Shalom everyone,
A friend recently asked me about the topic of, ‘Our Purpose in Life’, and specifically its negative effects on people who are unable to divine their purpose in life. I have to admit that I wasn’t previously aware of this phenomenon. Apparently, some churches are pressuring their members into somehow figuring out their individual, ‘special’ purpose in life. Unfortunately, when some individuals fail to find their special purpose, it causes them to fall into a long-term state of depression.
From the outset, I feel that I must say this: You do not have to figure out your individual, unique, God-given purpose in order to live a meaningful and fulfilled life. If you are the type of person who genuinely finds even this approach difficult, then I would say this to you: If you follow the ethical values, the just ideals, and the compassionate principles of YHVH, I can guarantee that you will be fulfilling your mission and purpose in life, even without knowing what it is. You don’t have to know what your individual purpose is, in order to faithfully serve God.
I personally never had the ‘purpose thing’ drummed into me when I was a Christian. Which makes me wonder, how is this ‘you have a purpose’ concept being taught? My guess is that it is being taught as, ‘You have a special purpose’ – in other words, ‘you have an individual purpose that no one else has, and it’s vital for your salvation that you find it’. I’m guessing also that the way in which ‘life-purpose’ is being taught, makes it impossible for an ordinary individual to find or realise such a special purpose. My friend told me that some people were driven close to suicide when they couldn’t figure out their ‘special purpose’.
I’m also hypothesising that what makes the task doubly difficult, is that the faith of fundamentalist Christians is not founded on the ethical values of their religion. As a result, ‘doing good’ is not viewed as any kind of purpose or mission that can lead a person to any kind of salvation.
A while back, I recall seeing an alarming Twitter post. It was by a right-wing Christian Nationalist. He listed off several things that a famous politician he hated was doing (things like helping out the poor and elderly, volunteering in soup-kitchens and so on), and this far-right Christian was disgusted by her actions; he was utterly incapable of seeing these acts of charity as being part of the Christian faith. He beheld the compassionate actions of someone he disagreed with politically, and when he saw them being kind and helping others, he literally declared that these were the works of the devil! His conclusion shocked me, but it didn’t surprise me.
Too many people think that ‘righteous’ either means ‘perfect’, ‘sinless’, or ‘self-righteous’, when it simply means, ‘a decent person who is trying to do their best in life’. Most human beings are righteous; small mistakes don’t make you unrightoeus.
I would say that the form of ‘Christianity’ my grandmother taught me was very Jewish, in that it was very much based on ethical values and ideals of righteousness (my Jewish ancestry comes through her side of the family). I also remember asking my great-grandmother when I was 7 yrs old, “Why are we here?”, and her answer was, “To love God” (in Jewish culture, ‘loving God’ doesn’t simply mean just loving God; it means living out and loving God’s values as well). So if someone had told me as a child that I had a purpose, I would have answered, “I know – be kind and help others”. So whenever I hear ‘purpose’, I understand it as ‘mission’.
Purpose, in living the Yahwist life, is both individual and collective. There are certain little things that we can do as individuals, but there are some greater things that need to be the collective responsibility of society (things that we are unable to do on our own). Purpose should not be forced – it should not ‘drive’ you, as a herder drives cattle with a whip, but be a simple part of your natural way of being.
As human beings, regardless of our religion, we have a purpose which is common to all of us:
— do to others as you would have them do to you
— take care of your physical and mental health (look after yourself, don’t neglect yourself)
— if you have children, guide your children with wisdom and love
— be helpful and supportive towards your family
— be respectful to your elders
— be loyal and helpful to your friends
— if you have pets, be kind to them, treat them as part of your family, and value them
— have respect for the natural environment, and don’t harm it or destroy it
— be kind towards those who are different to you
— teach others to value knowledge and wisdom, and pass it on from generation to generation
— at the end of your life, leave the world a little better than when you entered it
As Jews and Godfearers, we have additional purpose:
— In the way you conduct your life, be a witness for the values and ideals of YHVH
— Be holy to YHVH, and be a Kingdom of Priests
— Be a light to the Nations, so that they might turn to the good in their own cultures, and see their own path towards the Holy One
— Work for the fulfilment of God’s Kingdom of justness and fairness
— Encourage society to treat its poorest and most vulnerable members in a just, kind and fair manner
— Be kind, even towards those who do not share our faith or values
— Spread the peace and compassion of God’s Kingdom to those of other faiths and of none
— Spread healing of the mind and soul, and help to repair the world (Tikkun Olam, which is basically anything that will help to heal and repair humanity and the world, and restore it to the original state of being our Creator intended for everything to be in)
By following the mission that God has given all of us, and by living out the values and principles that God has taught us, we will be fulfilling our individual purpose anyway, even if we never become aware of what our individual purpose is. Bottom line is, we don’t necessarily have to know our own individual purpose in order to fulfil it. If we live life in the manner God has taught us to live, then God’s own Self will ensure that our purpose is fulfilled – we can be guaranteed of it.
Follow-up blogpost to this one: God’s Ultimate, Overall Plan
blessings, your brother in faith
Shmuliq
PS I have just seen a twitter post with the Native American Ten Commandments, a complete coincidence, they are very similar to what I wrote above!