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When contemplating the purpose of life, life itself provides the clues. Look at the world around us and see that it is written in the cantaloupe and the apple, the house cat and the canary, the bristlecone pine and the life of a single individual. All living things and much about life, generally, tell us that we are alive to mature and ripen.

All too typically, our under-exercised gray matter applies itself to the question of purpose and goes straight to the question of "Why?" "Why" is an invitation to endless speculation that leads to as many variations as there are biped thinkers, so that we can only deduce conflict and uncertainty. "Why' is the most subjective and ambiguous of all possible questions.

The answer to "WHY we are here?" is in the answer to "WHAT is occurring here? It is the what that provides the answer to why. Although the two questions look interchangeable, their difference is in the kinds of answers they produce. When we ask what is happening and then describe what we observe, we immediately provide ourselves with the answer to "why." The very things that are occurring in space-time are themselves the purpose of space-time.

In all living things, we can observe a developmental, maturing process highlighted by the unique characteristics of each species. Evolution is reflected in each living thing and the greater evolutionary process is about species-wide and planetary maturation.

While it may seem too easy and convenient to say that maturation is the purpose of life, defining what the maturation process is in its full potentiality is not.

Certainly, we can make other observations and with each observation we can learn something about the observer's more specific life purpose. Herein lies the true quest for life purpose. How will you live when you have reached your fully matured potential? What will you be doing? What will we be able to observe about you when you have discovered and embodied your "calling."

Defining maturity is another endless quest of relativity that can be entertaining but will not produce anything definitive and certain. Each of us will eventually have to rely on our own inner guidance to know whether or not we are fulfilling our unique process of maturation. It is safe to say, however, that the maturation process for humans with their middle brains and gray matter is much more complex than is the maturation process of a salamander. That is unless the maturation process of a salamander culminates over many lifetimes as a mature human being. Unfortunately, despite lingering similarities in our maturation processes, the overall process across lives is not something that we can observe effectively.

But if we cannot say specifically what is the purpose of life for each individual human being and the human species, we certainly can see that the purpose of life for each person is to be fully whoever they are; to be themselves: for you to be fully you and for me to be fully my own self. That is what we are doing right now: working our way toward that lifelong eventuality and, in the meantime, whoever you are and whatever you are doing, right now, is exactly why you are here.

Learn more about this author, Michael Burgwin.
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