Reflections on the Purpose of Human Life

By Roshel

Why was the universe and everything that is in it, including human beings, created? Why are we human beings here on Earth? What is our purpose for the brief period that we spend in this realm before we depart? Are we here simply to take birth, study, get a job, earn money, marry, produce children, and then, one day, die? Or, is there some other, higher, purpose to it?

Many of us might have asked ourselves (or someone else) these questions, some time or the other in our life. These are among the most basic questions a person can ask. They are existential questions, dealing with the very meaning and purpose of our existence.

Different systems of thought provide different answers to the purpose of human life. Materialistic philosophies, which are based on the idea that we are just raw, physical matter and that deny God and the soul, posit that there is actually no purpose for human life (or for the rest of the universe, for that matter). They claim that life came into being through some combination of chemicals and that it all happened by mere chance, accident or through supposedly blind or mechanical processes of nature. They believe that we are simply the physical body, and so, they assert that the death of the physical body marks the final end of the person. According to this way of thinking, while on Earth, human beings may be free to invent purposes to live that they like but there is actually no grand or overarching purpose behind human life as such, a purpose provided by any power greater than human beings.

In contrast to materialistic philosophies are various theistic religious traditions that are based on the idea of the Creator God. According to these traditions, the universe and all that it contains, including human (and other) beings, are a creation of God. Human beings, they posit, are not the physical bodies that they inhabit while on Earth. Rather, they are the soul, which is eternal, and which, therefore, continues to exist even after the death of the physical body. God, according to these traditions, has brought human beings into this world, not in jest or for no reason at all, but actually for a very definite purpose.

Purpose of Life: To Worship/Serve God

A prominent idea among many theists is that God created human beings and sent them into the world in order to for them to worship or serve God. Worshipping or serving God, they believe, is the purpose of human life. Our actual purpose during our brief stay in this world is thus not to accumulate material wealth or to achieve ‘name and fame’ or to have fun or indulge in sensual pleasure. Rather, our purpose here is to worship or serve God.

The idea of worshipping or serving the Creator God is central to various theistic traditions. A narrow or restricted understanding of worship of God limits it to the performance of certain pious acts that are prescribed in scriptural texts—such as offering prayers in a certain way, or fasting on specified days or going to a particular place on pilgrimage. But important though such acts might be considered to be, they do not exhaust what worshipping or serving God means.

A broader understanding of serving God includes also serving God’s creatures, with the right intention. Service to God’s creatures—humans as well as others—when engaged in with the idea of pleasing God, or for God’s sake, can also be considered as service to God. In this way, if done with the proper spiritual intention, giving water to a thirsty bird, planting trees, protecting the natural environment from destruction, helping the sick, feeding the hungry, counselling someone who is depressed, sending thoughts of loving-kindness to others, or even smiling at someone can also be considered acts of serving God. And since worshipping and serving God is the purpose of human life—the reason why God fashioned human beings and sent them to this planet—engaging in such acts with the proper spiritual intention can be considered as helping fulfill the purpose of our life.

Discovering God, the Author of all life, learning more about God and developing a personal relationship with God are all an essential purpose of man’s creation, and for this it is important to engage in acts of worship such as prayer that express our devotion to God and our gratitude to and love for God. But there is a second responsibility that is also binding on us: to serve God’s creatures, with the right spiritual intention. In this sense, then, worship of God and service to God’s creatures are both contained in the purpose of man’s creation, in the reason for our being on Earth.

Here it is important to note that this understanding of the purpose of life is distinct from that of a form of asceticism that disdains the world and seeks to escape from it in order to supposedly focus on God alone. It is also in contrast to secular humanism, that focuses on what it regards as the well-being of human beings but ignores the God dimension.

Fulfilling the purpose of human life thus requires a balance of both devotion to God as well as service to God’s creatures, with the right spiritual intention. It requires that one seek to fulfill one’s responsibilities to God as well as one’s responsibilities to God’s creatures.