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2026-05-17
Purpose and passion
Yesterday, I read the transcript of Harrison Ford's commencement speech at ASU.
https://thoughtcatalog.com/january-nelson/2026/05/harrison-ford-at-arizona-state-university-commencement-the-world-my-generation-left-you-is-a-real-mess/
I was surprised and impressed -- somehow I had gotten the impression that,
outside of his acting roles, Harrison Ford was kind of an ornery crank who
lived in Jackson Hole. He comes off as a thoughtful, caring elder, here, who
has been - since the 80s - living out values of respect for land and indigenous
people.
So, yeah, I didn't expect this to resonate with me so much, but he puts a pretty
good point on something I don't examine in my own life often:
Passion and purpose are not the same thing. Passion brings you joy. Purpose brings you meaning. Passion gets you out of bed in the morning, but purpose allows you to sleep at night.
---
Since becoming a father, I can see at least one clear purpose in my life. (But
don't ask me to express it in language.) When we needed childcare for my first
daughter, that purpose made it very easy for me to choose to leave my job and
be her caregiver. I didn't even have to think about whether this was a worthwhile
use of my time.
Our household arrangement has changed, and now I am back at work. I find that
my family - my purpose - actually helps me focus on my work. If I am not able
to spend time with my daughters, and instead I have to spend my attention on
work, then I should actually apply myself to that.
So anyway, that's purpose. I have at least one, and it extends outward a bit
whenever a kid in our community calls me Uncle Chad.
---
Passion, though. I can't tell you something I'm passionate about in the sense
that I wake up eager to work on it. I am comforted that my day job contributes
nominally to transparency and oversight of corporate finances, and I think that
is a good thing. But it's certainly not the best thing I can think of - many
other causes would take my time/energy and turn them into more direct good for
people or the planet.
And yet, when I look at one of those causes directly - not just out of my mind's
periphery - I am not spurred into action. Passion does not ignite.
Am I missing something? Am I deficient, lacking some intrinsic capacity for passion?
I don't think so? I am sitting here typing things for nobody to read, imagining
that very few people actually find what they're passionate about and manage to
make it their life's work. Right?
I read some books in a post-scarcity world where nobody has to work, but there's
a special word for people who had found a passion that drives them to work anyway:
vokers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_Ignota
While re-confirming my memory on that, I found Jamie Harris's notebook page on
the concept:
https://notebook.jamieharris.co/notes/vocateur/
Not even sure if I can name any "vokers" in my life. There are definitely folks
I know who give a ton of themselves to their work, but I lowkey see that more as
a character flaw/addiction than in a pursuit of passion.
---
But let's make this more about me again: I can't think of anything I have ever
really been passionate about in this sense. And (as of writing) I am 36 years old
so it kinda feels like it's time for me to stop sitting around waiting for
passion to befall me, if I want it in my life. I'm not going to wake up tomorrow,
or any other day, with a vocation.
---
When I first decided to write something on this topic, I was going to try to
blame society / The Circumstances for "numbing" our passions. And thus I am just
one more victim of a conspiracy to pacify the populace. Don't blame me (or myself) -
there's a coordinated effort to keep us from pursuing our passions!
:shrug: idk about all that. Seems like I am just one of many people who are
fine with having a day job and then finding purpose elsewhere.
⌁