Your Purpose In Life Is Two-fold
There are two kinds of meaning. One deals with the grand design for human life, the essence of our existence. At a micro level, this aspect of meaning deals with my life as a person. What is the purpose of my life, as an individual? This is what I have chosen to call Primary Purpose.
The other kind of meaning deals with our daily human experience. How do we make sense out of all that happen to us – the vast human suffering, pain, sickness, accident, delay, seemingly unanswered prayer, rejection and abuse? However, this type of purpose does not deal only with distressing things that happen to us. It also affects aspects of our daily human experiences that are good and even pleasant. For example, what meaning does my type of work hold for me and for the society? What is the essence of pleasure? Is there any meaning to wealth, marriage, leadership position and opportunities, for example? This kind of purpose, I call Secondary Purpose or Secondary Meaning.
No doubt, these are questions that plague humans irrespective of age, color or nationality. At some point or the other, all of us have thought about these questions. We live with them. In what ways do primary and secondary purposes resemble each other, and how do these two purposes differ from each other?
Too often, people tend to question the existence of a supreme God due to their inability to understand secondary purpose. How can there be a loving and all-powerful God if so much evil still exist in our world? How can I believe that God loves me if I still go through so much pain? But this kind of concern seems to me like putting the cart before the horse. Until we understand primary purpose, secondary meaning will likely elude us. Because we live in a world with many uncertainties, it often happens that we become more enamored with wanting to understand secondary purposes, instead of searching for the primary meaning of our lives.
Primary purpose deals with knowing who I am. Secondary purpose deals with understanding why certain things happen to me. In primary purpose, we understand who we are, where we came from, where we are returning at death, what we are here on earth to do or to be. Secondary purpose attempts to help us understand why certain things that don’t seem to fit the description of our primary purpose still happen to us, and what we can do about it.
Primary purpose deals with the big picture. Secondary purpose focuses on the individual details and seeks to align them with the big picture. The universe is far bigger than my little world. Primary purpose helps me understand that, as much as I am a very important part of it all, it’s not always about me.
Primary purpose tends to be same across the entire spectrum of human existence. Secondary purpose is mainly subjective and specific to individuals, and gloriously so.
Primary purpose is unchanging, consistent, and eternal. Secondary purpose reflects individual circumstances and so changes based on the individual and the conditions. In this sense, then, primary purpose does not change, but secondary purpose can change, and in fact, does change at various stages of our lives.
Primary purpose is concerned with the divine intent, the supreme goal of our being. Secondary purpose deals with plans, methods and strategies involved in achieving the supreme goal.'For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.' God was quoted here by Jeremiah as saying that he knows what his intention was for Israel. But it also talked about plans ( series of sequential tasks arranged in order to achieve the goal). God’s intention for all mankind is the same, but how he helps each of us get there is vastly different.
In conclusion, secondary purposes tend to become clearer once we understand what the primary purpose is. Perhaps, the best individual investment is in finding out, embracing and pursuing ones primary purpose. Of course, there are no easy answers to life, but many concerns become easier to deal with when a person understands her primary purpose. In this way, secondary purpose may be viewed as the personal application of primary purpose to the daily details of human existence.
This blog does not claim to have all the answers to all of life’s difficult situations. But it does claim to help individuals discover their primary purpose in life. When you do, perhaps, just perhaps, it may then be possible to view life’s complicated circumstances from an entirely new and refreshing perspective.
If these posts help you in any way, let us know. Post a comment, send our link to your friends, or just send me a mail: francis@dicoverpurpose.net. Feel free to look around, you never know what you will find.
There are two kinds of meaning. One deals with the grand design for human life, the essence of our existence. At a micro level, this aspect of meaning deals with my life as a person. What is the purpose of my life, as an individual? This is what I have chosen to call Primary Purpose.
The other kind of meaning deals with our daily human experience. How do we make sense out of all that happen to us – the vast human suffering, pain, sickness, accident, delay, seemingly unanswered prayer, rejection and abuse? However, this type of purpose does not deal only with distressing things that happen to us. It also affects aspects of our daily human experiences that are good and even pleasant. For example, what meaning does my type of work hold for me and for the society? What is the essence of pleasure? Is there any meaning to wealth, marriage, leadership position and opportunities, for example? This kind of purpose, I call Secondary Purpose or Secondary Meaning.
No doubt, these are questions that plague humans irrespective of age, color or nationality. At some point or the other, all of us have thought about these questions. We live with them. In what ways do primary and secondary purposes resemble each other, and how do these two purposes differ from each other?
Too often, people tend to question the existence of a supreme God due to their inability to understand secondary purpose. How can there be a loving and all-powerful God if so much evil still exist in our world? How can I believe that God loves me if I still go through so much pain? But this kind of concern seems to me like putting the cart before the horse. Until we understand primary purpose, secondary meaning will likely elude us. Because we live in a world with many uncertainties, it often happens that we become more enamored with wanting to understand secondary purposes, instead of searching for the primary meaning of our lives.
Primary purpose deals with knowing who I am. Secondary purpose deals with understanding why certain things happen to me. In primary purpose, we understand who we are, where we came from, where we are returning at death, what we are here on earth to do or to be. Secondary purpose attempts to help us understand why certain things that don’t seem to fit the description of our primary purpose still happen to us, and what we can do about it.
Primary purpose deals with the big picture. Secondary purpose focuses on the individual details and seeks to align them with the big picture. The universe is far bigger than my little world. Primary purpose helps me understand that, as much as I am a very important part of it all, it’s not always about me.
Primary purpose tends to be same across the entire spectrum of human existence. Secondary purpose is mainly subjective and specific to individuals, and gloriously so.
Primary purpose is unchanging, consistent, and eternal. Secondary purpose reflects individual circumstances and so changes based on the individual and the conditions. In this sense, then, primary purpose does not change, but secondary purpose can change, and in fact, does change at various stages of our lives.
Primary purpose is concerned with the divine intent, the supreme goal of our being. Secondary purpose deals with plans, methods and strategies involved in achieving the supreme goal.'For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.' God was quoted here by Jeremiah as saying that he knows what his intention was for Israel. But it also talked about plans ( series of sequential tasks arranged in order to achieve the goal). God’s intention for all mankind is the same, but how he helps each of us get there is vastly different.
In conclusion, secondary purposes tend to become clearer once we understand what the primary purpose is. Perhaps, the best individual investment is in finding out, embracing and pursuing ones primary purpose. Of course, there are no easy answers to life, but many concerns become easier to deal with when a person understands her primary purpose. In this way, secondary purpose may be viewed as the personal application of primary purpose to the daily details of human existence.
This blog does not claim to have all the answers to all of life’s difficult situations. But it does claim to help individuals discover their primary purpose in life. When you do, perhaps, just perhaps, it may then be possible to view life’s complicated circumstances from an entirely new and refreshing perspective.
If these posts help you in any way, let us know. Post a comment, send our link to your friends, or just send me a mail: francis@dicoverpurpose.net. Feel free to look around, you never know what you will find.
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