There’s a lot of research to suggest (source) (source) (source) that Purpose significantly affects our quality of life.

I’ve also learned recently that a major factor contributing to depression is ‘feelings of hopelessness’. That means the Future looks more bleak than the Present.

It means there’s nothing to look forward to, it’s only gong to get worse. And hopelessness? That sounds like a pretty awful existence.

Part of my favorite part of being alive the past year has been excitement for the future. It’s the curiosity. The excitement. The exploration.

That alone is enough to make me get out of bed. There is a plethora of bullshit to deal with on any given day on Earth. But as far as world history is concerned, modern age is an unprecedented Age of Opportunity.

Freedoms and rights, globally have never(?) been greater. There are certainly many acts of inhumanity happening as we speak, but the freedoms of speech, freedoms to vote, freedoms of expression… are at an all time high.

A fun quote from Ronald Reagan in 1967:
“Perhaps you and I have lived too long with this miracle to properly be appreciative. Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people.  And those in world history who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again”

With that, it appears as though more of us have leftover time and mental capacity to grapple with the almighty question…. Why?

We are grappling with finding a sense of a purpose.

It’s sort of like that book Scythe talks about – Once all the discoveries are made, what more do you have to live for?

And we are so far from learning everything there is to know.
Yet, too many seem to walk around like zombies. Aimless. Purposeless. Inertia.

“Aimlessness is the breeding ground for despair”

Jordan Peterson

I notice people in my work place that merely go through the motions… often myself included. We wander about and do things people tell us to do merely because they’re told to do them.

We don’t stop to ask the questions Why. But the Problem seems universal.

“In our military, lack of time to reflect is the single biggest deficiency in senior decision-makers.”

Jim Mattis, former Secretary of Defense

What is your Why?
What is your reason for being?
Why do you exist?

It’s a question we each owe ourselves an answer to. We did not develop this ability for language for nothing. It allows us to put previously stored information from our animal brain to our prefrontal cortex, or so I’m told.

To waste our ability for language, to waste our ability to articulate our Principles, Values, and Mission Statement, as Arthur Brooks calls it… is to throw away our human ability.

It would mean to lose our sense of Purpose. Or worse… to never have one to begin with.

The history of language fascinating. Mostly because I don’t understand it. But human’s ability for language is unprecedented (in the grand scheme of things).

We’ve got leftover neurons that aren’t strictly dedicated towards survival – We’ve largely figured out the food, water, and shelter problem.

Time to move on.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

What is your Why?

“My life is good but not as good as it’s ’bout to be”
Logic, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

“Don’t be the best, be the only”
Kevin Kelly

That becomes a guiding light.

The cool part is they’re flexible. A work in progress, but one I’ve come up with is to “Sustainably enjoy my time on this Earth”.

Sustainably. That requires Community. That requires Purpose. That requires perspective. It calls for gratitude, and self care, and quality relationships, and long term thinking, and quality sleep and exercise.

If we haven’t got a Why, why the hell are we alive?

References

• (1 min) Why Are You Alive by Arthur Brooks
  • His mission statement is to “lift people up and bring them together in bonds of happiness and love, using science and ideas”.
• (20 min) What’s Your Purpose by Andrew Huberman | Robert Greene
• (18 min) Start With Why by Simon Sinek
• (5 hours) Man’s Search For Meaning by Victor Frankyl