Purpose and desire can seem and feel similar, but they are different, sometimes even opposing forces.
Desire is personal, narrow, pointed and tends towards self-preservation, self-gratification, short-term gains and pleasures
Purpose is wider, a longer-term vision encompassing the benefit of yourself and your surroundings – something you are willing to fight for.
It is hard to distinguish for yourself the difference from your own perspective when you are acting on desire or purpose. Desire is what you want; purpose is the flowering of what you are and want to become. Desire tends to weaken over time, whereas purpose strengthens the more you lean into it.
Desire can be depleting because it’s insatiable
Purpose is empowering; it contextualizes life’s unavoidable sufferings which creates meaning. A noble aim engenders positive feelings.
Viktor Frankl
In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, the meaning of a sacrifice