Last year, I asked Iain McGilchrist what he thought the purpose of life was.
His response was that it was about living in alignment with universal values like truth, goodness, and beauty (see 1 hour 16 mins here).
If you’re unfamiliar, Iain is the author of The Master and His Emissary and widely regarded as one of the most brilliant minds of our generation.
So I’ve since been wondering what he might have been getting at when he said this…
And what follows is my clumsy attempt at an answer.
Please note: what I am about to share is pure speculation based on my own personal experiences—so please take it with a healthy amount of skepticism.
With that said, two widely accepted observations are at the heart of the idea.
The first is that I’ve noticed that when I perform an action that is in alignment with my values, it has an energising, fulfilling, and life-giving effect.
For example, I value creativity and generosity, so when I find ways to “exercise” these values in everyday life, I feel more whole inside and in greater harmony with the world around me.
The second is the idea that each of us has a “sacred centre” within, which is the source of our highest potential Self. This is what surfaces when we’re deep in meditation, prayer, or spending extended time in nature.
This centre is prior to our behaviours, thoughts, and personality.
In ACT, they call it “Self as Context”, Hindus call it the Atman, Christ called it the “Kingdom”, and in IFS, they call it the Capital S Self.
By themselves, these observations are in no way remarkable.
But when you put them together, that’s when things get interesting.
More and more recently, I’ve been wondering:
What if they’re linked?
In other words, what if embodying values is the most direct route to our highest capital S Self?
And the more we exercise them, the more we become—in the flesh—the sacred centre we all carry within.
And what if that’s the purpose of life?
To become this highest potential version of ourselves?
In this view, the world—and all of its struggles, difficulties, and temptations — are really resistance (like weight training) to strengthen our ability to exercise our values in the face of difficulty.
And the more we do, the more we embody our highest potential Self.
In the same way that Freud posited that “dreams are the royal road to the unconscious”…
What if values are the highway to our highest Self?
