The power of purpose

A recent scientific study published in Preventive Medicine showed a link between individuals who felt a greater sense of purpose in their lives with a decreased mortality rate, by about 20% in some cases. The study used around 13,000 Americans who were 50 years and older who were studied for two years with an eight-year follow-up period. The lower risks stemmed from less cardiovascular disease and cognitive decline, and lower rates of depression, anxiety and overall stress. This is great news, not only for living longer, but for making the time we do have more fulfilling. 

While researching this topic I came across two words that have special meaning in reference to life purpose and fulfillment. The first is ikigai, a Japanese term and concept that means “a life well lived.” This refers to not just pursuing transitory pleasure. It also means devoting oneself to mastery of activities that both resonate with one’s own deep purpose and benefit society. The concept leads to the most lasting forms of happiness. It may explain why life expectancy in Japan is about seven years longer than in the United States.

The second word is telos, of ancient Greek origin, referring to the kind of purpose that offers, not simply a sense of aim, but the potential for fulfillment and for fully developing one’s true nature.

So life purpose is not just trying to live longer for sake of living longer, but living with deeper connection for greater fulfillment and lasting contribution in the time we have on earth. Purpose is not just trying to find something to head towards or simply being a goal-oriented person. Purpose is being connected to a calling that stems from within. Being more connected to a deep-rooted purpose allows greater capacity to respond to unexpected events, and the spaciousness to embody compassion, patience and wisdom. 

Pitfalls in the way of looking for purpose come from looking in all the wrong places and getting lost. There is an idea that in childhood there are golden moments when our purpose is revealed to us. But most of us confuse someone else’s purpose as our own. We are not encouraged by others or shown authentic examples of those living a life well lived. It can be easy to judge our purpose based on society’s rules of success. Money, power and fame all point to being in line with the world’s purpose. Yet all we need to do is look at those who have these things and see their unhappiness. Inversely, we can look at those who seem to have found their purpose, and are fulfilled beyond need, without money, power or fame.

From the world’s great wisdom teachings we learn that the Divine created us and is within us and with us at all times. Maybe our purpose is to awaken and realize the truth of our being and allow the natural and spontaneous unfolding of life to happen through us. In this way of understanding, we can only fail to recognize our true nature and therefore fail to fully inhabit our natural state. By allowing ourselves to follow our calling, we not only contribute to society, but we also become examples to others. Artisans are a great example to us when they follow the true inner calling by creating and articulating the Divine within themselves that touches that likeness within ourselves. One of the great poets, Rumi, said this: “Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.”

Tim Hahn and his wife, Molly, have been running CrossFit Instinct in Springfield since 2010. They feel blessed and fulfilled to be able to support people physically, mentally and spiritually.

This article appears in Winter 2023.