Humans tend to make assumptions, hypotheses or temporary answers when facing uncertainty and the unknown, as these are often perceived as unfamiliarity and unpredictability, which can be identified as threats or uncomfortable situations, forcing individuals to rationalise or make sense of such conditions. While assumptions and hypotheses are usually useful in the short run, having purposes could be the solution to uncertainty, the unknown and the absurdity of existence in the long run.
Having purposes helps individuals in several substantial ways. It helps one to thrive and survive in challenging conditions by serving as a cornerstone to hold on when things do not go as expected. Moreover, it forces an individual to focus on things important and relevant to the purposes, keeping those on priority to be at the top of mind and swiping away irrelevant matters. This is particularly crucial in a world full of diverse people’s interests and fluid information flow, it tends to create “noise” (unnecessary and irrelevant information) rather than “signal” (relevant and necessary information), which makes it easy to get distracted and discouraged. Additionally, having purposes makes humans believe and hope, allowing them to find the meaning in their existence.
On the other hand, the obsession with purposes can merely be intended to disrupt the absurdity of existence. In general, the existence of human beings is arguably random and absurd to a certain degree, as it does not necessarily conform to human rules, rationality and logical flows of thinking, making it somewhat unpredictable and causing oscillation. One effective way for oneself to disrupt the unnecessary overthinking of the absurdity of existence is by having purposes, as it helps an individual rationalise things and build a sense of hope amidst the surrounding happenings that might not always be rational or predictable.
After all, nothing really matters. Things and people eventually come and go. Nevertheless, purposes and meaning stay. It might be the time to reflect on the purposes and priorities, i.e. how individuals use most of their time. Since where individuals treasure is, there their heart will also be. Perhaps it is time to reconsider and evaluate whether one has taken good self-care and ensure to not be overly influenced by what is happening with the outside world and the absurd existence.
To conclude, there is nothing wrong with having purposes and an optimistic view on existence. Even an obsession with purposes could help sometimes, and to some degree, to deal with the absurdity of existence that is full of maybes. Maybe everything falls apart, maybe everything falls into place.
hope. 