“The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases. Each of us carries his own life-form… an indeterminable form which cannot be superseded by any other.” — Carl Jung
By Melisa Gulsun Ozmen
We human beings are born, live and die. But why? What is our higher purpose on earth? For thousands of years, one of the greatest questions on philosophers’ minds has been to give meaningful answers to such questions as “Why are we here on earth?” and “What is the purpose of our lives?” The ancient Athenian lawgiver Solon thought that the purpose of life was knowing yourself, and he was the first philosopher who suggested the two words “know thyself.” This was then adopted and assimilated by many other sages, including Jesus, as the purpose of life. However, over the passing thousands of years, as human consciousness has evolved and life has become more complicated, the sole suggestion to know thyself has not been sufficient to explain the purpose of life. In response, many philosophers have developed new approaches to find purpose in life. In the 21st century, spiritual teacher and lecturer Dan Millman has theorized the major purposes of life which he claims are shared by all human beings. In his 2011 work The Four Purposes of Life, he describes these as learning life lessons, finding your career and calling, discovering your life path, and living in the moment.
Dan Millman sees life as resembling a school, and as with every school you attend, there are school rules, a curriculum and required courses that you have to take in order to realize the purpose of learning life lessons. There are some unavoidable principles that you are compelled to obey while learning life lessons. Firstly, lessons repeat themselves until you learn them. Secondly, if you do not learn the lessons earlier in life when they are easier, they get harder with time. And thirdly, you learn and grow through challenges, and every adversity has hidden gifts. These principles do not vary from person to person. They are universal laws. If you look back to your past, you will clearly see how some of your challenges in some areas of your life have been eased because you learned your life lessons in those areas. Being aware of your life challenges and taking them seriously can help you to find a way to learn and “pass” your life lessons. At school, students all follow the same curriculum and take the same exams, but some finish their lessons easier and faster than others because they take them more seriously than others. Life is like this.
The second purpose of life is to find your career and calling. This purpose is closely linked to the suggestion to “know thyself” because, in order to realize this purpose, you have to be aware of your innate talents, interests, intelligence and values. Choosing the right career at an early age can open a path to a more satisfying life, but it does not guarantee fulfillment, joy, and happiness. Many successful people may suffer from having an undefined void in their souls, which is the void of not realizing their inner calling. Millman defines career as a service you perform for which you trade your time, effort, attention, knowledge, and experience for a salary or other income. However, your calling is something very different. It is a personal interest, attraction, inclination, drive, or passion that is usually of a higher order. Your calling is the inner gravity that urges you to accomplish something even if you do not know why. You may or may not get material rewards for performing your calling, but whether you are rewarded materially or not, you feel fulfilled and happy for performing it. Some people manage to merge their career with their calling over the years, like someone who is a corporate manager but enjoys teaching music, who then buys a music school, begins managing the music school, and turns his calling into his career. Even if this kind of amalgamation does not happen to everyone, it is essential to find and pursue both your career and calling equally to realize the second purpose of life.
Although you might have chosen the right career and found the calling in you, there is a higher purpose for each one of us that contributes to the collective consciousness of humanity, which Millman calls our hidden calling and higher potential. There is a hidden reason that keeps us on this earth, and one of life’s purposes is to find this hidden reason. Millman gives a numerological Life-Purpose system to find this hidden impetus. This technique calls for you to add up the individual digits of the day, month and year of your birth. If the result is two digits, then keep adding those two digits until you get a single digit number. For example, if your birthday is February 3, 1997, add those digits (2 + 3 + 1 + 9 + 9 + 7) for a total of 31. Then add those two digits (3 + 1) for a total of four. From one to nine, each life-purpose number refers to a life path as follows:
- Creativity 6. Vision
- Cooperation 7. Trust
- Expression 8. Recognition
- Stability 9. Integrity
- Freedom
In The Life You Were Born to Live, Millman’s work on finding hidden calling and higher potential based on this numerological system, he covers the deeper meanings of each number in detail and gives comprehensive advice on how to realize the third purpose of life. This technique may seem unscientific or even frivolous at first sight, but you can analyze and test the accuracy of it with your own insight. There is no one who knows better than you what lessons and challenges you have been through in your life. You can compare the meaning of the number of your birth date total with your life challenges and make a conclusion as to whether it suits your life path or not.
Where and when do you learn life lessons, practice your career and inner calling, hear your higher calling, and move toward your higher potential? Right now! Living in the moment is the fourth and the most important purpose of life in order to achieve the other three purposes. The past is memory, the future is imagination, but this moment, the arising moment as Millman calls it, is your absolute reality. Each decision you make and each action you take in each moment of life is an opportunity to step forward toward realizing your life purposes. A modern proverb holds that “One moment can change a day, one day can change a life, one life can change the world.” Although Millman sees attending to the arising moment as the fourth purpose of life, I would put it at the top of the list because without living in the moment, you cannot be aware of either yourself, or any purpose of your life. If you feel purposeless in life, just embracing and savoring the moment you live can give you a sense of purpose. A purpose to live!
Finding your life purpose is a purpose above all of these four life purposes, Millman suggests, especially when you are young. Younger people usually are not aware of why they are on this earth and waste their time and energy moving in the wrong direction while trying to find a meaningful purpose in life. It is not easy if you do not have someone wise around you to give you guidance in finding your life purpose. You may not be lucky enough to have a family member like Millman who can give some clues to finding your purpose in life in the early stages of your life. If this is the case, then finding your life purpose begins with “know thyself.” It becomes the very first step of finding your purpose in life and, knowing yourself begins with looking inward and following your inner guidance. If you feel like you are lost in finding your life purpose, then just begin with living in the moment and trust that the path toward your life purpose will open up. ■
Melisa Gulsun Ozmen is an economics graduate with two decades in Turkish business. She relocated to the US in 2018, seeking personal growth. Immersed in a distinct culture, she discovered inner transformation’s paramountcy, inspired by Osho’s wisdom. This revelation led her to the Transformational Life Coaching Program, graduating in 2020 and cementing her life’s purpose. Melisa is a lifelong learner and coach, continuously exploring political science, psychology, and astrology, while also illuminating her journey of self-discovery and enlightenment through perpetual learning. Learn more about Melisa and visit her blog.
