No matter what the month, year, century or era – humans have always searched for the greater meaning of life. Who am I?, Why am I here?, and What is the purpose for all of this? are common questions that have been asked through the ages and continue to be asked to this day by all of us at one time or another.
So what is the answer? Well, it doesn’t seem to be clear… or is it?
So many of us search so hard that we actually make our journeys painful because we think there is this one, right, magical answer – but often there isn’t. In this essay, let’s expand on our discussion about the purpose and meaning of life and what those ideas mean to us.
Purpose
For a scientist, the purpose is the beginning of every experiment. This invokes the asking of a question and a reason to follow through for trying to answer it. Without a purpose, there is no experiment. The same can be said about our lives. I truly feel that it is better to ask, and not have an answer than to never ask at all.
Look around you. There are countless examples of people who fall into one of three areas:
- Those who do not question their life, purpose, or existence. They simply live day to day governed by routines and easily become distraught when one of those routines changes. To them, life generally seems empty or like a struggle.
- Those who ask about life and their purpose, yet don’t seem to find any concrete answers. They struggle some days, see the light on other days, but ultimately are left seeking perpetually without any concrete satisfaction.
- Those who ask about life and their purpose and get answers that are satisfactory to their needs. They have lives that others may see as easy, lucky, or enlightened. They appear genuinely content, at peace, and empowered.
Think of yourself now, and which group you fall into. I find that many people in our society today fall into the second group. Whichever group you associate with, think now of any others that you know who may fall into either of the other two groups. Can you see the connections and how their levels of happiness or unhappiness directly correlate to how they are living life and the choices they are making?
What I have found for me, is that the purpose of life is very simple – it is to experience, express, and expand our consciousness as human beings. How each person chooses to live out their personal purpose based on this general idea is a whole other discussion. I used to think like many others that life was some kind of test or courtroom where one has to prove themselves to be worthy. I definitely don’t think that anymore. As many scientists and teachers in the metaphysical and spiritual fields share, it is imperative to collect answers and data for yourself to find what makes sense to you. After going within and looking both internally and externally and collecting my own data, this is what makes the most sense to me.
Therefore, if this resonates with you, think of it this way: each day is a success for us if we manage to live better today than the day before. Now I use the term “better” here loosely. Better for you and what you define as better. If yesterday you were unable to forgive being cut off on the road, today try forgiving that action. If yesterday you threw litter on the ground outdoors, today put it in an appropriate receptacle. If yesterday you were drawn to drama and gossip in the workplace, today see that this does not improve your state of being or lead to your personal growth. The examples are many. The bottom line is that this is your journey, hence there is no need to look at others or compare yourself with them. See how you can build and expand your own consciousness each day. Imagine what that can do over the years. Imagine what that can lead to in a lifetime.
I deeply feel and believe that we are meant to be here to re-discover the amazing beings of light that we are and the potential we have. We need the contrast that comes with the physical. We need to be able to express our free will. This is why this world is set up as it is. Some people even say that we are God discovering itself. I do not doubt that as a possibility today.
Even though I also believe that nothing is inherently “bad” or “good” – there are of course actions that serve the expansion of our consciousness and those that don’t. Growing in consciousness happens the most when we raise our levels of vibrations. Actions, thoughts or words that vibrate at high frequencies raise our consciousness, an example could be meditation. Actions, thoughts or words that vibrate at low frequencies lower our consciousness, an example could be gossiping. Ultimately we decide with our thoughts, words and actions in which direction we grow.
Thus, every day and every moment you have a choice to declare yourself, and live with the purpose of being, or not. Again – you do not need to agree with me here, you need to find your own truth. This is simply my truth as I know it today.
Meaning
You may have heard that one of the conditions that plagues our human race today, mostly in the developed world is depression. I truly believe that the biggest reason why there exists so much depression today is because people have lost the meaning to their life, or life in general. Giving your life meaning can be very similar to living with purpose, but it is not the same as knowing the purpose of life. There are two ways that I encourage people to find or give their lives meaning:
Give of yourself to others. Nothing will give your life meaning faster or perhaps even deeper, than when you give of yourself to others. You can give through your talents, your words, your actions or in any other way that you can or feel called to. There is just one rule – the giving has to come from your heart with no expectations in return. This also encompasses the fact that it is not about having a “martyr” attitude. Love your life, and let that love pour out onto others in whatever way your spirit calls you to.
And/Or
Follow your passion. This is another way that people can give meaning to their lives. It requires a longer discussion, but generally speaking, when we live from the depths of our passions, we feel like there is a meaning to what we do each day. Think about it this way, when we do things that we do not enjoy, we may say these things are “meaningless” to us. Therefore find your passion, live from it, and what you will normally find, is that directly or indirectly it spills over to giving to others.
Ultimately find something about you or within you that makes you happy to be alive. Be grateful. Help others. And remember also, as in the words of author Neale Donald Walsch in Conversations With God – what you choose for yourself, choose for another. There is no better way to feel what you want, then to cause another to feel it. Therefore if you want to have meaning in your life, cause another to have meaning in their life and see what transformations take place within you.
Live Your Life With Both Purpose and Meaning
What I have found in life, thus far, is that the ultimate happiness, joy and peace comes to us when we live life with both purpose and meaning.
To end off, I invite you to take a moment for some meditation on all of this. Reflect on the following two questions: What do you think the purpose of life and all of us being here is? and How do you give your life meaning? For some inspiration, take a moment to watch the following short video that features music from Canadian artist Marcomé. Marcomé’s music is angelic and features many different beats from around the world, sounds of nature, and meaningful lyrics.