Agnostic.com

28 3

I struggle to find my place on earth, my purpose for being. I’ve struggled with this since I was very young. What have any of you done to help yourself find answers to these questions? Help!!!

Maerin 5 Mar 13
Share

Enjoy being online again!

Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.

Create your free account

28 comments

Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.

4

Personally, I've found that accomplishment provides a degree of meaning. Creativity, such as writing, making things, and do on, does the trick.

1

When we were hunter gatherer we had to watch for animals that would eat us. We looked everywhere to make sure it was safe. Some scientists believe that is why women have a hard time concentrating during sex. The male(stupid and unaware) is focused the female is looking around hoping to not be attracted in a vulnerable moment. We see faces in the dark turn on the light to find a garment of some kind because we are programmed to find it. We search for patterns because it makes us feel good to explain it. Religion helps us do that! We want an explanation we search for and we’ll except anything to make us feel better about our lives and it’s meaning. We are! And that should be enough but it’s not. Your place is where you want it to be. No one can make you happy. No one can find your place in this world. Only you can make you happy, sad, mad, or content. You are the decider of your world.

1

I have never suffered from any kind of existential angst.
I'm here. That's good enough for me. Whatever my purpose may
be can change from day to day.
I think tomorrow's purpose will definitely be consuming as much coffee as I can within the first hour I'm awake. Then, I might do some laundry.
Keep it simple. Don't over complicate what doesn't need to be complicated at all.
Just be.

0

I don't try to fit in anymore or look for a reason. I just get on with life because everything doesnt need an answer.

0

After many years of observing life here on earth, both animal, plant, and human, it became apparent that there is no purpose but to live for our season and then die...what more were you looking for?

6

No purpose required. Enjoy your arms length. Make your space better, and if you can, make other people's space a little better. Life is simple, they just tell you it's complicated.

I love this. Well said.

0

I wish I had an answer for you, but I am still struggling with this myself. I torment myself over it to no avail. I'd love to be one of those people who have a clear purpose in life.

2

I accept the "place" I am at/in at any given moment and it is good enough for me.

3

I had a kid. Since the moment he was born, my mission's been clear: keep child alive. Honestly, there are days he's the only reason I get up.

2

I stopped trying to fit in a long time ago. Either accept me and my out landish ideas as I am or at least give me a good debate or move on.

3

I have always been a loner. In my early teens I woudl just go, "away". Into nature, no other people, no manmade noises, and just be "me". Consider my relationship to the real/natural as opposed to manmade/artificial world. I still do that often. There is a place for me in the natural world, there really isn't in the man made world.

1

There's no "higher purpose." Do you love your children because they might have a "higher purpose" or do you just love them for who they are? We are here to enjoy our lives. Or not. It's mostly up to us.

0

I don't believe in any god. I do believe that all this god talk is nothing more than a personification of the universe. Thus, god is everything and everything is god. blah blah blah.

The biggest problem we as humans have is understanding things because of our limitations regarding linear time. I consider this our barrier to get over. How? Evolve past beings who live in 3D and perceive in 2. The next dimensional barrier will allow us to shift between time frames and live in any one of them once we overcome it. We will also perceive things in 3D thus we see the whole at once (tesseract) vice a 2D representation with cues for the 3rd. This will allow us to actually perceive our end purpose or goal - albeit admittedly when such a perception is no longer necessary.

So I consider it our goal to strive towards that evolution. IF we are to ever be the creatures that meet it we must get past all these petty problems that impede current progress. The base of these is insecurity and fear over differences - which is cured by education and homogenization. Thus I spend MY life trying to promote those. In me, the people around me, my progeny, while also NOT contributing to a barrier to these things. We have eons of development and advancement to go. All we can do is be like ants and extend a bridge with our lives for all the others.

4

I have found great meaning in my life by rescuing stray cats; neutering them, and trying to find them good homes. I also volunteer at an animal shelter. I have grown to really love animals; they never let you down. Unconditional love.

Wonderful. Great job.

1

I glibbly use this little one liner when I see this question: Always do what you love and you'll always love what you do. To look at this a mite more in depth, what it breaks down to is close to the Ikigai that silvereyes mentioned -- only with a slight twist. Here it is. I have done a lot of things that most people would say I couldn't possibly like and on a superficial level they would be right. And that is the twist to Ikigai.

I determined long ago that whatever I did I would do better than or at least as good as anyone else. If that happened to be digging a ditch for a footing, something I have done a lot of, it would be the straightest, most uniform, closest to the required slope of any ditch ever dug. Now, why? Why approach tasks like that? Simply because I could look with pride on what I had done and that translated to satisfaction and that allowed me to take away enjoyment from the effort.

So, what am I saying that relates to your question about finding purpose? It is that everything I have done or prepared to do was my purpose. Everything I do, whether it is work or getting along with people or eating a good din din becomes my purpose. Through this attitude of doing what I love and loving what I do, I have never suffered a purpose deficit.

0

I do too, or have, and likely will again.

One epiphany was to realize you have to ask the right question. We often ask "why" when there is no reasoning consciousness behind the event.

Now, if we are asking "why was I born" we can have a discussion. At some level your parents decided they liked each other, enough to have sex. However, that still may not have been 'reasoned' as in they went out for coffee, and discussed having sex, and the risk of having a child, over that coffee with a muffin or cookie on the side. Having come to a reasoned decision on taking said risk, they trotted off behind the cafe to make musical, reproductive, chemistry. Odds on they just had sex and didn't really think about the consequences.

That doesn't, or shouldn't diminish the act or the result. Not at all. I was dating a girl while I was in the military, stationed in KY. Mom was telling about how her mom dated a military man for a short time and she popped out and how terrible that was... She was one of the most intelligent, with it, wonderful and beautiful women I have ever had the pleasure of meeting (I was between her age and her daughters age... maybe I was closer to her age... I know, that sounds bad, and I will make my penance), I was no little bit interested in her (and glad that she moved away with her daughter, and sad that I hadn't met HER first). All I could think was: And someone as wonderful as you wouldn't be here!

Think about all sides of every question... BUT, I digress.

Some questions we can tackle thinking 'why' some need to be tackled thinking 'how' because the events really have no reason behind them at all. Such as the collision of two particles which create other particles to be expressed. This is a 'how' question, not a 'why' question despite the fact that they may well describe exactly how the big bang, the originan of our universe, was 'sparked.' A random event with absolutely no reasoning behind it.

So, if you are asking how you came about, you can tackle it as sperm meets egg and here I am and how wonderful is that? If you MUST put a why behind it: mom loved dad, and dad loved mom, even if briefly, and they felt safe enough with each other to make love and... here I am and how wonderful is that?

How did DInah say it: Accentuate the positive, decentuate the negative. 🙂

2

For me, the "meaning of life" has always been to find meaning. Finding that thing that makes your life worth living, and then living for it. The meaning that I have found personally has been raising and supporting my kids. Once they are grown and don't need me any more I'll have to find another meaning. Which will be my meaning until I do find another meaning.

Not sure if that made sense ? but apparently it had a lot of meaning ?

0

I don't have all the answers, but I think I can help here. I work as a flight attendant. When September 11th happened my world was turned upside down. I lost a friend on the first airplane. Won't go into details here, but I felt completely lost. On top of it I started having chest pains. Bad time for many. Went to many doctors, after a bunch of tests and opinions I was told to start volunteering. I did. It changed my life. The purpose in life is to help less fortunate. Incredible feeling. You forget about all your misfortunes when you do good for others.

1

Seize the day. The rest is immaterial.

0

If you do the things you love to do, you’ll develop talents and you might see voids in the world that you can fill beautifully with your talents and passion in that area. If you are living out of your true self, there is likely a need and appreciation for your exact talents, if you keep your eyes open for that niche and not settle or get distracted with becoming someone you don’t want to be.

1

I don't know that this helps, but it sort of works for me. Try to think of life as having no inherent purpose.

Your life only has the meaning you ascribe to it. If it makes you happy to contribute, your life's meaning could be curing cancer. If it makes you happy to enjoy your time on the couch, that was your purpose. To enjoy your life.

Some people will get this one. Buddha liked to use an example of a glass goblet for perspective. If you have a favorite glass goblet, you should always view it as "broken." If that goblet ever breaks, you won't be disappointed because you had no expectations that this would not happen. It was meant to be broken. It's fulfilled. That's the way it's supposed to be.

0

My purpose is simply comedic relief

0

This may or may not apply to your situation. Make sure not to let others define who we are suppose to be. We get caught up in that. I've gotten caught up in that. When we do that it usually leaves us lost, not sure who we are.

0

My purpose for being is unconditional love. It begins when you feel it for yourself. That begins with self-talk. Eliminate "I can't", "I'm not" and "I'm not good at" from your vocabulary, replace them with the positive, and you'll be on your way.

0

It is my personal belief that everyone is on this planet for one major reason, although there are many other reasons this reason is paramount. TO LEARN, You got it, to me Life is one big gigantic classroom, You can learn things the easy way, or you can learn things the hard way, The way of the learning has always been your choice but you have to and will always be learning while you are here on this planet. We all learn in this life through experiences that we have, and mistakes that we make, but all in all that is the common denominator in all things. But you must remember this is my belief. Just thought I would try to answer your question.

Write Comment
You can include a link to this post in your posts and comments by including the text q:36711
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.