Ask HN: How do I find my “purpose”?

To me, regardless of what you call it, it comes down to two things: 1. finding something you enjoy/willingly put great effort into, 2. looking back on your life at the end and not regretting the time spent.

I can't say I know I've found mine but I have from a young age enjoyed understanding and making machinery, now extended to software. I try to improve and apply my ability at a company that doesn't suck and share anything useful I've learned. I still greatly enjoy learning and applying new knowledge in this area.

Conversely every now and then, I wonder if I wouldn't have more appreciated following an artistic path, say off the top of my head like Aphex Twin (without the fame & success). Probably some of both makes sense. The most important thing is probably not to get caught up not doing anything. You rarely know it's "the thing" while you're doing it, only in retrospect might you realize it was.

Caveat: enjoying (1) is optional if (2) is significant enough and you can endure. :-)

Look up John Vervaeke and watch his series on the meaning crisis.

Otherwise read philosophy given that’s the main topic.

I have considered it, and that may be the answer. However, studies do show that "have a purpose" is correlated with happiness.

I don't think you should buy it; you've been programmed to believe it so that it becomes self-fulfilling prophecy. I think people are more satisfied with life when they have a purpose because they think they need a purpose, but that seems to me like a symptom of a prevalent mode of thought--Heidegger described the modern myth that we work with is that everything kind of represents a flat plane of potential to exploit and turn into utility or usefulness, and searching for some kind of overriding purpose seems like a consequence of that.

I think you should just explore religion (esp. Zen, Dzogchen, Mahamudra, Advaita), philosophy, literature, and yourself through first person experience until you intuitively feel the error of this entire mode of thought. It won't do to tell yourself that, although reaching the conclusion analytically makes for a first step. You have "meaning" and "purpose" sapping assumptions built into you, like modern materialist reductionism. Reductionism says that a thing amounts to the sum of its parts, but it's obviously fallacious. Try cutting a cat in half and putting the two parts back together and seeing if you have what you started with. Reductionism is a powerful mode of thought in certain circumstances, but it's not absolutely true.

I think we need to acknowledge what there is outside of ourselves, and recognize that the universal is always and only found in the the particular. Every blade of grass is alive with meaning, but it doesn't speak it in terms of utility and materialist reductionism.

Well, I think a change in perspective might help. Namely, you do not find your purpose because it's not lost. You create or choose your purpose. A purpose is not necessarily inherent, or given to you by the Universe. On a related note, work hard to understand that point enough to stop feeling bad about not having one. We evolved to want a purpose or goals for fitness purposes, but there's no rule coming from the Universe that says you're supposed to have one. That can be liberating to realize. On the other hand, you do have built in constraints as a human. So, when creating a purpose, I think it's useful to start with Maslow's hierarchy. Do you have the base levels covered. What about the one's above that? Etc. If not, then I think you should mainly make your purpose getting those needs filled before expanding. If you're lucky enough to live in the USA, or another such country, and you get a reasonably good education, then you probably already have basic needs taken care of. Part of your purpose, then, is to maintain your basic needs. Once you're good there, I would focus on researching well being and happiness. Make your main purpose exploring which of those things works for you. Purpose itself is one of those things, so this is self-referential, but there are many other things. Pay attention to your unique combination of traits and strengths. Which of those will give you the best chance of making an impact in your own life and in the world. Can you make any of those your purpose? Keep exploring. Importantly, I think mindfulness training will help give you a way to enjoy or be at peace moment to moment, so explore that too.