Everything Has Its Unique Purpose

“The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.” – Fydor Dostoyevsky

A great moral philosopher by the name Socrates once said “Man know thy self”. Right from antiquity, man has always asked himself an important question “who am I? Why am I here?”. Today, these questions still boils in the heart of all sentient beings .Socrates, a great idealist and philosopher who lived centuries ago stressed the need for people to know who they are and He was of the opinion that people shouldn’t live anyhow but to channel their life towards a worthy purpose.

The most important days of your existence are - the day you were born and the day you discover why. I like to tell people that ‘The purpose of life for man is to live a life of purpose’. What is purpose? Why purpose? Is purpose really that important? My answer is “Purpose in life is not only important, but it is the only important thing”. In fact, this whole book is borne out of the necessity to make you understand why purpose is the only important thing. Since the central focus of this book is living a life of purpose, for clarity sake, it will be essential to have a clear knowledge of the word PURPOSE, and where it originated from.

Etymologically, Purpose is derived from a Middle English word called “Purpos”. This Middle English word, Purpos originates from Anglo-French word, purposer which means to intend. Furthermore, Dictionary.com defines Purpose as “the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used etc.

”It is the reason why an object or something is created. Suffice to say the purpose of a thing is the problem it is created to solve. In Philosophy, there are two contrasting school of thought on purpose: one is existentialism, and the other is essentialism. The existentialism school of thought is of the opinion that existence precedes essence. Existentialists assert that every individual is a free agent, determining their own development or the direction of their life through acts of the will. They believe that there is no initial purpose for human life, and that everyone must be responsible for creating meaning, essence and purpose for their life. To an existentialist, life is meaningless and purposeless. Life is as meaningful and purposeful as the meaning and purpose we assign to it. There is no purpose to human life; humans are only what they make of themselves. To the existentialists, this book was written without any purpose in the mind of the writer, it is after the book has been written that readers can attach a purpose or meaning to it, based on what they think is the purpose of the book.

On the other hand, the essentialism school of thought is of the opinion that essence comes before existence as they say, essence precede existence. Essentialists believe that things are not purposeless but carry unique essence, by essence; I mean characteristics and properties that make something what it is. Essentialists states that things are defined by their essences and that essence is necessary and important for existence. To an essentialist, all things are born with a fixed, absolute property or essence that defines them.

Are you of the opinion that things are created without any purpose, and that purpose is only attributed to things after they have been made, or of the opinion that all things are designed by the creator, with a definite plan and purpose they are going to fulfill?

Though there are one or two truth put forward by advocates and proponents of existentialism, for example discovering yourself, but I do not believe that things are created without purpose. Having such a belief is like assuming that objects or creation came by accident, making life to be purposeless. I am rather of the opinion that things are first designed with a definite purpose before they are created. That, is the basic premise upon which this book is based.