listen, one of the liberating effects of achieving competency in other languages are the doors it opens to other realities (often referred to as cultures).  5. You wrote, "If there's not an authentic me, what's going on? " Make a choice and accept the personal responsibilities it entails; then make a new choice and accept... The authentic you would then be the one who learns, the one who is commits to the series of adventures, pursuing a sequence of different realities. 6. You asked, "5 Given your response, why are supposedly highly regarded NLP trainers telling trainees they have missions and purposes to be discovered (I know you probably can't answer that - just my little moan. I'll get over it!)" How about preying on the standard model for westerners? - especially, the spirituality move. Whatever the personal and professional motivations of whoever you have in mind are, it makes for effective marketing, given the commitment to the ideology behind most westerners' lives. I seem to remember something about "...opiate of the people..." John