We all ask ourselves this question from time to time. Why am I in this world? Why was I born? What is the purpose of life? As we get older, we ask these questions more often. Furthermore, when we face life obstacles, we question our existence in the world more often. It is absolutely natural and normal to wonder why we were brought into the world. In fact, going through life without ever wondering about one’s existence, could be considered an abnormal adjustment to life. Searching for answers to above questions give people an unbelievable amount of peace and hope. Like everyone else, I too have been searching for my propose of existence in this world. Talking to many people, I have been amazed to find out many similar answers. Amazingly, I also discovered a close correlation between the type of answers people provide to above questions and how they interact with other people.
The first answer to the above question which I repeatedly hear from people is :”My purpose of being in this world is to live a happy life”. On the surface, it appears as a soothing and satisfying answer. One who wishes to live a happy life would definitely be a person whom everyone would like to associate with. They are not sad, frustrated or angry. They do not complain about life and are more likely to be satisfied with the minimum. As convincing as this argument sound, I found the personality of people whose purpose of life is happiness quite the opposite of the above description of their character. These people are extremely egocentric. Other people’s needs and their happiness are of least priority on their list. One distinguishing characteristic of these people is that they would laugh at anything and everything. That includes other people’s misery. They do not wish to hear about other people’s problems since that could sway them away from their purpose of living a happy life.
The second answer that most religious leaders provide to the above question is: We are not in this world to have a peace of mind”. This is a very deep statement which by the way is not a direct answer to our question. It tells us what we are not in this world for. This answer is rejecting the notion of “happy go lucky propose of life”. It suggests thinking, wondering, searching, failing, suffering and seeing others’ sufferings as well. All the above could result in lack of peace of mind. I like this answer as it puts us in the right direction. While it does not take us all the way, it at least rejects the notion of no caring egoistic purpose of life that was suggested earlier.
Taking the religious suggestion one step further, I came up with the final answer to our question. It is neither a simple easy one to grasp, nor a doable one. However, it provides us with the utmost sense of relief and the straightest direction of life. One who goes with this direction would never feel lost, sad, frustrated or angry at anything. It is that simple: “Our purpose of life is to make life easier for others.”
The above statement could be re-phrased in many different formats such as “.... to make a difference”, “.... to help others” and such. One whose every action is aimed at making the life journey easier for others would never feel lost. It is impossible for such person to ever laugh at others’ misery. You would never find this person getting frustrated for not having their wishes come true. As the most popular Zoroastrina Avasta song says:” Happiness belongs to those who search it for others.”
Shahrzad Shahriari
BSc.Psych, MSW, RSW
http://www.shahrzadtherapy.com/
