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What If You Don’t Need a Purpose in Life? Understanding Krishnamurti’s Philosophy

Philosopher and teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti bases his whole life on these 14 words:

“Why do you want a purpose for living? — LIVE. Living is its own purpose.” 

When I retired, I thought it was necessary to have purpose in life. I even wrote an article about it for Sassy Sister Stuff, How I Found My Passion and Purpose in Retirement.

I’d been working in Education for 30+ years and had always heard when you retire, you should find your passion and purpose. So I set about developing my passions and purpose in life. I didn’t want to end up questioning everything and wondering what my life was all about.

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I decided to develop a blog — in fact, I founded Sassy Sister Stuff and have been writing here for five years now. Writing has always been my passion, so I turned it into my purpose.

But did I need to have a purpose to start Sassy Sister Stuff?
Couldn’t I have just started the website because it felt right?
Couldn’t it have simply been something I wanted to explore, without attaching it to a grand plan?

Today, I want to explore those questions through the lens of Jiddu Krishnamurti’s quiet but powerful philosophy about LIFE.

The Pressure to Have a Purpose in Life

We live in a culture that loves a good success story:
Find your calling.
Define your why.
Build your legacy.
Live with purpose!

These ideas aren’t bad — many of them are inspiring. But they also create an enormous amount of pressure, especially for women in midlife and beyond who are navigating transitions, identity shifts, caregiving roles, empty nests, retirement, and even more.

We’re told that if we don’t have a purpose, we’re drifting.
If we don’t have a plan, we’re lost.
If we’re not striving for something, we’re wasting our lives.

Krishnamurti gently nudges us to ask:
Is that really true?

What if life — simple, unfolding, present-moment life — is enough?

Krishnamurti’s Invitation: Stop Chasing Purpose and Start Living

Krishnamurti believed that the constant search for purpose creates the very things we’re trying to avoid:

  • anxiety
  • self-doubt
  • comparison
  • fear of failure
  • the sense that we’re “not enough”

When we attach our identity to a purpose, we risk feeling like we’re falling short whenever life shifts — and life always shifts.

His solution?
Don’t make living more complicated than it needs to be.

Live fully. Live attentively. Live honestly.
Let life be life, without demanding it justify itself.

Purpose doesn’t have to be something you chase.
It can simply be something that rises naturally out of how you live.

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Did I Start My Blog Out of Purpose—Or Out of Life?

When I look back on starting Sassy Sister Stuff, the truth is simple:

I started writing because I wanted to.
Because it felt good.
Because it felt like an expression of who I was in that moment.

In hindsight, maybe I didn’t need to call it my “purpose” at all.

Maybe it was just life unfolding through me — following a spark of curiosity and joy. And maybe that’s enough.

This doesn’t mean purpose is wrong.
It just means purpose doesn’t have to be imposed.

If it grows naturally, beautiful.
If it doesn’t, also beautiful.

Life Is Sometimes More Beautiful Without a Goal

One of Krishnamurti’s most liberating ideas is that life reveals itself when we stop trying to control it.

When we drop the pressure to achieve, become, or prove something, we can:

  • notice joy in ordinary moments
  • follow curiosity instead of obligation
  • rest without guilt
  • create without fear
  • change directions without “failing”

Living becomes fluid, flexible, and free.

This kind of living is less about purpose and more about presence.
And presence, in many ways, is richer than any goal we could set.

What This Means for You and Me

Maybe you feel like you “should” be doing something more.
Or maybe you’ve been searching for a purpose and feeling frustrated when nothing sticks.

Let Krishnamurti’s 14 words breathe for a moment:

“Why do you want a purpose for living? — LIVE. Living is its own purpose.” 

What if living — being awake to your own life, responding to what each day brings, following what feels authentic — is enough?

What if the real purpose of life is to simply live it?

Not perfectly.
Not purposefully.
Just fully and present.

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A Gentle Closing Thought

I don’t regret calling my blog my purpose — it helped me shape a beautiful new chapter. But now I see that the purpose wasn’t the point.

The living was.
The creating.
The exploring.
The becoming.
The simple act of saying yes to something that felt right.

And that’s what Krishnamurti teaches us:
Purpose isn’t something we must find.
Life is something we must live.

Every day.
Every moment.
As it comes.

If this reflection spoke to you, I invite you to explore more gentle midlife wisdom in my articles on happiness, peace, and the art of living well.

Love to ALL! ~ Susan

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