Why am I living? Why am I living the life that
I am living? Is this all there is? Where am I headed? What is the purpose of my
life?
I have often asked one, or all, of the above
questions, and will take a guess that most people ask the same / similar questions. From time to time, either in short-bursts or over an
extended period, I lose my focus and feel lost. Especially immediately after,
either completing a major task or achieving a long-held goal. The feeling of,
“what next” hits me, along with the feeling - "is this all there is to do,
to work for, to achieve, to look forward to - is there more to life?".
Whether correctly, or incorrectly, we feel the
need to define our purpose, and then work towards fulfilling the defined
purpose. Well - we do live in a goal-oriented society, everyone around us seems
to be chasing goals and many manage to achieve set goals. To live in this
society and live in a manner where an individual lives a goalless life attracts
negativity towards this individual from people around. This individual is
labelled as lost (at best) or careless (usually), with a few other terms in
between this spectrum of lost and careless (lazy, for example).
This post is for all those who want to find
the purpose of their life but have not been able to identify it yet. Most likely,
such a person would be doing something in life - whether studying or working.
Most likely, such a person is either dissatisfied with where she / he is or
unsure about where her / his life is headed (or both). For those who seem to
have identified and defined their purpose of life - continue on the path, but
do think what will happen if you were to fulfil that purpose and you are still
alive?
Fact is - we don't know our purpose...even the
ones who claim to have figured it out. We don't know why we were born, why in
the family that we were born in, why in the circumstances that we were born in,
what our inherent talents are (I believe everyone is born with some inherent
talents - and then some other talents can be developed over the course of
life), and when are we going to die. When we don't know the why of our start and
then when of our end, what tells us that we should know or define what are we supposed to
achieve during this journey called life?
So - what is the purpose of life? Here is the
answer to the question, in its simplest and most honest form: "to
live" is the purpose of life!
Give it a moment, allow the above
to sink in.
My view is philosophical on this
entire question of purpose of life. It started with worrying about what am I
supposed to do in this life - mostly worrying about my professional life, and
not getting any answers for the same. Constant worrying and not getting answers
only led me to believe that I was missing something from my life. It appeared
as if I was wasting away my time, by not doing what I was supposed to be doing.
The only problem, I didn't know what I was "supposed" to be doing,
what was supposed to be my purpose.
In my search for my purpose, I
read many books, consulted many people - including astrologers, and thought
long & hard about this - only to realise the simple fact that my purpose of
life was to live - period! Interestingly, the more I thought about it, the more
I realised this fact is not only true for my life, but also for everyone else.
What does it mean to say that
purpose of life is to live?
For this we need to broaden our
perspective – probably a lot. Think of the yourself as an individual, then as
part of a family, society, culture, country, world…and finally this entire
cosmos. Does it strike you that you are a small (infinitesimally small) part of
this cosmos, yet a significant part. Everything, and I mean every single thing,
in this cosmos is there for a reason, in the manner that it is supposed to be
and when & where it is supposed to be. This means – so are we. We are where
we are supposed to be, doing what we are supposed to be doing, and that means –
we are serving a purpose.
Just because either others can’t
see the value we bring, or claim that we offer only a limited value,
doesn’t mean that is the only value we have. By delivering value, we seem to
convince ourselves that this must be our purpose. In this sense – what is the purpose
for Sun to exist? If Sun is required for life on Earth, is that all there is to
Sun’s purpose. Probably – probably not. We don’t know. It wouldn’t be a
surprise for me if Sun doesn’t know its purpose as well. But that doesn’t stop Sun
from doing what it does – tirelessly, endlessly. Sun is there because it has
been put there. Sun
neither limits its value by thinking it is life on Earth that is its purpose,
nor worries about how this is not enough of a purpose for something of its size
and stature.
With this example, I postulate
that much like Sun continues to live, neither knowing its exact purpose nor worrying
about its exact purpose, yet fulfilling the duty entrusted to its best, we humans
have to do the same. And this would mean – live without worry and without
doubt.
Is this it, then? Is there nothing
more to life?
Yes, this is an acceptable
question to follow the understanding that purpose of life is to live. And this
is where I bring in the concept that we build and define our own purpose. Thus,
we feel fulfilled or unfulfilled basis what we set as a purpose for ourselves.
Consider this: you are walking
down the road when a stranger stops you to ask for time or directions, and you
are able to help out that stranger. Unless something extraordinary happens during
this interaction, you are highly likely to forget about it and move on.
However, this is where I ask you to take a moment and stop to think – why were
you stopped and asked for help, and realise in that very moment, during this
seemingly small and insignificant interaction you were fulfilling your purpose.
Every smile you cause, every little help that you offer to others – on its own
might as well be insignificant and forgettable, but when summed up – the total
of it is definitely significant.
It is in our control to define our
world, our meaning, our purpose – all of which need not be validated or even
agreed upon by anybody else. For as long as we continue to judge ourselves from
other people’s eyes – we will live a false life, whether others see us as a
success or a failure. Simply put, if we are alive and living as
per the values that we believe in, then we are succeeding in life. Thus,
purpose of life is to live.
If you cannot find purpose in your
life, for yourself, try finding your purpose by what you do for others. You don’t
know when, where and who might need you to help them with directions, to help
them reach their destination, to make their life slightly easier and less worrisome,
to add value by bringing a smile to their otherwise mundane moment. Live like the
Sun – living its life without worry and doubt.
As my favourite author Richard
Bach (as per me, a great philosopher) says in his book, Illusions:
“This is a
test to see if your mission in this life is complete, if you are alive, it
isn't.”