I went with your argumentation and felt convincing to me. I think it’s really important that you emphasized the creation through action instead of the perfectionists never ending “search for purpose”.
One approach I would like to add here comes from the startup world and applies perfectly:
Iteration.
Just start acting, feel if that’s the thing and how close it comes to being the thing for you. Each time you can change your course of action slightly and I’m certain you will end up close to what’s your purpose gonna be.
Poetic take but I see it differently, this is a lot of words to say that the key is the balance between introspection and pragmatism.
Perpetual introspection with no action, can lead to learned helplessness and even psychosis.
I disagree with the idea that seeking purpose is just about meaning. To me it's always been about finding my true gift to the world and maximizing the utility of my capabilities and potential.
But you shared many valid points about where our collective consciousness is at the moment. That’s valuable perspective
I know it sounds a bit performative. But i like to think life is just about the creator experiencing itself through us, we are here to experience as many contrast as possible and live our best lives.
I love this. I’m a combination of the perfectionist and workaholic. Because I wait for “perfection”, I dedicate precious time to work in areas that aren’t as meaningful to my life. I’ve been avoiding my art for years, and constantly succumb to paralysis by analysis. Thank you for this piece!
This is a very interesting perspective, it really gives a lot to think about. I think you are really onto something when you say almost everything we do is an attempt to deny our mortality and it's been something I've been dwelling on lately a lot, and I’d dare that denying mortality and accepting mortality can produce almost identical behaviors. Writing a book could mean “I want something of me to survive” or “I know I won't survive, so I want to make something beautiful while I'm here.”
Thanks for sharing this. I really enjoyed reading.
Whenever I start a personal project, I ask myself what is my vision and what are my values to make this happen. And then, I don't sway from them. I've found that helps me develop my purpose.
Truth is, humans were never meant to be still nor any other living being on this planet. Also, uncertainty is a part of the movement of life. To live fluidly through this rhythm is the real freedom here.
You’re right about most of the creator economy. People do chase it for freedom and as a fellow freedom chaser I get it, because it means not having to be a part of the system, of submitting to a broken one.
I just think it’s important to remember that a part is not the whole and vice-versa.
To be able to live in the middle space between everything and listen to your truth, like we both preach 🫶🏼
Thought provoking and soul soothing. Thanks Philipp! I feel so seen and understood in my human experience reading this beautiful piece. You put the impossible into words 🤍
Good shit my dude! Like we really jumped from religion to psychology without even stopping to ask, “Where am I in all of this?” And the find your purpose loop truly is fruitless. Tending your own soil, planting seeds of creativity & seeing what grows… that’s what matters.
Great work! Appreciate it, I really resonated with this piece. It’s something I have been feeling for a while, and have been coming to my own conclusion that purpose is never fixed and it’s more curated moment to moment rather than a grand calling from God. This captured it perfectly. Thanks Phil.
This essay is incredibly powerful medicine, and I feel, like all medicines timing and dosing (which is dynamic for everyone) is essential. For some it is going to hit just right, and for others its going to feel like a premature conversation - like when a well-meaning friend tells you to get over an ex within minutes of the breakup. Proceed with caution accordingly.
With those caveats aside, it definitely spoke to me.
I’m with you on rejecting the idea that somewhere out there is a single, preordained purpose waiting to be discovered, after which the rest of life suddenly makes sense.
That notion can do more harm than good, especially for younger people who may experience ‘purpose’ as another standard they are somehow failing to meet.
Where I part company with your thinking is in throwing the concept of purpose out with the mythology surrounding it.
Developmentally, the evidence points toward a more nuanced proposition. Purpose isn’t something we “find” so much as something we form as a hypothesis, test against lived experience, revise, and eventually understand more clearly after we have accumulated enough life.
Jung’s second half of life, Maslow’s movement toward self-transcendence, Frankl’s emphasis on meaning, and Kegan’s work on self-authorship approach the question from very different traditions, yet they converge around a common developmental movement. One you see it, you can’t unsee it…it’s pretty cool, actually.
None of these thinkers’ frames of reference require believing that we arrived with a vocational treasure map hidden inside us.
We build identities. We succeed inside them or we don’t. Sometimes we outgrow them, lose them, or suffer through periods when they no longer cohere. Only later can we recognize what persisted underneath those different versions of ourselves.
That is closer to a process of discovering continuity than to “finding your purpose” in the Instagram sense.
As you’ll see from me on Sunday, the question becomes more interesting at midlife precisely because one finally has enough evidence.
I’ve been building toward this argument across the first ten essays in my series this month, mostly through lived experience but also leaning heavily on depth psychology.
In essay eleven, I’m finally revealing more of the developmental scaffolding underneath it.
It offers a counterargument to yours, although I suspect it is really more of a refinement.
Purpose as something that can become legible through development, self-authorship, rupture, testing, and retrospective coherence; not purpose as destiny.
Ruben, I really appreciate your perspective here. It adds another dimension to the way I think about this whole question. I think we’re looking at many of the same things, just putting the emphasis in different places. I like that we can look at the same question from such different angles and still expand each other’s view. That’s what makes these conversations so valuable to me.
I went with your argumentation and felt convincing to me. I think it’s really important that you emphasized the creation through action instead of the perfectionists never ending “search for purpose”.
One approach I would like to add here comes from the startup world and applies perfectly:
Iteration.
Just start acting, feel if that’s the thing and how close it comes to being the thing for you. Each time you can change your course of action slightly and I’m certain you will end up close to what’s your purpose gonna be.
Yes, iteration is a great approach. I don't think purpose is static, we are constantly changing.
Poetic take but I see it differently, this is a lot of words to say that the key is the balance between introspection and pragmatism.
Perpetual introspection with no action, can lead to learned helplessness and even psychosis.
I disagree with the idea that seeking purpose is just about meaning. To me it's always been about finding my true gift to the world and maximizing the utility of my capabilities and potential.
But you shared many valid points about where our collective consciousness is at the moment. That’s valuable perspective
"finding my true gift to the world and maximizing the utility of my capabilities and potential"
Isn't that just a different way to talk about purpose and giving your life meaning?
I know it sounds a bit performative. But i like to think life is just about the creator experiencing itself through us, we are here to experience as many contrast as possible and live our best lives.
Endless introspection. I couldn't agree more. It sometimes feels like every two minutes I'm looking within and rearranging my priorities.
I love this. I’m a combination of the perfectionist and workaholic. Because I wait for “perfection”, I dedicate precious time to work in areas that aren’t as meaningful to my life. I’ve been avoiding my art for years, and constantly succumb to paralysis by analysis. Thank you for this piece!
This is a very interesting perspective, it really gives a lot to think about. I think you are really onto something when you say almost everything we do is an attempt to deny our mortality and it's been something I've been dwelling on lately a lot, and I’d dare that denying mortality and accepting mortality can produce almost identical behaviors. Writing a book could mean “I want something of me to survive” or “I know I won't survive, so I want to make something beautiful while I'm here.”
Thanks for sharing this. I really enjoyed reading.
Have you read The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker?
Yes! It’s one of my favourite books. Infact I was so inspired that I wrote one of my letters: The unicorn trap around the same theme.
Whenever I start a personal project, I ask myself what is my vision and what are my values to make this happen. And then, I don't sway from them. I've found that helps me develop my purpose.
Truth is, humans were never meant to be still nor any other living being on this planet. Also, uncertainty is a part of the movement of life. To live fluidly through this rhythm is the real freedom here.
You’re right about most of the creator economy. People do chase it for freedom and as a fellow freedom chaser I get it, because it means not having to be a part of the system, of submitting to a broken one.
I just think it’s important to remember that a part is not the whole and vice-versa.
To be able to live in the middle space between everything and listen to your truth, like we both preach 🫶🏼
WOW!
Thought provoking and soul soothing. Thanks Philipp! I feel so seen and understood in my human experience reading this beautiful piece. You put the impossible into words 🤍
Soul soothing, what a great term.
Good shit my dude! Like we really jumped from religion to psychology without even stopping to ask, “Where am I in all of this?” And the find your purpose loop truly is fruitless. Tending your own soil, planting seeds of creativity & seeing what grows… that’s what matters.
It’s funny if you remember that psychology is the study of the soul.
Fantastic take. Thanks for sharing.
Hey, you’ve described me!
Great work! Appreciate it, I really resonated with this piece. It’s something I have been feeling for a while, and have been coming to my own conclusion that purpose is never fixed and it’s more curated moment to moment rather than a grand calling from God. This captured it perfectly. Thanks Phil.
This essay is incredibly powerful medicine, and I feel, like all medicines timing and dosing (which is dynamic for everyone) is essential. For some it is going to hit just right, and for others its going to feel like a premature conversation - like when a well-meaning friend tells you to get over an ex within minutes of the breakup. Proceed with caution accordingly.
With those caveats aside, it definitely spoke to me.
Thanks Philip for the distillation.
That’s a great caveat and I really like to medicine frame.
It won't buy you a private jet, but the message is real and honest. Love it.
Are you a fan of Peter Rollins work?
Haven’t heard of him, why?
Hi Philip,
I’m with you on rejecting the idea that somewhere out there is a single, preordained purpose waiting to be discovered, after which the rest of life suddenly makes sense.
That notion can do more harm than good, especially for younger people who may experience ‘purpose’ as another standard they are somehow failing to meet.
Where I part company with your thinking is in throwing the concept of purpose out with the mythology surrounding it.
Developmentally, the evidence points toward a more nuanced proposition. Purpose isn’t something we “find” so much as something we form as a hypothesis, test against lived experience, revise, and eventually understand more clearly after we have accumulated enough life.
Jung’s second half of life, Maslow’s movement toward self-transcendence, Frankl’s emphasis on meaning, and Kegan’s work on self-authorship approach the question from very different traditions, yet they converge around a common developmental movement. One you see it, you can’t unsee it…it’s pretty cool, actually.
None of these thinkers’ frames of reference require believing that we arrived with a vocational treasure map hidden inside us.
We build identities. We succeed inside them or we don’t. Sometimes we outgrow them, lose them, or suffer through periods when they no longer cohere. Only later can we recognize what persisted underneath those different versions of ourselves.
That is closer to a process of discovering continuity than to “finding your purpose” in the Instagram sense.
As you’ll see from me on Sunday, the question becomes more interesting at midlife precisely because one finally has enough evidence.
I’ve been building toward this argument across the first ten essays in my series this month, mostly through lived experience but also leaning heavily on depth psychology.
In essay eleven, I’m finally revealing more of the developmental scaffolding underneath it.
It offers a counterargument to yours, although I suspect it is really more of a refinement.
Purpose as something that can become legible through development, self-authorship, rupture, testing, and retrospective coherence; not purpose as destiny.
Ruben, I really appreciate your perspective here. It adds another dimension to the way I think about this whole question. I think we’re looking at many of the same things, just putting the emphasis in different places. I like that we can look at the same question from such different angles and still expand each other’s view. That’s what makes these conversations so valuable to me.
Thank you! Will go read you for sure. And fully agreed on what makes this pace and conversation so valuable.
Maybe in a word: participate.