I think the first purpose of life is learning self calming, in learning to do for ourselves what good mothers do fir infants.
This is equanimity, Acceptance, peace.
And I think this is the ultimate purpose of all religions, which at their best teach a connection to Life, or the Tao, or God as a present reality (not abstraction); and failing this, they teach calming thoughts, like this is the way it is meant to be; you have a place in all this; and life is simple—you just have to do x,y, and z and all will be fine.
Anxiety and confusion are really our first realities out of the womb, are they not? And can we perhaps not have multiple “wombs”—like the Namarupa of the Hindus I have been thinking about lately?
A clear story is calming. A non-negotiable morality is calming.
But ultimately, although thoughts provide support, this is a neurophysiological and spiritual task, the former in calming our muscles and nerves, and the latter in learning to touch Life itself experientially.
As I keep saying, though, service to others is kind of a stupid purpose of life. Good people—which here is calm, open people—will help ease the distress of others naturally, but uncalm people, when they can’t find anyone to help, will invent or create problems. This is the root dynamic of codrpendence. As I keep saying, in the US the Left has done this with the black community, which it WANTS to remain retrograde in some ways, particularly in educational performance.
But calm leads naturally to happiness. The great happiness of a great vacation consists in dropping your cares. And dropping your cares is a SKILL that can and should be cultivated by all of us. Even if you work a tad slower, most of us can work longer, with energy released from worry and stress.
And of course a sense of well being leads naturally to love and compassion, which are the two remaining Greats.