The crux is the central point, the main reason. No matter what you look at, it all comes back to this. People spend their whole lives trying to make money. What do they really want from that money? Most of them will tell you that they’re looking for freedom. Freedom to do what? The freedom to live their lives however they want, to find happiness and adventure. Happiness and adventure lead them to enjoy their brief span of consciousness on this planet, and maybe share it with someone else.

Just about everything else leads here as well. Why do we get a job, go to college, learn a trade, develop a skill? Eventually it comes around to living in accordance with our values so we can be happy.

So this is the crux, the reason we are here: to experience everything we can while we are conscious and to help other people along their own path. Even then, that second part is optional. If you choose the path of the solitary mystic, the hermit, you’re left with the most atomic kernel of the concept.

Does It Matter?

It seems to be kind of a binary proposition, existentially: One possibility is that your existence is completely accidental, and it doesn’t really matter what you do while you’re here. In that case, none of this matters, and you can live your life in the most hedonistic fashion you can imagine, to have the most pleasure and avoid the most pain with no thought towards anybody else whatsoever.

Or your existence does matter. Maybe your life matters because it influences just one other person‘s life. Even this belief has a significant ripple effect and therefore carries ethical and moral considerations. Maybe you matter because you are part of a larger community and your contributions to that community are important and reverberate through future generations. Perhaps it matters because you have a supernatural belief of some type, spiritual or religious, and believe that your actions while you are here influence what will happen to you after you die.

The way that you frame this is entirely up to you, of course, and has been a source of intense debate since the advent of written history.

Why Be Happy?

So how does happiness fit into all of this? The answer to that needs to be qualified by your definition of happiness. My definition of happiness is closer to the age of concept of eudaimonia, which can be briefly understood as long-term satisfaction that results from you living your purpose. This is understood as your highest good, and leads to your well-being (and there is a wealth of scientific study that supports the idea).

This is different from hedonic happiness, which is a short-term individual giddiness as you may experience at a party or after a concert or when someone gives you a gift. It’s good to experience both, but as a lifelong goal, eudaimonic happiness is the one that will bear you through the challenges of life.

If the purpose of life is to experience everything you can - in accordance with your purpose - and perhaps help other people do the same, it stands to reason that a person who is happy and satisfied will do a better job than somebody who is constantly crushed by the vicissitudes of life. Because things always go sideways for everybody, eventually.

Whence, Then, Eudaimonia?

So the question then becomes: “How do I find and maintain this eudaimonic happiness that will sustain me through a lifetime of trials and tribulations?”

There are two foundational cornerstones of the long-term, eudaimonic happiness lifestyle: purpose and gratitude. When you develop a sense of purpose, and then live however you see fit to realize that purpose, your existence is focused on something larger than your own immediate needs. This is important, because when you eventually run into something that seems overwhelmingly painful or difficult, you will find that looking within yourself may not be sufficient to overcome - let alone thrive after - such an event. It is there, in the midst of massive crisis and upheaval, that a sense of purpose, a focus on something larger than yourself, can sustain you while you regain your footing and your orientation in the world.

Likewise, a sense of gratitude will enable you to keep moving forward even when your heart is broken, and you can’t seem to find your way. When you develop the ability to be grateful for the things in your life that are not dependent upon others, a focus on gratitude can bring peace to situations that would otherwise be completely destructive.

It Works If You Work It

One great and pragmatic benefit of this mindset is that it is immediately applicable in the here and now. Even if your worldview and enculturation is such that you believe mortal life is nothing more than a test for an immortal afterlife, when you live in alignment with a larger purpose, it becomes much more difficult to run afoul of whatever dogmatic proscriptions you may decide to follow.

This eudaimonic worldview, with its principles of finding and maintaining your personal purpose and gratitude for the things in your life, could, at first glance, seem selfish or self-centered. But nothing could be further from the truth. Ask yourself: who is better positioned to help another person or a community or their nation at large? A person who feels victimized by the whims of a spurious cosmos or government or boss, or someone who sees a larger picture and takes responsibility for the things they can control? Who has the energy and love to give others who may be in need; a person who is happy, and feels as though they are living in harmony with the reason they are here, or someone who is completely consumed with the challenges and pain of life?

This is a more in-depth take on age old concepts like “You can’t fill anyone else’s cup if yours is empty,” or more modern concepts, such as, “Put your own oxygen mask on before you try to help anyone else.”

The Crux

This is a very short introduction to a very long discussion and a life-long commitment to a course of action. The best I can do in 1,000 (-ish) words is introduce the concept. I have about half a century worth of thought, study and experience to contribute, but the most important question now is: “What do you think?”

What do you believe is the crux of life? What would you like for me to discuss in more detail? What thoughts and questions did this little essay engender for you? We will explore happiness more specifically in the next article.

Let me know how my purpose can inform yours.



To learn more about how to use these concepts or to inquire about working with me, you can contact me on the Hardcore Happiness website, the comments section on my Substack or Medium accounts or The Authentic Life Blog page. If you have found value in this article, follow my Instagram account for daily insights, or my X account for occasional tweets. To support this community, you can Buy Me A Coffee or donate through my Patreon account.

- JWW