To get the benefits of having a "purpose" it doesn't need to be spiritual or altruistic or even helpful to others, all that is necessary is that it keeps you from dwelling on yourself and your own problems. Serious study, if it is interesting enough to you and difficult enough to really engage your attention is more than enough to gain you the benefits of a "purpose".
Partially a response to a post on Less Wrong back in February.
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Well, the main benefit of having a purpose is that by living life with intent, you're more likely to achieve things.
ReplyDeleteCovey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People makes a good point; the first construction is in the mind.
Without intent, results are random. Sometimes that can be overcome by quick adptation to the new reality, and some systems are too complex for intent to fully encompass them.
But in general, the limited effect we can engender in the world is more likely to meet our goals if done with intent.
Purpose also tends to invite examination of principles- and the more inline your intent is with naural principles, the less noise to signal ratio. The 'truer' conception of reality almost always wins out.