A Purpose in Life

Get wisdom, and with all you acquire, get insight. - Proverbs 4:7

Many translations have "get understanding", one translation has "develop good judg[e]ment," one has "get good sense," and the Good News Translation and the English Standard Version have "get insight".

This shows that opinions among Bible translators are not all exactly the same, but quite similar.

There is wisdom and wisdom

Wisdom is often spoken of as of two kinds: Wordly wisdom and inner wisdom, also called gnosis. But definitions tend to overlap. See for example [WP, "Vijnana;" and "Jnana")

An old, Great Vedic Saying: "Atman (soul, Self) is Brahman (Godhead). That realisation is a mark of a wise man in a Vedic sense, a jnani.

Vijnana is a term that covers such as science, knowledge, distinguishing or discerning, understanding, proper judgement, skill, proficiency, worldly knowledge, methodology (Spoken Sanskrit Dictionary). Getting knowledge and getting learned are said to be of vijnana. Texts and methodology of yoga and meditation are in themselves of vijnana to handle, and represent lower grades of wisdom.

Sound meditation is a means to glide inwards from occupation with the world, into the transcendental realm or realms. Subtlety is the key. Wise men and women learn to meditate to rise beyond words - in other words, they make good and fit use of vijnana steps to get into gyana (jnana) levels. One step at a time, or many, if that suits you also.

Life moves along without erected manifestos

Don't question a blind man for buying a mirror, it must serve him some purpose. - African proverb

First, there is many a purpose in life - and many good ones, even. Old Bible statements and the Hebrew wisdom tradition talk well of gathering wisdom in life - and even speak of wisdom as something personified, Sophia. Accordingly, it behoves a human to learn from much significant mistakes of others in life, from own mistakes too as long as one survives them, and gather as much understanding as may be.

However, some goings might get dangerous through relevant questioning that reveals shady deals and power tricks, underhand deals, forgeries, propaganda, endearing swindles and more.

Gyana is a form of wisdom to go for

If wisdom is said to be the top thing to go for, it would depend on what is meant by it. There are many forms and levels of wisdom. One speaks of being wise in worldly ways, behaving and so on - outer wisdom is vijnana in Sanskrit. And then there is being wise in internal matters, having gyana, also written jnana, or gnosis. In Tibetan Buddhism, gyana refers to pure awareness that is free of conceptual encumbrances, this awareness can blossom into full enlightenment [WP "Jnana"]

Making fit use of one's birth as a human

Let your bargain suit your purpose. - Irish Proverb

Apart from inner wisdom attainments there is the wisdom of living an upright, harmonious life too. It may not be an easy thing. To be inwardly attuned means a lot along the road of life.

A very bad life is spent in such ways as bringing one more aligned to brutish people, animals in clothes.

An "infirm" life does not make good use of its opportunities to get onward and upwards, as the Gentle Middle Way is designed for.

A good life on the other hand may be crowned with Atmajnana, that is, gnosis pertaining to Atman, as Adi Shankara divulges.

To meditate may feel good and do good too

It would be a clear mismanagement of one's time to gather even likable words of wisdom at the expense of going towards the Lord. Greater goods first, in other words. However, these two can be combined, unless you are able to meditate well and go beyond, transcend as in the stage of the famous ox-herding pictures where "all is forgotten (for a while or longer)". In Transcendental Meditation the basic approach is to meditate deeply and well for about twenty minutes at least two times a day, and then benefit from it otherwise during the day. Thus, words and concepts may help us along to a certain abstract level, but all right meditation takes you beyond concepts and then derive benefits.

Now, If you are able to keep to your sense of "I" you are above thinking thereby. The inward "I-awareness", ahamkara, may be both strengthened and developed. And there is nothing wrong with that, per se.

It is wisdom to get one's priorities right and not seek many all right words of wisdom first of all, but to meditate first, and then go about such things and one's daily life. Fifteen to twenty-five minutes of swift and deep meditation twice a day may help all and sundry, says Maharishi.

Before venturing onto unknown paths

Compare the pyramid of needs by the psychologist Abraham Maslow (below). As we fulfil our fixed needs we may get sensitive to higher ones - at first dimly. And when we venture on an unknown path, we had better ask in advance: "Where will this take me?" That could be wise. However, all do not get clear-cut answers.

All the same, if you explore and experience things and do not have words for what you experience, you can hopefully use analogies to hint at it.

Maslow's Pyramid of Needs