Let’s start at the beginning.

I was as lost as anyone on this subject, searching for purpose in my existance. And I mean, heavily searching. As in the kind of search for answers to keep you a participant in this world.

So one day about two months ago, I was thinking about conciousness and the soul. As in exactly what makes my conciousness me. I got to thinking about who I would be if I were cloned. Which body I would be in. The original at first but maybe the second if suddently the original died, say in it’s sleep. I would wake up in the second. I got to thinking, that if the thing that makes this person me is the pattern of processing in my brain, then copying that pattern is copying me. I would then be inside two bodies at once with some hidden tanglement connecting the two as one. If not, then the pattern is NOT what makes this person me.

Hmm, let’s go a little deeper. Since, I find myself in existance now, it is a hard “self-proovable” fact, that I do exist. The world around me may not exist as I perceive it. But I exists none the less.

What would happen IF there was no God and religion was just made up? Let’s think about that. Well, let’s see, first, I exist anyway. So when this body dies, so will the processing that makes it me. Hmm. Then what? Well, since time is infinite, and the atoms of this universe did happen to make me in existance once… It could happen again. And again. And again!

Oh dear, that kind of exposes a problem. What shall I do about this problem of hopping into existance over and over till…. the end of time… which, is NEVER???

Hmm, I think, I’ll need a safe place to spend my awake moments. If I’m lucky, I’ll land into an existance that will be enjoyable to be in. Unlucky might land me in a ground excavation machine, stuck in a mountain for a very long time with nothing but myself and my limited memories. Hmm, I wonder, if there are any entities out there that are already smart enough to have thought of this problem? Perhaps one that would care about us “lost souls” and that would create a safe place specifically for “holding” souls in say, a paradise of some sort. Hmm, that sounds a lot like GOD.

Maybe, there is something to religion, after all.

Long story short… I personally don’t think God created people specifically. He created a creating ground that would allow us lucky souls to come into his existance. Once here, it is our responsiblity to seek the safety that he has provided.

And in that, you can find, the grand purpose for your life, and everyone around you.

I discovered my purpose in life in quite another way – yet I think it might be possible to find it using your method if a person was really honest and prepared to allow his creator to speak to him.

OUr creator is keen that we discover it so he wrote it down and if we are prepared to take the journey he will also reveal it tous spiritually. In general terms it is to be Know the Son of God and to seek to imitate him.

So, I was reading some other article by Steve today and found my way back to this one. After reading the article again, I still couldn’t imagine this working. I then started reading the comments and decided to follow trackback #4 as Steve suggested. whoisnick.com ’s purpose turned on some lightbulb and BAM! I was balling. I’ve found my purpose and it make sense. I think the people having trouble are taking the wrong approach. Your purpose is not something you do, it’s the reason you do things. One person’s purpose may sound like a goal to someone else and that is part of the reason why this is difficult.

In case you were wondering, my purpose is, “To be at home to raise my daughter.”

Can your purpose change from time to time, or is it supposed to be constant throughout your whole life? I used to have a deep burning desire for doing meaningful work at a meaningful employer, but that aspect in my life just doesn’t matter that much anymore. I’m in my mid-20’s and right now the only thing that really gets me excited and ready to jump out of bed every morning is passionate romantic love, or the anticipation/challenge of trying to find it. And I should also mention that this purpose doesn’t even involve one particular woman, but it’s more like this ideal I have about sewing my wild oats.

So I’m not sure if having this as my purpose is just doing what you said not to do – letting my motivation exist outside of me and not within me. However, personally, I don’t think this is being outer-motivateed or attached to one particular event in space/time. But instead I am internally motivated by just the idea of romantic love. Just as a person who has a purpose involving “service” isn’t attached to particular outcomes or results of one instance he helps another, but is internally motivated by the whole idea of serving others. I don’t know.

I came up with some more general purposes and some others that probably sound more noble than just romance and sex. But honestly, these other more general/noble purposes just don’t move me as much as the thought of living a life full of romantic love.

As an example, in the past, I was deeply motivated by career accomplishment and working at these high-profile companies. I never stayed in a particular job longer than 1 year and I kept moving up and up the proverbial corporate ladder looking for the next challenge. And every job I had was the result of self-motivated self-education that I willingly did myself on my own free time and paid for with my own money. So even though that purpose wasn’t necessarily all that general or noble, and doesn’t really motivate me all that much today, I still think I was able to accomplish a lot while I had that particular purpose involving personal career advancement.

So I guess my question is should I just follow whatever current purpose that really seems to motivate me at this point in my life? Or am I selling myself short by not discovering a more universal or noble purpose? Or will the more noble life purposes, such as service and compassion, come to me later when I’m older and have more life experience?

Because one of my biggest fears right now is trying to help others and ending up making things even worse. Kind of like as if I was some pointy-haired manager who “inflicts” leadership and compassion on other people who don’t even need it.

For example, I’m often inspired by music, and what’s most inspiring is that which evokes the feelings in me that reasonate with my purpose: being courageous, being awake and alive, being at peace, etc.

Just relax and focus on the intention to allow the answer to come to you. Again, this is a process of emptying yourself more than of trying to find the right answer.

I tried this exercise for 5 times. I guess I am the one of those who is really stubborn. I did cry, but it was not the answer that made my cry. During this exercise I was listening to online radio. There was one particular melody that touched me so deeply. Just to be sure I tried this exercise one more time without any music. Nothing… Then I tried to listen to the same melody again and think about my true purpose… This time it was even more powerful. It made me cry again. Is this the answer? How to interpret it?