If you are pondering over your purpose in life, Congratulations! You have met (or somewhat met) the bottom two of Maslow’s hierarchy ranks, and also met or are in progress for the next two. Abraham Maslow, a renowned American psychologist, got famous for his above five levels of hierarchy. In his later years, he corrected that the five levels are not linear and may not hold true for everyone, meaning, it varies from person to person due to the respective environments they live or have lived. The purpose-in-life discussion comes to mind in most cases when we are thinking of self-actualization. It does not mean we have actually met the rest of the hierarchies and graduated to the final level, though most people in general follow the hierarchy. As humans, we always look forward to what is next. Writings in different eras, in different parts of the world, have mentioned this pondering.
Many have questioned, what this life is all about. What is my purpose, why am I here, what am I supposed to do? For centuries this scholarly debate is going on. Many books have been written, some of them hundreds of years ago. Everyone has their own postulations at best as no one can scientifically prove whatever they think is our purpose.
Whatever the purpose, how do humans fit on this planet?
Life has been around on planet Earth for at least 3.5 billion years. During the first 2.5 billion years there were only unicellular bacteria. Only some 600 million years ago did diversity take off. After the Cambrian explosion, about 550 million years ago, life took over the oceans, land, and air with amazing speed and resilience. 71% of the earth is covered with water. The fact is that 94% of the Earth’s living species belong to the oceans and scientists think, two-thirds of them still remain unidentified. Even though humans are reaching 8 billion in number, we still make up only 0.01% of life on this earth. So much for the thought that humans are the big kahuna on this planet. There are a lot of unknowns to be uncovered, or discovered.
The unknown and invisible hand
One may think that a game is played by the creator, where pieces of the puzzle are given at a time. We call them inventions, whereas they may just be a discovery. Scientists still marvel at the self-healing human body. How our brain functions, how neurons communicate, and how the feather in our ears transmits the voice/thoughts to and from the brain. We have uncovered a lot over the years, but there is a lot more to uncover.
The lesson from life is simple, we are a small part of nature, and in Nature, creation and destruction dance together. But in this choreography, the choreographer is unknown and invisible. We cannot go to the creator and ask away why life and death, why suffering, and what is the purpose of life.
If one reflects back on their own life over the years. One may realize how much of it was a chance. At every fork in our lives, we could have gone another way and our life would have been totally different from what it is today. If we think of it, how much of it was by chance that we choose the route that we choose to lead us to where we are today? We may want to take credit for where we are today, but how do we account for the environment and the circumstances that played a role over the years?
Continue doing whatever you are doing. You will make mistakes along the way. The creator’s system accommodates all our mistakes. Learn from the mistakes, adopt the changes, and move on. Growing up most of us may not have scripted where we are today. Live in present respecting the environment around us. At the right time, opportunities open up to take us to the destination.
Watching the Nature
During Summer, all trees are in full bloom. Each limb is full of leaves. The leaf at the bottom branch of the tree does not have a choice to be at the top of the tree. The lower branch leaf does its assigned function the same as the leaf on the top of the tree.
Fall comes, and all leaves are done with their tasks and fall on the ground. They fall on the same ground, next to each other, irrespective of which tree they were from or how high or low they were on the branches. The wind blows them all together to their next assignment.
Thinking at a Micro level, there are a lot of questions and quandaries. Some of them are necessary for living. At the Macro level, there is no ambiguity about the purpose of life. A drop of water falling from the sky might think independently of the rest of the water pool on earth. But as soon as it merges back into the pool, no one can separately identify that drop any longer. The drop of water has its purpose, that drop may not know. The drop falls from the sky, goes through mountains, rivers, etc, and then back to the clouds. On its journey unknowingly it serves many purposes. The drop may not know how essential Water is for all living beings.
Nature is a great lab, and a great teacher if we pay attention to it. Laws of gravity were uncovered watching a falling apple. Inspiration for the planes can be given to the birds. Nature has a lot to teach us if we spend time and observe it closely and intentionally.
What is the purpose of the life of an earthworm? Worms feed on plant debris. By their activity in the soil, earthworms offer many benefits: increased nutrient availability, better drainage, and a more stable soil structure, all of which help improve land productivity. The worm may never know how its actions are benefiting others. The worm is just doing its function. Next time you see a worm or its eggs, respect and thank it for its free service to your yard.
If we look around in nature, Birds, Bees, Antes, Animals, and Plants, everyone is engaged in a function for the benefit of other living beings on the earth. Some of it we understand today, and the rest, we still need to find out to better understand the entire ecosystem.
In Summary
As humans, we do our function the same as a falling leaf of the fall season or an earthworm. In the grand scheme of things, what we do, maybe merely an assignment to serve and come to use in the creator’s ecosystem.
For the creator’s system to work the best, we need to do what we know best and do it to our best. We may never know for sure how our actions help the overall system. Looking at other examples in nature, we know everyone’s actions have a purpose, and so does ours. Some level of Micro thinking is necessary for daily living. The Macro level (beyond oneself, beyond race, religion, color, etc.) of thinking leads toward fulfilling the purpose of life.