Having spent rather a lot of years in and around the self-development and self-improvement industry, it's a pretty common workshop buzzword that people need to "find their life purpose," in order to be truly happy in life.
Of course, we could easily sidetrack into a whole different discussion as to whether or "the pursuit of happiness" is even a worthwhile proposition, but let's skip that for another time.
Life Purpose...
Of course there are lots of different interpretations of this term, but there's somewhat of a consensus that it's essentially what motivates you to get up every morning, and what guides your choices in life. It doesn't necessarily have to be about work, although it certainly can be.
Personally, I have always struggled a bit with the whole Life Purpose concept... because it presupposes that there is one specific thing that drives us.
I suppose that can be true... some people I've met insist they were drawn to helping animals (for example) and their entire life — from childhood — is dedicated to eventually become a veterinarian, and they spend the rest of their lives healing unwell pets.
That would certainly be a "Life Purpose."
But the number of people who have such a crystal clear vision and "knowing" seem to be greatly outnumbered by those (like myself) who feel more like they have been muddling about in the fog for most of their lives.
For a number of years, I was told that my ambivalence was merely happening because "I hadn't yet found my life purpose."
At the "tender" age of 62, I'm not convinced that I am going to suddenly find a life purpose!
Which is not to say that I am UN-happy with my existence. Or perhaps I am missing my life purpose because it is already here and I am in the middle of it. Let's face it, a life of basically playing with my hobbies, writing, growing a garden and painting on rocks isn't so bad, right?
Which brings me back to a quote from His Holiness the Dalai Lama:
“The purpose of our lives is to be happy.”
By that metric, I suppose my Life Purpose is already here, and it's also a blessing that Mrs. Denmarkguy's life purpose is here, because she's also fundamentally happy, most of the time.
One of the things that substantially contributed to me eventually turning my back somewhat on the whole "enlightenment seeking" crowd was the tendency to become so focused on looking for these things in life — happiness, purpose, enlightenment, inner peace — that we end up completely forgetting to actually life the life that is here, right in front of us.
I thought about that, earlier today, as I stressed over finding enough time to pack up all my packages that needed to be mailed. "packing and shipping" is possibly my least favorite part of having a home business.
There is no version of life — as far as I can tell — that leaves people in a perpetual state of bliss and happiness. Besides, if we had that, we'd have nothing to balance out our experience against, so we'd be able to recognize our moments of happiness!
I'm just grateful that I don't have to show up at some office somewhere, to do work for a soulless corporation while being chewed on by an ornery boss whose head is on the line to improve productivity, so he/she takes it out on the employees!
Sure, I may complain about having to pay property taxes, or the sky high price of eggs, or the slowness of my 12-year old computer... but again, that doesn't really detract from the overall picture.
Is that picture my "life Purpose?" Is it yours? Does it even matter?
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great remainder of your week!
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Created at 2023-02-01 22:40 PST
0735/1990
Isn’t it to reproduce and survive? Or was that just something that cavemen believed in before self-improvement came along? 🤣
I have been listening to the History of Philosophy podcast lately. People have been striving to discover the path to happiness and meaning since prehistory, and from the start, Greek philosophers were concerned as much with virtue as with discovering how the world works. What does it mean to live a virtuous life? Is true happiness attained through virtue alone, or something else? What is our purpose? I'm sure a $499 seminar in a cheap hotel conference room will sort out what no one else has managed to decipher in 3000 years.
We might be pure eternal consciousness.
If we are consciousness, it could be that our purpose in life is to allow our immeasurable selves (consciousness) a biological manner with which to partake in this physical matterium. To be a conduit, through which eternity can presently and currently observe its own imagination, so that we can observe the difference between happy and sad, hot and cold, long and short.
Individually, maybe our purpose is to preside over an alchemical wedding in our brains; blue and red, side by side up the lane and into that piney chapel in the center of the skull. Being given the left brain's math and the right brain's art, it is in these moments- here and now- that we are in charge of the music for this ceremony. Our purpose, then, is to snap our fingers, tap our toes, and get this party started!