Does Our Life Have an Ultimate Purpose?

Does our life on Earth—our short stay here, between birth and death (a matter of a mere few decades at the most)—have an objective, pre-given ultimate purpose? Human beings have likely pondered on this question for as long as they have been on Earth, and yet, they have not been able to come even remotely close to a unanimous conclusion so far. Further, there is no sign at all that they ever will.

While some people believe that our life here does have such an ultimate purpose, others insist that it does not and that each of us is free to invent our own such purpose for our life, if we choose to. Human beings continue to speculate and debate on this question of an ultimate purpose of our stay on Earth (or the lack of it), and it is likely they will do so as long as they remain on this planet.

That said, permit me to offer a tentative hypothesis in this regard that to me personally seems to make the greatest sense of the question of life’s actual or ultimate purpose:

The cosmos, which is possibly infinite in size, is a grand stage on which a drama, of gargantuan proportions, is being played out. The cosmos consists of innumerable beings and things, each of which is performing their unique assigned role in the ongoing cosmic drama. They do so as long as they appear to exist as separate entities, after which their role in the drama comes to an end and they move off the cosmic stage. This means that the ultimate purpose for their apparent existence as separate entities wherever they may be in the cosmos is to play their assigned, time-bound role in the ongoing cosmic drama.

Following from this, one can say that for humans (as well as all other such beings) on Planet Earth, their ultimate purpose of being here is to play their predetermined role in the cosmic drama for the time that is allotted to them to be on Earth. All that each of them thinks, says and does while they happen to be on Earth is part of the particular role that has already been scripted for them as actors in this drama, which they cannot and will not deviate from in the least. Each performs their assigned role in perfect accordance with the drama’s script. Then, once their role in the drama is up, they vanish—they cease to exist as apparent separate entities.

That’s really all there is to our life’s ultimate purpose! It’s actually quite as simple as this!

Now, this is a mere hypothesis and there is no way one can conclusively prove it (or refute it, for that matter). Still, to me at least, it seems fairly logical and is also emotionally appealing. It certainly satisfies my eagerness to know why on Earth we are on Earth—or, in other words, the ultimate purpose of our brief sojourn here.

This Chance on Earth to Live

This chance that to us You give

On Your Earth some time to live,

This life, of both joy and pain,

Its purpose to us please explain.

This I, for one, just cannot see,

The purpose isn’t clear to me,

Of being born, then made to die,

I can’t fathom the reason why.

Please tell us, since You know,

The reason that our life is so.

The secret behind this plan

Do share with us if You can.

Maybe You can, but will this You do,

Or, will it remain a secret with You,

And no matter how much we appeal,

To none else will You ever reveal?