Why You Can’t Live Well Without Purpose

We’re not here to just exist; we’re here to live.

Why do we need purpose? The German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, wrote this in his book, The Gay Science:

“Gradually, man has become a fantastic animal that has to fulfill one more condition of existence than any other animal: man has to believe, to know, from time to time why he exists; his race cannot flourish without a periodic trust in life–without faith in reason in life.”

When I read this for the first time, I finally understood why we need purpose.

We need to have some kind of trust in life. Just surviving, eating, working, and procreating, it’s not enough.

Why are we here? Why does it matter?

In search of meaning (at a rat race)

We’re all participants in this grand rat race. We wake up, work, eat, sleep, and repeat.

But when we stop to catch our breath, we’re confronted with the harsh reality — most of us are just surviving, not living.