BootsnAll Travel Community

just yesterday I was asking some peeps I know if they were happy with their lives and what were they living for. Some were happy with their jobs and families, others were a bit disgruntled with their jobs, but didn't do anything about it, just waiting for something to happen. For the most part they seemed to be settled in their lives.

I'm 28 and I feel I'm no where as settled as other people my age (supposedely) are. For instance, my brother's about to get married, is studying Law, and generally I'd say has all these little goals and purposes to life that I feel I'm missing.

Is it because I'm single? Is having some companionship for the good, bad and boring times enough? Right now I feel like I have no passion to speak of, and that I need to discover that - a girl in my life would make it too confortable for me, and I wouldn't want to step out of my routine (i do that when in relationships). Unless she's adventurous and wants to go out and about (and I'm not talking about travelling per se).

Anyway - is the purpose of life to just have good friends, a significant other, a good job (whatever THAT may be - this is not a rat race/corporate disgruntlement issue here), and just go through life with those in hand? Maybe have some job or hobby that you're passionate about?

...open for discussion...

'There is only one success ... to be able to spend your life in your own way, and not to give others absurd maddening claims upon it.'
Christopher Morley

Actually since I've had no luck finding love, I think that the purpose of life is to leave behind a legacy: creative; inspirational; or tangible..

Big topic, but that's because I'm revisiting my life's purpose yet again.

I think, at its foundation, the purpose of life is to do things. The trouble I keep having is about what those things should be. Unlike borderland, I've had some luck finding love, but no luck keeping it alive. Me and love are like a five-year-old with a hamster only sometimes I'm the kid and sometimes I'm the hamster. Needless to say, at 33, I've pretty much given up on settling down and having a family.

So, what is the purpose of life if you don't procreate? I keep moving forward and maybe someday I'll be able to answer that question.

I think the purpose of life is to be happy. Simple as that. There have been times when I think that I should be doing this or achieving that and if those things made me happy then I did those things. In hindsight, I disliked all the things that I felt I had to do just to keep in the acceptable realms of society or to please family or fufill works expectations of me (instead of my own). I play guitar but don't mind if I don't get any better - it's just something I like to do. I care less now and read more which is nice. I like the gym but if I don't fancy it, I won't go. My job.......... erm, my job sucks but I'm leaving it once I sell the house so I can see the world. I have no-one special but loads of friends. I'm not in love but I'll never give up on it.

elv

There's a slight difference between the purpose of life, and the purpose of your life.
You can do what you want with your life. Have experiences, own things, love someone. And for the duration of your life be fulfilled. And when you're gone, that's it.
But the purpose of life itself, as a concept, (I think), is to make some contribution to the betterment of humanity. To somehow make the world a better, or richer, or better understood, or more beautiful place than it was before you were put here.
SkyAnnie: I should have explained things better. I did find love too, but like a hamster in a five-year old's grasp, it slipped away

You know how when you little you marvel at how ablolutley amazing a rainbow is or stare at the night sky transfixed by the stars? Then you get older and people explain to you that a rainbow is sunlight spread into a spectrum of colors and that the stars are just balls of gas rising and seting on the horizon.

Losing the mystery takes away that childish sense of wonder. Maybe knowing the purpose of life takes away from the enjoyment. I guess I perfer the mystery.

This is what I wrote a year ago, when I was writing a lot:

The purpose of life, I am beginning to learn, is simply to live. To enjoy life, to get the most out of it, to experience what we have the chance and desire to experience. Because, quite frankly, there may not have been a reason for my birth....even if there was no reason for my birth, no cosmic purpose, it happened and I am here, and boy, oh boy, I should take advantage of it. I should do what I was designed to do (I'm speaking biologically, here), and live my life. Now, even if there was no reason for me popping into existance, it doesn't mean there can't be a reason that I live for, or a goal that I have in mind. It doesn't mean I have to resign myself to just float along as an unimportant, hopeless person out of the billions of people alive today. I am important in my small little world and I value my life...as I'm living, I'm not following a set purpose, a set path, I'm just living out my life and reacting to situations as they come along. It's only after I'm dead that people in the future would be able to say "Lynn's purpose was to do ___in life, and because she did ___ , ___ happpened."...The individual, then, has no set "purpose" in life other than living his life, but perhaps life as a whole, and humanity in particular, has a "purpose" -- a point, if you will, of being in existance....And by carrying the Carpe Diem phrase to heart and by stating the purpose of life is to live, I'm not thereby throwing all morality and kindness to the wind and am not condoning carefree, thoughtless, harmful behavior all in the name of having fun and enjoying life. I'm simply condoning life, an appreciation of it, a happiness of being alive and valuing the Earth and our mortality.

----

I might change a few thoughts now, but in general I still feel the same way. I would stress though that I think the individual sets his own purpose in life, for better or for worse. It gets trickier though when you extend it to humanity.

Lynn

"The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time."

~James Taylor

Makes sense to me!

Interesting question. I just finished this "self help" book (God, I am blushing with embarrassment having admitted that); called "The monk who sold his ferrari". It's about how to become more passionate and successful while living a fulfilling life. In the book the author mentions that the purpose of life is to lead a life of purpose. I know it's a simple and kind of generalized statement but the more I think about it, the more I tend to think that's so true. If you can't pinpoint one or two things that you treat as your "lighthouses" to guide you through life, then it just becomes boring and mundane. The only way to find that purpose is to keep trying different things. I have come to the realization that not everyone finds out their ultimate destiny or purpose by the time they're 20 or 25 and those who don't are none the worse for it.

The purpose of life resides within yourself. You will surely find your answer. There are always times of questioning (I'm there right now) but ultimately we find our way.
I think friends, lovers, hobbies and interests...they all bring something to life, but aren't your purpose. When you find your purpose you'll know it. I'm 26. I haven't found mine yet...but it's out there.

Some quotes on the subject, that I like:
"Life is an offensive, directed against the repetitious mechanism of the Universe. "
A. N. Whitehead

"Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity." -Horace Mann

"A truly great man never puts away the simplicity of a child. "
Chinese Proverb

"Live all you can; it's a mistake not to. It doesn't so much matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life. If you haven't had that what have you had?"
Henry James

"The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time. "
Jack London

"The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for."
Joseph Addison


And when all else fails...
"Human beings were invented by water as a device for transporting itself from one place to another."
Tom Robbins

whatever floats your boat!!

I have no idea what the purpose of life is... but maybe that's the point. If I knew the purpose of life, then what would be the point of continuing to live?

Anyway... the one thing I know for sure is that the purpose of my life is not to work in an office all day. Seriously, leaving the house everyday at 6.15 and coming home at 7pm is mot fulfilling me. So whatever the purpose of life is... I don't think I'll find it at work.

Once thing I do know, as Michelle pointed it out - working 9-10 hours a day doesn't help you find it, hence that's why I quit my job 2 months ago, but now I just haven't been able to fill all the extra time, except about questions about life

I'm into yoga philosophy so I'll post something erudite later when I have my books around for quotes...

In the meantime, I think it's to enjoy (and help others enjoy) the following:

good food

good laughs

good travels

good sex

good people

good love

Hard one...i think we will through the years just to find the answer to this question..so I cannot imagine that this would be an easy question to answer...

I think one to leave a legacy of good behind..help others.

2nd to find happiness...i think that should be our goal.

There is a story in Hindu mythology...Lord Krishna tells this story about how each child in a mothers womb knows this answer.what the whole purpose of life is..but the passage of birth is so painful that he forgets...he spends rest of his life figuring that out again..

"If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth the writing." -Ben Franklin
(my favorite quote)

and voila- if you're read this, my life already has more purpose, and I feel that much more fulfilled.

Spinal Tap's keyboardist Viv Savage once said, "Have a good time, ALL the time. " Truer words have never been spoken!

I'm obviously feeling someone else can answer this question better then I can...so here's another quote I came across this morning.

"The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it."
William James

purpose of life? get drunk and laid. thats about it.

to those of you who haven't found love
definately not the purpose of life, i used to thin that way, love marriage house kids but now that i'm in a relationship with someone i truly consider my better half--i'm still wondering!!!