| Meaning and Purpose | Death and Dying |
There can be no meaning without a purpose. Only a purpose has the potential to give rise to meaning. So, the two terms are inner dependent, and they are often used interchangeably in this handbook. There are two distinct levels of meaning. The highest level of meaning is related to the meaning of life. Why is there life to begin with? The second level of meaning is more personal, “What is the meaning your life?” or are we just an ephemeral being who is here to play a temporary role in the larger cycle of life.
A short, easy answer to the meaning for your life is this…to fulfill your purposes. As soon as you know discover or choose your purpose, your life will then have meaning as defined by your purpose. Change your purpose and the meaning of your life is also changed.
Meaning stems from purpose.
C.W. Sooter
So, it you want to know the meaning of your life, you need to find the purpose for your life. Once you find your unique purpose as to why you are alive and still capable of performing useful services, you will then know your meaning. Your meaning in life is to fulfill your purpose, which you get to choose, unless you were one of the lucky ones and had it revealed to you from upon high.
You get to choose your purpose.
C.W. Sooter
If you choose to be the creator of you life, you get to choose your meaning. If you’re your life seems stuck, you need to remember you are where you are because of all the cumulative choices you’ve made over your lifetime. “Your life has already turned out. There is no place to get to. Whatever is happening is a function of beliefs you created, and you can eliminate then at any time.”[1] So, you are not stuck where you are just because you are where you are. If you decide somewhere downstream that you prefer some other purpose, you are obligated to do so. Purposes are self-created; our creator does not assign them to us at birth. As a creator, you have the freedom to choose what purposes and meaning you will build into your life upon. The philosophy of Existentialism claims that people are free to define themselves as they wish, free to create their own reason for being.[2]
“There is no inherent and universal meaning in the world, there are only events and the meaning is all in your mind. There is no inherent meaning or truth in the world, except the meaning that you give it. There is no right way to do anything; there is just the way that you have found that works for you in today's circumstances. Truth of what works changes with environmental and situational factors.”[3]
So, rather than going through life presupposing that there are fundamental truths that must be found and obeyed, you can relax and know that everything you know is an interpretation of what you have experienced. All your beliefs are there because of the composite of all interpretation, assumptions, and expectations that you have accumulated over your lifetime. It can all be changed if you are willing to reprogram your beliefs about how life works. “Transform all statements that you currently hold of your perceptions of the truth into statement of ‘a possible truth’. What you see, think, and feel is not really ‘the truth’ but an interpretation you have selected to believe. Any single belief is just one of many other possibilities of what the truth could be. If you find your truths are limiting your possibilities, you only need to change your beliefs about them to open new possibilities for your life.
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Copyright ©2005 Charles W. Sooter. All rights reserved.
