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The Purpose of Life
Sometime back, I had this very brief but interesting discussion with Budhoose Kanjoose. I expressed the view that, somewhere around our middle age, some of us begin to sense the purpose of our lives. He disagreed with me, and I am sure that most of you will agree with him. Still let me put across my case:
Is the purpose of OUR lives met through fulfillment of our own ambitions? Our ambitions generally tend to be: what we want to ‘become’, what we want to ‘own’, how we want to ‘move and shake’ those around us. Right?
Some of us meet some of our ambitions in our lifetime. Others become dissatisfied when we sense that we are nowhere close to achieving our lives’ ambitions.
I think that the purpose of our lives is met even by carving out a small niche for ourselves in the environment around us. This purpose could well be served through the impact, however small, that our presence makes on the lives of those around us - our near and dear ones, family, friends, neighbourhood, society, country, or the world at large. This in itself could well be the only one, albeit small, purpose of our lives. Even small microcosmic effects by one individual towards one other individual’s life would be worthwhile. We don’t have to make a global impact for our lives to be considered ‘meaningful’!
There are so many lives all around us - human lives, cow lives, dog lives, even germ lives! Each one of those was not meant to make an earth shattering contribution to ‘humanity’. But yes, many of those do make their itsy bitsy contributions to the lives of those around them. Maybe those miniscule contributions per se are the purpose of those lives?
Let me give you the example of an octopus. The tentacles contribute by grabbing food, the mouth by internalising the food, the digestive tract by digesting it. All these parts make important contributions. That is the purpose of their existence. Could the octopus survive unless each of its components made its individual contribution towards the survival and even success of the entire organism’s life?
I think most of us are misled and/or brainwashed into believing that we HAVE to make a global and/or ‘great’ contribution, otherwise our lives are wasted. Trust me, life is never purposeless and ergo, never wasted!
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“Even small microcosmic effects by one individual towards one other individual’’s life would be worthwhile” I totally agree with you. In fact I would go further to say that we are all here for a purpose and when that purpose is served we go onto to our next life. Acheivement is a subjective term…. which is often viewed materialistically.
I guess u r partially right…midlife crisis is a well discussed issue all around the globe and depending on wht u aim to b…on a large or small scale..u handle the midlife crisis….some sail thru and some get stuck. Tho I agree that u dont have to make a big difference in the world context, a small difference to one person or one occassion can b equally satisfying…depending on what we aim to achieve ofcourse
true,,well written
In the middle age, say around 40-50 people look for the purpose of life. but actually they want to know what they have contributed in last 40-50 years in their lives. its true that there are stages of life and people come to reach that stage and look back or think the purpose of life. but there are many who know before hand so they enjoy what i have contributed and live more peacefully. this people know the purpose of life… we better realise before we reach 30 years. then we wont wonder like this again in life.
HI a b . how u echo my sentiments. i hd posted a poem in the blogsite captioned mai huun na with similar (not identical) sentiments
its after a long time ….. i stand in agreement with anyone ……… here on this point …..am with you …….
hi ab …….. cdefgh ….wotever …..pupose of life ……… we tend to think its our own chosen ones …….. but then …….. go back in history ….go back in time ……… none have taken to wot them did or achieved …….. voluntraily ……. it was either this …or …that ……. as for ones own dreams …… desires …… n wot all names one would like to give them …..all in all …….. as an argument ……. i do often say …… we are here to serve the plant life ……. we tend to the and provide ……. all that them need ……… as an example …… u tell ur child ….. to cater to thier needs ….. mama/ papa need to work ……. rt ……….. need i say more
an oops yes …… to mr das …… if something puts u in deep thoughts …….. understand just one thing ……. take it from me ….u are in deep sleep …….well friend sleep on ….n enjoy ur sleep
neetha.. whatever each one of us are.. thats NOT what we r intended to be???
May be we all try and justify that ther is a purpose to our lives and whatever and who ever and how ever we are contributing to the society is that purpose of it ! What if the purpose was little more higher than what u do and u r under scoring it ? how do u know? or do u simply say that what ever each one of us are tha what we r intented to be ? that is not a clear justification to me atleast .
u put me into deep thought…
The best u can do in your life is to see that ur soul gets the maximum emotional,physical,spiritual happiness,without in any way disturbing those around or hurting anothrs feelings….MAterialisc goals nevertheless are the bane of this universe…wher in lie the PITFALLS….and bring the feeling of waste-fulness consequent to not achieving GOALS or ambitions…..bb
A Beautiful Post. You said it right.
eat, drink, be merry. kya faltooo dimag dahifying thoughts men!
May be you are right. I am not ”alive” enough to feel the necessity to contemplate on the purpose of life. But I have never come across any woman/man who has been able to tell me about the purpose of his/her life. That is not something that generally gets much attention. I suppose one has to be fairly intelligent to have the urge to inquire. But over the generations the human race has not come a consensus on the purpose/aim of life. Gray areas of philosophy, I suppose.
BRILLIANT REFLECTIONS, APPY!!! You outdid yourself with this post, my dear, dear friend! I loved every single divine word of this post, you atheist, you! HUGGGSSS, Ghost
Yes, you are right. Whatever be the nature and extent of our life we are here to contribute something. In fact, even one raises his/her son/daughter in a proper way to become a worthy citizen of the nation, that’’s a great contribution, even better than many so called social works.
TULIP ON THE TOMB STONE—- a beautiful way of expressing the sheer worthlessness of the gesture that is routinely made after a person has departed inspite of his/her behavior.your post and all the comments here are views from different windows—about the journey of a soul.
all are beautiful and aid in our learning.
sincerely feel more people visit and leave their footprints on this post for greater interaction.
take care
each one plays his assigned role…period.
Beautiful post for reflection. Our lives here could be temporary. Whether we are here to occupy space or to contribute some noise, but we are definite born in this earth to fulfill God’’s will. =-)
Perhaps you are right, but still there is quiet another side to it: I think it is slightly better to believe that we (each and everyone of us) have some so-called earth-shatering contribution to make. For then, it calls on the best within us. But then again, this also leads to misery because not all have such great earth-shattering talent– I think this is one of the reasons that compelled you to write this post. . So to cunclude… I believe this whole issue is open to a lot of discussion and debate. Welll… as fa me… I think me’’s gotta earth-shattering contribution 2 make 2 d cosmos… :)))
me thinks,no matter waht you are,the moment you are born on to this earth,you are surrounded by an immediate group of other living organisms who are affected knowingly or unknowingly with the latest entrant..we live,we lead our life in the best possible way we think it is,we pass away…and the current equation shuffles to a new equilibrium..impact?hmmmm…if a soul takes time time to include you in his/her thoughts,well that for me,is far more fulfilling than that tulip on your tombstone..