Finding Purpose

A common problem facing many retirees is that of rediscovering a sense of purpose.

I’m fairly certain that one’s feelings about their purpose in life is closely connected to their answer to the age-old question, “What is the meaning of life?”

Biologists might believe that the meaning of life is the procreation of more life. Chemists might believe that the meaning of life is to temporarily evade the inevitable tendency towards increasing entropy. Hedonists might believe that the meaning of life is to experience all that the world has to offer. Artists, musicians, and poets might believe that the meaning of life is to create a thing of great beauty from nothingness. Architects and engineers might believe that the meaning of life is to build new worlds from old materials. Hermits might believe that the meaning of life is to discover the depths of one’s soul amidst the vastness of the universe. Nihilists refuse to answer the question.

During our working years it’s easy to find some sense of purpose in our labor. We can easily convince ourselves that our values align with those of our employer, and no matter what job we hold, we are contributing to a greater goal. This strategy often works well, unless and until we face a day when it becomes painfully apparent that our employer does not share our values, or in some cases, our employer’s values are at odds with our own.

What do I mean by values?

There are three large banners hanging on the wall of my current parish church. They serve as literal and visual reminders of the values of our faith community. These values are expressed not as abstract concepts, but as actions to be taken. The one on the left is blue and bears the words “EMBRACE DIVERSITY”; the one on the right is red and reads “INSPIRE DISCIPLES”. The one in the center is green, and were it not for the fact that the Roman Catholic Church frowns upon stealing, including stealing Church property, it is the one I would most like to liberate and place on a wall in my own house, not simply because green is my favorite color, but because it carries the message “SERVE OTHERS”.

Living in service to others is central to my spiritual and religious belief system, so seeing this reminder of an essential shared value brings me back to my parish church. I would be dishonest to say I attend Mass every week. The Roman Catholic Church has a complex and troubled past, like many other institutions, religious or otherwise. But as long as its theology is centered around the concept of Corpus Christi, and as long as it teaches that the way to show love for God is by sharing love with every person, I can comfortably identify myself as a Roman Catholic. I am not comfortable with public exhortations of my faith; such theatrical displays are better suited for SEC coaches being interviewed after winning a football game. The Gospel warns against such behavior and warns against praying in public (Matthew 6:1-6), which places me in an inescapable trap. How can I publicly discuss my religious faith without appearing self-righteous? As Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians (13:1), “If I speak in human and angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.” If you wonder how one can “inspire disciples” without coming across as a resounding gong, the answer might be found in the hymn written in the 1960s by the late former Catholic priest Peter R. Scholtes, “They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love.” Actions speak louder than words.

I’m not trying to argue that the notion of service is unique to Roman Catholics, Christians, or people who have religious convictions. Indeed, modern humanism explicitly rejects the notions of supernaturality and theism, yet it also believes in individual and collective human dignity, in morality, and in an inherent obligation to work towards the common good of humanity. I would be lying if I pretended that religious or spiritual people had an exclusive claim to altruism. I am simply clarifying that my personal spiritual and religious beliefs (which are not facts, they are merely beliefs) connect my own sense of purpose with service to a greater good.

There are some people who would disagree with me. There are many Americans who believe that the sole purpose of work is to make money, as much money as possible. And there are many ways to make money without contributing to the public good. I know this for a fact, because I currently make money without working, simply by earning more money from the money I saved during my previous employment. While that classifies me as a member of the idle rich, I loathe idleness and many would say that I misunderstand the definition of “rich”. Objectively, I am not wealthy, but as long as my wife and I continue to live frugally I shouldn’t have to work for a paycheck ever again.

Which returns me to my opening observation about retirees struggling with a sense of purpose. There’s a chance that I’m talking about you, but it’s absolutely certain that I’m talking about me.

When I first decided to retire, I did so with the intention of working on the deployment and advancement of sustainable technologies (especially sustainable energy technologies) in the Southeastern United States. At that time, our nation had recently established a coherent industrial policy under three laws (the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021) passed during the Biden Presidency, and opportunities seemed unlimited. But I quickly tripped over my own two feet. First, I spent far too much time and effort wrapping up loose ends related to my previous work on colorectal cancer prevention in Mississippi. Second, it dawned on me that I couldn’t find an existing network of people engaged in sustainability in Mississippi. Building such a network from a handful of acquaintances would be slow and time-consuming. Meanwhile, I wrote an unpublished book, possibly the first in a long and distinguished line of unpublished books, which may ultimately qualify me for the inaugural FIFA Unpublished Literature Prize.

Before I knew it, the White House had a new occupant, a president obsessed with undoing all the good work of the former President. Progress towards sustainable technology development and deployment in America was reversed with a vengeance, while our economic competitors in the People’s Republic of China continued to make exponential progress in wind, solar, and electric vehicle production. Despite the economic fact that solar and wind energy had the lowest levelized costs of energy production, those technologies were effectively blocked in the U.S.A. wherever possible, and expensive coal plants were being resurrected at an enormous cost to consumers, simply to spite the Biden administration.

One of the great advantages of working within an existing corporation, institution, or business is that these entities usually provide a person with the technical infrastructure required to exercise one’s talents. When I was in my early twenties and a chemist for the then-largest chemical company in the world, I had the opportunity to build an environmental and occupational health laboratory equipped with cutting-edge analytical instrumentation. Further, because my results had to be quickly confirmed and reported so that corrective responses could be made if necessary, I purchased and maintained “back-up” equipment in my lab, so that I could never excuse delayed results due to equipment malfunction. When an external consultant, a senior academic from the University of London, visited my lab he informed me that I had more instrumentation in my lab than his entire department possessed. In most of my jobs, I was provided with the resources I needed to conduct my work. When I had my own academic lab, I learned the lesson that every modern American academic scientist already knows. While our institutions give us ready access to running water, flushable toilets, electricity, and possibly floor space, most academic scientists must secure their own funding to facilitate their activities. And while they are at it, they need to bring in additional overhead costs to pay for those toilets they would otherwise take for granted.

Focusing on the material aspects of the workplace ignores a far more important aspect of a productive work environment – the synergy that results from lively discussions with other creative minds, especially those who were trained in other disciplines. As a young chemist, I learned a great deal from conversations with chemical, mechanical and electrical engineers, and decades later I am still inspired to tinker. Now that I have no formal institutional mechanism to engage in technical discussions about pressing problems, I find it difficult to bounce ideas off my own shadow. In my opinion, creativity does not exist in a vacuum, so how can one fill the void that exists when they leave a stimulating work environment, or when they inhabit a place where like-minded individuals are nearly impossible to find?

The online community may not provide the same satisfaction of meeting colleagues in a coffee shop, but it is far better than dying of thirst in a social desert. Yesterday evening I took a writing break to join a monthly “All-In” Zoom call meeting of the Third Act volunteer organization, so I could listen to Bill McKibben (The Crucial Years) and Akaya Windwood interview Heather Cox Richardson (Letters from an American), and hear from other Third Actors who are working together to “protect the climate and strengthen our democracy.” This is as good a time as any to invite all of you who share such values to join Third Act; the journey begins with a simple click of a button at the bottom of a webpage (Third Act).

Perhaps you and I have much in common, armed with a lifetime of experience, a clear mind and a capable set of hands. We can teach, we can tutor, we can feed, we can paint, we can plant, we can keep someone company, we can do all manner of things, each according to our own talents and inclinations. With so many problems facing the world, with so many people suffering from loneliness and isolation, and with so many unfulfilled possibilities for the creation of joy and beauty, what shall we do with the days ahead of us?

What shall we do today?

Until the next time,

RJD