One of the trendy pieces of terminology that seems to have become part of societal jargon rather regularly is this idea that we're all seeking our "life purpose."
There seems to be hundreds — or even thousands — of advice columns, and blogs, and ostensible experts trying to tell us how to find our life purpose, while also trying to explain what a life purpose even is.
Of course, life purpose is a relatively new concept... I think. 200 years ago I doubt anybody thought about such things as life purpose; you just got up to toil at whatever work you had, came home and went to sleep. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Or perhaps you were a landowner or nobility of some sort, in which case you spent your days taking tea, writing letters, reciting poetry, attending balls and eating fancy meals. Lather, rinse, repeat.
It does leave a person wondering whether the whole idea of Life Purpose is merely a marketing ploy to sell self-help books and expensive seminars, ultimately to somehow lure people into paying money to do something that doesn't actually have a great deal of meaning.
My auntie in Denmark — the one who helped raise me — was definitely one of the most content (although not necessarily "HAPPY") people I have ever known. I'm not sure though that she really had a life purpose of any sorts... at least not that she gace thought to. Much of her contentment came from the fact that she had created herself a situation in which she was largely able to do what she wanted, when she wanted, and those things were remarkably basic and simple, and not fancy at all.
I look at life around me, and I can surmise — with a great deal of certainty — that accomplishing a bunch of things and acquiring a lot of material assets have little or no bearing whatsoever on my life purpose. I say that, because it seems like lots of people equate "having lots of things and accomplishing lots of things" with contentment in life.
To be honest, I am more inclined to believe His Holiness the Dalai Lama when he states that "the purpose of life is to be happy." I'm not sure how I feel about the word happy, but I would certainly agree entirely if we substitute in the word "content" for happy.
Don't get me wrong, there was in fact a time when I spent a lot of money and energy on the pursuit of understanding my ostensible "life purpose." Seems like virtually everyone around me was, as well. Alas, I never really found anything that seemed to match my personality and mindset. The primary problem being that life purpose always seemed to be predicated on wanting to become successful and own lots of stuff. Never had interest in any of that.
I am now 65 years old, and I still have no idea what my life purpose is. And I don't really think that I would be able to find one... nor do I care particularly much about having one. I care more about having peace and quiet, time to sit and reflect, and a sense of inner contentment about my existence in general.
I never had any inclination to "change the world," even when I was younger. I might have harbored aspirations of helping individual people find better lives but that was about the extent of it. And it was certainly never my place to tell them how to live their lives... only to point to possibilities they might not have considered, themselves.
But to go so far as to call such intent a "life purpose" would be disingenuous.
Thanks for stopping by, and have a marvelous sunday! If you're watching the World Cup final may the team you're rooting for win!
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2026.07.19 00:40 PDT
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