Find your purpose and have Stoicism help you. Or use your Philosophy of Life to do so. The most important thing is to start asking questions. We can use philosophy as a compass because it’s nice to know what general direction we are going. The question of purpose is quite big. How do we find it or should we even be looking? These are profound topics and some of us don’t want to deal with them or aren’t ready for them. And that’s fine. Although a lot of problems we have can be solved by digging deep, asking questions, and using introspection.
Let’s look at what we understand by purpose. How we can find it and whether we should look for it at all. And if we do and happen to recognize it, how do we stay on course? And it can also go the other way around. We could find our direction and live our lives according to our purpose, without knowing it. But how does that work? Let’s try to look into it and delve into the topic of purpose.
Without a purpose we wander aroud directionless
Why does purpose matter? As we can get lost in our current society and our own lives, we yearn for direction. Some tend to cling to a career, relationship, possessions, status, or wealth, to find their purpose. But these are all externals. Things we wish to project on our future or chase to fill something within. But they are beyond our control. We can change jobs, relationships will end or new ones will arise. Many things can happen and if we lose what we are pursuing, we can fall into a deep hole. Our purpose is then lost and we wander around directionless.
To find your purpose we need to have something more solid. We can learn this from Epictetus in his Enchiridion, his handbook:
“If you take on a role that is beyond your powers, you not only disgrace yourself in that role, but you neglect the role that you were capable of fulfilling.”
Epictetus, The Handbook, 37
Know where your drive is coming from
Although there are different ways to interpret this, we can see that it reflects back to what’s in our control and what isn’t. If we take what is beyond our powers as our opinions and actions, they can be used as the boundaries of our purpose. Epictetus is telling us to look at ourselves. That’s where we can find that base to work from. Then changing a job or losing possessions won’t disturb our peace too much. Because we know that these things come and go. In all that noise, we will stay on our course and can remain calm.
How to find that purpose is the next part we will tackle. But first, we need to see how we should be looking for it. Some children know at a young age what they want to become. I still struggle with that question. While for them there is an intrinsic drive toward a certain goal or job. They feel the fire from their core and aim to be the best at what they have their heart set out to become. Yet many things can happen to prevent them from reaching those goals. So, even when you feel a certain drive to a profession, it is important to know where it is coming from. Because this can still come from externals, while to us it can seem like something completely our own.
“I propose to value them according to their character, not their jobs.”
Seneca, Letters From a Stoic, Letter XLVII
A purpose can help us stay more centered and balanced
That’s why searching for the purpose is important. Know what makes you tick. This requires a lot of courage, curiosity, and an open mind. And we have to be prepared that we won’t encounter it, at least not in the way we have in mind. As I’ve said, I still struggle with the question of what I want to do. But I am digging more into who I am and I can tell I’ve made progress there. To understand our purpose, and to give meaning to our lives, we must know ourselves. Without that foundation, we can’t come to any clear answers. But the good thing about this is that by asking these questions, we can address both issues at once. We can get to know ourselves better and by doing so figure out what our purpose is.
We’re all on a journey, our own one. We will come across others and some will join us for a bit. But we do have to stay on our own until the end. To do so, we need to learn how to listen more to ourselves to get to know who we are. Use our intuition as a guide to sense when we go off our path. Our goal is to live a peaceful life and if we keep that in mind, we know what to pay attention to. Increased anxiety, stress, worries, happiness, joy, and fulfillment, these are all indicators. As we recognize these feelings we can bounce from them, back to the center. This will have a two-fold effect. First, we will stay more centered and balanced. Second, we can identify our emotions better and sooner. Understanding what drives them to prevent them as much as we can.
What are you chasing?
Now that we are paying more attention to who we are, to our emotions and response, we can find our way to a more peaceful existence. We can do this at work. If one day you are offered a promotion, you can project what changes this new job would have on you. Then ask yourself how that would alter your life and whether it is something You want. Or if it is what you think the outside world expects from you. Some might see it as a lack of ambitions if you pass on it, while you view it as keeping your focus on what matters.
This is where a philosophy like stoicism comes into place. It helps you to project yourself onto future events and rationally look at the consequences. Are you chasing something for yourself or something external? How will this disrupt your peace of mind? Or do you have an internal sense of duty that this is a job you should accept?
“The wise man is content with himself.”
Seneca, Letters From a Stoic, Letter IX
Your purpose might be there, calling for you
The main goal is to find that drive from within. Not to worry about what the rest of the world thinks or expects of you. Creating your own philosophy and values will keep you on your path. And they will be a good base to fight temptations and protect you from excess. But let’s start with listening to ourselves a bit better. To find that connection with ourselves. Finding our purpose is a big and difficult topic. We can make some changes in our lives now, to start working towards it. Besides listening to ourselves, we can determine our values and priorities. When we are anxious, we can ask ourselves what the true cause is. And how this can be resolved or prevented.
What is the purpose of all of this? Of our lives, of the universe? There’s a big chance that we won’t figure this out anytime soon, thus we can best focus on ourselves. If we live according to nature and have the best and most peaceful life we can have, how can that then not be in line with the bigger purpose? We might not know it, but we can live it. And that’s the beauty of being alive. That’s why we mustn’t forget to live while we can. Rethink your actions and opinions. Are they yours or are you chasing other people’s dreams? If this question of purpose overwhelms you, then break it down into chunks. Try to be the best version you can be and aim for that peaceful existence. You’ll know when you’re on track if you truly get to listen to yourself. Your purpose might then be there, calling for you.
“Examine who you are… For you are capable of understanding the divine governance of the universe, and of reasoning on what follows from that.”
Epictetus, the Discourses, Book 2, Chapter 10
Great reflection and demonstration on how philosophy can help us address purpose. I believe purpose can give us a solid foundation. I also recognise that trying to find it may feel like finding a needle in a haystack and cause great anxiety. I think that’s where stoicism can help us the most as it teaches us to navigate through the flow of life.
Great post, Benny. It’s difficult to find our true purpose with all the distractions life brings. Asking those questions, as you’ve mentioned, will help get a better idea. And when we begin to feel anxious, stoicism will provide us with the clarity we need. Great post, thanks for sharing. Jade MumLifeandMe
Thank you, Jade, for your lovely words. Stoicism can provide us with the clarity and base in difficult times to fall back on. It is good to ask questions at any time, to discover more about ourselves. It’s great to read your views.
Great post Benny! This is such a difficult process for most of us to find out what really drives. It is truly what we want versus what peoples perception of us is. How we can look within ourselves to really see this is something that Stoicism should help with. This phrase rang true for me.. “Creating your own philosophy and values will keep you on your path”. We can use Stoicism to help point the way but it just need to be integrated with our own personal philosophy! Thank you for this very insightful post!
Really insightful post. It is interesting to sit back and think deeply on your purpose. For me, it is a huge motivator. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for your lovely words and nice to read that it motivated you.
Thank you, Tim. It’s always great to read your view on my work. It’s interesting to see that you highlighted that sentence, because it is something I strongly belief in. That a good philosophy of life will keep you on your path. Thanks for your lovely comment.
Great post! Identifying and pursuing a purpose can be a tricky subject to navigate, but this is a helpful guide. I really identified with parts of Stoicism when I learned about it for the first time in college: it made sense to me that having a controlled, centered, and calm approach would be helpful in staying true to myself. I think everyone can benefit from that approach every now and then. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for your lovely words, Savannah. It’s always good to indentify yourself with certain philosohpies, such as Stoicism in this case. Being able to stay true to yourself is vital in having a peaceful life. It was inspiring to read you comment.
I enjoyed reading. 🤗 You made me think of my blog where I love writing about moments of pause and examining these real life moments together. Reflecting on where you are and determining your purpose and why you are pursuing these things are important in life. We must be honest about these times in life. Thank you for sharing. ✍️
Pastor Natalie (ExamineThisMoment)
Letstakeamoment.com
Reading your blog also gives me a lot of food for thought and I’m happy to read that mine has the same impact on you. Being honest is very important, and first being honest toward ourself. That’s what scares people a lot. Vital in our growth. Thanks for your lovely comment.
This is such an insightful and informative post. Thanks so much for sharing it! I learned a lot reading it!
Great to see that my post was insightfult for you and thank you for your comment. It is really appreciated.
A wonderful and informative post! I love the insight. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for your comment and good to see that you liked it.
I’ve been doing a lot of introspection and self awareness lately for my leadership development course at work. This post really resonated with what I’m learning there too. Thanks so much for sharing.
It’s great to see that there are connections with your work development and my post. Thank you for your comment.
I used to work for a confidence coach and this reminds me of her advice about stepping back to look at what you can and can’t control to get a better perspective for your way forward. Great read, Benny, a really interesting post.
Thank you, Lisa, for your wonderful comment. It’s interesting to see that your confidence coach gave similar advice. Happy to see that you made those connections.
A wonderful post on self-reflection and finding your true voice. I am probably like you in that I did not know what I wanted to do when I was a child, but all I liked to do was to write and create people and plots. This uncertainty created an uncertain me who eventually felt he didn’t fit in with anyone and wanted to destroy himself. Philosophy opened my eyes, and also caused me harm by asking those difficult questions. Yet here I am, still talking and creating and I think I am well on my way to realising my purpose. It’s not that far away from what I enjoyed doing as a child. This is a great piece of writing that gives us pause for thought and to ask what we want, despite what we think the world and others want for us. Our true goal is to find our true selves and enjoy being that. Thank you.
Thank you, Zac, for your insightful comment. It’s quite amazing to read about your journey and how philosophy helped you, althouhg it brought you through some turbulent times. I’m happy to see that on the other side you found more peace and are getting closer to finding your purpose. If we find our true selves, the rest will fall in place.
I agree, it’s very important to find purpose and it helps us also to have determination as well. Great tips and learned new things from this as well. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you, Fransic. I’m happy to see that you’ve learned some new things and like my tips. Finding a purpose is important to leading a content life.