Why You Need To Find Your Purpose And Pursue It
A few years ago, I found myself envying my dogs. It sounds ridiculous, and for a while I couldn't even explain why I envied my dogs
I could list some reasons why it might be:
They had food at any time they wanted,
Someone to play with almost always,
And head pats were plentiful.
None of these reasons truly captured this envy I held for my pets. It wasn't until recently that it clicked: my dogs had a personal purpose.
A lot of people go through life wondering what their purpose is. Once you get through high school or college you're dropped into the world and more often then not people begin asking themselves, "What am I supposed to do?" or "What is my purpose?".
This is pretty common because humans are complex and have a greater sense of self than most animals.
For most of us our needs are met when you work, but this still leaves you with a lot of time to fill. We constantly have a need to fill this time however we can. We go do social things with friends, we find entertainment in games and TV, we create things.
Many people struggle with how they spend this time, they want to be doing something meaningful to them that they enjoy. Finding the perfect fit is often called finding your purpose.
We all want to pursue something greater than ourselves in the end and finding our calling, our purpose feeds that desire for accomplishment.
Earlier I talked about my dogs and how they had met their need for purpose. See, animals have a sense of purpose as well, although it may not be as complex as a humans.
In the wild, animals primary purpose is often survival; their secondary purpose, to protect the others around them. An animal in the wild is preoccupied with these intents and if they do them, they have fulfilled a purpose.
Pets have their primary needs for survival met. They are content and with purpose by being loyal and protecting their owners. My dogs are completely content by just protecting my family and doing dog-things like running and chasing scents. To my dogs, they have achieved their purpose.
While our pets have their purpose fulfilled, their owners are often left pondering what their own purpose is. This is a question philosophers have been asking for some time. It's thanks to Socrates method of questioning that we start to find a personal answer to this question.
THE SOCRATIC METHOD
Socrates believed in pushing people to continue answering questions put forth on subjects such as good and justice. Answering each question often lead to more questions and eliminations of the answers that were deemed contradictory.
Socrates found that this type of questioning led to people having both a deeper understanding of the subject at hand and how they felt in particular.
When applying the Socratic Method to oneself we discover a deeper sense of self. It forces us to achieve a better understanding of our fundamentals. Friedrich Nietzsche, when commenting on Socrates even stated:
"[Sorcrates was a] genius of the heart. . . whose voice knows how to descend into the depths of every soul . . . who teaches one to listen, who smooths rough souls and lets them taste a new yearning . . . who divines the hidden and forgotten treasure, the drop of goodness . . . from whose touch everyone goes away richer, not having found grace nor amazed, not as blessed and oppressed by the good of another, but richer in himself, opened . . . less sure perhaps... but full of hopes that as yet have no name."
In short, Nietzsche believed that Socrates helped people find their purpose, their life-ethic, through his particular line in questioning.
The 5 Types of Purpose
In today's world, many people feel almost pressured to have a larger purpose. With marketing everywhere and celebrities all over media, it's easy to yearn for a different lifestyle.
It's important, however, to understand that there are multiple different senses of purpose. For example the desire to buy new things and live bigger can be classified as personal accumulative purpose.
As defined by Doctor Steve Taylor, author of 'Out of the Darkness' there are 5 different types of purpose: survival, pre-existing framework of purpose, personal accumulative, altruistic/idealistic, and, personal and spiritual.
Survival:
Survival is the most basic of purposes. It's the desire to achieve your basic necessities such as food, water and shelter. This can couple with the desire for survival when threatened. This is the type of purpose that we can assume most animals feel.
Many people meet work regular jobs to meet this kind of purpose, however if you don't find your job truly fulfilling in a different way you will be left searching for a separate purpose.
Pre-Existing Framework of Purpose:
One of the most common forms of finding purpose is to join a community that already has a framework for what a persons purpose is. Religion is the most common framework people turn to in search of purpose. Often this purpose includes which is often to appease their god-figure(s) and spread the religion to others so that they too may find their purpose.
Other pre-existing frameworks may include team or group-supporting activities like watching sports. People look to cheer for the team that they like as part of a community of fans. This can also be for players who may feel a purpose to be the best in their sport.
Personal Accumulative:
As I stated earlier, personal accumulative is relatively common with the existence of marketing and celebrities. Often the desire to be rich and famous, to have the newest things and to be recognized; personal accumulative purpose centers around physical possessions and ones worth may be measured by what they have.
Altruistic/Idealistic:
Arguably the sense of purpose above personal accumulative is Altruistic/Idealistic. This is when the individual begins to focus on not only improving their quality of life but the quality of life for others.
This sense of purpose leads one to become involved in activism. People with an Altruistic sense of purpose are often active in overcoming injustices, attempting to ease suffering of other groups, and or fighting against problems such as climate change.
Personal and Spiritual:
Personal and Spiritual purpose is often brought on by self-exploration and creativity. A person that's working towards their sense of purpose in this manner may be an artist using their craft for self-expression. Or maybe a person that is constantly searching for more knowledge and learning new skills.
Spiritual purpose is often in those who look to transform their state of being to a 'higher level' such as the Buddhist monks that meditate in monasteries for hours on end. Often it's the case that people with personal or spiritual purpose are doing this for themselves and are naturally motivated by the act itself.
Finding Your Own Purpose
Lacking a sense of purpose can be difficult, you sometimes feel like you're searching for something that isn't there. It's not surprising that those who feel they are lacking purpose are more prone to mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety.
Finding your sense of purpose is important; studies have shown that that purposeful feeling can result in improved general happiness and well-being as well as tack years onto the end of your life. Having a purpose in life gives you power over your actions and mind because it spurs internal motivation to fill your potential.
How do you find your purpose? Many authors have attacked this from a number of angles in many separate books but perhaps the ideas I agree with most are those present in Steven Pressfield's 'The War of Art'.
Pressfield claims that everybody has an innate sense of purpose, however we are often told not to follow through with this sense of purpose. One such example is a young man who wants to be a composer but is instead pushed to be a doctor because being a composer is 'impractical' or 'foolish'.
The author argues that we should find our sense of purpose by following through with the things we say we should do. If you say you should write more, do it. Same goes for painting or reading. When we do these things we further understand our interests, strengths, weaknesses and desires.
He dubs the countering influence, the thoughts we are trained to dismiss our dreams with as 'Resistance'. Resistance is a combination of all those statements that tell us our dreams just aren't feasible, that those desires to travel the world or work for an NGO aren't reasonable.
This is the war of art, telling yourself that it isn't reasonable to pursue. It's simple to change once you begin to understand yourself more. When you begin to listen to that voice telling you to paint, write a poem, or whatever it is you've been itching to do, you increase your happiness and work towards fulfilling your purpose.
I'd love to hear what you feel your purpose is in the comments below. What makes you feel fulfilled and energetic?
Don't know and want to explore ideas? Send me a message and let's talk!
