Who Am I? Where Am I Going? Why Am I Here?

Does God have a purpose for my life? How do I know? And how do I find it? These questions asked honestly (more than nearly any others) force us to confront the fundamental realities of who we are, who God is, and the meaning of life.

Though some have suggested that people can bear the sense of meaninglessness, Viktor Frankl argued that humans have an innate need to find meaning in their lives. This need, he stated in his book Man's Search For Meaning, is even stronger than the need for food, water or shelter. 

Albert Camus likewise spoke of our human desire for meaning and purpose. In his view the longing for meaning comes face to face with an apparently indifferent universe. He labeled this fundamental conflict "the Absurd." While the human mind seeks order and meaning, the universe remains silent, hence this sense of absurdity. Thus, in his essay The Myth of Sisyphus, there is really only one question that matters. Does it make sense to go on living once the meaninglessness (Camus' conclusion) of human life is fully understood and assimilated?

Understandably, these are serious issues. For this reason such questions are seldom voiced, though deep inside they niggle and churn, unsettling those who have failed to find truly satisfying answers. It is as if we are living in a dark room with no windows, with no light. 

Ah, but what if indeed light has entered the world? What if indeed there were a living God who has not left us in the dark?

This is what the Bible claims. Light has indeed come into the world.

Thomas Paine, who died in 1809, wrote that the Bible would be a forgotten book in 50 years. I'm pretty sure that a majority of young people do not know who he was. 

I found this the other day in one of my 1983 notebooks. It is a list of various responses to the question. "Who am I?" 

Analogies: 

Man is a machine. 

Man is a collection of atoms. 

Man is an animal. 

Man is a bundle of habits. 

Man is divine. 

Man is a living soul.

Once we get clarity on this first question, we can begin to get on track with the others.

From my youth I have been interested in philosophy. I remember asking philosophical questions as early as elementary school while swinging on the swings in the playground. In college I was attracted to both philosophy and art, and there's a sense in which the latter is simply a visible representation of the former. Check out this famous painting by Gaugin: 

Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?

Gaugin asked the right questions.

Are you still seeking answers to the questions rattling around within you?
When Jesus said "Seek and you shall find," the original verb meant 
"seek and keep seeking... and you will find."
Don't give up the fight.