Is there a Purpose to Find Purpose? #38 #cong22

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1. Never supress curiosity
2. Never be afraid to ask questions
3. Keep an open mind while looking for a purpose in life
4. There may be more than just one purpose.

Studied to be an archaeologist but circumstances steered me towards the ceramic industry in Portugal. Apart from my bread earner I try to be useful in environmental activism as well as to try and raise the political awareness of the population.

By David Iguaz

Is there a purpose to our existence? If so, it seems sensible to try and find out what that would be. On the contrary if there isn’t one the whole exercise could prove in fact to be a little futile. However are we asking the right questions? and most importantly, do those questions matter? I am truly convinced that is always meaningful to keep asking questions even if that implies showing some degree of ignorance which for some reason sometimes goes hand in hand with a certain feeling of insecurity. When we are younger questions seem to be floating permanently in the air like pending questions marks which must be caught to further our understanding of our surroundings. From the moment we become aware of our surroundings we embark on a discovery quest which involves asking endless questions specially at an early stage in our lives when the world around us opens up and reveals parts of its secrets.

As life moves on the level of questioning seems to decrease proportionally to the ageing process. This process is a mystery to me. Maybe is due to increased awareness of our environment, social constraints or simply an admittance that things are just the way they are. In the long run this attitude of surrender can only have negative consequences for our mental wellbeing. If we still manage to keep an inquisitive mind that is. Otherwise, ignorance will be bliss. Albeit somewhat redundant we should also ask ourselves what purpose truly means. For simplicity´s sake let´s assume that it implies conceding meaning to our existence fulfilling objectives, desires and dreams conferring an overall sense of achievement.

Despite agreeing with Darwin as regards the fact that we are in this world to secure the survival of our very selves and ultimately the survival of our species and also the fact that we are here due to a long and complex evolutionary purpose that is part of an ongoing experiment, I also believe this is indissociable to the very nature of keeping asking questions and try and make sense of it all. Maybe if is just to achieve just that, our survival. I ignore if the constant surge of questions will tell us if there is a purpose to our existence, but one thing is for sure, not asking them will keep us further from finding out. The why and the how will always be powerful search tools.

To be perfectly honest with you I do not pretend to answer the question poised at the heading of the essay, but I sincerely hope that a hint will be construed by the end of it. One way to get there is to observe and carefully analyze everything that goes around you permanently. It may seem obvious but sometimes the trees do not let us see the forest. Believe me, observing is crucial to everything. This advice comes from someone who has been useless at it from most of his life. Without such a tool the questions will not arise, and we will fall into the generalized complacency that seems to be all around us nowadays. Three things that have helped me improve my observation abilities are undoubtedly travelling (in terms of a learning process as supposed from moving from one place to another oblivious to the signs around us), reading and living in diverse environments. All of them profusely. I admit there has been a certain degree of luck in such a journey although it must be said that some of that luck had to be found first. What I mean is that sometimes luck must be sought after and is not just always willing to knock at your door disinterested. Most of us do not realize how fortunate we are to be born in this wonderful part of the planet called Europe taking things for granted like living on much more than a mere 10 $ a day like 50% of our planet´s population. That should not stop us from trying to improve our lives and the lives of others continuously specially when it comes to inner knowledge.

The more that my life is lived the more I come to the conclusion that the means of trying to achieve meaning or purpose is as important as the end itself or perhaps even more. Again, complacency is always lurking in the background and we should always carry some level of dissatisfaction with us in order to push us harder and forward towards that goal. During the process of writing this paper I have come to realize that not only there is a purpose to what we do but there may be many purposes waiting for us out there. Finding purpose may well turn out to be a never-ending quest for the inquisitive mind. Nothing wrong with that.