Man’s Basic Purpose: From Reproduction to Self-Actualization

By Jay Thomas Willis

It is contended in this book that much of the literature elaborates on a rather religious explanation of “Man’s Basic Purpose” for being on Earth. One religious explanation says that “Man’s Basic Purpose” is to worship, praise, and glorify God. It is the author’s view that we were not put here to glorify God. Here a more secular view of “Man’s Basic Purpose is given. One secular view says that “Man’s Basic Purpose” is to reproduce. The author goes from reproduction as a purpose for man’s existence to self-actualization. Self-actualization and creativity are the highest purposes for man’s existence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664156661

Jay Thomas Willis

Jay Thomas Willis graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University with a B.S. degree in sociology. He also graduated from Texas Southern University with a M.Ed. in counseling, in addition to receiving a MSW in social work from the University of Houston. Willis has held numerous social work positions.

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Copyright © 2021 by Jay Thomas Willis.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Rev. date: 02/05/2021

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CONTENTS

Dedication

Preface

Acknowledgment

Also by Jay Thomas Willis

1 Introduction: Meaning and Purpose

2 Me, the Universe, the Bible, and God

3 Reproduction

4 Caring for Offspring

5 Protecting Offspring

6 Training Offspring

7 Promote and Provide for Development of Institutions

8 Promote and Provide for Development of Individuals

9 Promote and Provide for Development of Families

10 Promote and Provide for Development of Communities

11 Promote and Provide Conditions for Individuals to Develop Higher Levels of Creativity

12 Conclusions

References

About the Author

DEDICATION

To everyone who search for purpose and meaning in their lives.

PREFACE

Most books on this subject come from a religious perspective, and deal with an individual’s purpose; this book comes from a secular perspective and considers man’s overall collective purpose for being on Earth. I do not refer here to a specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment, but a collective purpose of mankind. In this book, I want to take the focus off the individual’s purpose and put it on man’s purpose as a whole.

Man might have many purposes for being on Earth, but what I discuss here are the basic purposes of man from a sociological and anthropological perspective. In writing this book, I searched the Internet and read a number of books, most of the materials dealt with topics on man’s purpose as it relates to religion. Man has a purpose, identity, and destiny that is separate from religion. Man has complete freedom to choose how he perceives the world around him, and this is how I perceive man’s purpose.

But you should relax, don’t spend a great deal of time worrying about your purpose, just sit back and enjoy the book. Keep focused and hold on to your sense of humor. Be fully prepared and keep looking forward. If something comes up, your effort and time will deal with it. Some people get confused by life, getting caught up in existential meaning and philosophy, they stay up at night tossing and turning worrying about their purpose. At the end of the day, we’re all in the same boat. It matters only that we learn to live, love, work, and play meaningfully.

In college I majored in sociology, so it makes sense that I do a book on "Man Basic Purpose. Here, I am 70+ years of age and retired. I decided it would be nice to do this book on Man’s Basic Purpose" in life. I was a social worker and a therapist for most of my life. I had the opportunity to relate to many different types of people about their relationships with other people, and their relationship with themselves. The question of, what is "Man’s Basic Purpose" has intrigued me for most of my life. Finally, I get a chance to write about "Man’s Basic Purpose."

People have many different conceptions of what is "Man’s Basic Purpose. The ideas range all the way from man has no purpose to we waste too much time thinking about purpose, just enjoy life."

Some ideas that we refer to as being purposes for life are not purposes at all. We live in a highly developed technological society; some people never get an opportunity to be concerned about higher level development. We are in such a hurry that we never stop and examine life. Plato said the unexamined life is not worth living.

There are many things in life that could be called purposes for man’s existence. In this book I refer to the basic purposes for man’s existence. I put no special emphasis on relating to the needs of man in a higher-level technological society. These purposes could relate to a man living in a primitive society, as well as a man living in a modern-day technological society.

This book is for anyone who has or will contemplate the purpose and meaning of life.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Thanks to all those who saw some good in me.

ALSO BY JAY THOMAS WILLIS

Nonfiction

A Penny for Your Thoughts: Insights, Perceptions, and Reflections on the African American Condition

Implications for Effective Psychotherapy with African Americans

Freeing the African-American’s Mind

God or Barbarian: The Myth of a Messiah Who Will Return to Liberate Us

Finding Your Own African-Centered Rhythm

When the Village Idiot Get Started

Nowhere to Run or Hide

Why Blacks Behave as They Do: The Conditioning Process from Generation to Generation

God, or Balance in the Universe

Over the Celestial Wireless

Paranoid but not Stupid

Nothing but a Man

Things I Never Said

Random Thoughts on My Reality

Word to the Wise

Born to be Destroyed: How My Upbringing Almost Destroyed Me

Got My Own Song to Sing: Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome In My Family

A Word to My Son

Off-the-Top Treasures

Going with the Flow

Messed-Up Kid

Fiction

Longing for Home and other Short Stories

Dream On: Persistent Themes in My Dreams

You Can’t Get There from Here

Where the Pig Trail Meets the Dirt Road

The Devil in Angelica

As Soon as the Weather Breaks

The Cotton is High

Hard Luck

Educated Misunderstanding

Poetry

Reflections on My Life: You’re Gonna Carry That Weight a Long Time

It’s a Good Day to Die: Some Personal Poetry About the Ups and Downs in My Life

"The man without a purpose is like a ship without

rudder—a waif, a nothing, a no-man."

–-Thomas Carlye

"The greatest tragedy is not death but life without

purpose."

–-Rick Warren

1

Introduction: Meaning and Purpose

In everything we do we search for meaning and purpose; in all our mad-erratic activities we search for meaning and purpose. Sometimes in our strange behavior it doesn’t look like it, but we are only searching for meaning and purpose. Everything on Earth has purpose and meaning, and a reason for its existence. A large percentage of the population will admit that they look for purpose and meaning in life. Man needs something for which to live, and he desires a life that is meaningful and purposeful. Man’s search for meaning and purpose is his primary motivation in life. Purpose gives us a reason to exist.

One’s Perspective Depends on One’s Discipline or World View. Everyone has their own idea of purpose for man’s existence. Here, I give a more sociological and anthropological understanding of Man’s Basic Purpose for being on Earth. Man does have a purpose for being here. Some say man’s being here is an accident and is due to a random-chance process. Whether everything is a freak accident of nature, and there is no Maker or Creator, or things just happened to work out that way, we still have purpose. Evolution teaches that man is an accident of nature: there is no real purpose or reason for why we are here—it just happened that way; we are nothing more than intelligent animals, and like all other animals the day will come when we die. When man dies it is the end of his existence. There is no afterlife.

According to the theory of evolution, there is no Maker, Creator—no purpose. It’s not important how we got here, whether planned or unplanned; random or non-random, intelligent design or evolution; we still have a purpose. Even other animals have a purpose; everything has a purpose. Whether man evolved from a lower form of life, or was directly created by the hands of God, man’s life still should have meaning. Mostly every individual that has ever been on Earth has wondered about his or her purpose for being here, maybe at sixteen and sometimes at seventy-two. It is an ever-pressing question in the mind of men. It is said in some circles that most men won’t be happy until they find their true purpose for being on this planet. Many men search for but most never find the purpose for their existence. Everything has a purpose, things go in circles, and there is a connection between all things. Most people won’t be happy until they find their purpose but will make peace with their Maker never having found that purpose.

Until you find your purpose you will ask yourself such questions as: What’s my purpose in life? Why am I here? Am I living out the life I’m supposed to live? Am I doing the things I was born to do? Is this my destiny (Roberts, 2011)? Is this all there is to life? Why do I exist? What is the purpose of life? Is there a God? Who created all we see on Earth?

Unique individuals. We are unique individuals, and there’s no one like us. No one has our talents and our abilities to the same degree. When we were made the mold was broken. Even identical twins are different in many ways. They have different personalities and respond to their environments in different ways, causing those in their environment to react to them in different ways, which influence them in certain ways. No other individuals on Earth have the same purpose as us; no one has the same fingerprint. It’s our uniqueness that makes us credible! Our distinction is our greatest assets. That’s why individuals have a different purpose. Our distinction is the purpose the Creator intended for us. The thing that others make fun of and discourage in us will turn out to be our purpose. It’s the only thing that unlocks our purpose, potential, and destiny (Roberts, 2011).

When we have purpose. When our lives aren’t guided by purpose, choice become capricious and nearsighted based on avoiding pain or seeking pleasure in the moment. We drift, uncertain of our direction and confused by every fork in the road. When we have purpose, the crossroads feel different, because we know where we are going, we have clear and constant sense of direction that tells us when to turn and when to go straight (McKay, Forsyth, and Eifert, 2010).

We are born as purpose-seeking individuals. Purpose is necessary for our health and longevity. It gives us a general direction for our lives. Purpose expresses the deepest dimensions within us—of our central core or essence, where we have a profound sense of who we are, where we came from, and where we’re going. It is fundamental to human life and whatever makes us human. Purpose gives us the will to live and to persevere. Our being and quality of life depend on finding greater purpose and meaning. This purpose and meaning in life is a clear reason to get up in the morning, and is essential to our development. It gives us a reason to go on with life, without purpose some will want to end their lives. When our purpose is clear, it is the aim around which we structure our lives. Purpose is a constant non-negotiable factor in our lives. People of all ages are seeking a new perspective on how they fit into this evolving world. We are challenged to find relevant answers to the age-old question of purpose and meaning. Purpose is the value we center our lives around; the way we orient ourselves toward life. It is the way we make sense and meaning out of our lives (Leider, 2010).

Definition of purpose. The American Heritage Dictionary defines purpose as—the object toward which one strives or for which something exists. Intelligent design conflicts with science: it says that we are here by divine order of the Cosmos. Intelligent design puts forth a different purpose than that of science. Intelligent design says that we are here for God’s purpose. Science says that we are random and by chance. This conflicts with intelligent design. My concern is not about whether the