No surprise, Elon Musk has been in my feeds a lot lately. I was curious about the business implications of this whole Twitter takeover, so I clicked on a few articles. You know the way it works. Next thing all my feeds are full of Elon, and Youtube is blaring notifications for dozens of Elon Musk interview videos. Yes, I’ll admit it – I bit and watched a few. I found it particularly poignant when I happened upon multiple clips where Elon was openly wrestling through the biggest of questions, like the “meaning of life” and his own “purpose”.
Look, I’m no fanboy, and I certainly haven’t watched or read all that much on him – but from the limited stuff I’ve seen, I’m struck by what an amazing guy he is. Certainly what he’s accomplished as a company builder – but moreso, the glimpses into a deep, contemplative thinker that’s transparent, and humble, and willing to push into big questions to which he’ll readily admit he doesn’t know the answers.
So if you happen to stumble onto this, Elon, and with all due respect – I don’t mean to be presumptuous, because I know there’s a whole lot I could learn from you, but on this one topic, these big questions you’re wrestling with, related to “meaning” and “purpose”, I can confidently help you out. Let me give you some things to consider:
The reason you haven’t found the answer yet – not a deeply satisfying and conclusive one anyways- comes down to perspective. Let’s simplify it: if you were something far more basic, like a pot, you wouldn’t have any idea your purpose either. What is the meaning of your existence? You might observe someone fills you with water. Or another time someone puts a plant in you. Or just fills you with table scraps and trash. You might be able to infer some things from those observations, about how you are used. But ultimately, you’re just guessing at your purpose, that is, for what you were originally intended. You know who does know your purpose? The potter. In other words, someone made the pot, and had a specific purpose in mind when they created it. That purpose may actually have nothing to do with the current usage. Maybe the potter actually created the pot to hold treasures, gold coins … and the pot is now serving well below, or perhaps something totally different from, the dignified purpose originally conceived by the potter. (I’ll bet a whole lot of employees in a whole lot of companies feel this way too …)
But you and I are no simple pots. We’re sophisticated and beautiful and complex beyond measure! I know we’ve all been fed the lie since we were little kids that we’re just a random accident, that we somehow evolved over billions of years from primordial goo through monkeys and finally to our random accidental selves. Of course, that’s just a lie disguised as science. (I’m not saying there’s not micro-evolution or in-species adaptations … but someone as smart as you, Elon, can clearly see through the nonsense that asserts some unknown forces overcame irreducible complexity to cause a fearfully and wonderfully beautiful form to spring forth by random chance from the primordial goo. What are the probabilities of just a single cell randomly and accidentally springing forth from a world in which absolutely everything you observe naturally decays in time, and MORE time means more decay? Let alone a second cell??)
Of course, we could spend another few blog posts on that – but do you see what that lie has done? Exactly what the demons in hell have intended it to. It’s kept you from knowing or even searching for your Creator. With all due respect, Elon, once you understand you were no accident – then you can also know that you were specifically created, for a specific purpose, with a specific design, for a specific time. (That Creator, of course, is God, and He said even before you were in your mother’s womb – He knew you.)
The thing is, I’ll bet you already know that, deep down in the recesses of your soul. The only reason to ask questions like “what is the meaning of life?” and “what is my purpose?” is because you know you actually have both, and you’re hungry to know what they are. Think about it – you can’t be hungry for something you’ve never tasted.
So you want to understand the meaning of life, and more specifically, your life? You want to find your purpose? Simply ask your Creator. He knows exactly why He made you! Better still, He’d love to reveal it to you, have a relationship with you, even partner with you to see you live that purpose out. As an unbiased outside observer, admittedly from a distance and not really knowing you at all – I suspect you’re already headed in the general direction for which you were purposed. You can’t be building game-changing (planet-changing, really) companies without using the gifts and talents you’ve been endowed with – the very things the Lord designed you with – to pull those extraordinary things off. But imagine how much more powerful it would be if you were fully and intentionally aligned with God’s perfect plans and purposes … instead of kind-of, sort-of stumbling your way into them. (Look, you’ve done that way better than most of us, but just imagine how much more would be possible!)
Not sure how or where to start building that relationship with your Creator? Well, I’m certainly not uniquely qualified to help you with that. There are plenty of people who love and know God that can, perhaps already within your circle of connections. But if not, email or DM me, I’d be happy to privately and respectfully help. Clarity on your purpose and meaning are yours for the asking. If you simply ask the right Person.
I guarantee He’ll take your call …
