What Do We Mean By “Purpose”?

In my third third work at the De Pree Center, I am often in conversations that have a familiar chorus. Though older adults have distinctive lives and situations, they commonly say something like, “I need to know what my purpose is in this season of life.” Or they might lament, “I don’t know what my purpose is anymore.” Purpose is common to the conversational chorus of the third third of life.

It turns out that purpose is essential to flourishing as we get older. An article in the Washington Post observes, “Research has shown that people who have high levels of purpose in life spend fewer nights in hospitals, have lower odds of developing diabetes, and over two times lower risk of dying from heart conditions than do others.” A scholarly piece in Developmental Psychology adds more detail, “Results indicated that participants who scored higher on sense of purpose reported lower levels of functional disability, performed better on cognitive tests (episodic memory and speed of processing), and reported better self-rated health and fewer depressive symptoms.”

The more we learn about the connection between purpose and aging, the more we are eager to clarify and live according to our life’s purpose.

What Do We Mean By “Purpose”?

When it comes to purpose, we may have an intuitive sense of what we’re talking about. In his extraordinarily popular TED talk, “How great leaders inspire action,” Simon Sinek puts into words this intuitive sense of purpose. He emphasizes the importance of our “why,” why we do what we do. Sinek explains: “By ‘why’ I mean: What’s your purpose? What’s your cause? What’s your belief? . . . Why do you get out of bed in the morning? And why should anyone care?”

Purpose has something to do with our goals, with motivation, and, crucially, with meaning. You’ll often hear people speak as if purpose and meaning are pretty much the same thing. Or they’ll unite purpose and meaning by saying something like, “We all need purpose and meaning in our lives.” Though we might well agree with this statement, we may also wonder what we mean when we speak of “purpose” and “meaning.” What are these things that can make such a difference to us, especially if we’re in the third third of life?

For decades most scholars lumped purpose and meaning together in a rather uncritical way. But, recently, a growing number of thoughtful academics have agreed upon a helpful way to talk about purpose and meaning.

Three Dimensions of Meaning and Purpose

The Harvard Human Flourishing Project provides a handy summary of the current academic conversation:

“Recent work in the philosophical and psychological literature on meaning has drawn important distinctions between ‘significance’ (what gives one meaning in life), ‘coherence’ (understanding deeper questions of the meaning of life) and ‘purpose’ (being directed towards a certain end).”

An article in Psychology Today explains:

Coherence is “the thinking-oriented level of meaning. It is about making sense of things.”

Significance is “the feeling-oriented level of meaning. It is about feeling that you matter and that life matters.”

Purpose is “the behavior-oriented level of meaning. It is about having important life goals and  working to achieve them.”

To put it simply, coherence makes sense of life. Significance says we matter. Purpose specifies the ends of our activity, the “why” that motivates what we do.

Frank Martela and Michael Steger, in their article “The three meanings of meaning in life: Distinguishing coherence, purpose, and significance,” explain, “In order to live in the world as reflective beings, humans seem to need three things: they need to comprehend the world around them, they need to find direction for their actions, and they need to find worth in their lives.”

Martela and Steger not only distinguish between coherence, purpose, and significance, but also elucidate the various connections between these three dimensions of meaning. They note, for example, that “purpose could be an important source of significance.” If you are acting in light of some clear purpose, then you are likely to feel as if you and your actions matter. Yet, according to Martela and Steger, the feeling of significance might also help us to keep working toward our purpose. So the relationship between purpose and significance is bidirectional.

Relevance for Third Third Flourishing

Now, you may wonder how this academic conversation is relevant for third third flourishing in general and your flourishing in particular. Let me offer a couple of suggestions in this regard.

First, purpose is to a considerable extent dependent on coherence. Coherence, as you’ll recall, is “understanding deeper questions of the meaning of life.” More simply, it is “making sense of things.” If you’re looking for purpose in life, you’ll need to have some idea of life’s basic meaning.

Suppose, for example, you see life as created by a good, wise, and loving God. Moreover, suppose you understand that God created human beings to be fruitful. This basic coherence will help you understand that your purpose in life is closely connected to fruitfulness. Of course, what it means for you to be fruitful in your season and setting of life will require clarification. But you’ll be convinced of the importance of fruitfulness in your life. This would imply, by the way, that the “retirement is mainly a time to play” narrative won’t work for you. Because of coherence – your sense of the meaning of things – your purpose will include being fruitful. This also reflects the teaching of Jesus, who said in John 15:8, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit.”

As I coach folks in the third third of life and hear about their search for purpose, I encourage them to begin with coherence, with the grand meaning of life as revealed in the biblical narrative. In particular, I urge them to focus on God and God’s purposes for all things. This may seem like a bit of a detour, but understanding the God-shaped coherence of life provides a solid foundation upon which to build a life of purpose.

Second, though coherence and purpose are essential for third third flourishing, significance is often the prime pain point for older adults. We can easily feel as if we don’t matter very much anymore. I hear this sort of thing from retirees who once had significant influence but are now mostly ignored, even by the people who once valued their leadership. I also hear about a lack of significance from faithful older church members who feel that, apart from their financial contributions, their church doesn’t value them anymore. And, of course, our culture consistently communicates the message that older people are simply less valuable.

How can those of us in the third third of life maintain and even grow in our significance? How can we truly feel that we matter? Once again, I’d begin to answer these questions by emphasizing coherence, the fundamental meaning of life. As Christians, we believe that we have been created in God’s image. God loves us, values us, saves us, and calls us. We matter to God and nothing in this world can take that away. As we get older, the experience of mattering less to people may open up for us the opportunity to discover just how much we mean to God. Your worth is not dependent on your productivity or reputation. It rests firmly and finally on the fact that God loves you and treasures you.

As we get older, the experience of mattering less to people may open up for us the opportunity to discover just how much we mean to God.

Now, the fact that we matter so much to God doesn’t erase our desire to matter in this world. We want our lives to count right up to the end. This is where purpose plays a key role. When we are living according to purpose, when we are fulfilling a compelling “why,” then we sense that our lives matter, not just to God, but also to God’s work in this world. Thus, it is often the case that significance depends on purpose and purpose depends on coherence.

Conclusion

I’d like to conclude this article by asking you some questions about coherence, purpose, and significance.

Coherence

• Does life make sense to you? If so, why? If not, why not?
• To what extent does your faith help you see how the different facets of life fit together?

Purpose

• Do you have a clear sense of purpose for your life today? If so, what do you think contributes to your having a clear sense of purpose? If not, what do you think gets in the way?
• To what extent is your sense of purpose informed by your Christian faith and theology?
• When do you feel the joy of knowing that you are living according to your purpose?

Significance

• In general, do you feel as if you matter in life? If so, why? If not, why not?
• When in life do you feel most strongly that you do matter?
• To what extent does the fact that you matter to God make a difference in how you think, feel, and act?
• What helps you to grow in your sense of how much God values you?