The Purpose Problem

“Sat-chit-ānanda.” I’m never going to risk pronouncing these words aloud and admit to anxiety even spelling them. The phrase is Sanskrit, the ancient and sacred language of Hinduism and Buddhism, and represents an idiomatic concept that—reduced for Western understanding—can mean “being-consciousness-bliss.”

Naturally, it took an American, with our innate facility for sloganeering, to make it a catchphrase; thus we credit famed mythologist Joseph Campbell with the coinage “Follow your bliss.”

This bumper-sticker version of the philosophy catalyzed the notion of finding one’s “sacred purpose” for a few generations of seekers—mine among them, in whose young eyes 1988’s Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth flickered like the campfires of yore.

The popular PBS series was hosted by Okie journo Bill Moyers (who did his best to keep up) and was psychic catnip for those looking for a raison d’être and a justification for a liberal arts education. If one squints, following one’s bliss hues pretty…