Last night I found out that a comic friend of mine committed suicide. She was with me when another comic friend of mine was killed in a motorcycle accident. This past Saturday I found out that another comic in Indy died of a heroin overdose, and at the beginning of the year a guy I hung out with in Denver, also a comic, was found hanged in his living room, it was ruled a suicide. It just got me wondering about my mortality and why I am here. Life is not given, although it seems that death is never near. I think that our purpose is what keeps us here, but in large part we are oblivious to what that purpose is. Though I am not suicidal or even depressed (that much), today I wonder, what is my purpose? Do you know yours?
Sorry to hear about the loss of your friends. Your question is a very good one, but answering it is very difficult. I will think about it.
When I see my wife, my kids and my granddaughter, I know my purpose. My sympathies are with you regarding the loss of your friends.
My purpose is to make people happy by playing music for them. Everything I do, I do so that I can fulfill my purpose.
I'm sorry to hear about your friends. But you have to look within thyself to find that purpose. If you are not doing what you love to do, you are wasting your life. Maybe that in addition to sadness for your lost friends is what is bothering you.
If you are a Christian I hope this will help, if not please bare with me. I struggled for this for a LONG time. For awhile, even though I had a great relationship with my wife and family and friends I never knew what I should "do" with my life. Everyone else seemed to have a calling. I just didn't know what mine was. I worked for Apple computer in Austin, was making a career out of it on the fast track to management. Then my wife and I decided to move back to Houston. Needless to say Apple jobs here are few and far between. I took a job doing something I know I can do well, but it doesn't have the growth potential Apple did. I felt stuck and frustrated. I prayed that God would change the people that I worked with to show them what a valuable asset I was. What I didn't realize is that I was asking for change in the wrong person. After reading the book "A Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren, I came to realize that I could change my environment, but the same thing kept happening. All the jobs I took seemed to follow the same pattern of working hard to "save" an office but feeling unappreciated until i became so frustrated and burned out that i couldn't take it anymore. This was God's way of trying to teach me something. I just kept repeating the lesson until I learned it. Now, after correcting the attitudes I have in my life, things are going a lot better. It was me that had to change, and now I am getting what I wanted all along, recognition and appreciation. Another thing that it helped me to realize is that although you may have a higher calling in life, what you are doing RIGHT NOW is just as important. As many of you know I am planning on going to law school. That is what I want to do with the rest of my career. What has changed is not only that I now have a goal, but more importantly that what I am doing right now is not just a waste of time until I fulfill that goal. I affect people's lives in a positive way everyday. That is my "ministry". Doing something, trying your hardest, and enjoying what you are doing reflects God's light more than you realize. AB, When you make people laugh (and think) when you are on stage, you are giving them a gift that spreads, because you know they are telling those jokes to other people (sometimes poorly) That joy is spreading. You have a "ministry", we all do. Most often we don't even realize it.
I'm not really bothered. I am very content with my life and my career, but unlike Rocketman Tex I just don't know if what I am doing is what I am here for. My family is my responsibility and they are too much of a joy for me to call them "my purpose", I personally think that would be too easy. Purpose is something you sacrifice for, it's like art in some ways, you don't look for commercial acclaim you look for the critical. Comedy is my job, music is my gift but my purpose...that's a little more difficult.
Thanks Spooky. I am a christian and have asked myself these questions before, but when I see productive adults off themselves it makes me evaluate further. Good luck on law school, hell if it's S. Texas I may join you!
I sacrifice for my family daily (as they do for me). They are in the forefront fo just about every decision I make. If it wasn't for my family, I would be more inclined to question my purpose. The joy they bring me, the troubles they cause, the hope for their future and what they can bring to the world around us is what my life revolves around - therefore it's my purpose.
A.B. I think this is your purpose. We've long known that the ability to laugh is helpful to those coping with major illness and the stress of life's problems. But researchers are now saying laughter can do a lot more -- it can basically bring balance to all the components of the immune system, which helps us fight off diseases. As we mentioned earlier, laughter reduces levels of certain stress hormones. In doing this, laughter provides a safety valve that shuts off the flow of stress hormones and the fight-or-flight compounds that swing into action in our bodies when we experience stress, anger or hostility. These stress hormones suppress the immune system, increase the number of blood platelets (which can cause obstructions in arteries) and raise blood pressure. When we're laughing, natural killer cells that destroy tumors and viruses increase, as do Gamma-interferon (a disease-fighting protein), T-cells, which are a major part of the immune response, and B-cells, which make disease-destroying antibodies. Laughter may lead to hiccuping and coughing, which clears the respiratory tract by dislodging mucous plugs. Laughter also increases the concentration of salivary immunoglobulin A, which defends against infectious organisms entering through the respiratory tract. What may surprise you even more is the fact that researchers estimate that laughing 100 times is equal to 10 minutes on the rowing machine or 15 minutes on an exercise bike. Laughing can be a total body workout! Blood pressure is lowered, and there is an increase in vascular blood flow and in oxygenation of the blood, which further assists healing. Laughter also gives your diaphragm and abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg and back muscles a workout. That's why you often feel exhausted after a long bout of laughter -- you've just had an aerobic workout! The psychological benefits of humor are quite amazing, according to doctors and nurses who are members of the American Association for Therapeutic Humor. People often store negative emotions, such as anger, sadness and fear, rather than expressing them. Laughter provides a way for these emotions to be harmlessly released. Laughter is cathartic. That's why some people who are upset or stressed out go to a funny movie or a comedy club, so they can laugh the negative emotions away (these negative emotions, when held inside, can cause biochemical changes that can affect our bodies). Increasingly, mental health professionals are suggesting "laughter therapy," which teaches people how to laugh -- openly -- at things that aren't usually funny and to cope in difficult situations by using humor. Following the lead of real-life funny-doc Patch Adams (portrayed by Robin Williams in a movie by the same name), doctors and psychiatrists are becoming more aware of the therapeutic benefits of laughter and humor. This is due, in part, to the growing body of humor and laughter scholarship (500 academicians from different disciplines belong to the International Society for Humor Studies). So, I'll take two and call you in the morning.
No diss Bobrek. My wife, son and daughter are truly my best friends and everything I do revolves around her (22 years) and them (13 and 8 years). Sorry if I said it wrong.
A wise man once said, "Don't die with your music still in you." I feel ya', AB. I had a close musician friend who died last year. It will definitely stop you in your tracks and make you think.
He turned. And made the ritual gesture: "Are there any questions?" Quiet quilted the room. These two weeks had generated enough questions for a lifetime, but for now there was only silence. "No questions?" Papaderos swept the room with his eyes. So. I asked. "Dr. Papaderos, what is the meaning of life?" The usual laughter followed, and people stirred to go. Papaderos held up his hand and stilled the room and looked at me for a long time, asking with his eyes if I was serious and seeing from my eyes that I was. "I will answer your question." Taking his wallet out of his hip pocket, he fished into a leather billfold and brought out a very small round mirror, about the size of a quarter. And what he said went like this: "When I was a small child, during the war, we were very poor and we lived in a remote village. One day, on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror. A German motorcycle had been wrecked in that place. "I tried to find all the pieces and put them together, but it was not possible, so I kept only the largest piece. This one. And by scratching it on a stone I made it round. I began to play with it as a toy and became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun would never shine -- in deep holes and crevices and dark closets. It became a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible places I could find. "I kept the little mirror, and as I went about my growing up, I would take it out in idle moments and continue the challenge of the game. As I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child's game but a metaphor for what I might do with my life. I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of light. But light -- truth, understanding, knowledge -- is there, and it will only shine in many dark places if I reflect it. "I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world -- into the black places in the hearts of men -- and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life." And then he took his small mirror and, holding it carefully, caught the bright rays of daylight streaming through the window and reflected them onto my face and onto my hands folded on the desk. Much of what I experienced in the way of information about Greek culture and history that summer is gone from memory. But in the wallet of my mind I carry a small round mirror still. Are there any questions?
AB, I don't want to preach to you, impart anything to you, or tell you what to do in any way, but to me, all I have to do is look at the faces in the crowd and reaction in the crowd to know that playing music is my purpose. Your comedy makes people laugh. Your comedy makes people temporarily put aside their problems and relax. Your comedy brings joy into a world that is far too filled with sadness and hate. When you begin look at it in this perspective, you might come full-circle and realize that what you do is your purpose, because you are helping people rather than hurting them. And that, my friend, is a very noble purpose, indeed.
(cue scene of B-Bob teaching) "... So, in sum, that's what Heisenberg was getting at: not pseudo-philosophy, just an underlying necessity of nature that, when you view it from its foundations, looks almost obvious." (camera pans to faces of crowd) Student 1 sleeping, drool slowly marking a spot on his sweatshirt. Student 2 smacking gum, staring like only the most bored cow could stare. Student 3 is programming a cell phone. Et cetera. Ah, my calling!
Sorry to hear about your loses... I can truly say my purpose in life is to watch my kids grow up and me play with my grand kids... Also, remember this... Life is a theater - invite your audience carefully. Not everyone is holy enough and healthy enough to have a front row seat in our lives. There are some people in your life that need to be loved from a distance. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you let go, or at least minimize your time with draining, negative, incompatible, not-going-anywhere relationships/friendships/fellowships! Observe the relationships around you. Pay attention. Which ones lift and which ones lean? Which ones encourage and which ones discourage? Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are going downhill? When you leave certain people, do you feel better or feel worse? Which ones always have drama or don't really understand, know and appreciate you and the gift that lies within you? ; The more you seek God and the things of God -- the more you seek quality, the more you seek not just the hand of God but the face of God-- the more you seek things honorable -- the more you seek growth, peace of mind, love and truth around you, the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the FRONT ROW and who should be moved to the balcony of your life. You cannot change the people around you...but you can change the people you are around! Ask God for wisdom and discernment and choose wisely the people who sit in the front row of your life.
Is it purpose that we should be concerned about, or is it rather the opportunity to make a difference? If one believes someone else can fulfill his or her own purpose, then what's the use? It's a Wonderful Life... Will you make a difference if you want to or not?
I'm uncertain as to what you mean there B-Bob. I guess it's all relative, though it does appear you teach with a certain amount of gravity. (Sorry, couldn't resist.) My purpose... First 28 years--find myself and get comfortable with same so I could fulfiill my higher purpose... husband, father, son, son-in-law. I'm also lucky in that I have a job that dovetails nicely with my personality and moral outlook... I'm good in a crisis and I'm good at relating to people who have been affected by tragedy. I have a sense of fulfillment and service when a job is done well that reinforces my higher purpose.
Ditto. I can't imagine what I would be doing or where I would be right now in my life if not for music. I could never make it through my work week without a gig to look forward to on the weekend. It's my reason for getting up every morning. It's the only thing I'm good at. It's the only thing I'm truly passionate about. It's really my whole identity. With no wife and no kids (that I'm aware of), music is the the only outlet I have for my passion. And no one can live life without passion IMO. At least not a life worth living.
