Value for Wednesday of Week 52 in the season of Harvest and Celebration

Living Purposefully

To live purposefully is to put meaning into action.

Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them. [attributed to 14th Dalai Lama]
The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well. [source unclear]
The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls. [variously phrased, variously attributed]
As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being. [Carl Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Chapter XI, “On Life and Death”.]
The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others. [attributed to Albert Schweitzer]

As a young man, I had a vision of how life might be – how I wanted it to be. I made some choices, sacrificing some things for other things, with a wordless conviction that the path of my life would be in pursuit of that vision.

I could have taken an easier path. Some of my choices exacted a personal cost, as I knew they would. But if I could relive my life, I would make the same essential choices.

In my vision of the world, I was not the only object of concern. When Helen Keller spoke of “a worthy purpose,” she was referring to something more than the self. No one can force another to live this way but people who do live this way seem to attain a sense of satisfaction, happiness, fulfillment and inner peace. Perhaps those who live in another way have those things, too, but I do not believe that I would be happy with myself if I had not pursued the path that I thought was right: the path of justice in my own life, in relation with other people.

Purpose and meaning go together. “While definitions of purpose have varied in the past, more recently a consensus has emerged: a purpose in life represents a stable and generalized intention to accomplish something that is at once personally meaningful and at the same time leads to productive engagement with some aspect of the world beyond the self . . .” A sense of purpose “means having a central, organizing life aim, an overall sense of direction in one’s life, and a belief that one’s life activities are valuable and important — making a positive mark on the world . . .”; “. . . a stable and generalized intention to accomplish something that is at once meaningful to the self and of consequence to the world beyond the self.”.

The Claremont Purpose Scale lists factors associated with purpose under the headings of meaningfulness, goal orientation, and a “beyond the self” dimension. The Meaning and Purpose Scales (MAPS) include “two qualities of meaning, Meaningfulness and Crisis of Meaning, and five sources of purpose: Sustainability, Faith, Security, Community, and Personal Growth.”

A sense of purpose conveys many benefits.

A sense of purpose helps people contribute to society, including people in leadership roles. It is an adjunct to creativity. When people of good will operate from a sense of purpose, they can direct their intentions in useful ways. This is in tandem with the previous page, on direction.

For nearly a year, if you have been following along day by day, you have been reading about people who lived purposeful lives. At this point in our journey, these ideas begin to become indistinguishable, like the colors of the light spectrum merging into white. Everything is about meaning; everything is about taking a good direction; everything is about purpose. We can see them everywhere, usually without looking for them. This is the full-blown integration and expansion of the spiritual life.

Real

True Narratives

Works by and about Albert Schweitzer:

Albert Schweitzer, Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography (1931).
Albert Schweitzer, Memoirs of Childhood and Youth (1925).
James Brabazon, Albert Schweitzer: A Biography (Littlehampton Book Services, Ltd., 1976).
James Brabazon, ed., Albert Schweitzer: Essential Writings (Orbis Books, 2005).

If you wish to read about lives of purpose, or purpose in life, you can find those stories in many places. On this site, they are found on the pages exploring most of our positive values. Every exemplary leader in any field of endeavor has lived a purposeful life, whether it seemed so to her or not. May you read happily and purposefully.

Richard Carwardine, Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power (Knopf, 2006).
Emmanuel Jal, My Life Is Art: 11 Pillars for a Positive and Purposeful Life (Counterpoint, 2024).

Technical and Analytical Readings

Photographs

Documentary and Educational Films

Imaginary

Fictional Narratives

He was clearly more than fifty. Fifty-five, he told me. His name was Elzéard Bouffier. He had owned a farm in the plains, where he lived most of his life. He had lost his only son, and then his wife. He had retired into this solitude, where he took pleasure in living slowly, with his flock of sheep and his dog. He had concluded that this country was dying for lack of trees. He added that, having nothing more important to do, he had resolved to remedy the situation. [Jean Giono, “The Man Who Planted Trees” (1953).]

One day the clay felt itself taken from the place where it had waited so long. A flat blade of iron passed beneath it, and lifted it, and tossed it into a cart with other lumps of clay, and it was carried far away, as it seemed, over a rough and stony road. But it was not afraid, nor discouraged, for it said to itself: "This is necessary. The path to glory is always rugged. Now I am on my way to play a great part in the world." . . . Then an unknown hand put it into an oven, and fires were kindled about it--fierce and penetrating--hotter than all the heats of summer that had ever brooded upon the bank of the river. But through all, the clay held itself together and endured its trials, in the confidence of a great future. "Surely," it thought, "I am intended for something very splendid, since such pains are taken with me. Perhaps I am fashioned for the ornament of a temple, or a precious vase for the table of a king." . . . One day the clay was lifted again from its place, and carried into a great church. Its dream was coming true after all. It had a fine part to play in the world. Glorious music flowed over it. It was surrounded with flowers. Still it could not understand. So it whispered to another vessel of clay, like itself, close beside it, "Why have they set me here? Why do all the people look toward us?" And the other vessel answered, "Do you not know? You are carrying a royal sceptre of lilies. Their petals are white as snow, and the heart of them is like pure gold. The people look this way because the flower is the most wonderful in the world. And the root of it is in your heart." Then the clay was content, and silently thanked its maker, because, though an earthen vessel, it held so great a treasure. [Henry van Dyke, “A Handful of Clay” (1902).]

Novels:

Tana French, The Searcher: A Novel (Viking, 2020) “. . . the kid needs help and has nowhere else to turn. And Cal badly needs to feel needed” (a retired police officer moves to Ireland, and makes himself useful).

Poetry

There was a good man of religion, too,
A country parson, poor, I warrant you;
But rich he was in holy thought and work.
He was a learned man also, a clerk,
Who Christ's own gospel truly sought to preach;
Devoutly his parishioners would he teach.
Benign he was and wondrous diligent,
Patient in adverse times and well content,
As he was ofttimes proven; always blithe,
He was right loath to curse to get a tithe,
But rather would he give, in case of doubt,
Unto those poor parishioners about,
Part of his income, even of his goods.
Enough with little, coloured all his moods.
Wide was his parish, houses far asunder,
But never did he fail, for rain or thunder,
In sickness, or in sin, or any state,
To visit to the farthest, small and great,
Going afoot, and in his hand, a stave.
This fine example to his flock he gave,
That first he wrought and afterwards he taught;
Out of the gospel then that text he caught,
And this figure he added thereunto-
That, if gold rust, what shall poor iron do?
For if the priest be foul, in whom we trust,
What wonder if a layman yield to lust?
And shame it is, if priest take thought for keep,
A shitty shepherd, shepherding clean sheep.
Well ought a priest example good to give,
By his own cleanness, how his flock should live.
He never let his benefice for hire,
Leaving his flock to flounder in the mire,
And ran to London, up to old Saint Paul's
To get himself a chantry there for souls,
Nor in some brotherhood did he withhold;
But dwelt at home and kept so well the fold
That never wolf could make his plans miscarry;
He was a shepherd and not mercenary.
And holy though he was, and virtuous,
To sinners he was not impiteous,
Nor haughty in his speech, nor too divine,
But in all teaching prudent and benign.
To lead folk into Heaven but by stress
Of good example was his busyness.
But if some sinful one proved obstinate,
Be who it might, of high or low estate,
Him he reproved, and sharply, as I know.
There is nowhere a better priest, I trow.
He had no thirst for pomp or reverence,
Nor made himself a special, spiced conscience,
But Christ's own lore, and His apostles' twelve
He taught, but first he followed it himselve.