you look around and you see people making a differance in the world. some for the good and some for the worst. What bothers me the most is that some of these people have so much money and influence. Some have so much talent. Its as though God has blessed them with these things. I look at my self and say wat is my purpose. why am i here. I sometimes feel like a statistic or a pawn or just somebody in the audience watching others perform. I try so much to achieve, look for opportunity but all i get is emptness. I used to think that 1 day i would change the world or become a big time, influential business man but i'm stuk in a dead end job which doesnt even have security. I pray but get no answers. I ask for gudence but still dont know where im going. I feel trapped but dont know how to get out. is there any1 out there who has ever felt like this at some point in their life.
What is the purpose of life?
The philosophical question %26quot;What is the purpose or meaning of life?%26quot; means different things to different people. The vagueness of the query is inherent in the word %26quot;meaning%26quot;, which opens the question to many interpretations, such as: %26quot;What is the origin of life?%26quot;, %26quot;What is the nature of life (and of the universe in which we live)?%26quot;, %26quot;What is the significance of life?%26quot;, %26quot;What is valuable in life?%26quot;, and %26quot;What is the purpose of, or in, (one's) life?%26quot;. These questions have resulted in a wide range of competing answers and arguments, from scientific theories, to philosophical, theological, and spiritual explanations.
These questions are separate from the scientific issue of the boundary between things with life and inanimate objects.
Popular beliefs
%26quot;What is the meaning of life?%26quot; is a question many people ask themselves at some point during their lives, most in the context %26quot;What is the purpose of life?%26quot; Here are some of the many potential answers to this perplexing question. The responses are shown to overlap in many ways but may be grouped into the following categories:
Survival and temporal success
...to live every day like it is your last and to do your best at everything that comes before you
...to be always satisfied
...to live, go to school, work, and die
...to participate in natural human evolution, or to contribute to the gene pool of the human race
...to advance technological evolution, or to actively develop the future of intelligent life
...to compete or co-operate with others
...to destroy others who harm you, or to practice nonviolence and nonresistance
...to gain and exercise power
...to leave a legacy, such as a work of art or a book
...to eat
...to prepare for death
...to spend life in the pursuit of happiness, maybe not to obtain it, but to pursue it relentlessly.
...to produce offspring through sexual reproduction (alike to participating in evolution)
...to protect and preserve one's kin, clan, or tribe (akin to participating in evolution)
...to seek freedom, either physically, mentally or financially
...to observe the ultimate fate of humanity to the furthest possible extent
...to seek happiness and flourish, experience pleasure or celebrate
...to survive, including the pursuit of immortality through scientific means
...to attempt to have many sexual conquests (as in Arthur Schopenhauer's will to procreate)
...to find and take over all free space in this %26quot;game%26quot; called life
...to seek and find beauty
...to kill or be killed
...No point. Since having a point is a condition of living human consciousness. Animals do not need a point to live or exist. It is more of an affliction of consciousness that there are such things as points, a negative side to evolutionary development for lack of better words.
Wisdom and knowledge
...to master and know everything
...to be without questions, or to keep asking questions
...to expand one's perception of the world
...to explore, to expand beyond our frontiers
...to learn from one's own and others' mistakes
...to seek truth, knowledge, understanding, or wisdom
...to understand and be mindful of creation or the cosmos
...to lead the world towards a desired situation
...to satisfy the natural curiosity felt by humans about life
Ethical
...to express compassion
...to follow the %26quot;Golden Rule%26quot;
...to give and receive love
...to work for justice and freedom
...to live in peace with yourself and each other, and in harmony with our natural environment
...to protect humanity, or more generally the environment
...to serve others, or do good deeds
Religious and spiritual
...to find perfect love and a complete expression of one's humanness in a relationship with God
...to achieve a supernatural connection within the natural context
...to achieve enlightenment and inner peace
...to become like God, or divine
...to glorify God
...to experience personal justice (i.e. to be rewarded for goodness)
...to experience existence from an infinite number of perspectives in order to expand the consciousness of all there is (i.e. to seek objectivity)
...to be a filter of creation between heaven and hell
...to produce useful structure in the universe over and above consumption (see net creativity)
...to reach Heaven in the afterlife
...to seek and acquire virtue, to live a virtuous life
...to turn fear into joy at a constant rate achieving on literal and metaphorical levels: immortality, enlightenment, and atonement
...to understand and follow the %26quot;Word of God%26quot;
...to discover who you are
...to resolve all problems that one faces, or to ignore them and attempt to fully continue life without them, or to detach oneself from all problems faced
Philosophical
...to give life meaning
...to participate in the chain of events which has led from the creation of the universe until its possible end (either freely chosen or determined, this is a subject widely debated amongst philosophers)
...to know the meaning of life
...to achieve self-actualisation
...all possible meanings have some validity
...life in itself has no meaning, for its purpose is an opportunity to create that meaning, therefore:
...to die
...to simply live until one dies (there is no universal or celestial purpose)
...nature taking its course (the wheel of time keeps on turning)
...whatever you see you see, as in %26quot;projection makes perception%26quot;
...there is no purpose or meaning whatsoever
...life may actually not exist, or may be illusory )
...to contemplate %26quot;the meaning of the end of life%26quot;
Other
...to contribute to collective meaning (%26quot;we%26quot; or %26quot;us%26quot;) without having individual meaning (%26quot;I%26quot; or %26quot;me%26quot;)
...to find a purpose, a %26quot;reason%26quot; for living that hopefully raises the quality of one's experience of life, or even life in general
...to participate in the inevitable increase in entropy of the universe
...to make conformists' lives miserable
...to make life as difficult as possible for others (i.e. to compete)
What is the purpose of life?
How to Know Your Life Purpose
plus
How You Can Make a BIG Difference
(From the works of Buckminster Fuller %26amp; Dr W. Edwards Deming. The pictures of flipcharts are from a seminar I did called %26quot;Money %26amp; You%26quot;. See www.excellerated.com).
Have you ever set a goal and achieved it? And then felt flat afterwards?
This has happened to most of us.
If we feel flat after achieving a goal, then maybe the goal isn't what's important. So if it's not important, why do we set goals? I'll get to that.
We all know of the many problems facing the earth and its people. And I believe that most people would like to do something about it, but they don't do much about it because they believe that what they do will not make any difference. That was how I used to feel.
Then one day I did a seminar where I learned about the teachings of American Buckminster Fuller. I learned about my life purpose, and how I can make a big difference.
Buckminster Fuller is one of the greatest inventors and thinkers of the twentieth century. There is a story that his life was once like most people's, full of going to parties, football etc. He was a bit of a ``wild lad%26quot; in the early days. Then something happened which changed his life forever. His daughter Alexandra who was only around 6 years old was very sick at that time. He left the house one day, promising to be back soon. Before he left, he promised Alexandra he would bring her back one of the small flags that they have at the football, as it was her birthday.
Buckminster Fuller didn't return home after the football. He didn't return home for three days. Presumably he was partying. When he finally arrived home, his wife told him to not waste time apologising to her, but to go upstairs and see his daughter immediately. Alexandra had taken a turn for the worse. When Fuller picked up his daughter up in his arms, he said hello to her. Then she asked him if he had it. This disappointment was enough to end her slender hold on life. She died in his arms.
After that Fuller felt so bad he went for a walk, and decided to end his life. But , the story goes that he heard a voice saying something along the lines -
``You do not have the right to end your life. It is not yours to end. Your life has a purpose. You have not yet done what you came here to do.%26quot;
After that he began to search for the purpose of life, God and the universe.
awww poor you. I know how that feels because I felt that way too but always remember you are special you are you , you are unique ! If you develop more confidence in yourself, your intellect , vocal abilities and ability to talk to people you will succeed. I did yoga and meditation for a few years and that is how I gained permanent wisdom, knowledge and confidence. All you have to do is believe! Do something you love and are good at. Just because you are not a Hollywood film star or a president doesn't mean you aren't a success. Do what you love and you will be happy and happiness is the greatest success.
Don`t give up! Become clear what you really want.
Is what you want really based on a wish to do something good or a wish to be important? Separate this two feelings.
If you want to make your life purposeful start with making another persons life better. Give the cleaning lady a smile or say a nice hello to your neighbor. If you help others, if you love others you will be helped yourself.
A top position, lots of money, influence does not mean you are happier then a person who does not have that! It is an illusion to think that. I talk here from own experience and I know many people in this positions. Better do something coming from your heart. Do not compare yourself with others.
Comparing breeds bitterness.
Added that a day later: Often God does not answer, as we are not grateful for the beautiful things we already have. If you always concentrate on what you miss you will get nothing more. On what you concentrate gets stronger. Concentrate on the good, then this gets stronger.
Life is to live for yourself and let others too to live and get help from some and you too help some
Dear friend, life is not a target by itself. Life is a qualification exam to conclude that the person is the suitable candidate for heaven Or hell. Usually any exam includes a lot of questions with different grades of difficulties. Different religions offer help to people to pass the exam successfully %26amp; enjoy the endless life in paradise. Wise people are only those who invest their lives to find the true way leading to paradise. I recommend that you go through %26amp; study the 3 different famous religions so that you can achieve your happiness %26amp; satisfaction. GOOD LUCK
Yes many feel this way. Maybe I will be stuck doing useless work for a useless wage but i'm not sure it all has to be suffering: I can use my thoughts and my conversations as much as I want. I have many many fears which I couldn't really help, and just tackling one has kept me going for 5 years despite all the rubbish. Changing the world seems great maybe but for now I'm happier writing this. Is this a compromise? Yes. am I happy with it, for now.
Why don't you read the people who were supposed to have changed the world: Paine etc. very often what they wrote then would change the world now, if we let it.
Follow a true voice of freedom and you will feel more fear, and be more scared of being in a battle, but less empty. You say God gave these other people stuff. I wonder what 10 things you would do if you had their talent (things to do, not to have yourself)? Is there one thing on that list you could set out to.
Purpose of life: imagine life as a figure on a horse leading us forward, and you will find a purpose maybe. I am shambling through life looking at my feet too much, trying to pick myself up; today finds its purpose for me.
If you are truly sincere, you will find the answer to all your important questions here ... and, for that matter, the answer to your dreams:
www.lds.org
... but you will need to thoroughly investigate it; and you will need to do so with integrity and meekness and sincerity.
%26quot;Except ye become as a little child, ye cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven%26quot;
You are actually seeking a feeling of purpose instead of real purpose. You get the feeling by looking at real and imagined praise from others. You're imagining judging your worth through the eyes of others and you're getting some sort of feeling. But it is just a feeling; an illusion really.
Real purpose can only come from your Creator/God. Here's what atheist Bertram Russell said about purpose:
“Unless you assume a God, the question of life’s purpose is meaningless.” –Bertrand Russell (20th century philosopher, mathematician and Nobel Laureate)
You say you pray so I presume you accept that your Creator exists. Listen, your purpose is not to do something big or exciting or make a difference, blah,blah. Your purpose is to seek your Creator; to come to know your Creator and to find your joy in Him. All else, all other things will automatically spring from your relationship with your Creator. I will warn you that God may want you to suffer and die with absolutely no recognition. Jesus said, %26quot;count the cost%26quot;.
We find God in loving our neighbor for where love is, there God is also. That is also the title of a short story by the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. It is a wonderful story that tells us for what we must live. You can find it on the internet at:
http://www1.umn.edu/lol-russ/PopLit/wher…
It was a powerful influence on my life.
I know what you mean.. I recommend that you read this book %26quot;The Purpose Driven Life%26quot; by Rick Warren. There are a lot of answers to your questions. Trust Me!!!
Awesome Book!! Guarantee..
Good Luck Sweety!!
