The Moral Vision
The Purpose of Life
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THE PURPOSE OF LIFE
These verses specify man’s purpose in life as
worship. This is a purpose which elicits from man
his uniqueness in its ultimate form. It raises man to
a much higher plane than that of animals. Not a
trace of animalism contributes to the achievement of
such a goal. God does not demand of you a
livelihood, the verse states, rather He himself is
responsible for your livelihood. This means that
worship of God is a purpose which is motivated
neither by inward desires nor outward influences.
Rather it comes into being through thought alone.
Only when a person goes beyond his self and his
environment can he understand that there is a
higher purpose on which he should focus his life.
The motive force towards the fulfillment of this
purpose is not the urge to satisfy one’s needs or
those of others. The worshipper seeks neither to
gratify his own desires nor those of the Being he
worships. It is a purpose which sets before man a
goal far above all these things—a goal which does
not follow internal needs or external pressures, but
results purely from conceptual thought.
