What does this mean?

[The Don]

As I was scrolling down on Twitter, I stumbled upon this quote from Marcus Aurelius, a stoic philosopher that lived in ancient Rome:

"A person who doesn't know their purpose in life doesn't know who they are or what the universe is."

I would like to know the meaning of this quote because I'm sure that Marcus Aurelius was a spiritual being.

He understood the meaning of life and that's why I would love to make sense of his quotes.

What are your thoughts on this particular quote?

[fridjonk]

@The Don He didn't know that there is no purpose to life, god made reality to experience and express his love for himself. To him serving yourself as to help others was the ultimate purpose, sort of the "bigger than life" mentality. He was definitely awakened to some degree, like realization of the self and other things, but he had not realized the true nature of reality from what I've read. 

But that is understandable since society back then was only at red/blue.

You asking this question is the purpose of life. 

You reading this reply is the purpose. 

Edited April 21, 2020 by fridjonk

[Nahm]

He’s talking about love. Transcending your self, you get to see the universe. 

[Nak Khid]

Marcus Aurelius on Purpose

“People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse toward are wasting their time—even when hard at work.”

“At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: ‘I have to go to work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for— the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?'” 

“You don’t love yourself enough. Or you’d love your nature too, and what it demands of you. People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it, they even forget to wash or eat.”

“Everything is here for a purpose, from horses to vine shoots. What’s surprising about that? Even the sun will tell you, ‘I have a purpose,’ and the other gods as well. And why were you born? For pleasure? See if that answer will stand up to questioning.” 

“Life is short. That’s all there is to say. Get what you can from the present – thoughtfully, justly”

"“‘And your profession?’ ‘Goodness.’

“You can pass your life in an equable flow of happiness if you can follow the right way and think and act in the right way”

 “When they’re really possessed by what they do, they’d rather stop eating and sleeping than give up practicing their arts.”

  “You must build up your life action by action, and be content if each one achieves its goal as far as possible - and no one can keep you from this” 

. “You have the power over your mind - not outside events” 

 “It will even do to socialize with men of good character, in order to model your life on theirs, whether you choose someone living or someone from the past”

. “When another blames you or hates you, or people voice similar criticisms, go to their souls, penetrate inside and see what sort of people they are. You will realize that there is no need to be racked with anxiety that they should hold any particular opinion about you”

. “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way”

 “A man’s worth is no greater than his ambitions”. 

“Dig deep; the water—goodness—is down there. And as long as you keep digging, it will keep bubbling up.”

____________________________________

People haunted by the purposelessness of their lives try to find a new content not only by dedicating themselves to a holy cause but also by nursing a fanatical grievance. A mass movement offers them unlimited opportunities for both.
-- Eric Hoffer

Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life.
-- Eric Hoffer

Purposelessness is the fruitful mother of crime.
--Charles Henry Parkhurst

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
--Henry David Thoreau

A universe without purpose should neither depress us nor suggest that our lives are purposeless. Through an awe-inspiring cosmic history we find ourselves on this remote planet in a remote corner of the universe, endowed with intelligence and self-awareness. We should not despair, but should humbly rejoice in making the most of these gifts, and celebrate our brief moment in the sun.
--Lawrence M. Krauss

The man without a purpose is a man who drifts at the mercy of random feelings or unidentified urges and is capable of any evil, because he is totally out of control of his own life. In order to be in control of your life, you have to have a purpose-a productive purpose.
--Ayn Rand

The greatest tragedy in life is not death, but a life without a purpose.
--Myles Munroe

Loneliness is not lack of company, loneliness is lack of purpose.
--Guillermo Maldonado

If we have nothing to do but service our own pleasure - because society has taught us that's all we're worth and we're exiled from positions of authority from which we could actually shape society - then we just become hedonists. Eventually, despite how great it may look on Saturday night, come Monday morning there's just purposelessness.
--Clive Barker

You are here to attain something. That is functioning as a barrier. Drop that barrier. Just be here! Forget about any purpose, life cannot have any purpose. Life is the purpose, how can it have any other purpose? Otherwise you will be in an infinite regress: then that purpose will have another purpose, then that other purpose will have another purpose.... Life has no purpose, and that’s why it is so beautiful.
--Osho

 

 

 

[annonnimm32]

A person who doesnt know his purpose in life doesnt know who they are or what the universe is : someone who doesnt know that he is a mortal and his purpose is to father a child and die, will loose the reality  of who they are or how the universe works.  Its how evil gods are born.  A god is the personification of one man who has done so much harm and installed so much fear that becomes impossible to kill,his ways will continue long after his death because that man forgot he is mortal and forgot that the universe doesnt work as he rules