Beyond purpose

As a coach, you hear the word purpose rather a lot.

The narrative is that purpose is what many people lack, and that discovering it can bring us meaning and fulfilment.

Purpose is important, but inadequate on its own. The idea that we have or don’t have a purpose is also too simplistic.

John Vervaeke outlines 4 aspects that together grant meaning. I think they’re interesting to explore:

Purpose is the first aspect. It means having goals beyond the present moment. It gives you direction by helping you organise your actions over time. But purpose alone is dangerous; indistinguishable from cult-mentality. It can become brittle and disconnected without the other aspects.

The second aspect is intelligibility, which means understanding the world in a way that makes sense to you. When we lack this, we feel alienated and see the world as absurd. Things don’t tally up. Intelligibility helps purpose keep its feet on the ground.

The third aspect is coherence. This refers to the inner harmony of your experience. It means that there is not too harsh a split between your worldview and your narrative of who you are. You can have intelligibility and purpose, but if your own life doesn’t cohere with that, meaning still collapses.

The fourth aspect is mattering. This is a feeling that things matter—that they have value—and that I can contribute to them through my actions. Without mattering, there is no significance and our meaning rings hollow.

Purpose guides and directs action—without it, you feel lost. Intelligibility makes the world comprehensible—without it, you feel disoriented. Coherence threads your inner world into this wider life—without it, you feel fractured. Mattering gives your life weight and significance—without it, you feel empty.

I like the additional colour this adds to the limited view of purpose. It reminds us that meaning is not a simple switch, but an ongoing attunement across multiple planes. It warns us that when any of these fall away, we’re at risk. And conversely, that strengthening a weak link can significantly boost our sense of meaning.