What is the meaning of life? What is the purpose of life, why am I here on earth? These are 3 philosophical questions go hand in hand when answering them
When you find the meaning of life then you would have also found your purpose in life. The simple meaning of life lies in your purpose on earth and its the reason why you are here
And we are all here for different proposes in life and if you can’t find your purpose on earth then life will turn into meaningless purist where you are just living because you have to but with no end goal you are living for
In fact, if you have no purpose on earth, then your life will also be meaningless and you will just be existing instead of living but when you discover your purpose in life you stop existing and start living
You are faced with the challenge of finding your purpose in life and deciding what kind of life you want but other people can help or guide you in achieving that mostly through their experience
Sadly deciding and wanting what you want can only be achieved by being capable. If you want to be a basketballer you have to be capable of playing ball and not just setting wishful unrealistic dreams
So if you want to play ball and you are not capable, you are short of opportunities, or you lack the required necessities other factors constant like you need to work hard and practice to achieve that goal then that is not your purpose in life.
When something is meant to be it will find a way and if you are chasing a dream that is meant for you in your life even luck and fate will work in your favor since that’s your gift in life
Table of Contents
How to find meaning in life through discovering what your purpose in life is
Just like every part of your body has a purpose whether you know it or not and it’s not there by mistake, in the same way, every creature on earth you inclusive has a purpose which would build up a good eco-system for everything that exists.
For instance, we give trees carbon dioxide and they give us oxygen, remove one and the other will no longer exist or a doctor saves lives and if there are no patients then the doctor would have no purpose in life which literary makes people interdependent
The following points answer the real meaning of life, your purpose and also why you are here and in this instance;
Life refers to that period a human being is alive which is between birth and death where a person is able to carry out self-sustaining biological and physical activities like eating, sleeping, walking, talking or thinking something that cannot be done by a dead person or a non-living thing
Here are 4 answers to help you find meaning in life through discovering what your purpose in life is
1. A family gives your life meaning and purpose
Think about a life where you have no friends and you are living all alone,, what kind of life is that?
So if you have no family the big question would be what do you do with the money you earn that’s if you have a job, and when you are feeling down whom do you talk if you have no sense of belonging with family or friends.
And even when you succeed whom do you celebrate with?
Family is among Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and much as it is a theory, it turns out family will give your life meaning as you will have something to achieve in life and that’s the well being of your family
Family isn’t only your wife and kids but also friends after all human beings are designed for many things and loneliness isn’t one of them
A family gives the factual biological answer as to why you are here because everyone is made out of love not hate.
And since living organisms are designed to reproduce, you end up as an end result of reproduction but on a human basis people reproduce out of love
2. Work can create purpose in your life with meaning
Much as most people work because they have to, it turns out life will be meaningless without work. You can’t honestly wake up every day of your life doing nothing and you think you will have any purpose in life
Work gives you something to work for in life and in this case, it’s a good salary which will help you attain most needs in life or even your personal wants
But apart from working as a necessity to attain our needs in life, life would attain more meaning if you love what you do, and even better if your job can impact other people’s lives in anyway positively (of course every job impacts other people in one way or another)
Take for instance you love being a doctor which means saving people’s lives and that turns out to be your purpose in life which will, in turn, give your life meaning whilst enjoying life because you love what you are doing
3. Religion would give you meaning in life
It’s still debatable if we are here because of evolution or because God created us to worship him
It does not matter much what religion you belong to and in this case, all religions are the same
There is no way we can all be human beings but created by different gods and got put on the same planet by these different gods whom we believe they are supernaturally capable of creating a planet for each of their followers to worship them
Why would they all these all mighty gods from different religions want to share the same planet anyway? This is trying to show you that all the differences in religion are not justifiable.
Religion would also make your life feel purposeful since you good deeds will not go wasted
It would be a lot useless in life to do good deeds and get unrewarded, then someone does a lot of bad things and gets away with it perhaps that’s one of the reasons you can intuitively tell what is good and bad without necessarily being told what’s right or wrong
Remember when we said you here as a result of love, well you are also here because God wants you to be here to fulfill your purpose on earth and God is love let alone loving being the greatest commandment of all
Much as death marks the end of your life irrespective of what you did with your time while you a chance to when alive but at least as far as any human can tell there is a good possibility of life after death
Also creating a relationship with God would make your life feel purposeful
4. Being in a positive meaningful Romantic relationship gives your life meaning
It’s one thing family giving you a sense of belonging whilst giving your life meaning through having something to live for
It’s another thing a romantic relationship giving you a feeling of a worth life. Again humans aren’t designed to be alone but being with a person you love will definitely make you feel like you have something to live for unlike when you are an island
Being in a relationship because you give someone money to love you wouldn’t be a good definition of being in a worth love relationship for a start
Here are good conversational quotes from the movie fault in our stars about what most of us believe a meaningful life should be and am sure that it will change your perception of what a meaningful life is supposed to be;
Hazel Grace:
The Fault In Our Stars
You know, this obsession you have, with being remembered?
Augustus Waters:
The Fault In Our Stars
Don’t get mad.
Hazel Grace:
The Fault In Our Stars
I am mad! I’m mad because I think you’re special. And isn’t that enough? You think that the only way to lead a meaningful life, is for everyone to remember you. For everyone to love you! Guess what, Gus – this is your life! This is all you get! You get me, and you get your family and you get this world, and that’s it! And if that’s not enough for you, then I’m sorry, but its not nothing. Because I love you. And I’m going to remember you.
There millions of things that can create purpose and meaning in life but these were chosen because everything in life is directly or indirectly influenced and affected by religion, money, and relationships.
In the same perspective, the world has only three problems, God(religion as a whole), Woman( relationships and family) and Money(because it can influence and manipulate anything and it is also the benefit of work working).
Let alone that fact the three actually affect your emotional stability, mental stability, and financial stability which in turn affect you in seeing the meaning in life and finding your purpose
Interestingly the solution to each problem is the problem its self, so the solution to God is God, the solution to a woman is a woman and the solution to money is money
You will also realize if you lack any of those, your life is very much likely to feel empty showing that something is definitely missing. A lack of purpose is going to cause a feeling of emptiness in life
Conclusion
Have you understood the featured photo of this article? The picture shows the kind of life we are expected to live ie; we get born, go to school, graduate, get a job, date, get married, start a family, grow old, die and then repeat
This is the expected procedure everyone should follow to have a meaningful life but of course, not everyone follows it as some people never get married, have kids or go to school
Since you can best discover the meaning of life through fulfilling your purpose, the task remains yours to find your purpose in life and for a start, it has to make your life feel complete
Something you love, something to live for and that’s a question you have to answer for yourself because no one knows what you love apart from you
To sum it up, something you are willing to give your soul, body, mind, and strength
Something that can get you out of bed every day willingly and make your stay up all night without hesitation
And if you have a bucket list, go ahead and full fill it because life is supposed to be lived not endured and neither are you here to suffer but to be challenged
Something you benefit from mentally, emotionally and has a positive indirect or direct impact on other people around you
Something you would fail at but you still find one reason to try again because life is supposed to be challenging with problems to solve which gives you something to live for which in turn creates a purpose for you in life
If you find out the activity that makes you do that, then that’s your purpose in life to give you a meaningful life and at the end of it all your purpose should bring you happiness, joy, comfort, satisfaction, and gratitude all of which are intangible but felt