Tim Freke’s latest book has the word “purpose” in its title, so I wanted to talk about what it means.
The common sense answer is that purpose is why something is done. And the ultimate purpose, if such a thing exists, should be an end in itself.
And actually, such ends in themselves aren’t too far from our daily experience. Say, I bought a new pair of headphones. The purpose was to listen to my favorite music in good quality. But what’s the purpose of listening to my favorite music? There isn’t any. That is to say, I don’t do it as a means to anything else but the experience of joy that it brings. I’m not diligently listening to the album feeling a sense of accomplishment when it’s finally done.
This is in line with Aristotle who claimed that “eudomonia” or well-being / happiness is the very end of all means we can ever imagine.
And it seems to me that this eudomonia for consciousness as we know it should include
a) absence of suffering
b) free-will based relationships
c) creativity
a) I know this might be controversial, as many people claim suffering is necessary to learn or to know what is good. I’m not convinced. If suffering is necessary to learn, why don’t we make schools full of it? When you feel happy, do you ever find yourself wishing to suffer so that you would “know what is good”? I don’t believe suffering is in any way necessary for happiness.
b) I am a firm believer in libertarian free will, but that is another discussion. What seems obvious to me is that without people making genuine choices there cannot be a relationship. There can be usage – as I’m using my computer now, but in no way it is an emotionally and spiritually satisfying relationship. And that is what love is at the end of the day – a benevolent intimacy between the lover and the beloved. I don’t think anyone could deny that relationships are fundamental for happiness.
c) What relationships are for the soul, creativity is for the mind (to use this terms rather vaguely). Without creativity and art we feel bored, and boredom is actually a form if distress caused by lack of some creative activity. It is simply the nature of consciousness, so it seems, to desire to create. It’s playfulness and unpredictability that we find exciting.
When a being is able to experience blissful, loving, creative relationship with others, it has fulfilled its purpose, and can go on having fun and expanding into endless creativity.
Visādas 