Before you were born, your soul contemplated and conferred with other souls to decide the purpose of your life. That purpose then determined the place and family of your birth, what language you spoke, your social class, the societal values taught to you, and your lovers, friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens. Basically, it determined who you will be. All to steer you towards the greatest chance of accomplishing the reason for your existence.
Or at least that’s what some of the new age gurus speak and write about. I don’t know if it’s true but they sure sound certain. Even assuming the above is accurate, that you have a soul and your soul has a mission for you, there is a wrinkle in the plan: free will.
Free will means that shit happens. We make mistakes or other people make mistakes that mess us up. Even if we knew the plan, we can choose not to follow the plan. And even if we try to, other people and circumstances beyond our control could prevent us. Chaos guarantees that failure is always an option.
Off the top of my head, here are some things that could explain why you may not currently have a life purpose, from best to worst and ending in a crescendo of ambiguity… messy, like most things in life.
Congratulations, You’re Done
You’ve already accomplished your life purpose, so now you got none. Not all life purposes have to be huge, arduous undertakings that take all your energy, time, and life. Some or many could be tiny in scope.
Perhaps your purpose is to be a member of a certain family, be a friend, marry a particular someone, or raise children. Perhaps it’s to become a gardener, scientist, dentist, or beggar. Maybe it’s to be able to eat a full meal each day. Or to experience growing up poor, missing meals.
Or your purpose could be to meet someone at a certain place and time, and to say something that alters the trajectory of that person’s life. It’s a promise your soul made to help another soul accomplish their purpose. You’re a supporting actor and you’ve done a great job with your one line in the play. So now you are free to enjoy your remaining time.
Who knows what your soul was thinking? What lesson that soul was hoping to learn? In either case, you’re already succeeded so relax and enjoy the rest of your life.
Game Over, Human
You messed up. You had a simple task: to help another soul. You were supposed to meet that someone, but you missed them. Or you met them too early or too late. Or you met them but said the wrong thing. In any case, your friend soul was not able to accomplish their purpose, and neither did you. It’s okay, you both can try again during the next go-around. Again, you are now free to enjoy your remaining time on Earth.
You are the leading actor. Your supporting actor met you at the right place and time, said the right thing, but you weren’t at the stage where you could understand so you did not take the necessary course correction. Or your friend soul didn’t meet you at the right place and time and if they did, they said the wrong thing. You both failed to accomplish the mission. Relax and enjoy your time until the next round.
Unexpected shit happened in your childhood and adulthood that threw you off track and reduced the chance of you finding and accomplishing your life purpose to zero. Tough break. On the bright side, you’re on vacation until the next cycle.
Lost in Transition
Finally, you’re stuck and unsure what your life purpose is. You don’t know if you are in the two categories above. You’re not sure if you have succeeded or failed because you don’t know what you were supposed to do.
You spend your time trying to determine what your purpose is. You listen to gurus. Follow your passions to find your purpose, they say. But what if you have no passion or have too many passions, how are you supposed to know?
Maybe you haven’t found your life purpose yet because your life purpose is something that can only be accomplished in your old age. So your best action is to wait until then.
Maybe your life purpose is to endlessly search for your life purpose. And by failing to find one, you would have succeeded. All this uncertainty because your stupid soul decided for some unknown reason that this was a good purpose to try.
It’s a Trap
Since we cannot be sure what our life purpose is, and whether we have succeeded at accomplishing it or not, until our life comes to an end and our souls tally up the outcome, I say screw it. Pick something, call it your life purpose, and call it a day. Maybe you will luck out and pick the right thing. Heck, increase your odds of being right by picking many things.
If your soul exists and it did give you a mission, then I like to think that it also gave you an eternity of second chances to get it right. So just go out and do it. Do anything.
If you hunger for purpose, may the odds be ever in your favor.