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Perhaps one of the biggest questions about life that any of us has to answer is the question: “what am I here for?”

This post must involve a bit of a discussion about religion. I hope that isn’t going to put you off because I feel that this is one of the most important questions to answer.

The first point to make is that this is an even harder question to answer if you are an atheist (or even agnostic). I’m not saying this to force my viewpoint on anyone but that you need to admit that if you don’t believe in a creating god (whoever that may be) then it is impossible to answer any questions about what you are here for. The best you can answer this question might be to do the greatest good to the greatest number of people. But you might just as well say that your aim is to make yourself happy. Essentially you will have no set purpose and you simply make up your own idea of what you are here for, but if you are looking for an answer to the question then one doesn’t exist.

Of course if you do have a belief in a god then your purpose will be bound up in what your religion says about your purpose. There will most certainly be an answer to the question. I’m a Christian and so my response for me must come from the message of Jesus Christ. I’m here to worship and serve God.

There is more to it than this because I also have a part to play in God’s plan (you did know that God has a plan didn’t you?) – a part that is unique to me. So I can look at how God made me, what gifts and talents I possess and then work out how God wants me to use them.

The exciting bit is that no matter how insignificant I might feel I know that God wants me. No matter if I feel that I really don’t matter in the eyes of this world – I know that I matter in the eyes of God. I also know that even if things don’t quite work out for me now – this is not the end of everything.

I happen to believe that Jesus gives us the best chance of finding out the answer to the question of “what am I here for?” and if you want to explore this subject in more depth you can take a look at the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren (official website here) but there are other religions and other options.

Buddhism for instance teaches that this world is full of suffering and life means detaching oneself from this world so you can get away from the suffering. You can find out more here.

Many other religions follow a set of rules to gain entry in heaven so the meaning of life is following those rules (Christianity is not one of these by the way – despite popular belief). You can see a list of the religions and what they see life as at the religion facts site. Although I must warn you that the Christian section is woefully inadequate and the chart, as far as Christianity is concerned, leaves an awful lot of information out. I’d recommend the Purpose Driven Life web site for this information. Or you can find out more about Jesus here.

There is a tendency at the moment to see the “self” as something bad, after all self is part of the word selfishness and we know what kind of bad things stem from being selfish. Various forms of religions/world views offer us an understanding of what the self is and its importance.

There are three broad strands of thinking in spiritual terms when it comes to thinking about the self.

The first of these is the idea that god is impersonal and so the self does not exist or is essentially something to escape from. We see this idea in many of the ancient faiths of the east and in much of the so called New Age movement. Buddha, for instance, saw his greatest moment of spiritual achievement as being released from the self. As Buddha himself once put it: ““Life is suffering.” This turns the self into something to escape from and so in spiritual terms we need to be released from the self if we are to achieve wholeness. Happiness and enjoyment and success are alien to this way of thinking because they are things that concern the self.

The next is the atheistic approach. We see this in many of the philosophies of the early to mid part of the 20th century. Here the self is whatever we choose it to be. We can decide for ourselves what we want to be or where we find wholeness. In much atheistic literature we read that there are no limits for the self at all. However if we try to find a purpose or meaning in life then we discover ultimately that there is none. This approach truly does lead to selfishness and it can do no other. Ideals of getting benefits from helping others will in the end come down to the benefit to yourself in doing this.

The third approach comes from the Judeo-Christian-Islamic faiths where God is viewed in a personal, even intimate, way. Here the self is a created being who finds purpose and meaning within the purposes of God. God who is working to make right a world gone wrong gives meaning and purpose to those who will help him. Yes the self can become selfish but that is not a part of the approach to spirituality that we talk about but is part of the broken world God is trying to mend. Here we find our purpose and reason for being in following God. Within this view of spirituality the self is important but the self is also part of the whole that works towards the building of a kingdom of God.

It is, of course, up to you where you want to seek your spirituality but it’s the latter of the three approaches that makes the most sense to me.

What motivates people? This is a question that has pre-occupied people since some clever person decided to tie a carrot to the end of a stick to get a donkey to move (did anyone actually ever do that?). The truth is that the carrot is different for everyone, but why is this? The simple answer is that everyone values different things.

Many people believe that money is a good motivator – give someone a bonus and they will work hard to earn it. There are all kinds of problems with this – not least that for most people money isn’t a good motivator. Most people want what they believe the money can buy them (security, peace, love, health, freedom, etc) but all of these things can be acquired without money. To try and get this motivator to work we are constantly bombarded with adverts to try and make us greedy – we fall for it for a while but soon become disillusioned when the promised lifestyle doesn’t arrive with the acquisition of money. This is born out time and again by surveys that show that rich people tend to be less happy than the rest of us.

In the end what really motivates us is our values. This is one of the reasons that knowing what you value is so important. In some self help systems you will be told to listen to what your insides tell you about values. I think this is only part of the story. To really understand what motivates us we need to understand what we value – relying on feelings is not always productive.

So to get motivated you need to know your values.

I hope that all of us have a very long time get before we have to face death and yet it is an important thing to think about from time to time. I guess all of us would like to leave something by which we could be remembered at least for a little while after we are gone. Yet it always seems to me that it is better to leave anywhere with the knowledge that your presence has made that place a better one. Leaving a legacy doesn’t have to just be about when you die – you should leave some kind of legacy wherever you go.

I don’t mean that it will always be a happier place or more fun place but that somehow we have made things there a little better. I think sometimes the only way to make things better it is cause a few upsets but perhaps that is a subject for another day.

What are you going to leave today? How are you going to make the places you have been better?

Within the Christian faith there are no set ways of praying. Jesus never gave us a specific formula to use or a structure to stick to. Even when Jesus taught his disciples the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11) he was only giving them something to say when they pray and it was never intended to be the last word on prayer. This means that Christians have great freedom in the way they meditate or pray. In effect we can do what we like as long as we do it in the right frame of mind and heart.

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Perhaps the biggest question any of us has to face is the about the existence of the soul. Is there something about us that lives on after death? Is there something in us that is not just physical but which can reach out to something beyond the physical.

Some scientists want us to believe that the only thing that is real is the physical world. If you can’t poke it with a stick then it doesn’t exist. Of course they go further than wanting to poke things with a stick but this is the essence of the argument. Then others seem to think that the physical is just an illusion. Who is right?

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We are constantly being encouraged to think in a more spiritual way but then we also like to make money. Is it possible to do both at the same time or is one opposed to the other? I think the answer might be surprising.

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It’s important for everyone to take a break from time to time. If you want to be successful and achieve great things then it is much better to take a break. It is in the moments of rest that we do our most profound thinking.

In this post we explore why we should take and break and how to do it.

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Few of us will be surprised to learn that our environment can have an effect on your soul. If you have ever taken the time to look at a mountain or been in a Cathedral or perhaps walked in a beautiful garden you will know the way they can speak to your soul. Yet where do you find such places in ordinary life?

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There is noise everywhere. Those who live in Cities rarely avoid it altogether and even in the countryside it can be hard to escape from some noise or another. So how do we find ways to be silent and does it really matter that we can’t?

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