Find your purpose. Find your purpose. But wait, is there really a purpose? Do we even need one? What is a purpose, anyway? Let's talk.
I've seen so many people talk about finding their purpose in life. It's supposed to give you a reason to live, a reason to keep going. Maybe even more than that, it fills that weird, silent void of absurdity. Like, without it, things just feel...off. Pointless maybe.
Purpose is one of those things everyone defines differently. Philosophers, scientists, religious texts, everyone seems to have their own version. Aristotle said "Everything in nature has a purpose." So basically: be good, do good, die. Neat. But a bit too polished, no? Science comes in with its no-nonsense take. From an evolutionary lens, the purpose is just to survive and reproduce. Keep the species going. That's it. No higher calling, no destiny. Just DNA doing its thing. Religion, though, throws in a whole other narrative. Christianity and Islam talk about serving one God, living morally and earning your place in eternity. Hinduism talks about spiritual liberation, escaping the cycle of rebirth. Buddhism is a little more interesting, it says: life is suffering and your purpose is to escape that suffering by letting go of desire and ego. And look, I get it. These explanations help a lot of people. But personally? None of them fully land for me. Something always feels slightly off. Like I'm being handed someone else's answer to a question I haven't even figured out how to ask yet.
If we're talking about purpose, we kind of have to talk about absurdity too. Because the moment you start questioning the point of it all, absurdity shows up quietly, then all at once. Absurdity is that weird feeling you get when things stop making sense, but you still have to keep going. You wake up, brush your teeth, go to work or school, make plans for the future all while knowing, deep down, that none of this comes with an instruction manual. No guaranteed meaning. Just... existence. Camus called it "the confrontation between the human need for meaning and the silent, indifferent universe." And yeah, that hits. Because we do crave meaning. We want things to add up. But life rarely gives us neat answers. It just keeps moving. Absurdity isn't chaos. It's not depression. It's more like standing in the middle of a busy street and thinking, "Wait. Why am I doing any of this?" And then shrugging, crossing the road anyway. Sometimes absurdity feels heavy like everything's fake or pointless. Other times, it's kind of freeing. If nothing truly matters in some grand cosmic way, then maybe you get to choose what matters to you. Maybe that's the point there is no point and that's okay. I'm still figuring out what that means for me. But I think once you make peace with absurdity, purpose becomes less of a mission and more of a choice.
I'm still confused and maybe that's okay. None of the big ideas religion, philosophy, science fully convince me. They all feel like someone else's answers. But what's slowly starting to work for me is this: not needing everything to make sense. Letting go of the pressure to have a "purpose" and instead choosing small things that feel right. A conversation that matters. A project that excites me. A moment that feels real. Maybe I don't need to figure it all out. Maybe what works for me is just staying curious, staying honest, and building meaning one choice at a time even if it doesn't come with a label.
So do I have a purpose? I don't know anymore. I thought I did. For a while, it felt clear like I was moving in the right direction, like things meant something. But things changed. I changed. And with that, the purpose I once held onto slipped away. Maybe it wasn't mine to begin with. Or maybe it just stopped fitting. It's strange how something that once gave you so much clarity can suddenly feel like a costume you've outgrown. Now, I'm somewhere in between searching, questioning, rebuilding. Maybe purpose isn't permanent. Maybe it shifts as you do. And maybe that's not failure. Maybe that's growth.
Maybe that's why absurdity makes more sense to me.