Finding a purpose in life has become a big topic lately. But, is there a specific reason you’re meant to be here, or is it up to you to decide what you want to do with your life?
This is a question that makes us think about what’s important to us and what we want to achieve.
Let’s approach this concept with a logical perspective.
When we consider the vast majority of living beings, it’s clear that humans make up a relatively small percentage – maybe around 0.1 to 1% of the total. This raises an interesting point: if we examine the remaining 99% of life, we notice that the majority of species exist without a defined purpose.
They simply exist and continue to thrive, without any apparent intention or direction. This observation encourages us to re-examine our own understanding of purpose and its role in our lives. So, why do humans uniquely believe they have a purpose?
There must be underlying factors driving this phenomenon. It’s crucial to recognize that this inquiry is not rooted in emotions, but rather in intellectual curiosity. The origins of this question may be indicative of the current state of human dissatisfaction, emptiness, or repetition in our lives.
When we’re not content with our present circumstances and are fixated on creating an exciting future, we’re more likely to ask ourselves, ‘What is the purpose of my life?’ – as if it’s predetermined by someone or something. This line of questioning may be an unconscious attempt to break free from the monotony of our daily routines and seek meaning in our existence. To grasp the concept of ‘the future of an individual’, we need to examine how we perceive this term.
In essence, the future of an individual is a projection of their past, shaped by all their experiences, which form the fabric of their ‘memory’. I refer to this as the ‘memory of an individual’ because, in reality, an individual’s memory is limited in scope and scope, unlike the collective memory of all living beings. This individual memory is incapable of accounting for all possible factors when predicting the future, as it is inherently biased by personal experiences and perspectives.
So, what drives our quest for answers to this question? I propose that it’s largely due to our innate tendency to perform actions with the expectation of receiving a reward. This phenomenon is exemplified by animals, which can reap the rewards of their efforts almost instantaneously, such as a successful hunt. In contrast, human beings often face delayed gratification, as seen in the example of earning a college degree after years of effort. From an evolutionary and biological perspective, humans are wired to seek immediate rewards, as evidenced by the release of hormones like dopamine.
This implies that our motivation may be temporary, as our biological programming prioritizes short-term gains over long-term results. This insight may explain why motivation can be fleeting, as our bodies are not naturally adapted to pursue goals that span extended periods of time. As humans, we’ve developed both long-term and short-term seeking habits, often performing actions unconsciously. Over time, this continuous seeking can become a restless, unconscious drive without us fully understanding why or what we’re seeking.
This innate propensity for seeking can manifest as a deep-seated discontentment or an unquenchable thirst, ultimately giving rise to the question, ‘What is the purpose of life?’ This existential inquiry is, in essence, a byproduct of our unconscious seeking, a search for meaning that has become an integral part of our human experience.
So be aware of that and don’t wait for a specific moment when your purpose is supposed to be revealed. Instead, recognize that life is like a blank canvas, you have to decide what needs to be drawn. You have the power to define your own path and to create your own destiny. The sooner you take ownership of this creative process, the sooner you’ll discover the purpose that lies within you.
Regards,
Rajdeep Singh Shaktawat
