Is There a Purpose?

A man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder, a bird without wings. There is sometimes the idea today that there is no purpose in life. The old religious belief that God had a purpose in creating the world and man, and has put us here to work out this purpose, is now no longer widely endorsed, and many astronomers and other scientists go so far as to deny that there is any purpose at all behind this marvellous universe with its vast and varied assemblage of living things.

A gloomy prospect confronts us when we entertain such a depressing idea, for it also involves assuming that our life on the planet is nothing more than a chance incident. This makes the present very pointless, and the future is blank indeed; and though we may wish and want, all our desires are inevitably bound by the five feeble feelers we call our senses, through which alone we vainly try to achieve fulfilment and happiness.

But when we look at the marvels of the nature world around us, and remember that everything on our planet originated in the muddy depths of some primeval ocean, can we still complacently say that it all came about by chance; that there is no purpose behind it, however inscrutable that purpose may be?

When we consider the incredible powers of modern man, we must admit that, though in many respects he is far from great, compared to his muddy beginnings he is almost a god. Is all this majestic development just a chance achievement?

The Principle within Creation

No doubt, most of us no longer believe in some anthropomorphic deity, who imposed a plan on his creation from the outside. But that does not preclude the concept of a dynamic Principle within creation which expresses itself in movement and growth towards some form of fulfilment. Some causal Principle must surely have been at work in all phases of creation, right from the very lowliest; and when it comes to man, he has actually a witness of it within himself. What is it but the activity of this Principle that inspires him to achievement, yet makes him ever discontented with the object when it is gained, and urges him on to some new and better attainment? That dynamic inspiration that stirs within him is the motion of his spirit, and if he learns to recognise and follow its inner prompting, it will gradually reveal to him where he belongs, where he came from and his pathway to fulfil his destiny.

The Spirit of Life is always urging us onward. If we do not respond and move with it, that Spirit is frustrated. Its striving within us is witness that there is something more beyond—something ‘towards which the whole creation moves’.

No Final Goal

What is the goal and what will the finished product be like? We have not the ghost of a notion. The earth is still young, and man has hardly begun. Anyway, there can be no finished product in the creative progression of Life, and the map that man has to make for himself has no material boundaries, no measurements but infinity. All the past of the human race was but a faltering beginning; what we have before us - if we will but learn to release our creative potential – can be greater, grander, and infinitely better than has ever been up to now.

‘All creation groans and travails’, said St Paul, until Life’s purpose is achieved within man. Truly Life has a purpose, and we are projections from that purpose. We only become aware of any direction in creation inasmuch as we develop some purpose in our living. Indeed, purpose has no reality, except to the purposeful person.

Does art mean anything to anyone who has no artistry awake in his own being? He can look at all the masterpieces of the world, and yet see nothing of their quality. Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, and if he does not see it, it is unreal to him; non-existent so far as he is concerned. As soon as he begins to develop some sense of artistry, some desire for beauty, then a whole new world opens out. In the same way, it is not until we know our own need of purpose, and begin to develop some purposive quality in ourselves, that we can know anything of the purpose of Life in us.

Proving Life’s Purpose

The first step towards living in terms of this purpose is simple faith in the Spirit of Life. The word ‘purpose’ comes from pro-ponere - ‘to place in front’, and the person who would prove Life’s purpose in him/herself uses every opportunity to place Life’s Principles in a position of power through their own make-up and circumstances.

This means that they take some definite, practical means to be a fit instrument through which Life can work. Not aiming at some distant goal of abstract perfection, but concentrating on first mastering some practical line, no matter what, so long as it is something through which a means can be made for Life to prove its power. If someone should wish to be a great athlete and aims to excel at the high jump, he does not waste his time and energy in disappointing himself by attempting the maximum height immediately. So, it is with our desire to build ourselves into purposeful being. We must turn our wishes into work, which means training ourselves in ways within our means of accomplishment now.

Life is able to prove its power through us in the quite commonplace affairs of our everyday lives, so long as we infuse them with a vital interest. Interest focuses on all our parts and powers in the work upon which we are engaged. The person with a vital interest does not confine his/her interest merely to one phase of life; rather by meeting every circumstance with this welcoming spirit. This is the spontaneous yet purposeful quality that makes living a voyage of discovery, and as we grow in Livingness, the purpose of Life will unfold.

Ian Fearn

© New Renasence Trust (Registered Charity No 256640)