How can we find purpose in our lives? What insights might we discover about ourselves if we consider life purpose in a different way?
I’m yet to be convinced that the universe has no inherent design, or that everything could be entirely random. The evidence I’ve encountered leaves me open to another possibility: that the universe is intelligence in constant motion, continually evolving, shaping and reshaping itself – even responding to the power of our thoughts.
If this is the case, perhaps our role is not simply to discover our purpose, but to participate in creating it. We have the freedom to choose how we live, what we value and where we direct our attention. Maybe the act of inventing our own reason for living is a purpose in itself.
But what if we don’t have one?
American author Kurt Vonnegut once wrote: “We are here for no purpose, unless we can invent one. Of that I am sure.”
What do you make of this idea? Does it feel liberating or unsettling? And what happens if we stop searching for a grand, overarching purpose and begin to question whether we need one at all?
Perhaps there are seasons in life when purpose simply doesn’t matter. The days we spend living, doing what needs to be done, without a particular destination in mind. We aren’t striving towards a milestone or working towards the next big thing. We’re just here, experiencing life as it unfolds.
A tree doesn’t need to justify its existence by producing something remarkable. A river doesn’t need to know where it is going to keep moving. Nature has its own rhythms of growth, stillness, change and renewal. Perhaps we are allowed the same freedom.
We tend to think of purpose as something fixed: a calling to discover, a passion to pursue, a contribution to make. But our lives are rarely so straightforward. What gives us meaning at twenty may hold little relevance at forty. What matters during one season may fall away in the next. We learn, create, explore, care for others and rest. Not necessarily in that order.
What if we reframed the question?
Instead of asking, What is my purpose in life? perhaps we could ask:
What makes this life feel meaningful to me, right now?
In your journal write a list of 10 things that mean something to you. It can be anything: food, people, places.
You might discover that life doesn’t have to be purposeful to be meaningful. Perhaps meaning is not something waiting to be discovered, but something we notice, nurture and create along the way.
We can spend a lifetime searching for the one great reason we are here. Or we can loosen our grip on the question and begin to notice the many small reasons we are glad to be.
And if we have no purpose, perhaps we have something else: the freedom to decide what matters.
If you enjoyed thinking about life purpose from a different viewpoint why not try WriteWell‘s next short course Finding Purpose which comes online this November. If you sign up today you can enjoy the writing for wellbeing community platform for 6 months for free.
