The idea of 'serving' and 'purpose' in life is quite a thought-provoking notion. You make it clear through logic - perhaps you picked this up from your college major - where if you do a certain action X, it serves some entity Y to fulfill purpose Z. And Y is the God, even if the actions have secondary and even more outcomes. The example that came to mind was, I volunteered for a pancake kitchen at one point. I served pancakes on plates to people that were hungry. The pancake kitchen was a Jewish temple, but I was volunteering as a part of Scouting troop. I gained personal satisfaction seeing people eating happily, the scouting troop improved their reputation, and customers fed well for free, and the temple was doing a charitable service. So what happens when it's not so clear who Y and what the primary Z is, because in many circumstances, there are multiples of each?
Great question! You put it very clearly, the X action -> Y purposer -> Z purpose makes sense to me.
I find when it comes down to it, there's always an internal drive to fulfil an action. Maslow's hierarchy is not a perfect tool but it provides a useful framework for thinking of what your own purpose is for participating.
The major tool I use to examine myself is,
What purpose was _necessary_ for me to act? i.e., without this purpose, I would not have acted.
To find that purpose, I ask, "If I did not accomplish what I intended, would I still do it?" And work backwards until the answer is yes.
That is my highest purpose.
Why did you join the Scouting troop in the pancake kitchen?
Would you have volunteered even if the Scout troop did not? If no, then the Scout troop's participation was necessary, and you can ask why you care about participating in the Scout troop?
Would you have volunteered even if the Scout troop looked bad for volunteering? If no, then the Scout troop's reputation was necessary, and you can ask why you care about the Scout troop's reputation?
Would you have volunteered if no one came to the pancake kitchen? If no, then the customer's purpose was necessary, and you can ask why you care about the customers?
That last one is especially tricky, because you can't really care about a group. You can only care about individuals, and empathize with the group as a result.
You can see the truth of the above by asking, Would you have volunteered if all of the customers were ungrateful? If no, then the customers' gratitude was necessary.
As a personal example, would I feed my children even if they were ungrateful (they are presently doing this)? Yes, I would (and did), because I love them and want them to thrive. So I can see that I would serve their purpose even if they did not serve mine.
Desiring to feed other people who were ungrateful would be harder.
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It's certainly not an easy problem to find whose purpose you serve. Hopefully, the process of examining your motivations to find what's necessary helps!
You can keep going with the line of questioning until you reach the "ultimate" purposer. That is one reason why I call your purposer your god.
As an example, why do I care whether my children live or die? Are they alive because I get some happiness out of their life? Or are they alive for their own sake?
Would I keep them alive even if they hated me? Yes, I would, so I am not demanding that my children serve me.
But why do I do that? It is because I am serving a higher purpose: a god. And that god demands me to be like Him and to love unconditionally.
You can pursue "why?" for every motivation you have, and it eventually comes down to one of:
1. I want to. (self)
2. I want to because I feel I have to. (self through self-preservation)
3. I want to because I value something more than myself. (other)
And even 3 often comes down to what you can get out of it, so it's not easy to tell why you do something! But you can always bring it back to what you believe about the purpose of life. :)
The idea of 'serving' and 'purpose' in life is quite a thought-provoking notion. You make it clear through logic - perhaps you picked this up from your college major - where if you do a certain action X, it serves some entity Y to fulfill purpose Z. And Y is the God, even if the actions have secondary and even more outcomes. The example that came to mind was, I volunteered for a pancake kitchen at one point. I served pancakes on plates to people that were hungry. The pancake kitchen was a Jewish temple, but I was volunteering as a part of Scouting troop. I gained personal satisfaction seeing people eating happily, the scouting troop improved their reputation, and customers fed well for free, and the temple was doing a charitable service. So what happens when it's not so clear who Y and what the primary Z is, because in many circumstances, there are multiples of each?
Great question! You put it very clearly, the X action -> Y purposer -> Z purpose makes sense to me.
I find when it comes down to it, there's always an internal drive to fulfil an action. Maslow's hierarchy is not a perfect tool but it provides a useful framework for thinking of what your own purpose is for participating.
The major tool I use to examine myself is,
What purpose was _necessary_ for me to act? i.e., without this purpose, I would not have acted.
To find that purpose, I ask, "If I did not accomplish what I intended, would I still do it?" And work backwards until the answer is yes.
That is my highest purpose.
Why did you join the Scouting troop in the pancake kitchen?
Would you have volunteered even if the Scout troop did not? If no, then the Scout troop's participation was necessary, and you can ask why you care about participating in the Scout troop?
Would you have volunteered even if the Scout troop looked bad for volunteering? If no, then the Scout troop's reputation was necessary, and you can ask why you care about the Scout troop's reputation?
Would you have volunteered if no one came to the pancake kitchen? If no, then the customer's purpose was necessary, and you can ask why you care about the customers?
That last one is especially tricky, because you can't really care about a group. You can only care about individuals, and empathize with the group as a result.
You can see the truth of the above by asking, Would you have volunteered if all of the customers were ungrateful? If no, then the customers' gratitude was necessary.
As a personal example, would I feed my children even if they were ungrateful (they are presently doing this)? Yes, I would (and did), because I love them and want them to thrive. So I can see that I would serve their purpose even if they did not serve mine.
Desiring to feed other people who were ungrateful would be harder.
---
It's certainly not an easy problem to find whose purpose you serve. Hopefully, the process of examining your motivations to find what's necessary helps!
That clears it up immensely, great post and response :)
I thought of one further clarificiation!
You can keep going with the line of questioning until you reach the "ultimate" purposer. That is one reason why I call your purposer your god.
As an example, why do I care whether my children live or die? Are they alive because I get some happiness out of their life? Or are they alive for their own sake?
Would I keep them alive even if they hated me? Yes, I would, so I am not demanding that my children serve me.
But why do I do that? It is because I am serving a higher purpose: a god. And that god demands me to be like Him and to love unconditionally.
You can pursue "why?" for every motivation you have, and it eventually comes down to one of:
1. I want to. (self)
2. I want to because I feel I have to. (self through self-preservation)
3. I want to because I value something more than myself. (other)
And even 3 often comes down to what you can get out of it, so it's not easy to tell why you do something! But you can always bring it back to what you believe about the purpose of life. :)