What is the Purpose of Life?

Last Updated on September 27, 2023 by The Unbounded Thinker

The Big Question

Today, many people are asking the question, what is the purpose of life? Personal development coaches, modern mystics, religious leaders, and many other people who contemplate life have offered several answers to this question.

The Answers to the Question, What is the Purpose of Life?

Personal Development Coaches’ Opinion

Personal development coaches have responded to the question, what is the purpose of life? by claiming that our life’s purpose is to set goals and pursue them. Although many people support this answer, I disagree with it because goals cause anxiety and make us focus on the future rather than the present moment, where life exists. Goals can lead to depression or disappointment when not achieved. They might also result in over-planning, overpreparing, and overthinking. For these reasons, some individuals believe the best goal is no goal.

Although setting goals provides clarity and motivation to pursue what truly matters to us, we don’t have to set goals for us to have a good life because a life without goals is sometimes less stressful than a life with goals.

Environmentalists’ Opinion

Many environmentalists claim that our purpose is to take care of the environment. Environmentalists are wrong because nature does not need us, we are the ones who need nature. Nature can survive without us. For as Harrison Ford observed, “Nature is not dependent on human beings to exist. Human beings, on the other hand, are totally dependent on nature to exist. The growing number of people on the planet and how we live here will determine the future of nature.

Mystics and Religious Leaders’ Opinion

Mystics and Religious leaders respond to the question, what is the purpose of life? by claiming that our purpose is to unite with God. Although this answer is sensible to those who believe in God, it has various weaknesses. First, it does not apply to atheists. Second, is it necessary to strive to unite with God considering that we are one with God? Third, not all human beings have an instinctive desire to unite with God.

A Common Opinion

The most common answer to this big question is that we were created to reach our full potential. This answer is almost correct because all creatures are designed to grow to their full potential. However, this answer is also incorrect because death prevents most creatures from reaching their full potential. Moreover, some creatures cannot reach their full potential because they are born with disabilities.

The Right Answer to the Question, What is the Purpose of Life?

The different answers to the question, what is the purpose of life? show that humans do not why we are here. For this reason, the right answer is that life has no purpose. The meaning we give to life is founded on our assumptions and belief systems.

No one will ever understand life even when they commit themselves to studying it. As Sadhguru, the Indian Mystic, explains, “Life is so phenomenally intricate that if you spend ten thousand years looking at it carefully, you still will not know it entirely.”

Therefore, stop wasting your time trying to understand life’s purpose because you will never know it. Instead, focus on living and experiencing life the way it is.

Nevertheless, you are free to give life a purpose and try fulfilling it because a purposeful life might make you decisive, content, and resilient. But always know that your life’s purpose is personal and subjective and you don’t have to impose your beliefs about the purpose of life on others. Moreover, don’t pressure yourself to fulfil your life goal because it is based on assumptions and belief systems and it’s not life’s ultimate goal. And lastly, don’t let other people’s answer to the question, what is the purpose of life? put so much pressure on you. Live your life and let others live theirs.

“The greatest thing about life is that there is no meaning to it.” – Sadhguru

“Life is its own goal. All achievement is the projection of the ego.” – Osho

Shalom.