What’s My Purpose?
What’s my purpose? This is a question that has popped up in several conversations I have been a part of recently. Whether it’s my corporate friends, entrepreneurs, or people drifting through life; regardless of their current circumstance, we all appear to be pondering the same thing. All seeking life’s deeper meaning.
It’s quite a complex question to consider. As conscious beings, there must be a reason behind consciousness. Yet the answer is neither clear nor simple. Given the frequency at which this question has come up, I too have been wondering about my purpose. Why am I here? Why now?
“Why now?”, is the easiest to answer. Chance. Sheer luck is why I am alive. The odds were entirely stacked against sperm Andrew, just as they were for my numerous sperm brothers and sisters. A trillion to one. But just like Kobe, I just need one shot.
That’s all we get after all, one shot at being alive. That is unless you believe in multiple existences. Although that could be possible, it doesn’t get us any closer to life’s purpose. Surely with multiple lives, the purpose varies. What’s my purpose? Well that all depends on which version of me that you’re asking. If in my past life I was a monk, my answer would probably be pretty profound. Then again maybe I was a plantation owner in which case you probably shouldn’t listen to a thing I’m saying. Ultimately, asking “why now?” doesn’t hold much significance in regards to purpose. We just happen to be alive now.
How about questioning the source of existence? Again, my questions hit a wall. Our only concrete explanation for existing, and thus consciousness, is the Big Bang. A cosmic event that birthed a cause and effect universe yet apparently did not follow the rule itself. Only by this unexplainable occurrence and the subsequent evolution of the universe were the *only* conscious beings created. Exploring this question scientifically, by nature, fulfills its intended purpose and again leaves us with more questions than answers.
I have spent several months deliberating the question of purpose and just as I started to feel the answer was unattainable, eureka struck.
The answer to the question is to keep asking the question.
Sorry for the anticlimactic conclusion. To be fair, I don’t know what you were expecting from a man who tells jokes for a living. But entertain my answer for a moment. Attempting to fix purpose inside a defined box inherently betrays the nature of our conscious spirit. A dog’s purpose is to do dog shit: eat, play, and make people happy. It lives a fixed existence due to its lack of consciousness. Humans, on the other hand, are different. We have the power to recognize our shadow on the wall. We are the only beings able to ask the question and although we may now find a concrete answer, all of us are capable of identifying our unique piece of it.
Purpose is variable, just like us, and much like the universe that birthed us. My purpose today could, should, and will be different from tomorrow. Maybe today my purpose is to make someone laugh, or provide a listening ear, or to work hard, or not work at all. Although the question will never be fully explained, the fact that I’m asking the question is an answer in itself. It’s a miracle that I have the power to ask it and no other spirit can inquire the way I can.
So to my friends and strangers alike who have made it this far, know with absolute certainty that you may never truly know your singular purpose. There may not even be one. Yet if you find yourself struggling to accept that you’ll never know the answer, at least take comfort in knowing that by asking the question, you are fulfilling a part of your purpose.
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