The Myth of Purpose: Not Every Life Has to Be Extraordinary

It took me quite some time to ponder this question before I started writing. I wasn’t sure what I thought about the concept of purpose. It’s simpler to fall back on that thing motivational speakers like throwing around a lot – Everyone is put on this earth for a reason. On a religious basis, I completely agree. But I don’t like talking about things from religious basis because religion is a very strict and delicate matter, and I don’t think I’m in the best position to be rambling about it. So instead, I’ll be writing about the concept of purpose from a social angle.

Lemme lead by saying that in my book, purpose is tied very closely to doing exceptional things. So basically, being destined for greatness.

Now, considering purpose from a social pov, I disagree with motivational speakers that everyone is put on this earth for a purpose. I mean…everything on earth has a purpose. But when we go out of our way to empathetically say something has a purpose in the way it is understood here, it means that that purpose is special. This is why I disagree. Not everyone’s life has special purpose. I’m likely going to get a lot of comments for saying this, but just hear me out.

Some people are born to do great things. Some people are not. There’s nothing wrong with not being born for greatness. That does not mean your life is meaningless. It just means that you get to have a simpler life and quieter life: a luxury that most people who have a special purpose do not get to enjoy, because what we know as purpose is usually a strong urge to make some change because of great suffering someone has endured or witnessed.

Prophets had a purpose. You think their lives were easy?

How about people like Einstein, whose research continues to transform the world today?

Should you feel bad that you’re not a prophet or an accomplished scientist? Absolutely not! Even if you’re not destined to accomplish things as great as these people, in your own very small ways, you’re going to do things that make some sort of difference in the universe, and those small things matter. You’ll feed a dog, help an old lady cross the road, build a startup that makes people’s lives easier, feed the poor, perhaps give birth to children who will do even greater things.

So when I said some peoples lives are not special, that was not an implication that their lives are worthless. It just meant that they likely won’t do big things for which they’ll get global recognition. Everyone’s life has a purpose. But how big the impact of your purpose is, is what makes you special.

Images are mine

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