Your life's purpose?

The only "purpose" we all have is to reproduce. The rest of it is just fluff....

Interesting, seems like you have to define yourself to be able to define yourself...

Leaving that aside, being a man is pretty confusing in this generation I am in (am in my mid forties). Brought up by men from the Baby Boomers and live with women from the sexual revolution.

Without writing a book about it, I agree with the satement. If a man has good mentors through his life he will know his lifes purpose which he will be helped to develop for himself. He will measure himself against his own goals and generate activity to correct deviations where he sees himself getting off track. If he does not have goals or chooses not to meet his own goals (inaction is a choice), I dont think he or others would consider him a full man.

cheers & thanks for the intellectual stimulation

Rossco

Having spoken of Deida elsewhere, I will focus on the question.

I believe that a sense of purpose does a lot to counteract general existential malaise, and to be a person of privilege at this turn of the century is to face a lot of this. Humans evolved as hunter-gatherers in much smaller cultures, and living as cogs in an industrial, consumerist culture is objectively NOT what we are made for. As evidence I would cite the energy and resources devoted to advertising and maintaining a popular culture of fearful, insecure consumerism.

At a very deep level, humans want meaning, and "purpose" is meaning distilled. Divorced from "mere physical" and biological roles, we often flock toward and crave conflict, religion or ideology. A quest to find and live one's "purpose" or "mission" or what-have-you fills a clear spiritual void in a way that is (A) highly personal and (B) individualistic, while (C) pointing outside of mere self.

During his born-again Christian period, Bob Dylan wrote a song: "Gotta Serve Somebody." In it he (as individual and hereditary Jew) worked through various insights in a way that answers Peggy Lee's "Is That All There Is," from ten years earlier. Written and recorded as Dylan approached 40, I think it captures a basic insight that many men I know share: a sense of mission or purpose enriches and deepens one's sense of meaning and authenticity.

Having the insight to identify one's own wounds and unhappiness is a very useful thing, and being able to touch that wound and practice the spiritual jiujitsu to turn it around and create something positive is a basic act of soul-work which enriches and improves anyone. One of the ways that modern participants in the mythopoetic "men's movement" (which I consider both myself and David Deida part of) often phrase this act as one of "mission" or "purpose." Although I am not certain that every person who survives a certain basic success needs this, I think that it can dramatically help in what James Hillman calls "soul-making." I have repeatedly seen parenthood do this for clueless people: An individual task that makes one greater than oneself is useful to becoming a more authentic, soulful being.

In our consumer culture, most people choose ideology from the shelf like a breakfast cereal, often with less insight. They do not identify their own wounds and "purpose," but rather select an advertised project much as they might choose a religion or sub-culture, from the brands available. A person who has put a lot of thought into their own life (wounds, goals and purpose) is generally a deeper person than one who hasn't. Yes.

To say that this is the only way "to be a full man" is problematic hubris.

No, I think he's wrong. Although part of that is just an instinctive reaction to anyone who claims to be able to define a "full man", especially when the definition is related to the way in which the author makes a living, as well as a personal belief that the whole concept of "purpose" in life is philosophical bullshit. As BadAss stated, the only solid discernible pupose men have is to survive long enough to reproduce (in the case of our species particularly, although not uniquely, this purpose includes raising children so that they can do the same, given our extended childhood compared to the rest of the mammals). The growing awareness that we have evolved by random chance undercuts any attempt to define a higher purpose for our lives.
At the same time, there are purposes that can and should be undertaken, to improve the lives of both humans and everything else on the planet. so I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from finding and pursuing these purposes. my "purposes" center mostly on environmental concerns, but there are human rights purposes and justice purposes that are also important to me. But I don't think pursuing these goals makes me any more of a "man". after all, these purposes should be and are pursued by many women as well. Maybe the phrase "fully human" would make more sense; curiousity, altruism and the ability to act in concert are all part of human nature, and following some purpose gives us a chance to excercise all three. Conveniently, following some purpose with a group of humans that includes both males and females also improves our opportunities to breed, and thus my argument comes full circle.

OK, having spent a lunch hour pondering this question, I have a slight change in my thoughts.
I think it's very simple when you think of it like this:

To say that there is an inherent "purpose" for our existence, is to say that we were *designed* for a purpose. There is never a purpose without INTENT.

Since I will never believe that we were "designed" or "created" with some intent to our purpose, we don't actually HAVE a purpose.

Therefore, when people cannot find *meaning* in their lives, they start to search for a *purpose* and it is my opinion that there is NO PURPOSE WHATSOEVER (sorry for the shout) to our lives. Not even reproduction, because that would mean that something created us with the *intent* that our purpose is to reproduce, or do this or that.

Since we weren't *designed* with a purpose in mind, then we do not HAVE an inherent purpose, and maybe that scares some people. Now, I do believe that people, of their own free will, can decide on how to add meaning to their lives, but a purpose is not INHERENT in our existence.

We should note a HUGE difference between having a "purpose" and having "meaning" in our lives.

Just my two late-afternoon cents....

Do I think he is right?

no.

the statement is a hex, its purpose to have you decide you are wrong (or right), and the statement has no other value.

People often talk like this when they are trying to sell you something.

Well, of course. For life to have any meaning, you must have a purpose.

I decided a long time ago that the only thing I could "take with me" from my life was knowledge. So, at an early age, I decided to become an expert in a number of different fields, and learn about as much as I could whenever possible.

To paraphrase Alfred Lord Tennyson, my life's purpose is, "To follow knowledge like a sinking star."

absolutely, no doubt, not just your LIFEs purpose, but your souls as well. you life cannot be complete until you fulfill your purpose, no matter how amny lives you must lead to accomplish it. it isnt only men, its all people.

Ah, well, lessee now...I had one around here somewhere....

I guess in the broadest general sense, my purpose is just to take part in the evolution of everything in the universe on its journey to becoming whatever it will be. I've always been attracted to the idea that the universe is a deity in the process of becoming conscious, and variations on that theme.

On a more personal level, my mission is to learn how to love (working with my own psychological make-up, which is complicated, like most people's) and to explore what I like, to learn and grow, hopefully, and to try not to do too much damage as I plow through life.