Meanings

I asked a question in my newsletter a few weeks ago: What do you believe to be your purpose in life?

And I’m glad I asked! Readers responded with some really thoughtful answers, and I love hearing how different people respond to (what might superficially seem like) a straightforward question in all sorts of interesting ways.

When I think about this sort of question, I tend to approach it from a few different angles, and that multiplicity of perspectives informs my answer in this case, too.

I don’t personally believe there’s an inherent, single, perhaps spiritual or religious purpose to life. I think that at the most basic level, our consciousness is the consequence of biological evolution (and is probably a riff on what other creatures have evolved), so while it’s truly neat and fun and interesting that we can consider things (and experience life) the way we do, I don’t think it’s meaningful in the sense that we exist for a specific purpose, or in that we’re headed toward any predetermined outcome.

It’s possible to think in these terms and to decide that nothing matters—what’s the point of all this if there’s no upper-management pushing the buttons and flipping the levers that keep all the planets orbiting and stars blinking? We might as well succumb to the (biologically motivated) temptation to just wallow, victimize others for personal gain, or in some other way lean into various flavors of nihilism and solipsism, right?