What Is The Goal of Human Life?

Indeed, a number of people in the world have pondered over this question. These individuals include religious leaders, professors, and mankind in general. However, this is a personal issue and it is greatly influenced by a host of factors including one’s culture, interests, religion, and values.

Some people believe that the goal of human life is to find fulfillment and contentment in life. They believe that humans have desires and for them to find true happiness, these desires need to be satisfied. Other people believe that the goal of human life is to be good to oneself, and humanity, and to benefit society in the best way possible. They often quote the golden rule, “Treat others how you want  to be treated.”  These ones are often seen performing humanitarian services to the public.

Irrespective of the category you find yourself in, discovering the goal of human life will help you live a perfect, complete, and satisfying human life. First,, let us dig into the question properly.

What Is The Goal of Human Life?

Undoubtedly, every human being seeks a heavenly experience and they go about pursuing or chasing things that will bring them that bliss. This is often considered a wrong approach to life. The goal of human life is not just a mere pursuit or a chase for things that may be here today and gone tomorrow. But it is liberation,, that is, true freedom from suffering and bondage. It is to strive for that which is almost perfect and to add true value to one’s life. To do this, you need to take a look at yourself from the inside and discover who you really are as a person.

The Ultimate Goal of Human Life Is To Search For The Meaning of “Who am I?”

To discover the ultimate goal of human life, you need to begin with identifying or discovering yourself. This means you need to search for the true meaning of the question “Who am I?” The truth is, that we often take up the identity that others and nature have given us. For instance, marriage changes your identity. When you get married, your marital status changes. You now become a husband or wife. When you give birth to children, you become a parent (a father or a mother). When you use some form of transportation, you become a passenger. You also take up the status of any occupation or career you attain in life. When you attend an institute of learning, you become a student.

Your identity should not depend on others. You are a unique soul and that is what humans have been identified as from time immemorial. You are an eternal soul and you are different from a plant, an animal or some other organism. Finding the true meaning of yourself will help you to discover the real meaning of life.

Finding meaning and Purpose through Self-Reflection

We all lead busy lives. Some of us multitask. It is important that we take a break and reflect on ourselves. There are endless benefits of self-reflection. It will help us not just to simply go through the motions of life activities. It will help us realize our interests, aspirations, strengths, values, and beliefs.

Self-reflection is something that you should create consciously. Be consistent by taking a few minutes every day or every week to think about your journey and experiences. This should be carried out in a serene environment and without distractions.

Discovering your passions and values by searching within 

Journaling and self-reflection can help reveal what provides a sense of purpose. The concept of journaling denotes the idea of writing down your feelings, emotions, and thoughts on a note. Words are better arranged and expressed when they are on paper. To do this effectively, you need to keep account of events, scenarios, and activities that happen around you. This will give you a sign of things and scenarios that make you happy and content and then indulge in them.

Contributing to something greater than yourself for the benefit of all

Helping others and making a positive moral impact on the world can create meaning in life. It can have a tremendous effect on your well-being and happiness. It is a common ideology that when you contribute to something bigger than yourself, you attain the ultimate form of happiness and you achieve complete harmony with yourself. Your contributions do not have to be so big. Even small ones can make a huge difference in the lives of others. When you see how your actions benefit people, the negative feelings of incompleteness will not be called to mind anymore. 

You may have heard of people engaging in philanthropic projects in order to do change the lives of people.  They are not paid or receive any monetary benefit for their good work. They are not even doing the work to receive praise or some form of reward. They believe that although they cannot solve all of the world’s problems, putting a smile on people’s faces is worth the effort.  

Developing spiritually through Buddhist lessons on liberation

Exploring practices like meditation to stop worrying and help connect to something larger than oneself can help you develop spiritually. Buddhism teaches liberation. That is freedom from trouble, challenges, trials, ignorance, and destruction. The Buddhist lesson on liberation is a spiritual practice and leads to spiritual empowerment. It opines that human life is characterized by all forms of suffering and meditation and spirituality can lead to awakening and enlightenment. 

It teaches that there are four stages of spiritual development and these stages can help one obtain satisfaction and achieve purpose in life. These four stages include the stream-enterer (one who fully understands the doctrines of Buddhism), the once-returner (one who returns to the realm of senses one more time), the non-returner (one who never returns to the human world), and Arahant (a fully enlightened and awakened person). 

The stages of spiritual development work together to help one develop spiritually and discover the hidden meaning of life. It enables you to reach your full capacity.

Related To Buddism: Uncovering the Origins: Are Chakras Buddhist or Hindu?

Achieving Happiness and Self-Fulfilment in Alignment with Your Human Nature

Happiness and self-fulfillment are often interwoven or linked together. Even though these two words may give the same feeling of contentment and bliss, they are different. Happiness is a temporary state of ecstasy and joy. It is often short-term. Fulfilment on the other hand is long term and it broadens your perspective. This doesn’t mean that you won’t encounter troublesome days or challenging times but when you are self-fulfilled, you will have a deep love for people even when they anger you and you will have a love for the things you do even when things do not go your way. You can achieve easy navigation through life’s troubles.

Happiness and self-fulfillment cannot be obtained when it is not aligned with your human nature. For example, if you are a hardworking and punctual person by nature, you will obtain happiness and fulfillment in being diligent and working, not lazing around, and also coming to work early. But if you are punctual by nature and you frequently arrive late at your workplace, then happiness will elude you.  

In other words, there should be harmony between your true nature and your quest for happiness. Otherwise, the goal of human life will be lost.

Focusing on positive emotions and contentment as recommended by positive psychology

Experiencing more feelings like joy and having high life satisfaction are statistically key human goals. According to Positive Psychology, positive emotions are important pieces of achieving happiness and self-fulfillment. They have a role to play in one’s attitude. They enhance the well-being of humans. These emotions include feelings of optimism, eagerness, gratitude, confidence, love, admiration, surprise, and many others.

The joy of saying “I do” when you are taking your vows on your wedding day boosts one’s spirit. A person feels happy when he sees the image of his or her loved ones. Positive emotions help you focus on things that are good and not on negativities. They are human goals that living beings should strive to acquire.

Pursuing self-actualization to become the best version of yourself

Realizing your full potential as a human being and living in alignment with your true nature is a superb way of achieving happiness when everyone else is unhappy. Self-actualization means that you are aware of what you can and cannot do. It is the process of learning your strengths and weaknesses and working hard to be the best. 

Self-actualization is not living a smooth and perfect life. But it means maximizing your strengths and minimizing your weaknesses. Yes, even with life hassles, you can live a fulfilled life. 

Gaining Wisdom, Self-Awareness, And Moral Ethics Over a Lifetime

Increasing understanding of yourself, and others and living an ethical life brings insight and growth. It also unlocks the key to finding fulfillment in life and discovering the goal of human life. Wisdom is the art of putting knowledge and intelligence to good use. There is no one on earth that is born with wisdom. It is acquired over a period of time.

Self-awareness encompasses several things. It gives the idea of learning the things that you like and does not like, knowing the things that inspire and motivate you, knowing the things you are good at, knowing your skills such as adaptability and communication skills.  Like wisdom, self-awareness is not something that can be reached in a short while. It is acquired throughout one’s life. Every new day comes with new discoveries and this will definitely leave you in awe.

Moral ethics also plays a vital role in achieving the goal of human life. Doing the right thing at the right time brings joy and purpose to one’s life. This is also an ongoing process because you may make mistakes along the way but carefully trying to do what is right leads to long-term blessings. 

Leaving a Legacy for Future Generations that Improves Society

A legacy is a lasting impact on the society. Parents are not the only ones who leave legacies for their children as some popularly say. Leaders are not the only ones who leave legacies. Everyone should leave a good legacy for future generations, something that can be built on even after you are gone. This is something our predecessors did. Hearing people offer nice compliments about you will leave you feeling happy, content, and fulfilled.

The most excellent way to leave a legacy is to live by good example. People are watching and they will make references in the future. So strive to leave your footprints on the sands of time. Even when you die, you should die without regrets. You should die a happy person. And you should be remembered for something good.

Making scientific and cultural advancements to push human creativity forward

Contributing to knowledge and innovation for the benefit of the coming generation is a good way to leave a legacy and live a fulfilled life. There have been lots of scientific discoveries by scientists and other well-known personalities. You may have benefited from some of them. The invention of email messaging, for instance, has helped improve communication. But people who did this are not of different species. With advanced planning, you too can make scientific and cultural advancements that people can glean from.

A human mind is a powerful tool for creativity. Use it to benefit the world. Examples of how you could do this are by developing apps that will help solve the needs of people or doing research and publishing your findings on how the world can benefit from a certain activity. No doubt, this will leave you feeling satisfied with life.

Improving society by taking action to solve problems

Working to create a more just, equitable world for the future based on strong moral principles is a peculiar way to let people know you were here. You cannot solve all of the world’s problems for sure but you can take action by doing small things to improve society. What is the condition of your environment? Is it healthy or has it been polluted by people or companies? You could play your part by keeping your environment clean and discarding waste the proper way. 

Other ways to improve society are by striving to settle conflicts and disputes and giving equal, fair, and impartial treatment to others. Work hard to unite the world and not divide it.

As recommended by Medium, engaging in philanthropic projects to improve the condition of the population could really go a long way.  You could contribute your material resources and energy to help the less privileged. Not only will the receivers be happy, but you will also be happy, content, and fulfilled.

Passing on values, knowledge, and life lessons to the next generation

Raising children and mentoring others continues the cycle of human betterment. These children do not have to be your biological children. There could be young ones around you whom you could inculcate values and knowledge into their minds. You could be an educator and teach these ones to be respectful to their older ones, to be hard-working, and to be morally upright and fair in their dealings.

This education goes on even unto the next generation, hence, the people you teach are under obligation to also pass this useful information to others. As this continues, the cycle of a better society is never broken or stopped. This practice not only helps you attain your human goal but gives you a direction in life.

FAQ’s:

What are the 4 goals of human life?

The 4 goals of human life are security (Artha), Pleasure (Kama), Ethics (Dharma) and Liberation (Moksha).

Does every human being have a goal in life?

Yes, every human being wants to achieve something whether big or small.

Can a person live without a goal?

A person cannot live without a goal. Having a goal is very important. Humans cannot achieve anything without having a goal.

What if there is no goal in life?

If you have no goal in life, you will lack the willpower to do things. You will be likened to someone who is in a morning trail run without getting to the finish line.

What is the aim of human life according to Aristotle?

The aim of human life according to Aristotle is to achieve happiness.