Introduction
My first graduate school professor, a seasoned private practitioner with a strong resemblance to Sigmund Freud, began with, “You cannot fully appreciate life until you fully come to peace with your own mortality”. We sat in silence, absorbing the weight of his words. Jean-Paul Sartre stated that once we fully grasp our mortality, any sense of life’s deep meaning becomes illusory. Some question the value of hard work, education, and self-improvement if death makes it all futile. Yet, Thoreau lamented that many reach the end of their lives only to realize they never truly lived. So, what does it mean to live fully, and what is the purpose of life?
Personal Reflection
I often work on holidays, and Labor Day 2024 was no exception. Several people teased me, joking that it was ironic to labor on Labor Day. That evening I received a text from my sister, telling me our father had passed away. As a father of eight, he worked tirelessly, holding two full-time jobs for 20 years. He’d leave before I woke up and return long after I had gone to bed, putting in 80-90 hours a week. In his rare free moments, he volunteered to help others. I’ve never known anyone who worked harder. It is fitting that I learned of his passing on Labor Day. Yesterday, we laid him to rest at 92.
The Meaning of Life
I’ve frequently encountered people wrestling with the question of life’s purpose. A quick search of Psychology Today reveals dozens of articles on this topic. With 4,000 religions worldwide, despite each holding truth claims, consensus is elusive. Even the five major religions- Buddhism (506 million), Hinduism (1.2 billion), Christianity (2.4 billion), Judaism (15 million), and Islam (2 billion)— offer vastly different, often conflicting perspectives. Additionally, there are 394 million adherents to Chinese traditional religions, 300 million to ethnic religions, 100 million to African traditional beliefs, and 1.2 billion secular or nonreligious people. Most follow the belief systems they were raised with, yet their beliefs contradict those held by billions of others. For the non-religious, philosophy offers its array of answers: Nihilism, Existentialism, Stoicism, Hedonism, Marxism, Logical Positivism, Taoism, Rationalism, Relativism, and more. While both religion and philosophy provide frameworks for exploring life’s purpose, finding one’s own answer is a deeply personal search. How you answer it will shape your entire life.
The Miracle of Life
Every time I contemplate this question with others it becomes a fascinating exploration. Those prone to delve into this search for answers are usually bright, introspective seekers looking for a deeper purpose. They often pose the question rhetorically, assuming the lack of obvious, agreed-upon answers renders the question futile, defaulting to a nihilistic view of existence. “What’s the point if we all die and all is thus for nothing?” While I can’t provide them with their answer, as theirs will be deeply personal, I do emphasize how valuable their inquiry is. Reverencing the profundity of the question, rather than dismissing it given no ultimate universal answer, sets the stage to engage in the search in a profound, soul-searching way.
The Commonality of Life on Earth
On a planet teeming with life, it’s easy to overlook the miracle it truly is. Fruit flies seem to materialize from nowhere; mosquitos return each spring; the ocean is home to a quarter million species; while 11,000 bird species grace the skies. Surrounded by such abundance, we often take omnipresent life for granted. We can hardly conceive a world without life, barring some horrid calamity.
Life’s Miracle Viewed from the Stars
The miracle of life is best highlighted against a vast, lifeless universe. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, has 200 billion stars. Our sun is just one of them. Some 3,200 of those stars have planets orbiting around them. And the Milky Way is just one of an estimated 200 billion-2 trillion galaxies in the universe. Yet life remains elusive beyond our Earth. Not a single bacterium has been found elsewhere, even though 100 trillion inhabit each human gut. Finding even one single celled organism beyond Earth would be the most miraculous discovery ever. The universe’s default state is lifelessness. Life on Earth is a cosmic miracle. More remarkably, humans are the only known beings capable of pondering the meaning of that life. “Cogito, ergo sum” (“I think, therefore I am”) implies that our conscious minds allow us to contemplate the reason for our own existence. Other life forms simply follow their genetic blueprint. We alone have the ability and privilege to define our purpose, enhance our experience, and create our own meaning for the time we have between life and death. In this manner we can arrive at the end of our lives knowing we fully lived the life we wanted to live, with little regret.
The Evolution of the Search for your Answer
At birth we enter life as blank slates. We absorb the traditions and culture around us. Our early years are shaped by family, instilling their values and guiding our development. As we grow, peers, teachers, and personal experiences influence us. We begin to discover what resonates with us. Our talents and individuality emerge. By adolescence and young adulthood, we begin questioning how well our inherited narrative aligns with our own vision. Many embrace their upbringing in its entirety, others make certain modifications, while some forge a new path. This journey often starts with the question, “What is the meaning or purpose of my life?” As Morpheus in The Matrix says, “it’s the question that drives us”. Serious questions merit dedicated searches for answers. While no one can provide these answers for us, the search itself is invaluable. Defining a clear purpose fuels motivation, guides relationships, and shapes who we are. Life is less daunting and more meaningful when we decide what we want to experience and become. The fact that we are alive is the miracle of the universe. How amazing it is to get to choose what we make of it.
Final Personal Reflections
My father lived a long life with a clear sense of purpose. For 92 years, he stayed true to that purpose, despite human imperfections. We shared many core values and morals, yet some of our priorities differed. Nevertheless, we both determined what matters most in our lives. The fact that our purposes were distinct yet deeply meaningful shows that life holds great significance even for those with different answers to the ultimate question.
Rest in peace, Dad. Thank you for the lessons you taught, both in word and by example. While my path diverged from yours, I admire your unwavering dedication and am equally passionate about my own. Finding my purpose was a transformative journey, but once I did it made all the difference for me. I hope everyone finds and passionately pursues their own answer to life’s big question, as you have done and I will continue to do.
