Some people have suggested that the idea of purpose and meaning threatens the idea of free will. Now how would that work? It happens when we think of purpose as the same thing as predetermination. Now in predetermination, everything we do is determined for us. For instance, me scratching my head right now was determined before I was born — that at this particular moment, 11:37 a.m. on January 12 I would scratch my head. That would be predetermination. It is not a biblical idea, but some people confuse it with the idea of purpose because they confuse it with the idea of predestination.

This confusion suggests that we have no choice. It suggests that if you have a purpose, your entire life has been determined. This confusion suggests that everything you will ever do has been programmed as though you are yourself a machine. Instead, purpose is all about choices. In fact, purpose makes choices possible.

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Have you ever questioned why things happen as they do? Have you ever wondered why bad things happen? That kind of a question is a question that arises because we believe the universe has order, meaning, and purpose to it. We have in our mind the idea that if there is a purpose, things ought to happen in a certain way. But when we confuse purpose with predetermination, we have decided how we want every event to happen and we do not want anybody making any choices that could result in bad things. In other words, there is something within us that wants everyone to act like a robot and do exactly the right thing and fulfill their purpose, in which case life would be pure bliss. There would be no bad things happening.

But people have the ability not to be a part of God's project. They have the ability to make a choice not to be a part of the purpose of life; not to be a part of the meaning of the universe. The idea of purpose comes from somewhere, but it is not the same as destiny. Purpose involves the choices we make between now and the end point. The end point is the goal toward which we are moving.

So is purpose internal? Is it part of me? Or is it external, part of the universe outside of me? Now hunger is internal, but food is external. Thirst is internal; water is external. Loneliness is internal; people are external. Purposelessness (feeling that I do not have meaning, but the desire to have it) is internal. My purpose, on the other hand, is external. It is bigger than me, far vaster than me, and it is how I connect with everything else.

Now where does choice come into all of this? The distractions from purpose are internal perversions of purpose. What do I mean by that? This is where the psychological projection comes in. Instead of purpose, I have ambition. Instead of purpose, I have greed for something. Instead of purpose, I have envy of someone else. Instead of purpose, I have lust for — anything. We think of it usually as sex but lust can apply to any sort of thing: lust after reputation, lust after possessions. Instead of purpose, I have passionate desire. Once again, that desire may not be just about sex. I can have passionate desire about food.