HOW TO LIVE A LIFE OF PURPOSE BY Tosin Olufeyimi Copyright 2012 Tosin Olufeyimi Smashwords Edition Page 1 INTRODUCTION This book aim to awake the young to the responsibility of living a purposeful life, it identify the reason why man exist and how a man can live a purposeful life and the reason why we need to live a purposeful life. This book is useful for young individuals. It we awake the young to the responsibility of living a responsible and purposeful life. Many young people are confused about what to make of there life, with this book the young can get the motivation and direction of discovering his or her potentials and thereby living a responsible and purposeful life. Responsible parent who want there children to develop a responsible and purposeful life, should get this copy of this book for there children. Because it imparts the understanding of why one have to live a purposeful life. Interesting individual who also want to have a clear understanding of why we exist and what we are here for as an individual we find this book a good read. Page 2 Existence is an activity, we are doing, making and creating, we are working and building, we are inquiring and solving. We live to do, to make, to create. We do not exist for nothing, we exist for something, we do not just live, but we live for something. We do not live for nothing nor do we live to eat alone, but to do, to create, to build, to find and to discover. We are alive to live a life of purpose, we are alive to define our life, and by defining our life, we give meaning to our being. In the beginning of our being, the human mind is a tabula rasa, it is full with nothing, we are conscious of nothing, we are only conscious that we exist, but we are not yet aware of our essence. Our existence need to be defined before the nothingness in our being can have a meaning. To define our life we must live a life of purpose, a life without no purpose is a meaningless life, a man who does not live a purposeful life is living a useless life, it is better he/she is not born. God is a creative God; he put is existence into creativity by expressing is potential through the creation of the world and man. Since man is created in the image of God, man also is created to be creative; he is blessed with potential and talent. Man exists in time and space and in time and space he must exercise is potential for the development of humanity. God is the highest potential he share is potential with man, by creating man to be creative and through the creative activity of man, man give meaning to is own existence. Man exist to fulfills the essence of is being, I exist in order to do; it is when I do that the essence of my existence become manifested. Page 3 We do not just exist to be alive, we exist to live, we are alive to live and to live is to do. Living is an activity, it is doing making and creating. Man is a rational animal and as a rational animal he is endowed with potential and talent. He can think, plan, organize, and set goal for himself. He is put in this world to organize is own life and create meaning out of meaninglessness, something out of nothing, he is create to define is own destiny and build is own world, in is own creative way for is own betterment. The world is created for man creativity; it is made for man development. The world exist to reveals man to himself and man exist to reveals himself to the world. Man as a rational being, endowed with potential, must live a purposeful life. A life of purpose is a life of creativity, it is a life of self expression, it is a life of doing, in which an individual aim to fulfill the desire of is heart and the essence of is being. Whatever I am created to be I must be. The world is the home of man; man is the caretaker of the world, it is the duty of man to make this world a better place for man to live. Challenge abounded in this world, this world is a wilderness where man struggle to live, in order to survive, it is a battle between man and nature. The world is not created for man comfort, it is made for man creativity, and every problem in the world exists for the development and creative expression of man. Those problem awake the inner power of man, it awake the consciousness of man to the reality of life. When man awake to the reality before him, it develop in man the desire to inquiry and to know. Man develop a sense of wonder, reality is a puzzle. As nature awake man to the reality before him, he develop a sense of wonder, he wonder about is own being and the reality before him and ask how do those being came to be? What is the purpose of my life? What can I be? This self Page 4 consciousness lead man to inquiry, to seek, to find, to understand why thing is as it is, and the solution to those problem confronting man. Man inner potential is awake through this self consciousness and the awaking lead man to develop a life of purpose. Man develops the passion to know and to inquiry in order to understand and through this understanding he is able to find solution to some problem confronting man. A purposeful life is a life devote to finding solution to a fundamentals problem confronting man, it is a life of service to humanity where one passionately work to solve a problem that is confronting man. It is said that the goal of man is to be happy, man desire for happiness, man cannot be happy unless he find something to do and he must do what he is doing with all is heart. It is this passion that we give us the joy to live, it define our life and give us the passion to live. A purposeful man should be able to answer the question, what do you live for? Many people cannot answer this simply question because they have not discover the essence of there existence. Martin Luther king says if a person do not find something to die for he isn’t fit to live. If you live a purposeful life you we live your life to fulfill that purpose and die pursing it. This passion of fulfilling this desire in your heart we bring joy to your life and give meaning to your life. The love of humanity is the spirit that gives us a purpose driven life, when we love humanity we will have the passion to do, because we love humanity we will become creative and we will be eager to do something for the benefit of the human race. Therefore the first step to live a Page 5 purposeful life is to develop the love for humanity. This love is the root of all human achievement, all great men are lover of humanity, it is there love of humanity that motivate them to find solution to man need. A person who have no love for humanity we live a purposeless life; he will be a disturbance to the peace of the world. Man does not exist for himself he exist for humanity, what he do he did not do it for himself but for humanity. After man become conscious of is being and the reality before him, he must develop a sense of purpose, this sense of purpose is a mindset of inquiry, to find, to know, and to understand. He must develop the passion to find solution to problem, when he developed the passion to find solution to problems, this passion we make it easy to discover is own essence. The human essence is what an individual can do, what you can do is what you are, we become what we do. An important question a purposeful man should ask himself is that what can I do? What problem can I solve? Look for a problem and find solution to it. When you search for a problem you are searching for a purpose to fulfill and in finding solution to this problem you are defining your being by committing your life to solve this problem you identify. What can I do for the world? This is a question that an individual who want to live a purposeful life must ask himself. This question is an important question, for it is this question that helps us to discover what we are capable of doing. The question what can I do? Lead you to self search of your own ability and your own essence. The golden saying says that if you do not give you cannot receive. So no man can live without giving. To live a happy life we must live a life of service, a life of service to humanity, it is this service we render, that we enrich our life. Page 6 A life of service is a life of purpose, it is use to do, it is a life one use for the development of mankind. A life of service is a life dedicated to finding solution to man problems and providing practical solution to those fundamental problems of man. The saying says if you cannot give you cannot receive, you must give something to the world and not take something from it, and in fact you can’t take something away from this world when you die. Think about that. A life of service is a purposeful life; it is the life of service that gives meaning to our being and makes our life a meaningful life. All individual who want to live a purposeful life must fine something to do; we should not do that something for the love of money nor for our own sensual satisfaction but for the benefit of mankind. It is the spirit of service to humanity and love of humanity that makes us a happy being, and helps us to live a happy life in a world of problems and challenges. If we do not live a life of service to humanity, our life shall be boring. We must identify a problem in the world and find solution to it. You are a solution to a problem, your existence can only have a meaning when you make yourself a person of value and you can only become a person of value when you render service to humanity. When you do nothing you become a person with no values you become valueless and in fact you we be a problem to the peace of the world. The world is made to awake man creative potential. If you do not find something to do, I mean a problem to solve, you cannot make money without solving problem and as an individual we need money to provide for our material need, we need money to live and money can only be acquire through our service to others. Page 7 This world is rule by universal law, what we sow is what we reap, you must give before you can receive, no pain no gain; those are some universal rule that govern the world. Those rule govern the world and they are there to guide man in order to develop is creative potential. Man must find something to do it is through this doing that we make and create. When we do we become, when we become we be. What I do is what I become, what I become is what I am. In doing we are defining our being and our being is defined by our doing. I am what I do you cannot deny your action. Your action is what you do and what you do is what you are. If you do nothing you become nothing. This world is the manifestation of becoming, everything is in a process and it is aiming to meet an end. Reality is what is done, what exist is what as been done. What is done is what we do, and what are done are the manifestations of our creative potential. Nature is made to encourage man to be industrious creative and innovative. As man wrestle is livinghood from nature in order to survive, this develop man potential, the struggle to survive bring out man creative potential and awake him to a life of service, a life of doing and making. Without difficulties, problems and challenges, man creative potential we remain untapped. The problematic and challenging world of life is a blessing to man as it awake man to is responsibility, awake is creative potential and make man to be industrious creative and innovative. When a man perceive the reality before him in a positive mindset, he develop an innovative, creative and industrious spirit, this positive mindset motivate man to find way to make thing better, it push man out of is comfort zone to find a better idea to improve is own life. But when a Page 8 man develop a negative mindset to the reality before him, the problem subdue man and destroys is being. Human existence is a search for meaning and a search for meaning is a search for purpose. The existence of man is a question. I exist, what do I exist for? What I am? If I am a thing which think, then what do I think? It is what I think that define my being. My thought is what I am. All that exist is a product of thought, it is the manifestation of our thought, and all material reality is the manifestation of thought. Whatever we think when combined with action we result in material manifestation of that thought. I am a man which think, that I think is the starting point of my being, it is a stage of self consciousness it is after we have thought that our existence become affirm. To truly live a purposeful life we must develop a mind of awareness of the reality before us, and as a conscious being, we must develop the heart of inquiry in finding solution to the problems of mankind. This is the only way to live a purposeful life. Page 9 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Tosin Olufeyimi is a motivation speaker, writer and philosopher. He holds a bachelor degree in philosophy. He is passionate about helping people live a purposeful life and understanding life. He can be reach through FACEBOOK by searching for is name TOSIN OLUFEYIMI Page 10 . do not live for nothing nor do we live to eat alone, but to do, to create, to build, to find and to discover. We are alive to live a life of purpose, we are alive to define our life, and by defining. potential, must live a purposeful life. A life of purpose is a life of creativity, it is a life of self expression, it is a life of doing, in which an individual aim to fulfill the desire of is. creating. Man is a rational animal and as a rational animal he is endowed with potential and talent. He can think, plan, organize, and set goal for himself. He is put in this world to organize is