(The voiceover is not working today… Bummer. I am sorry.)
“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.” – Epictetus.
The Stoics didn’t see purpose as a personal mission statement. They understood it to be an alignment with natural order (logos), the rational principle governing the universe. And this made all the difference. Their idea of telos (the ultimate end or purpose of life) was to live virtuously, guided by reason. Everything else — wealth, fame, even survival — was seen as “indifferent” in moral terms.
Unlike the Stoics, we do treat purpose as a personal mission statement. We go looking for it and constantly evaluate whatever we get into through the lens of how it feels to us. We hold the wrongful belief that if we are living our purpose, it must feel good and make us happy. We fantasize that finding our purpose will solve all our problems and probably make us money. To us, “finding our purpose” is the ultimate achievement.
The expectations we form become the criteria we use to judge what we do, and even if we should do it at all. “Virtue” has an old-fashioned, prudish, and therefore,