Everyone has so many ideas and dreams that he or she can think of. Not every one can easily be done. I can see from most of people. It is just really hard to take the action of what he or she has in minds. So is the purpose of life of each person. I think what makes you feel happy is enough. It is sort of fulfil your own will that does not make trouble with other people. So, just take the action of what you want to do. :)

I’m also not convinced of the whole “let’s save the world” or “be a servant of man” approach. To truely help someone you must know an awful lot about them and the problem, and sometimes what they truely need is not within your power to give and opposite to what logic would suggest. The world is a strange and topsy turvy place.

Some of my personal problems are common problems for everyone else and I think, ok, if I pursue the answers to my problems I may help one other person or I may change the world. But why do I want to change the world and why do I want to help? The world was doing fine before i came along. Millions have died of famine war and disease and the world keeps spinning – obviously they were superfluous to demand! How can I be so conceited as to think my life actually means something when millions of better men died in vain? Am I not already convinced that politics has done nothing good for mankind since it first appeared?

and the search for purpose comes to a deadend, because I have to accept that whatever good I may be able to do, my ignorance of what should be done may cause more problems than it solves. In any case it doesn’t matter, because the search for answers to common problems is close to impossible and that’s why they are common problems.

So I take comfort in eastern philosphy, as illustrated in some of the above posts and give my brain a holiday: a metaphorical opiate of the mind. But the original question remains unanswered and I can’t ignore that I live within western culture.

Just becasue we can ask a question, does it make the premise it true?

If we suggest to our minds that purpose can be found, does it mean that purpose truely exists? Or have we tricked ourselves?

And why is it so fuckin’ hard to find something true, that doesn’t fall apart under basic mental examination?

thanks for the great post. Tried Steve Pavlina’s method of finding my purpose though I modified the question a little bit. My question was “What motivates me everyday to wake up?”

I bawled when I did the exercise and my purpose??

To laugh and dance with the people that I meet… cause perhaps before we came into this physical existence, we had promised each other that we would meet up and enjoy this adventure (of life) together.

the best part is that it is realistic.

Great post. I agree with everything you have written. I also agree with Gayle’s comments regarding your purpose being serving selflessly. To me if I put two of the concepts together it simply means your purpose may be to give or help or serve selflessly and it could be something you enjoy doing.

Since most of us spend a lot of time at our job, my personal opinion is that having a job that is closely aligned with your purpose is a more fulfilling life experience. I have realized (painfuly :)) that that is not the case for me. I like your idea of creating one if you do not currently have such a job.

What are some thoughts on an individual’s personality and the role it might play in finding purpose? Would it help to look at your strengths, your personality and your passions and align them to find your purpose? I found Enneagram personality assesment fairly accurate (http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/). According to this I am a type 2, helper/giver. I have not found my purpose yet but I am thinking my personality traits may help point me towards the right direction.

Thanks for your article and thanks to everyone who post their comments and shared their views.

KC

If purpose is internal to life (dead things don’t have their own purpose) it is still possible to experience purpose. In my view purpose is part of life. If you don’t believe me try this: I’ll email you a purpose at random, you then get to live by it. How do you think you will go?

Jim