Philosophical Journal 2: Why am I here? (or, what is my purpose?)

Why am I here? (or, what is my purpose?)

Understanding the meaning of my existence and finding my purpose in life is not something that I can just pluck out from The Enchiridion. Life does not come with a manual; we were not born programmed to do what we are supposed to do. The question about why I am here remains to me an enigma, but the readings in Module 3 helped me reflect on it. In the first journal, I reaffirmed my belief that my origin was engineered by God, I was created after His form and likeness. Following that, as humans with knowledge superior to other lifeforms on earth, we are charged to understand whatever it is under and above the sun. To relate my life’s origin to my life’s purpose is not an easy task. After careful evaluation, I find that to live a purposeful life, I must live responsibly by maximizing my potential and employing where I could best contribute my abilities. I must embrace all the good - and be grateful for it, the bad - and learn from it, the challenges - and come out stronger from it. Lastly, purposeful life is giving my best in all that I do, pushing boundaries to come out better than yesterday, and understanding that the limitations of being human are there to guide me and not hinder me.

Reading the doctrine of Epicurus and the Enchiridion by Epictetus has led me to contemplate hard on my own purpose in life. Both works are sound advice on how to lead life beautifully. Epicurus views that our purpose in life is finding happiness. As quoted from the reading, “[t]he ends of living...according to the universal opinion of mankind, is happiness..” (para. 9). Men should also pursue pleasure, especially the pleasure of bodily ease and peace of mind, which happiness chiefly depends on (para. 10). Therefore, we can attain happiness by taking care of our bodies and mind and practicing virtue in life. The reading ends by connecting Socrates' examination of life to Epicurus' pursuit of happiness. It states that the aim of all those inquiries is happiness by learning man's capacities and knowing where to direct them…(para. 30).

The Enchiridion by Epictetus, the way I understand it, is a thoughtful reading on how to live well. My takeaway from the reading is: 1) It states that “freedom and happiness can be procured” if I focus on things within my power and desiring those beyond my power will cause me to lament, to be unhappy. (para 1). 2) Men are disturbed by the way we perceive things, the example cited was men’s perception of death is what makes death scary, not death itself. (para 5). 3) The reading mentions taking life as it comes, for me to be happy, I must “wish things to happen as they do happen”. (para 8) 4) Finally, to be free and happy, I must “exercise what is in my power”, I am the master of myself, and I dictate what I “seek or shun”. (para 14).

The readings challenged my belief in what is it to live life purposely. I find that the common ground for both readings is the purpose of life is the pursuit of happiness. Epicurus tells me happiness can be obtained by being free from pain. Epictetus teaches me how to be happy focusing on things that I can control. While it is true that there are things out of bounds for me to do, I do not find it necessary to reject them. In paragraph 1 on the Enchiridion, it says “if it concerns anything beyond our power, be prepared to say that it is nothing to you”. I always view the grand scheme of things are connected one way or another. I see things beyond our power like our life, finances, and our reputation are the what set our goals, for us to desire in the first place, to be motivated, to guide our life’s choices. We see life as a gift and not ours to keep and control, so we pursue to take care of it by staying healthy as possible. Death, for instance, is an event beyond our power but I will not say it is of no importance to me. I do not think it is enough to obtain happiness by focusing only on things that we can do; we will be fully happy if we acknowledge things we cannot do and set that as a guideline for us to be better. My purpose in life is to give my best shot, daily, and find happiness in victory and lessons in failure.

 

Reference: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/30200/30200-h/30200-h.htm#link2H_4_0015

 

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45109/45109-h/45109-h.htm

 

Penned on October 15, 2021. MRMP