From the moment a child opens their eyes to perceive the world into which they have been born, love plays a part in their perception. Love has a depth which many fail to appreciate until it has gone, or perhaps cannot be understood simply through thinking that we have no experience of it, though in every step we take towards finding our life's purpose, love plays a role which cannot be undermined or ignored.
*The child. *The teen. *The single adult. *The married folk. *The aged. *At the end of this life.
The child.
A child learns through simply being a child. They have a built in curiosity and thirst for knowledge. Within that search, the child seeks approval. They want to know why and often parents complain about that very question. They seek parental guidance to find purpose. All of their questions can be dealt with in one of two ways. A loving parent will explain. A parent who is too busy will avoid the questions being asked. The child who is brought up by a loving parent will learn their purpose in life simply by knowing that their questions will be answered in a sensitive and loving way, making them even more aware of the depth of what life offers them.
The teen.
As a child grows into a near adult stage of their life, they will seek to be a person in their own right. Often teens feel unloved. They lose sense of purpose and rebel. The teen who learns to love themselves as a human being will learn purpose much more quickly than those teens who lean on others for approval. Those teens who let others take the lead usually lack the self love they need to be able to make their own decisions in life. They listen to others. They love others and want to be like them, simply because they have not yet understood their own value in life.
To find purpose, we need to look inwards and be happy with who we are. All of us are born with different strengths and weaknesses and it is the diversity which makes us unique. Accepting themselves as a person they can love and understand really does help a teen to find purpose. It doesn't matter how sensitive they are. Sensitivity is every bit as valuable as leadership skills. It doesn't matter that they are physically weak, as long as they accept their own limitations. It is this self examination and learning to love themselves which makes a teen find their true purpose in life.
The single adult.
How often do we see people who dread being alone. Instead of seeking out a life's purpose on their own, they depend upon others for their own purpose. There is a narrow line between helping others and letting others become your purpose in life, and many single young adults don't realize that they need to create a little space for themselves and this doesn't make them less of a human being. What this does is allow them to present themselves to others in a more complete manner. Take the party animal away from the party and they are lost. Take the helper away from people who need help and they are equally without purpose.
What individuals need to see is that purpose comes from love, though should not depend upon others. It comes from wanting to live a full life, though one in which the soul can grow by knowing the value of quietude, and not mistaking it for loneliness. Self love again plays a vital role to purpose. Help others by all means, but recognize why you do so, since the wrong motives take you away from loving yourself into a world where your needs are neglected and your purpose becomes unclear.
The married folk.
We must assume that married folks have at some time thought they loved their partner. What happens after marriage is something which can take away purpose. When one person entwines their lives around the need for others, and forgets that they are an individual in their own right, is that love becomes a chore, and purpose disappears.
When you are in love and you wake up in the morning knowing that you are loved for who you are, not simply for the comforts you provide, life is fuller and has more incentive and reward. If you expect too much of loved ones and depend upon them to create your happiness, similarly you are opting out of finding where purpose comes from and alienating them at the same time. By loving in a healthy manner and remembering that your life is surrounded by love which appreciates you for being you, you suddenly find that purpose in life isn't questionable. You wake up in the morning knowing your purpose, and although you may have moments of doubt, the overall connection between love and purpose in life is established and what you rely upon for a satisfied mind.
The aged.
When you are old and your body hurts, you begin to wonder about purpose. Why suffer any longer? Why can't you walk like you used to walk? Why does your body hurt and why are your hands riddled with arthritis? Of course the physical part of being old will take its toll. Loneliness is also an affliction of the old. Friends and spouses die, and we are faced with questions about the fairness of life. What we often don't see which is looking us directly in the eye is that love sustains us and gives us purpose. We live with memories. We thrill at visits by grandchildren, and we don't give up on life because by this age, we know that life can have moments which are treasures to hold on to, and that most of these involve love itself.
Love of other human beings isn't the only kind of love. Love of God sustains us and gives us a reason to want to get up. It makes the sunlight pour through the window on a sad day, and shows us the beauty of a rainbow to break up a cloudy sky. God's love for us helps us to have purpose. We tend our gardens, we soak in the goodness of nature, and go through our old age with a sense of closeness to God, not simply because we know we are going to die, but because we feel He is part of our lives. Love is a temptation, an incentive and a driving force which makes us appreciate life and in that appreciation find all the purpose that we need.
At the end of this life.
As you lie in your deathbed waiting to die your eyes fill with reflections from the past, muddled with thoughts about what comes after life. Love sustains us and helps us to understand that there is something more than life itself and a reason to go forward, even if that purpose at the end of the road is death itself. It's warmth enfolds us. We feel afraid of the unknown, though eventually surrender to the embrace in that final attempt to find life's purpose.
Love will always be there, in every step of the life we live, and by surrendering to it, we accept our purpose more freely than never having experienced love at all. This is what distinguishes us from other life forms, and what gives us sufficient sustenance to realize that the two aspects of "purpose"and "love"are inextricably intertwined, whether we are aware of that love or not.
Even the single person who is alone will step through life with purpose once they realize that love is universal and there for everyone, and that it doesn't depend upon another human being to survive. It is open to all interpretations in every religion or non religion, and is the one aspect of life which every human needs to find the very purpose of their lives.