The Purpose
How can we leave pleasure behind, and head towards happiness and joy?
Meaning occurs when looking backwards. Purpose means aspiring and looking forwards. I reflect in my journal weekly, but how can use meaning to find purpose?
What is Purpose?
Purpose is inward reflection, not what you look like to others from the outside. In The Death, I described how most people die twice, the first time being when they give up on their dreams or stop pursuing their purpose. It doesn’t matter how you appear to others on the outside. If you’ve found your purpose, or you’re working towards finding it, and that brings you happiness, then how you feel internally should be multiples more valuable than anybody else’s outside opinion.
“We love ourselves more than others, but we value their opinions so much more” – Marcus Aurelius.
How do we become so fragile when it comes to pursuing our purpose? Expectations of other people get to us, and I struggle with this myself. I want to break through this. Nobody knows you better than you know yourself. And purpose is subjective! What brings you purpose could be completely foreign to somebody else, even those closest to you. It doesn’t need a logical explanation; it is just something that is what it is.
How to Find Purpose?
Personality tests such as Myers-Briggs or Ray Dalio’s Principles personality test. Saying yes and trying new things. Live adventurously. Adventure can be different for everyone. Use personality tests to find adventure. What energizes you? Just like some people want to live in the middle of a forest in a log cabin, far from a busy city lifestyle, others relish the city lifestyle. Finding what energizes you in life, pursuing it, and finding if it can provide you with money to live your life are key steps in this process.
If yes, that’s great. If not, then can you work harder than anybody else to reach the point where you can? Especially with a long-term mindset. Or can you obtain a job that acts as a means-to-an-end to provide you with money to live, while you pursue your purpose? After all, your purpose will be the aspect of your life that brings you joy.
Joy describes the emotion of great happiness caused by something exceptional. An exceptional life could lead to a permanent state of joy. And joy is more powerful than happiness. Happiness is a state of being happy, albeit temporary. We experience periods of happiness and periods of sadness. Without one we couldn’t have the other. Pleasure is short-lived and can often be impulsive.
So we should aim for a life full of joy, and this can come through purpose.
What is My Purpose?
As I approach a year of writing online, I think my purpose is to understand the world and the people in it. My other blog, Geopolitics Explained, is about how I understand the world through financial markets, economics, and geopolitics. Something Greater is how I understand the people in the world. If I ever get anything wrong in your opinion, I’d love to know what your views are. People are wonderfully interesting. Their systems, how they structure their life, what brings them joy, and their deeper purposes. What gets them up in the morning? What has brought them meaning and what allows them to continue on the adventure-seeking or pursuing their purpose? By understanding the world and the people in it, I hope one day I can be positioned to make a difference that makes the world even a slightly better, happier place. Less inequality, more love.
My purpose is so big that it’s represented by a pretty large mountain, with me currently standing at the bottom of it. In my life arc, I’m lucky I still have time to climb it. I hope I can create an environment here that makes people want to understand each other.
Inspiration from Hidden Brain -
Song of the Week
I went to a concert this weekend, and so naturally I’ll choose something from that. The artist, Loyle Carner, said this is his favourite song he’s ever written, so here it is.
Still by Loyle Carner:
Soundcloud:
YouTube:
Spotify:
Thanks for reading! Follow here on Substack for these posts to be sent directly to your inbox. I’m aware I know very little about life. But if one thing I write helps one person, then it’s worth it to me. Hope you have a great Sunday/Monday!