The Plague of Purposelessness
“Find something to do that makes you want to wake up in the morning!” “Find your purpose!”, “Do what you love!”
In our world which in the recent years has become the most vibrant, advanced and technologically adept than humanity has ever seen, I’m sure you must have heard this ‘life advice’ being thrown around in social circles. The quote above captures a gist of some of the most compelling life philosophies available in the world today.
Things have changed from the long past centuries where poets and philosophers wondered about the ‘meaning and purpose of life’. Many lifetimes of famous philosophers were spent mulling over why they exist in the first place.
But here in the 21st century, we seem to have figured it out. Examining the life of a regular individual today would indicate that life is about finding happiness and satisfaction. Its about chasing their desires and fulfilling their dreams. And for some, it may be about making money and gathering life experiences.
Although humanity may have discovered that finding happiness, satisfaction and doing what they love may hold the key to living their best life, there are deeper questions we haven’t yet answered.
Why does life without a purpose appear futile to us?
Its quite interesting that finding a purpose is often cited as the key to finding the meaning of one’s life, especially in a Universe which seemingly came about for no purpose or meaning what so ever. (Did you catch the sarcasm?!)
Nevertheless, this famous quote by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a Russian Novelist captures the human struggle for purpose in life.
“ The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.”
Although Scientific materialism claims that the Universe occurred as a result of random chance and with no apparent purpose, our life experience attests to something completely opposite.
The words of Dostoyevsky reflect the way we live our lives, believing that our lives have inherent meaning and some of us go out and strive to find it.
Some people work and rescue human trafficking victims, because it gives them a sense of purpose in life. Another person follows their passion of baking and dedicates their life to culinary creativity. Some write, some read, some travel, some volunteer, some serve, build and toil to give themselves a purpose, a permission if I may say so, to live. Because without a purpose, life for all of us looses its meaning, goal and direction.
But the question is, why? Why are we all desperately in search of meaning and purpose in life? Why does a life without purpose seem utterly futile to us?
Science so far doesn’t seem to provide any reasonable grounds for this. From a evolutionary perspective — “All species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual’s ability to compete, survive, and reproduce.”
So according to Darwin, the human species has achieved its desired end. We have competed and out-survived all our ‘ancestors’. Why should we then look for meaning and purpose in a materialistic Universe? Why do we feel this yearning and churning of dreams, aspirations and a desire for purpose within us?
The most probable answer is, because maybe we are not just materialistic beings after all. We are souls, persons with thoughts, feelings, dreams, aspirations and ambition, things that set us foundationally apart from all other species of the natural world.
If materialism doesn’t fit our view of life and our experience of it as humans, wouldn’t it be the time to seek and truly understand our origin as humans and the profound Universe we live in?