Life Purpose (Part 1): What it is & What it isn’t!

For hundreds or thousands of years, the wisest or the greatest of the world have wrestled with the above question in vain! Actually, insists Dr. Allison, the question regarding life purpose or meaning of life is as old as human race itself! Each discipline and religion has had its time and chance to answer the question, only to return with empty hands, failed and frustrated! In my understanding, I do not attribute the failure to anything like the topic or the question being a difficult one!

On the contrary, the question is too easy or too relevant to ignore! Because of the question’s simplicity and clarity, every speaker, every writer, every theologian, every philosopher, every blogger, every thinker, and everyone else is tempted to give it a shot, to answer it! Sadly, easy topics that attract so many answers usually end up unanswered or wrongly answered! ‘What is the purpose of life’ is one of the most wrongly answered questions on this planet!

READ THIS TOO: The only 3 things that are most important in life

Even if you Googled the topic, your results on the first page are all NOT TRUE. Even if you did the search, specifically on YouTube, the first page has famous videos from famous speakers, but full of CONFUSING answers! I tried typing ‘what is the purpose of life’ on the world’s number one Q&A platform, Quora, and the answers on the first page almost made me run mad! VARYING AND CONFUSING!

Remember, on all of these platforms (Google, YouTube, Quora) and thousands many more, first answers or results on the first page are usually the best. And, sadly, in this case and thousands many more, the best are often the wrong ones! How do I know they are wrong? Because they are different! Always be careful with a question that bears thousands of different answers; you can get lost!

Despite the challenges in defining and figuring out true life purpose, we must get to it. Life purpose is important for life. It gives us fulfillment and satisfaction. Without life purpose, we can’t defeat challenges or get motivated to be or do anything! At the same time, lack of life purpose takes away the sense of direction, further plunging us into real failure. If our lives are to be full or joyful or satisfied or find pleasure or fulfilled, we must find and serve our LIFE PURPOSE, which takes us back to the real question, what is life purpose?

Life Purpose: What it is, and What it isn’t!

Lack of clear definition of life purpose accounts for a considerable percentage of the wrong answers we hinted on above. According to Allison, some think that ‘our purpose is to find happiness. Others say our purpose is to love others, to become the best version of ourselves, or to follow God’s will. Still others say there is no purpose to life at all’. But life purpose can’t be all the above; some must be right and others wrong! Take, for example, those who think that life purpose is about what you do! Can this be true? No, I suppose! Life purpose is more than that. Life purpose can’t be about external achievements, at least not them only! How about the life purpose of a kid, a baby who hasn’t understood or even done anything yet? Wait! Could life purpose be about the internal worthiness; what is the purpose of you, you alone alive? What on earth are you for?

While their work has a lot of holes on life purpose, Dr. Kashdan and his colleague, Patrick McKnight, give it a fair try: ‘Life purpose is a central, self-organizing life aim. Central in that, if present, purpose is a predominant theme of a person’s identity’ (see the summarized article here or see the full original work here). In other words, life purpose isn’t just the achievable goals in life; it is more than that! Listen to Reker and Wong’s 1988 definition: Life Purpose is the “cognizance of order, coherence and purpose in one’s existence, the pursuit and attainment of worthwhile goals, and an accompanying sense of fulfillment”

READ THIS TOO: Life has never been about us, not even our Good choices!

In other words, Life purpose is that aim that isn’t lost when your dreams crash, when your businesses shut down, when your life is cut short by an accident, and you lose the arms or legs or the eyes or the ears you were using to serve. Life purpose goes beyond that! It is just the sole aim for living! Life purpose isn’t about success. Living the most successful and wealthy life isn’t necessarily the same as living your life purpose!

Philip Wijaya, in his article, what is the true meaning of life, asks a troubling question and proposes a stronger take to all those who propose or confuse life purpose with life accomplishments. His question goes like this:

‘Suppose life is about all the above-mentioned (the life achievements), would someone then be truly fulfilled after achieving all those good things? (In Bible, Matthew 16:26 says No! What does your philosophy say?). How about people who, unfortunately, could not do likewise? For instance, war victims, natural disaster casualties, stillborn babies, etc. – Is it fair to conclude their lives were simply meaningless? Of course not! What do you think? Just because someone has had (or done) more good things in life does not necessarily mean their life is more meaningful than those who do not. More fortune does not simply represent more meaning.’

Perhaps, a better definition comes from Theology of Work: ‘Perhaps we should think about our life purpose, less in terms of accomplishment, and more in terms of faithfulness, even in small things! (a little paraphrased). In other words, it is possible for the physically incapacitated to actually live fully their life purpose just as it is for anyone else! This is because life purpose isn’t about material or even psychological accomplishments like peace, calmness, happiness, balance, self-esteem and more, but living faithfully in line with the creator’s grand purpose.

Rick Warren, the famous author of the famous book, Purpose-Driven life, instructs: “Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose, life has no meaning. Without meaning, life has no significance or hope”. In this regard, John Piper possibly has the best definition: Life purpose is to live while making Christ look magnificent!

“Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” (Isaiah 43:6-7).

In other words, John Piper and ‘our fellows’ at Theology of work are saying, life purpose is living for God’s glory! Period. And, talking about God’s glory, contends St. Paul, it is possible whether we live or die, accomplish great things or small ones. All life lived in faith is pleasing and glorifying to God!

But wait! What about those who don’t believe in theology, in God of the Bible? What is life purpose in psychology, science, and philosophy? Fair enough!

Of course, I have already highlighted that, to many scholars (specifically, positive psychologists, meditation or spiritualism, Buddhism and yoga experts), Life is about self (either in terms of accomplishments or peace of mind or happiness). In these writings, I will have to analyze these takings and come up with a clear picture for you. We will see if we really can find life purpose in serving a higher purpose (for example, God or god as theology and philosophy seem to propose) or mind enhancement techniques or, simply, life accomplishments as science, specifically, psychology proposes! 

In Part 2, we will explore life purpose according to science and psychology!

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