Passion and Purpose - What's the difference?

[Vision]

What's the difference between passion and purpose? Or is there any difference?

One interpretation I see is that passion is something you love to do, which doesn't necessarily have to be something that best contributes to humanity. Where purpose is something that you love doing and best contributes to humanity. 

"Best" is relative to one's own bias. Another way to say it is; the most meaningful thing one can do for humanity. 

 

For example, if I were to pursue music or drawing, I think that I could be passionate about it, and my impact statement would probably be something along the lines of "to inspire others with art" or "to remove people's misery with art".

But to me, it wouldn't be the most meaningful thing I could be doing for humanity, so it wouldn't be my purpose (on the premise of this interpretation)

 

So what are your thoughts? Are passion and purpose the same? Are they different? 

[Leo Gura]

Depends on how you define your terms.

They could be the same if you define them such. But they could also be different.

[Vision]

@Leo Gura

Would you say that the impact of your Life Purpose should be the most meaningful thing you can contribute to society? 

[asifarahim]

I am passionate about selfhelp ,spirituality,martial art and relegion.but i cannot make money out of it.so to make money i have to actualize a purpose.i plan to work 10 hours on the purpose and do what i am passionate about in the remaining time

[Vision]

9 hours ago, asifarahim said:

i plan to work 10 hours on the purpose and do what i am passionate about in the remaining time

@asifarahim

You say do what you’re passionate about in the remaining time. Are you saying that that your purpose is not something you’re passionate about?

Do you know your Life Purpose?

[asifarahim]

I am passionate about my purpose.but the work i have to do to actualize my purpose is ordinary work.but because i am passionate about the purpose i somehow managed to get to love the ordinary work

[flowboy]

On 05/09/2021 at 10:12 AM, Vision said:

But to me, it wouldn't be the most meaningful thing I could be doing for humanity, so it wouldn't be my purpose (on the premise of this interpretation)

If you are only passionate about inspiring people with music, there's no sense in going to school to become an engineer to create some kind of invention to solve hunger or disease somewhere in the world.

"Most meaningful" is relative to your perspective.

That's why we have individual perspectives. So that only you can be you, and someone else can do what's meaningful to them.

It's a trap to try and find what the "objective" best contribution is, because

1. There isn't one
2. If there were, and everyone would do the same thing, nothing else would get done

Everything is important.

Question is: does it feel important when you do it?

Are you in touch with how purposeful different activities have made you feel?

[Vision]

14 hours ago, flowboy said:

If you are only passionate about inspiring people with music, there's no sense in going to school to become an engineer to create some kind of invention to solve hunger or disease somewhere in the world.

"Most meaningful" is relative to your perspective.

That's why we have individual perspectives. So that only you can be you, and someone else can do what's meaningful to them.

It's a trap to try and find what the "objective" best contribution is, because

1. There isn't one
2. If there were, and everyone would do the same thing, nothing else would get done

Everything is important.

@flowboy Agreed. I think it's a matter of what you are gifted/talented at. Pursuing that would be the biggest contribution you could offer the world as it is a unique ability within your Zone of Genius that that no one can replicate.

14 hours ago, flowboy said:

Question is: does it feel important when you do it?

Are you in touch with how purposeful different activities have made you feel?

There are things that I can enjoy doing, but that don't feel important to me. Such as playing the piano and designing. A.K.A things that I can "dabble" with. However, I can see how those activities can be meaningful for others. 

Things that I enjoy doing and feel important to me are; working out, giving people advice on how to improve their lives and find clarity, creating new concepts from my model of understanding how to live life to help others do the same, built from all the reading and researching I do in my free time (which also feels meaningful).

[Matt23]

I see passion as more related to excitement, motivation, drive, joy, focus, play, and enthusiasm.  I also see passion as a subset within life purpose.  Where life purpose combines passion with also a sense of meaning, love, and selflessness.  

To me, passion is more about what I enjoy.

Whereas life purpose is more about passion + a grand vision + meaningful contribution (a sense of love).

[Leo Gura]

On 9/5/2021 at 2:08 AM, Vision said:

@Leo Gura

Would you say that the impact of your Life Purpose should be the most meaningful thing you can contribute to society? 

Obviously

[Vision]

@Leo Gura That's completely relative though right? For example, if you are gifted/talented and passionate about music, the most meaningful thing you can contribute to society is sharing your gift with the world rather than trying to contribute out of a feeling of moral obligation. 

[Preety_India]

You can actually make your passion your purpose. 

 

[Nahm]

@Vision

Passion you feel, purpose you believe. 

[flowboy]

16 hours ago, Vision said:

There are things that I can enjoy doing, but that don't feel important to me. Such as playing the piano and designing. A.K.A things that I can "dabble" with. However, I can see how those activities can be meaningful for others. 

Things that I enjoy doing and feel important to me are; working out, giving people advice on how to improve their lives and find clarity, creating new concepts from my model of understanding how to live life to help others do the same, built from all the reading and researching I do in my free time (which also feels meaningful).

Looks like you've got it figured out.

[soos_mite_ah]

I wrote about this a few months ago in my journal. Here is a link to the full post: 

And here is what I think is one of the most important parts: 

On 6/8/2021 at 3:15 PM, soos_mite_ah said:

Another problem that creatives sometimes run into is fetishizing their interests. I believe that there is a difference between having interests and having a passion. It's like comparing initial attraction to a stable long term relationship. At first with your interests you have this honeymoon phase where you are super enthusiastic and excited about what you're going to do. After that honeymoon phase is up, that's the real test of how long term this interest, whether it be for a creative venture or a partner, would last. I think with people who fetishize their interests or fetishize this idea of what a relationship is supposed to be like, that they want the honeymoon phase to last forever and have that constant high, that the romanticize the process instead of seeing it for what it is and appreciate it even when it gets mundane and boring. Because if you are really passionate about an interest, romantic or otherwise, you won't need that constant titillations and you're ok when things get a little slow because there is an intrinsic motivation there apart from chasing excitement. Because from what I know about long term relationships (granted this knowledge comes from friends and things I've read so doing @ me lol) is that after a while of being with that person, it becomes kind of meh and routine but it's not necessarily a bad thing. Sure you need to look out for stagnation and signs of not trying anymore but there is something beautiful about being able to appreciate that stillness, being content, and just, well, being with your partner. I think it's the same with life purpose when it comes to detaching from outcome and being content and intrinsically motivated.

I think there is something that is more sustainable in finding a passion that you are interested in and that lights up the spark in you but you see that passion as a tool to sharpen and as a craft to slowly master rather than romanticizing the craft. It's the difference between a firework that is exciting, loud, and unpredictable and that goes off in like 3 seconds and a slow burning fire that actually keeps you warm through the winter. I also think that the difference between interests and passions is the consistency you are able to cultivate, again like the slow burning fire. I was interested in writing but I didn't realize how passionate I was about it until I spent like a year on this journal, writing these pseudo blogposts on this forum, and cultivating my interest into something consistent. And to be perfectly honest, I wasn't expecting this. I started this journal out of fun and basically me shitposting my thoughts and I didn't think much of it. I believe that being detached from outcome and not taking this journal seriously was the reason why I was able to be consistent because I didn't feel like I had to force myself to do anything. 

[Vision]

On 9/8/2021 at 4:24 AM, Nahm said:

Passion you feel, purpose you believe. 

@Nahm What is the difference? 

On 9/8/2021 at 11:17 AM, soos_mite_ah said:

I wrote about this a few months ago in my journal. Here is a link to the full post: 

And here is what I think is one of the most important parts: 

@soos_mite_ah That's an interesting perspective. So the fetishizing of interests is sort of like romantic infatuation?

[Nahm]

@Vision

That you aren’t filled with passion, and so there is a belief to let go of. Then you float like an unfettered cork. 

[Vision]

1 minute ago, Nahm said:

That you aren’t filled with passion, and so there is a belief to let go of.

@Nahm

How does purpose make you believe that you aren't filled with passion? 

4 minutes ago, Nahm said:

Then you float like an unfettered cork. 

Can you elaborate on this metaphor? 

[Nahm]

25 minutes ago, Vision said:

 

How does purpose make you believe that you aren't filled with passion? 

Will you feel better, perhaps more passionate, elated, enthused, energized, eager, or maybe even more whole or complete, when you realize or know what your purpose is, or maybe even when you are actualizing it or have actualized it… than you do right now?

Quote

Can you elaborate on this metaphor? 

It’s from Abraham Hicks & the emotional scale. Commonly people believe they need to do something to feel truly outrageously amazing. So they try a great many things. When nothing works, they consider the true nature is like the cork, that without the ‘holding down or holding underwater’ of beliefs, they naturally ‘float’, or, feel contentment. They’ve dropped the condition, and thus feel unconditional, in the now, present. Momentum builds as goodness arises, and we communicate that distinction with terms like passion, as compared to say, fear, doubt, etc. Those emotions are no longer experienced, because they were the discord, of the belief(s). 

[LeoX8]

@Vision In my opinion purpose is a thing you want to create or a quest that you want to accomplish and by doing that create a difference of some kind in the world (possibly a positive one)

Passion is the drive and the love for what you are doing (ex. your purpose) which is not a prerequisite but a thing that you build over a lot of time and effort by mastering your work

hope that this has helped <3