Anyway, the results I got were ALL over the map. I'll give some brief responses in no particular order:
25% of Americans reported having a clear sense of purpose
83% of Americans agree that "I feel like I have a purpose in my life"
10% of people say they know their life purpose and only 5% say they are following through on that
50% of young adults reported the lacked meaning in their lives
40% of Americans have NOT discovered a satisfying life purpose
25% don't have a sense of what makes this life meaningful
57% of Americans wonder how they can find more meaning and purpose in their lives
And 23% say they NEVER think about it - ever!
Probably if I were to continue the search, I'd find even more results. I know that these are just random reports, and who knows what the actual numbers are. They seem to be all over the place, and I don't know if you could come up with a chart or graph on all of this.
But I also realize that there are a variety of ideas actually here when you ask about life, purpose and meaning. One is one's individual sense of purpose in their life. What is MY purpose??
Secondly, you have THE Purpose of Life in general - as if there is one purpose only, and the reason for any and all of us to be here, and
Thirdly, you have Goals of life. Interestingly, when I looked into the Goal of life, it often came back around to finding one's purpose of life. In other words, the GOAL of life is to find one's PURPOSE in life. Hmmm!?
Of course, the Purpose of Life, in general, has been debated since the beginning of time. Every religion and belief system will tell you the purpose of life. Many have similar ideals as in becoming Enlightened, finding God/Christ Consciousness, or serving the Godhead in one form or another. Many have to do with a simple idea of the following the Golden Rule - Treat others as you would want to be treated. And if you search what science says is the purpose of life - to Survive! Perhaps to reproduce. And maybe, just maybe, to evolve and grow.
I have a dear friend who decided even while in high school, that the purpose of life was to have family, and so he decided to do just that. He married while in college, had 5 children, and will soon have 10 grandchildren, and he is both successful and very happy. For myself, the purpose of life has always been to know Truth - Who I am, and what life is about. I don't have ALL the answers, but I am very content with the beautiful journey it has led me on and the deep understandings it has provided.
And when it comes to goals in life, again a very personal thing, a Harvard study found that only about 3% of Americans actually have written goals; 14% of some goals in mind; but 84% have no goals at all. The thing that is a little disconcerting, at least to me about the general lack of goals in the population, is that a couple categories of people who often DO have goals are psychopaths and sociopaths, and their goals are generally not in the best interest of the regular population. For instance, a sociopaths two main goals are to win or to successfully con everyone! But studies have also shown that people that DO have well developed goals are something like 40% more likely to achieve those goals, particularly if they are thoughtfully crafted and written down.
So, what about you? Do you have a sense of YOUR life's purpose? Have you been successful in pursuing that? Has it been a happy journey? I'd love to hear about it, and if there's anything I can do to help you.
In love
Aja
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