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Is the Goal of Life to Become Fully Yourself?

3 points by HenrikAngelstig ↗ HN
Author Kevin Kelley argues that the goal of life is to become fully yourself. That is, you are living a life that is authentic and completely unique to you. You do what inspires you without caring about what other people think. And you have your own unique definition of success that no one else can meet better than you.

Would you agree with this statement?

Or is this statement necessary but not sufficient for a meaningful life?

7 comments

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Quinzel
I agree with this statement. I’m sure if you wanted to get all philosophical about it you could pick holes in this idea.
cenazoic
> Or is this statement necessary but not sufficient for a meaningful life?

Victor Frankl would say that your overall goal is to find your meaning, so I'd say KK's argument is not sufficient for a meaningful life. Without meaning, your 'authenticity', 'uniqueness', etc is empty.

Over the last year, I've been engaging in something called existential therapy. This is less about your childhood (or adult) traumas, fears, etc, and more about exploring and/or finding your meaning. There's a focus on defining your values; you can start to see where your meaning lies through that lens.

It's been surprisingly difficult for me - not in thinking about what's important to me, but about how to incorporate that into something called 'meaning'. Or worse, I may know that, for me, it's a core value that "people should be treated with dignity and respect" but finding my meaning in that is hard. I don't know how to channel that into an action, other than by being striving for things like decency and kindness in individual interactions. (Of course, getting involved in some group, but I've done so in the past and don't feel particularly called in that direction now.)

So the search continues. I envy those who seem to find their meaning early in life (my partner is one of them), but my own (ongoing) search for it has brought with it an interesting and variegated life so far, and maybe that's enough. (Of course it isn't! :)

keernan
You are who you will have become at the moment of your last breath; regardless of goals or sense of fulfillment.
JohnFen
I think that's Kevin Kelley's goal in life, and one that's probably shared by a lot of people.

But, honestly, I think there is no single "goal in life" (except reproduction, from the biological point of view). We set our own life goals, and they are as wide and varied as people are.

ilaksh
Real meaning comes from helping others in some way. Even if it's just being a friend or part of a group. But what makes it satisfying is making an improvement to the world.

It's strange to me that almost no discussions about the meaning of life mention something like this. Maybe that explains some of our problems.

ilaksh
Real meaning comes from helping others in some way. Even if it's just being a friend or part of a group. But what makes it satisfying is making an improvement to the world. That could be a business that provides a valuable service, volunteer work, organization, or anything constructive.

It's strange to me that almost no discussions about the meaning of life mention something like this. Maybe that explains some of our problems.

parentheses
I think the idea here is more about the ambition and less about the goal.

Focusing your efforts on trending towards authenticity allows you to move towards having greater similarity between you and the version of you in various circumstances. I feel that this is (1) self acceptance, (2) makes honesty the best policy and (3) encourages being around people who do the same.