Reyes - The Purpose Gap

I felt as if I was overhearing an intimate conversation among friends and allies while reading Reyes' The Purpose Gap: Empowering Communities of Color to Find Meaning and Thrive (2021). Patrick Reyes clearly informs the reader that this book is for Black, Brown, and other minoritized individuals and groups that have not had "the resources and opportunities to fulfill their purposes in life" (Acknowledgements). As a reader who has not experienced the debilitating forces of discrimination beyond its corrosive impact on society, the book was helpful as a way to understand what needs to change and it also helped me to accept the limits that liberal advocates of inclusion should consider.

I have written about purpose and calling in life and I admit that I never realized the privilege bias in my own thinking - I wrote as if all one must do is discern purpose, continually hone it for good, develop the capacity to act on it, and stay the course. No, calling to vocation is not available to all people in the same ways and Reyes' writing helped me to understand how I missed the mark on this. The "purpose gap" is proposed as both an individual and community concern for only in a supportive community can everyone discover their potential, with "everyone" being key. Reyes is not talking about individual and exceptional stars who break the bonds of racism. His analysis is about systemic conditions that are deliberately designed to hold entire groups of people back, and these conditions will not change without dramatic transformation.

As a youth raised in a Latinx community in California, Reyes asserts "purpose is defined, stolen, or withheld before we ever enter the world" (p. 2) prohibiting youth from achieving what they were born to do. The barriers are erected by the "inheritors of wealth" who also guard the bridges to opportunity that would otherwise be available.  Reyes indicates that some of the barriers include internalized racism and imposter syndrome, but the greatest challenge is the lack of resources to pursue one's purpose. Grounded in his faith perspective, Reyes soberly recognized that we live in a society that decided who it could and would love and that "parents of color must teach our children they are loved despite a world that is not doing its best" (p. 24). Reyes goes on to say that to assume that the "American Dream" is achievable for all is nothing bot colonial piety.

The Purpose Gap admonishes those in Black and Brown communities to begin the journey by rewriting and retelling their story of purpose, drawing on the wisdom of their ancestors. He takes on Joseph Campbell's "hero's journey" by declaring it as a linear and individual story that denies the reality of minoritized communities. Instead, Reyes says, "I reserve my vocation, my life, and my purpose for my community. For my community first called me to life when the world tried to take it" (p. 46). In order to redefine the space of calling, design thinking could be used to answer four questions: What is? What if? What wows? and, What works? Design justice emerges from these questions by guaranteeing the distribution of shared benefits and burdens among various groups and peoples.

Reyes identifies community centers, libraries, parks and extended family networks as places that foster meaning and purpose for minoritized groups. Referencing the importance of faith organizations, he says that "The church not only has a call, vocation, and purpose. More importantly, it has the means and power to act on its purpose" (p. 62) and has a special responsibility in closing the purpose gap. To do this, the church must move from recognizing that stars exist to seeing that they must exist in constellations - places where the conditions for purpose and success are available to all. In these constellation places, leadership is also different. Instead of an individual act, leadership comes from tireless learners, pursuing "new angles, perspectives, viewpoints, and wisdom with excessive curiosity" (p. 109). Leadership must also foster specialists, those with wisdom and salient knowledge (e.g., intuition), and spirit workers to activate and sustain a community where constellations of stars are possible. On this final point, Reyes notes, "Closing the purpose gap is not just about changing the material world. It requires us to connect with and find healing with the spirits that guide our journey" (p. 166). In another passage he advocates hope in this work by saying, "I do want to say to this broken world, 'I see your violence, and I will raise you hope and love'" (p. 174).

In closing, Reyes offered three practices to help close the purpose gap for individuals and communities: 1) tell a new story, 2) design for purpose on our terms, and 3) know that it's about today!