View Full Version : Purpose and Meaning in Life
I am interested in what this community thinks about the purpose or meaning of life. Do you know what your purpose is? Does it have to be an outward action or commitment, or can our purpose be just to become aware and have self-understanding?
I ask this questions because it is something that I struggle with and I should know by now, almost in my 67th year. Maybe it is a lifelong journey of discovery for some people. I wish I had a real "passion" for something, but I live a very ordinary life. I feel blessed and am grateful for my ordinary life of comfort, but sometimes I think I should be doing something more worthwhile. I do still work and provide for myself, but that doesn't feel like my purpose.
I wonder if it is because I am alone. I have family close by, but most of the time at home I am alone. And that is okay also. I am rambling, so maybe you all have some comments?
Linda :help:
I know, without a doubt, that the purpose of my life is to live it with gusto, to enjoy it. Have fun and relish life because we only get one of them.
I've always been interested in a lot of things and am never bored. At least, not when self directed. My passions make me pretty insular but I am what I am.
Iris lily, that makes a lot of sense. Maybe I am too analytical about it and too judgmental of myself. I like your take on the "big" questions.
flowerseverywhere
6-30-11, 5:15am
To create an atmosphere of beauty and calm around me through my gardens, quilts, yoga practice, drawings and pottery. To be the best spouse, parent, grandparent, friend and neighbor I can be.
Have a huge organic vegetable garden and share the produce. Share a kind word or smile to everyone I encounter. (sometimes this freaks kids out as they are so coached on stranger danger)
and lastly, to tread lightly on the planet and help others through some volunteer work at causes I believe in, at my library, local county nature center and soup kitchen.
To serve God and others! This could be done in so many ways, but for me, it means to meet the needs of my husband, child, and various critters. It also means welcoming others into my home and preparing for the day when DH and I can foster and/or adopt children in need. I am youngish and still learning what else this service might entail, but for now, I am really happy.
Great thread!
To date I have yet to establish (in my own mind) what the purpose and meaning of life is all about. I'm here, that's a fact, but for what purpose? To introduce children into the world? To stay faithful and dedicated to my husband? To daydream endlessly over what life would have been like had I got a proper education and became something? Or maybe, how my life would have been had I been born into a wealthy family?
I think of all sorts of things related to life and it's intricacies, yet never am I gifted with a defining answer as to why. So in speaking for myself I just live with it. I make a point of living the very best I can, I go out of my way to be kind and considerate and caring to all, and I never forget to count my blessings from day to day over the good health I was afforded. As for everything else related to life, daily living, and why I am here, I will probably never know or find out. As the saying goes, "I must not see the big picture"...
I see life as an amazing mystery with no real purpose....I'm OK with that.
HappyHiker
6-30-11, 10:41am
Great question! Like the OP, I often ponder the same thing...and though the 'answer' varies, I've come to believe that my purpose is to become the most highly evolved human being I can be and to do no harm in my passage through this sphere. I try to commit random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty whenever I can. Once someone said I was an "emotional joy-giver" and that compliment made me glow.
My 'livelihood'-- if you could call it that--is as a communicator and I do write and share my writing through a web site, poems, magazine articles and now a novel that's being looked at by an agent (wish me luck!), but my calling is to be a joyful and helpful presence in the world as much as I can.
Something as simple as a smile brightens the world and someone's life, I've come to believe. And me, as smile giver, loves getting one back--it gives me life and happiness.
Being sort of a recluse, a hermit, I've come to gotten comfortable with the fact that I don't have to have a big impact on others to have a meaningful life. I have children, and having an impact on them is very important to me though.
I feel like Jania..........that life is an amazing mystery with no real purpose. And I'm okay with that too!
I enjoy appreciating this earth and feel honored to be an organism on it.
iris lily
6-30-11, 12:18pm
I see life as an amazing mystery with no real purpose....I'm OK with that.
jania, I like that alot!
I also spend a lot of time feeling like I just don't get it. Religion just doesn't work for me. I've tried and tried.
I struggle with finding peace with all of this. I have so much to be thankful for but just don't understand what it is I'm supposed to be accomplishing. I get very restless with daily routines. I'm always feeling like there is something else out there and that I'm wasting precious time repeating what I did yesterday.
This is a very strong longing that I work hard at dealing with. Why am I here? What purpose am I supposed to fufill? Why is everyone else here too?
If its all a big cosmic coincidence I wish someone would let me know. I would live much more recklessly and fully. No rules except to find as much pleasure as possible. I'd stop being so darned responsible.
Mrs. Hermit
6-30-11, 5:24pm
That's a question I'm dancing with right now as I move toward the empty(ier) nest years. Not the overarching question of what am I here for (I am not good at answering the BIG QUESTIONS!), but the more ground level question of what I am here for NOW.
Gardenarian
6-30-11, 10:15pm
My purpose in life is to create more positive energy in the universe.
Well, that's what I tell myself!
:)
I have been struggling with this question for the past couple of years. I am now 55, work fulltime and still have lots of leftover time on my hands. It has occurred to me that since the girls are older, 24 and 30, I have no interests and do not even remember what my hobbies were before motherhood. I really need some frugal hobbies.....will be thinking more on your question.
I also spend a lot of time feeling like I just don't get it. Religion just doesn't work for me. I've tried and tried.
I struggle with finding peace with all of this. I have so much to be thankful for but just don't understand what it is I'm supposed to be accomplishing. I get very restless with daily routines. I'm always feeling like there is something else out there and that I'm wasting precious time repeating what I did yesterday.
This is a very strong longing that I work hard at dealing with. Why am I here? What purpose am I supposed to fufill? Why is everyone else here too?
If its all a big cosmic coincidence I wish someone would let me know. I would live much more recklessly and fully. No rules except to find as much pleasure as possible. I'd stop being so darned responsible.
Two things struck me about your post:
The first thing, why keep "trying" religion if it's not for you? If that's what you mean by being "responsible" (the second thing) then no wonder you are bored with your life. You are living your life according to the voice of someone else talking in your own head telling you what you "should" do.
It's a false dichotomy you've raised, being "responsible" or "reckless." Why in the world do you think leading a "responsible" life isn't inherently satisfying? If you haven't found the path that fulfills you, that's your own fault. If you've set up false limits for yourself based on those "rules" you mention, I have to wonder: why?
You are responsible for your own happiness and direction in life, take charge, seize the day. Good luck!
And hey, it IS all a cosmic coincidence, haha. Well, I think so anyway.
Wow! I love reading all of your responses to my "big" questions. It seems to be part of the human condition that we struggle or, at least, ponder the meaning and purpose of our lives. Your responses have been so thoughtful and really helpful to me. What I am getting from many of you is that it is okay to just "be" and live my life the best I can, do no harm, and love other people. That makes a lot of sense to me. It also lets me breathe a lot easier because it takes the pressure off. I can be the best person I can be, but it doesn't mean I have to accomplish something great to have a lasting impact on the world, whether it's my little world around me, or something bigger. Like some of you said, just being good and loving to my children and grandchildren, and smiling at strangers, is a wonderful thing.
I think the purpose in live is to be happy and to serve. As I recall the Scott and Helen Nearing model, a third of the day spent earning a living, a third spent bettering the self through meditation, excersize, reading , music, etc. and a third serving others. I've never come close t that, but have kept it in mind as an ideal. It seems like such a good balance. Polliwog, I too have some sort of guilt or pressue to go off and accomplish big things, but I think it's just as meaningful to do smaller things in grand ways, if that makes any sense.
As to the meaning of life, it's think it's one great mystery that we will never know of for sure, but should enjoy the journey of trying to unravel it.
The only meaning life has to me is the meaning I bring to the party. That's what gets me up in the morning. I am, like a moth to a flame, drawn towards those "big deal" splashes in the pool of life. Lately, I just sit back and watch other bugs fly into the bug zapper. But, I know myself and things change. I love Albert Camus' story The Myth of Sysiphus... finding meaning in the absurd toil of life. It's liberating. Kinsey studied bugs for years before he studied human sexuality. Today's load of dirty laundry could be tomorrow's social enlightenment, or not. I'm going to make laundry as fun as I can.
The only meaning life has to me is the meaning I bring to the party. That's what gets me up in the morning. I am, like a moth to a flame, drawn towards those "big deal" splashes in the pool of life. Lately, I just sit back and watch other bugs fly into the bug zapper. But, I know myself and things change. I love Albert Camus' story The Myth of Sysiphus... finding meaning in the absurd toil of life. It's liberating. Kinsey studied bugs for years before he studied human sexuality. Today's load of dirty laundry could be tomorrow's social enlightenment, or not. I'm going to make laundry as fun as I can.
The Myth of Sisyphus was one of the things that motivated me to quit my corporate job--that's exactly how I felt, pushing that boulder up to the top of the hill, only to have it roll back down again. I think when you really try to figure out how to make sense of the fact that that we don't know what the meaning of life is you can go the route of existentialism or you can go the route of accepting that we just don't know whether life is absurd or not.
Mighty Frugal
7-1-11, 8:59pm
For me, the purpose/meaning of life is to swallow it whole.
The meaning of life is - it is a gift to live to the fullest extent blessing the most. Smile brightly, laugh joyously, sing with gusto, love with enthususiasm, learn something new eagerly, be grateful for all good, try almost everything once to taste...
...but I think it's just as meaningful to do smaller things in grand ways, if that makes any sense.
Thumbs up to that! Well said, Rogar.
The Myth of Sisyphus was one of the things that motivated me to quit my corporate job--that's exactly how I felt, pushing that boulder up to the top of the hill, only to have it roll back down again. I think when you really try to figure out how to make sense of the fact that that we don't know what the meaning of life is you can go the route of existentialism or you can go the route of accepting that we just don't know whether life is absurd or not.
I have a copy, I love all of that and even tho I have left the workaday world my rocks are still here. More laundry soap to make, dishes to do. I sing and whistle that rock up the hill now. Let's start a Myth of Sisyphus discussion group?
The Meaning Of Life?
Hmmmm. I don't know.
My particular mission seems to revolve around being a mother and hospice nurse right now. I can see a time in my future when my mission shifts to something else. As much as possible, I like to increase joy in the world. I think the world needs more joy.
ApatheticNoMore
7-3-11, 2:41pm
The Myth of Sisyphus was one of the things that motivated me to quit my corporate job--that's exactly how I felt, pushing that boulder up to the top of the hill, only to have it roll back down again.
I'd read it if I thought it would help me never go back :). But really I think I'd need something way more practical for that, like a viable alternative source of income long term :laff:
I like The Plague by Camus but I really think it's very much NOT typical existentialism. It's really a work about human values, humanist. Things like The Stranger and so on, I just did not get.
I don't like thinking too existentially about the meaning and purpose of our lives. I would rather think in practical terms, e.g., to have joy, love, satisfaction in work, living to the fullest, etc. If I keep questioning, then all of the ordinary things I do every day seem trivial. We are here, either by design or by some random event. Since we will never know while we are alive, the question may be just too big and overwhelming. Just like all the responses on this thread, we all must come to the answer ourselves- it is within.
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