In my own opinion we have different understanding about the purpose of life because of some factors. We came from different cultures and different beliefs that would bring us to interpret life differently. Recently, I read a website about a person who explains his opinion about the purpose of life. He wrote there that the purpose of life is evolution of our consciousness and it is not about achieving things, desires and not even a quest for God, to find God and become united with Him. This is what he believes and his own perception of life. As what I learned from the past lessons God find ways for us to know Him, to reveal Himself and for us to know the purpose of our life. The only problem is when God revealed Himself to people; some of us can’t see or feel it because our hearts are closed. I believe that the purpose of my life is to be with God and to go back to Him. From the very inner of our being, we desire contentment. I desire contentment, I desire for complete happiness that comes from being blessed by God. As a human it would be a lie if I’ll tell that being someone doesn’t make me happy, I want to be an accountant and I want to be known in my field at the same time I want also to walk with God. I would praise and glorify Him in everything that I do because the real happiness is when we sought and found God.

Defining the purpose in our lives is one of the most unending arguments because the definition of purpose in life differ from one person to another. Just like in the video presented the characters gave different answers when they were asked of what is the purpose of their lives. One says that our purpose in life is to worship God's presence, another says to be kind to others, to care for God's gift to humankind, to be able to lend a hand to those in need and etc.. However, as a man I solemnly believe that most of us thinks that our very purpose in life is to attain iherent happiness by doing the things we think is right, morale, and would make us and anyone arround us happy.
Being a well-taught theology student, I am now well aware that our purpose in life is to go back to God and it is only with God that we could attain the ultimate happiness. The answers given by the characters in the video are just some of the ways on how would we be able to go back home to God. However, going back to God is not as easy we think it is because, greediness as part of human nature, letting ourselves be enchanted by temptation  causes us to move farther from God instead of moving closer to God.

"My heart is restless until it finds its rest in Thee" -Saint Augustine.

Before you take this course, what do you think is your purpose in Life? How do you perceive your purpose now? Why do you think some people find it difficult to answer such question?

Before taking this course I still don't have a clear vision of what is my sole purpose for living. I only believe that there would come a time in my life from which I could gladly say that this is the real purpose of my life like seeing my own family happy or being able to achieve my dreams or being able to do heartwarming things such as volunteering to making the world a bit better. I know that the purpose that I have mentioned exhibit a bit of my selfish desire to be happy. However, now that I've learned the general purpose of all humankind, which is to go back to God, I can now see a tiny shred of light to the path towards to God, but I know that this way is still a bit dim for me to clearly see the path. Yes, now i am well aware for our purpose in life, but it is still early for me to say that I would be able to easily achieve that purpose as different challenges would still come into my life. However, as i embark to face those challenges I know that God, our almighty Father, would still guide me and for that I thank God even before it happens to me.

I believe that people who experiences difficulty in defining their purpose in life lack the enlightenment and knowledge that I have acquired throughout this semester. Like the old me, they are still clouded by their various ideas of purpose in life which are a manifestation of their inherent desire for happiness.
 
Why do we have different understanding about the purpose in life? How would you related your desire for happiness with your purpose?

I believe that the differences in our understanding with regard to our purpose in life is brought by the differences in our knowledge and beliefs. Not all of us grew up the same way as others did, not all of us have the same environment as we come in to consciousness and not all of us have the same structure on how our faith was built and these reasons give us an idea on why our definition of purpose in life is different from one another. Without knowing and learning the general purpose of our lives my purpose would still be unique and far different from the reality. However, for those who are not aware of our general purpose, the best thing we could do is to tell them through the exemplification in our actions. 

Before taking this course, my desire for happiness would be a great contrast to the general purpose of life, which has been taught to us by our professor. Contrasting in a way that my desire for happiness comes from the manifestation of my selfishness whereas letting myself be consumed by my own selfishness just to attain the happiness which I believe I deserve is like walking away from God/Home. Now that I am fully aware I can now say that the truest and ultimate happiness can only be attained as we follow the path that directs us towards HOME. This path consists of the beatitudes, commandments, and other holistic actions that were asked for us to follow and exemplify in every action that we make. I know that taking up this path of happiness would be very challenging to any person, especially with the presence of temptations, but with strong will and faith in God anyone can endure those challenges and would be able to go back to God our Home.  

 

From the video presentation,There are an infinite number of meanings of our purpose in life. Their answer differ from another and at some point or another we all wonder what our purpose  is about and why are we here. Will our short existence be lost in the vastness of time or is there more to all of this. Conquering my fears everything has been leading to this: To love God and to love one another. That our life is a preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever and God wants us to be with him in Heaven. Therefore, we should go back Home to God himself. He is the complete response to all our questions about the meaning and purpose of life. People who learn to put their trust in God, instead of in worldly things, find a deep sense of peace and serenity that overshadows the evils, anxieties and disappointments of life and the fear of death. We live in the world but we must put our hopes and trust in God.

 

 

2. BEFORE you take this course, what do you think is your purpose in life? How do you perceive your purpose now? Why do you think some people find it difficult to answer such question?

 

Before I take this course, I only think that my purpose of life according to our prevailing belief is to just live as best we can and accumulate material wealth, get married and have children and if possible have as many earthly honours as possible and if we are successful in these then our purpose has been achieved. We are then regarded as actualized human beings, successful human beings and so on. According to our belief we live only once and as such we should materially make the best out of it. The reality of our lives, however, is often different and testifies to the fact that this world view is wrong. What is the purpose of being born, growing up, going to school, getting a job, getting married and accumulating material wealth only to leave all these things behind again when we die? It is inconceivable to imagine that the great God would create us just for this purpose. The great Creator is far too Perfect and comprehensive in His approach to things to imagine that He has created human beings only for the purpose for which we have generally accepted to be the case today. What we have accepted as the way of our lives today is simply our own creation. We have devised this way and purpose of lives for ourselves. The purpose for which we were created has been lost to us because for thousands of years we have failed to listen to those sent by God who could tell us what this purpose was. We preferred to create our own purpose because we preferred to be masters instead of servants. We did not want to hear what God wanted for us and what He had devised for our existence. We wanted to listen only to our own voices. This is why today the purpose of our lives is lost to us. Thus, most people miss out because they never discover the simple truth: we can find peace and fulfillment only in trusting and honoring God, to live in peace and serving others. Ironically, we cannot find personal fulfillment by trying to please ourselves. Self-centered pursuits leave us unsatisfied and craving even more wealth, power, pleasure, beauty, status, etc. in a vain attempt to find security and fulfillment. Many of us seek security and fulfillment in one or more of the worldly enticements in the list below. We live in the world, and many worldly activities are worthwhile, necessary and good in their proper place. However, they are not the things that give peace, satisfaction and meaning to our lives. 

 

 

3. Why do we have different understanding about the purpose of life?

How would you relate your desire for happiness with your purpose?

 

Once you ask “what are the meaning and purpose of life?”, seeking multiple answers instead of singular, doors open. It’s easy to see that different people find different meanings, and that you have to do the legwork of trying different ones out, or even crafting meanings of your own based on what you learn from others and your own experience with what has meaning for you. We go through many meanings during life and people who have fulfilling lives take ownership of the process of shedding old meanings and cultivating new ones.

The reason is because human being differ in will, effort, vision and desire for good, but also because human beings are subject to different experiences which is likely to influence their beliefs and behaviors.

The things required for happiness must derive from the way in which man is constituted and designed for a purpose, since happiness consists in man’s attainment of that final purpose. Perfect knowledge of the intelligible end, actual attainment of the end, and delight in the presence of the end attained must all coexist in happiness. And that happiness can only be achieved as we go to the path back home to God. This is where e find out true happiness. It means that we draw closer to God and that perfect happiness, which is possible only in the life to come, consists in contemplation of the Divine Essence, which is also our pur