My Purpose in Life

I see my purpose both in a general sense and in a particular sense. A general sense of my values and morality and also the particular sense of my actions and decisions. There is the phrase 'knowledge is power', when really I'd say 'purpose is power', being able to affect someone's purpose can be far greater than giving them new beliefs, although they are linked. Purpose is the great power of Religion, it's never said that 'I created my purpose', more like 'I've discovered my purpose in life'. The belief is that we have found our purpose in life, like it was always true, it just took something to realise it. This notion that purpose is an external authority is contained in Religion, there is something 'out there' that wants us to follow a certain path, we are being 'called' to perform some act or belief. Maybe this is the reason for the movement away from old religions, the need to be author of your own ambitions.

I felt the revelation of purpose, as soon as I had started to read philosophy I felt it was my purpose to follow. It was my knowledge that first opened the door, there was something I wanted to add, to contribute to the subject of philosophy. But soon it was more a sense of faith then knowledge, there wasn't a concrete theory that I was going to put forward. There was the belief that eventually the theory would become solid, but mostly it was my ambition to keep thinking to eventually find this knowledge that somehow I knew I had. Now I have a broader ambition, the purpose of my life is not just philosophy, I want to use my knowledge of recovery from severe illness, to help others through mental illness. There is a general purpose of looking after myself and helping people live the life's they want, and also the focus of that purpose on my actions. I keep myself busy, I do my jobs, I go for a run, I do some writing, lots of actions that I force myself to do because I know they are good for me.

The Buddha talks of 'compassion for all living beings', Jesus spoke of 'the meek shall inherit the earth', and Mohammed believed 'charity' was one of the pillars of life. These are the shared purpose, the belief that if we all work together, provide each other with communal purpose, societal purpose, then we can all be happy. But people are selfish, they want the greatest reward for the least action, getting more by doing less, this goes against all attempts at religious life. We need to give more than we take, to accept that our ambitions are not our own, that the purpose of our lives is God given. Purpose should never be one rule for me, but another for him, purpose can be used as a reason not to help someone, 'they have a different purpose', therefore I won't help them. Religion can be used in this way, 'they have a different God', so I can't help them. Knowledge of purpose, that must be the greatest power, to show others their own purpose, and it's something we do every day. Positive relationships guide us and ground us, and make us feel needed, purpose means considering all relationships as important, to give each life a meaning to be fulfilled.