The Purpose of Life

by Cara Garcia


I have never thought that Philosophy would provide me the answer of the one question I’ve always asked myself since high school - what is the purpose of life? Because everyday, we do the same routine and as students, we go to school in hopes of landing a great job and creating a successful career for our future. But all of that, in truth, is short term. After the whole staying up all night to write papers, and studying, and more studying, we finally reach that point where we are where we wanted to be. But what’s next after that? Say, after making a name for ourselves, we decided to settle down, get married, etc., and then we make another whole set of goals for us to do the same thing all over again – work hard to achieve that goal. So I thought to myself, is this what life is all about? Set goals. Work hard. Achieve them. Then do the cycle again and again...  until we die?

I wondered if there’s some point to that. If there’s a purpose why we do it. If in the end, something great or miraculous will happen that we always work our butts off over momentary things that one day might slip away from our fingers. I’ve always been so curious if really, there’s a basis for this, an end goal into which we live the whole of our life to reach.

And I wanted to know the answer. I wanted to know if there’s some concrete, specific explanation or reason as to why we are here.

We have, in our bookshelf, a book entitled The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren and I decided to read it during high school, but after a few passeges, I gave up. It didn’t give me the kind of answer I was looking for.

And yet, during a usual Thursday session in Philo class, I was enlightened. In a span of a five to ten-minute sharing by my classmates, my eyes opened and an epiphany dawned to me. I’ve finally found the answer.. and it was during a time that I wasn’t looking for it. It suddenly came to me, just like that. In Philo class. I realized what the purpose of life is.

When Sir threw the question, “Is there something to make life out of if things are passing and we are destined to die?”, I honestly couldn’t think of any response. But when my classmates shared their insights about this, it occurred to me that they’re right. And I was so overwhelmed with the fact that these people, my classmates, eighteen to twenty-year-old people would know what the purpose of life is. And here are the answers they’ve given (credits to those who shared these ideas. I do not own them. I may have revised the words though):

It’s about investing yourself with the things you love -- immersing yourself with the people, things and experiences that make you happy.

You should enjoy them for the moment and not be too attached so that when time comes to let them go, it won’t be difficult.

It’s about what you leave behind for the future generations – making an impact, leaving a mark in the world of what you’ve achieved. Because when you die, it’s what you’ve done that will let the people remember you.

What it means to you – the experiences, people, and things you’ve come across have their own significance. It’s about being able to appreciate the things you got yourself into. Some people may not see it as important, but what matters is how you value them.

There will always be new experiences and opportunities.

Relationships are important because it’s always about experiencing people. To be engaged with them. To share a moment with them. To feel what they feel. 

Life is about the joy of experiencing material things because through them, we learn. And through learning, we realize the superabundance of life - that there’s always more. There’s so many things that life can offer us and we will never have enough of them.

Because of these insights, I realized the purpose of life. It’s not some concrete, clear-cut goal we achieve in the future. It’s not something that awaits us in the end.

It’s the here. The now. And the everyday.

The purpose of life is living it everyday – to surprise ourselves, experience the wonder and appreciating every moment that encompasses us. So if we’re all destined to die, why not make the most of what we have? What we have now…

I read a quote once, and it says, “Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we’re here, we should dance.”

And it’s fitting. Since things don’t always go our way – it might not be the best music, we might not enjoy the people we’re with -- it’s best that we make the most and enjoy what’s there in front of us instead of wasting time looking for things that aren’t present in the moment.

Maybe this entry doesn’t explicitly talk about Marcel or Descartes, but to engage and practice in a kind of philosophical thinking, I believe, is what matters.

I must say that Philosophy affects us no matter what. I entered the Ateneo, taking a degree in Management in hopes of becoming a businesswoman and achieving that goal, that purpose of being successful in life. But after experiencing Philosophy, I’d probably remember this realization in Philo class than actually doing company studies or making financial statements.