The Meaning of Life: Chasing Your Passion

As philosophic or poetic as it might sound, I ponder on the meaning of life from time to time. I’m not exactly sure why I think writing an article about this is a good idea given the theme of this website, but well, who cares.

Being a programmer, I can’t help trying to analyse everything from a logical perspective, which is why I find life itself somewhat intriguing. Everything has a purpose, so what is ours?

For every single day that goes by, we’re all a day closer to nothingness, yet I don’t always understand to what end.

Happiness is often referred as being the purpose of life, but “happiness” in that context is very broad. For instance, one might sacrifice short term happiness for the sake of perceived long term happiness. A very simple example would be living in a run down apartment and have a tight budget for years in order to save up for a house. Unfortunately, while this is a wise financial decision, you’re also sacrificing the best years of your life for the sake of “having it easy in the future”, a future in which you’ll no longer be in your best years.

So if pursuing happiness by itself is something that requires sacrifices that may lead to unhappiness, then saying that the meaning of life is happiness is wrong, because happiness is in fact the end of the path you’re trying to reach; the path itself is filled with both happiness and its antonym. If the real purpose of life was happiness, wouldn’t maximizing the total amount of happiness in one’s lifetime supersede a long term happiness?

Rather than living in a run down apartment and saving at every opportunity unhappy for 5 years to afford a house, wouldn’t living in a better than average apartment without worrying too much for 15 years be a better choice if you’re living only for the sake of happiness?

I guess the meaning of life is also limited by what you can do; insects don’t really chase after their passions, do they? (not sure if this logic applies to pets, since cats do pretty much whatever they want)

I think pursuing happiness is a better representation of the meaning of life than just happiness, but as I said, happiness is a pretty much a buzzword in that context, so let’s just stick with pursuing for now. Everything has a purpose, so what does pursuing happiness really mean?

I believe that happiness is defined as doing what you want to do, and when I combine that with what you can chase in life, passion is the first thing that comes up. Coincidentally, passion is something that is both beneficial short term and long term, not to say that you can’t also be unhappy while chasing your passion; entry positions might not pay well, and you might struggle for years until you reach a reasonable salary. The difference is that even though you’re struggling, you’re doing something that you want to do.

People chase after their passions, because it brings them happiness.

I have a passion - programming - but despite how passionate I am, even I feel bored at times. Just like happiness, this must mean that passion by itself is insufficient. Unlike chasing happiness, chasing passion is a lot less likely to lead to you having to make sacrifices that will make you less passionate.

That’s why I think chasing after your passion is one of the true meanings of life.

You may not always be passionate - we all have ups and downs, moments when we’re motivated and moments of pure boredom, good and bad days - but that’s fine, because the important part in having a passion is chasing it.

After all, a passion is ever-changing. It does not end until you do, as such, you can only chase after it endlessly. That’s why a passion alone is irrelevant if you don’t chase it.

I’m not exactly sure why Thesaurus lists happiness as one of the antonyms of passion, but apathy, dullness and indifference really don’t sound like something you’d find in a happy person.

If you have no passion, you have nothing to look toward, thus the path you tread is most likely unfulfilling.

To some extent, this interpretation of the meaning of life can fit under the more commonly known meaning of life - happiness. Being passionate means that when you’re working on your passion, there’s something that makes your existence quake in anticipation for what will happen next, and to some extent, anticipation is a form of happiness.

To clarify, I’m not saying that your passion alone contributes to your happiness - factors such as family, friends or your love life can definitely make you happy or unhappy on their own, but personally, I feel that living only for the sake of others is dull. Your life is yours to live, and while there’s nothing wrong with sharing your life with others for better or for worse, the knowledge that there’s something you enjoy doing is enough to keep you going; to keep you entertained and satisfied.

I’ll end this with a nice quote from Mark Twain:

Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

Anyways, follow your dreams.