“What did my soul sign up for here that I have not attended to?” said the minister at my church Sunday as part of his message. This idea that every soul comes to this earth for a purpose is one I am hearing more of these days. It is a theme stressed in Jack Canfield’s and William Gladstone’s new book, “The Golden Motorcycle Gang – A Story Of Transformation.”
“The Golden Motorcycle Gang” mostly tells the life story of Jack Canfield, creator of the popular “Chicken Soup For the Soul” series. In the book’s first pages Jack is described riding through space with a Golden Motorcycle Gang. The year is 1943 and Planet Earth is in trouble. Members of the Gang agree to incarnate as humans to help save humanity.
Whether this incredulous story is believable is not the point of the book. Rather the Golden Motorcycle tale is used as a metaphor to pose the question, “what if each of us decided to come to Earth for a purpose, and what is that purpose?”
I found interesting the stories of Jack Canfield’s life and different lessons he learned. Jack was very involved in the civil rights movement in the 1960’s, for example. One of his black friends joins the Black Muslim movement, and tells Jack “it’s inappropriate for me to associate with white people”. Jack is heart broken. In looking back at this incident later, he realizes the experience taught him how “devastating intolerance of any kind can be”.
In a second life story, Jack forms an unusual bond with an older business person who holds political views 180 degrees opposite of Jack’s. Surprisingly Jack gets along very well with his conservative friend. “When working with people, the key is to focus on where your interests and goals overlap, not where they differ,” the businessman tells Jack. Yet another life lesson learned for the future Chicken Soup author. As I read of Jack’s life, it caused me to reflect on events of my past. I learned valuable lessons, too, out of different life experiences, some of which were not pleasant at the time.
Towards the end of the book Jack meets up with consciousness pioneer Barbara Marx Hubbard. In a dialog with Barbara shared in the book, Barbara puts Jack’s new awareness that he might just have a life purpose in perspective. “People are waking up, but they need support,” Barbara explains. “They need to realize that their own critical breakthroughs in consciousness and creativity are not deviant or weird, but part of the new norm.”
If “The Golden Motorcycle Gang” were a drink it would be Coors Light. Not the hard stuff. Check out “Sacred Contracts” by Caroline Myss for a more in depth study of finding your life’s purpose. Yet Canfield and Goldstone’s book is an easy read and a good introduction to the subject. “The Golden Motorcycle Gang is not just to entertain you, but to inspire you to take action that will improve your live and the lives of others,” say the authors in the introduction. I think the book accomplishes that goal.
You can get “The Golden Motorcycle Gang” from these book sellers:
This is another book review in my partnership with Hay House. I was not financially compensated for this post. I received the book from Hay House for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.
“What is ultimately important is that you make the effort to consciously be the best person you can be, and to allow yourself to dream your greatest dream.” – Jack Canfield and William Gladstone in The Golden Motorcycle Gang
