What is your purpose?

We all have a sense of ourselves.  We know who we are, at least in a general sense, and we know where we stand in terms of our life's trajectory.  Lives include early, mid, and possibly late life stages.  How do we measure up to our internal standards of achievement, of the ways in which we have achieved our short range objectives, and maybe how we are moving towards our longer range ones.  We have a sense of ourselves and we know generally how we fit into the world we live in.  We know who likes us, who we like, and what makes us fit into the world in which we live.

We often summarize this manage of objectives and achievements as a sort of sense of purpose.  We see our lives fitting into a pattern and forming a path that leads somewhere, and that somewhere becomes our objective, our purpose.  The skills we have support what we do, and the way people react to us reinforces our sense of accomplishment where recognition and affirmation of what we do propels us forward.  We track forward following what we feel is the right path, doing what feels right.  

At times things go astray.  A key relationship falters and ends.  Close friends we know move away.  The social systems we have been immersed in don't provide the support we are used to getting.  Maybe a job we have had ends, and retirement begins.  Or unemployment.  Our worlds falls apart.  Or so it seems.

The idea I want to deal with here is the sense of purpose that drives us forward, that gives us our place in the world around us, perhaps in search of a goal you have set for yourself.  Who are we fundamentally, where we recognize ourselves as a part of the social world around us?  Our friends are people we can call on with short notice for connection and deep connection.  Family, likewise, can be counted on to support us.  Life long friends, though they move far away, can be counted on to answer our calls and listen to us pour out our heart's pain, and respond helpfully.  After all, that's what friends are for.

What is our purpose?  How is purpose different than our self-image?  Does purpose include the idea that a goal is involved?  Does it include a desire to fulfill ourselves within the world in which we live?