Lemmings jump off the cliffs, by instinct, therefore rational explanation about this big jump isn’t clear for scientists yet. The fact is that they do take the big leap to the unknown without a real purpose, as per their eventuality.

Emmy is a lemming who somehow kept on asking why there is a need for them to jump off the cliff. Nobody can offer her sufficient explanation to make her believe that they needed to jump. She then met Lenny. Lenny used to be in a group who negates this jumping festival. They called their group, N.O. L.E.A.P.S. or  The New Order of Lemmings for Earthbound and Moderate Society whose members are those  who are not very keen on taking the great leap.

Emmy’s question is the same for them, “Why don’t they want to take the big leap?”. The group couldn’t offer her the explanation she needed to satisfy her craving for purpose.

After hearing Emmy’s questions, Lenny started to think about his purpose too and they became friends. They encouraged each other to come up with their own personal purpose, “what they really want to do in life aside from jumping off or just not jumping off”.

Emmy realized that her purpose  “ has something to do with asking questions, questions that can open up bigger world is beyond our little meadow and help us see new ways of being….the more I understand who I am, the more it makes me want to do something-something special. So I’ve been asking myself what do  really want to create?”

Lenny’s purpose, on the other hand is “might have something to do with helping all the lemmings find joy in being the community. And one way you could do that would be to become a motivational speaker.”

With the help of each other, they were able to come up with their own purpose and to eventually gathered ideas on how to make this purpose happen. Emmy thought of a way on how to go to the other side and arrive safely. She pioneered a transport system called rubber-tree-leaf system to transport lemmings and goods to and from the other side of the cliff while Lenny really became a motivational speaker.

This book is just telling us that if we are clear with our purpose, we will have a guiding principle on how to deal with our daily lives. With purpose, we will be motivated and driven to make ways on how to stay close to this guiding principle.

This is just simple story, a simple book but the lesson it imparts requires extreme personal mastery which, up to now, I am not a master of.