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Home |Human Flourishing | Meaning Archive | Having Purpose

Having Purpose

The Why Behind the How

BY: T. Franklin Murphy | May 2018 (edited February 16, 2022)
A woman in a field of wheat. A Flourishing Life Society article about having a purpose.
Adobe Stock Images
When we have meaningful purpose, life events take on a different color.
A rich meaningful life doesn’t happen haphazardly—meaningfulness is not a guarantee. We create purpose by the way we live. Survival doesn’t depend on richness of experience; it doesn’t demand a meaning. We can use our powerful thinking mind in many ways. The complexity of human existence demands evaluating pasts and planning for futures. Purpose—the more meaningful 'whys' behind our actions—demands more than passing action. When we take positive action, we experience a richer, more meaningful life.

​By knowing our intentions and moving towards them, we form a deeper experience; we feel vitality. Not simply momentary pleasure but a profound fullness. When a deeper life purpose motivates action, we feel hope and gather courage. If I have a why, then I bask in meaning.

Roy F. Baumeister Ph.D., professor of psychology at Florida State University, wrote, "the need for purpose is the need to regard one's current activities as leading toward some desired goal or state of fulfillment" (1992). We can't aimlessly drift, chasing immediate pleasure and dodging pain. We need something more. We search for meaning to give purpose to our pursuits.

Viktor Frankl wrote, "it is the prerogative of man to quest for a meaning to his life, and also to question whether such meaning exists" (2000, p. 134). And somehow, that search for meaning contributes to happiness.

Tal Ben-Shahar, a Harvard professor, defines happiness as, "the overall experience of pleasure and meaning." He continues, "a happy person enjoys positive emotions while perceiving her life as purposeful. The definition does not pertain to a single moment but to generalized aggregates of one’s experiences: a person can endure emotional pain at times and still be happy" (2007, page 33).

Carl Jung is a little more blunt. He says, "when goals go, meaning goes. When meaning goes, purpose goes. When purpose goes, life goes dead in our hands."
"​I want to wake up every morning, not with a sense of dread or apathy, but with a sense of excitement about what the day holds and what I can contribute."
Simple Minded

What Creates Purpose?

T. Franklin Murphy wrote, "a sense of purpose relies on our conceptual definition of meaning. If we believe that life only has meaning if it extends beyond the grave, certainly anything short of eternal life will color our existence as purposeless. The mere thought creates a hole" (2018).

However, others have found meaning outside the confining boundaries of religion. They find meaning in living. Our  'why' behind the action may vary. People experience richness to their existence for a variety of reasons. Many rely on a belief in a life after death to provide meaning to the unknown pains and sorrows of this world of tears. But we are not limited to unexplainable 'whys' that only exist beyond our current existence.

​Our narrative self provides many opportunities for expanding meaning. Our families, passions and creations all give a little zing to life, propelling us past the humdrum of day to day existence and into something more.

Jeremy Adam Smith reports that research on meaning and purpose suggests that goals that foster a sense of purpose "are ones that can potentially change the lives of other people" (2018). Connecting to others expands the borders of our petty little lives. Only through these connections do we see past our simple efforts to feel pleasure and avoid pain.
“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” 
​~Friedrich Nietzsche   
​We experience emotions throughout the days, weeks and years. Some experiences undoubtedly discomfort; but with purpose the pain diminishes. We endure knowing the unpleasantness will pass. Each moment seen through the context of the whole. We don’t live for a single moment. When we know WHY, the HOW is much more endurable.
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T. Franklin Murphy
T. Franklin Murphy
Wellness. Writer. Researcher.
​T. Franklin Murphy has a degree in psychology. He tirelessly researches scientific findings that contribute to wellness. In 2010, he began publishing his findings.

Resources:

Baumeister, R. F. (1992). Meanings of Life. The Guilford Press; Revised ed. edition.

​Ben-Shahar, B. (2007). Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment. McGraw-Hill Education; 1st edition. ​

​Frankl, V. (2000). Man's Search For Ultimate Meaning.

Murphy, T. Franklin (2018). Purposelessness. Flourishing Life Society. Published 4-2018. Accessed 11-13-2022.

Smith, Jeremy Adam (2018). How to Find Your Purpose in Life. Greater Good Magazine. Published  1-10-2018. Retrieved 11-13-2022.

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Human Flourishing. Flourishing Life Society article link
Internal Link: Flagship article. Ten Beacons of Light. Improving our lives isn't from following items on a simple list. Science, however, has provided some helpful clues to our pursuit of wellness. These ten beacons of light provide direction, lights that illuminate a path to growth.

​Other Flourishing Life Society articles of interest on this topic:

Life has many emotions. All pleasure is limiting, flowing and then gone. Too much pleasure and it loses its appeal.
Our Place in the Universe. Infinite Value and Complete Insignificance. A Flourishing Life Society article link
We are engaged in a constant work of becoming, satisfying needs, entertaining wants, and creating meaning. We can do this purposely or haphazardly.
FLS internal Link. Life's Journey: Structure and Chaos.
Developmental Theory. A Psychology Definition.
We get stuck in an existential funk, searching for meaning. Life may not readily appear meaningful; but we can give life meaning.
FLS link. Passionate Purpose. We need passionate purpose to energize our flat lives, giving fire to existence and joy to routines.
Biologically driven to chase pleasure, we avoid pain; but modern society evolved quicker than our biological systems could adapt. We must measure impulses first for effectiveness.
Life is not a pretty little bundle of joys. We have pleasures and sorrows.
Eudaimonia: Living Well and Doing Good. A Flourishing Life Society article link
We widen our vision by integrating the fate of circumstances with the empowerment of choice.
Life Course Theory. A psychology definition article link
Flourishing Life Society article link. A Meaningful Life
Logotherapy. A psychological definition of logotherapy. Article link
Internal Link. Self: Here I am. The consciousness of self is complex. We are dynamic beings interacting with ever-changing environments. For stability, we need a concept of self. Too firm a concept and we are limited and deceived, to weak and we have no anchor.
Intrigued by secrets, we seek the hidden, wasting precious time chasing unknown promises. Success is no secret formula. We achieve through consistent skilled effort, blessed by a little luck.

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When we have meaningful purpose, life events take on a different color.
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