I have not come across clear definitions of what a Mission is, moreover, I have hardly found people about whom it can be said that they live their Mission. Therefore, this article is an attempt to understand the definitions and concepts. General definitions of the Mission. This is something very large and important, for the sake of which everything else is done. Okay, let's say this. Believers have no questions, their Mission is to serve God, and what else could be higher? Those who believe in reason, science, life, must also have something big, for the sake of which everything else is done. Each person has his own big and important thing, for example, discovering new laws, collecting stamps, raising a child, setting new sports records, career growth, earning money, etc. But I’m not satisfied with this “something”, where are the criteria for how big it should be? The main one? Who determines this? Taking into account the resourcefulness of the creative human mind, which can call its desires and needs whatever it wants to make it sound beautiful, we can assume that many people call Mission what they simply like to do. For example, an artist loves to paint beautiful horses, maybe this is his illness, but there is a Mission to bring people the beauty of a horse. Such an artist will tell you that humanity needs this, there will definitely be those who will confirm - I love horses, I also have the ability to draw, of course, it is limited by the subjective vision of horse beauty, but this is not important. Therefore, we can say that the artist has found a Mission, to delight the world with the beauty of horses, he can do it, he wants to, and most importantly for people. I honestly admit that horse beauty doesn’t bother me, but I admit that it is very interesting to someone. If a psychiatrist takes a closer look at such an artist, he may make a diagnosis. In the medical history he will write: the patient subordinated all his actions to the main task, painting pictures with horses, this was the meaning of his life - Mission. At the same time, the artist argued that his work is necessary for people. The patient did not finish eating, did not get enough sleep, did not pay attention to other people, and, guided by his Mission, completely withdrew from real life. This may be a psychiatrist's assessment. Someone will rejoice, the artist is a genius! And it is quite possible that after his death his paintings will be very popular. Well, who is this artist with his Mission? A genius, a sick person, just an uninteresting person, who will appreciate it and how? By what criteria? Another definition given in the popular Internet encyclopedia “Psychologos.” “Mission is the greatest thing you can give to people, and this is the cause for which you live. When you have a mission, you always have a meaning in life." You can add to this - Mission is the results of the work that will remain on earth after you and will serve people. Explanation of “What is a Mission” given in the popular Internet encyclopedia “ Psychologos" and my thoughts to him. "To drive, a car needs gasoline and some repairs. But the point of a car is not to be in good working order and filled with gasoline, the point of a car is to give people speed and ease of movement.” In fact, a car itself has no meaning, we can give different meanings to its existence, it can be “speed and ease of movement”, maybe just an antique specimen that is nice to look at, but doesn’t need to move. Its mission is not to fall apart and testify to the history of the development of the automotive industry. It happens that cars are created in order to crash in a “crash test”, this is their meaning, but there is a Zhiguli, a car that has no meaning at all, no matter where it goes, it only craps and pollutes the atmosphere. “If you care.” about being healthy - it is right and worthy. This is as necessary for you as it is important for a car to be in good working order. If you make an effort to earn decent money, that's the right thing to do. Money is the energy of life, it is gasoline for a car, it is necessary. If you are passionate about developing your personality - great, let the car have a more powerful engine! “Okay, the car is powerful, serviceable, with gasoline, expensive! OnSuch cars are a pleasure to ride wherever he goes. Even just sitting inside is great. By the way, the mission of very expensive cars is simply to emphasize the status of the owner. Maybe the owner of a large bank likes to drive a large SUV, but his status requires him to travel in an executive limousine. The question here is not where the car is going, no matter where, it has a mission to show the “coolness” of the owner. “But the question remains, why are you healthy, have money and what can be purchased with it, why are you brave, smart and you know how to be creative. Why does this cheerful and beautiful car ride along the roads of life, what will it give to life? “Any car, if it is good, high-quality, expensive, gives pleasure from the driving process; for some people it simply pleases the eye with the mere fact of its existence, as a masterpiece of technical creativity. Is this not enough for life? Here are more options: to be reliable, comfortable, fast, and so on until they are thrown into a landfill. While you’re driving, do it well, that’s the whole Mission. “If you ask yourself this question and don’t rest until you answer it with your life, you have a mission.” Is the very posing of the question and the search for an answer already a mission? My mission is to find the answer, what is a mission? You will answer with your life - if you don’t find it! Well, maybe, in what sense? Probably so. We think that death is ahead of us, but in fact it is behind us, all the years that we have lived belong to death, if they are lived without meaning and incompetently, then we can say that a person pays with life for the lack of meaning in it. But again, the question is, where are the criteria - does a person live with meaning or not? If we take a metaphor with the same car, then for the “Zaporozhets” the ultimate meaning of its existence will be not to kill the owner while driving; for a “Mercedes” this is, at a minimum, to ensure safety, and also comfort, speed, reliability, etc. Therefore, we can say this, for one person the mission, due to his abilities from birth and the conditions of upbringing, training, development, will be to live peacefully, without killing anyone in a drunken fight, for another person not to make a world discovery - to live without meaning. “If you have never thought about this or are already tired of bothering yourself with this question, you have agreed to a plant-animal existence. From a Man you have descended into a Healthy Animal.” And if you thought about it, and are still thinking about it – a Man? Maybe a thoughtful Healthy Animal? Okay, but does a person who has found the meaning of life or thinks that he has found it become a Human? Maybe his Mission is a game of consciousness? Or is it just a manipulation of concepts? For example, someone likes to compose, formulate different definitions, and give a clear description of phenomena. This activity fascinates a person and makes him interested. BUT! You can’t do this just for your own interest, it’s some kind of bullshit, then you need your own hobby (interest), name it beautifully, and find a justification for why humanity needs it. Do you think it's difficult? Easily. Then the Mission appears! After all, everything is now done for a reason, but for people, the main thing and meaning appear! Then a question. What came first – interest, or first the search for the Mission, and then it became interesting? Or does self-interest have nothing to do with it at all, people need it - I do it? At the same time, am I not interested? I think that’s enough thinking leading to questions. Now the reasoning leading to the answers. How else can you formulate what a Mission is? Mission is the main thing that gives meaning to life. Maybe more accurate. Mission is an attitude towards any business that gives meaning to life. It is important, of course, that the business is needed by other people, but here everything is very subjective. What is the criterion of importance? Number of people in need? If there are 500 people, is it important? What if 5? The mission is to raise 5 geniuses who will advance scientific horizons, I think it is very worthy. Why is the Mission an attitude towards any business that gives meaning to life? Every person does something, no matter how he relates to this activity, there will still be something then do. But the Mission is open! Will the activity change? Maybe yes, maybe no. Ifno, then the attitude towards the matter will change, it is this that creates the meaning of life. One Zen monk was asked: what did you do before you realized Zen? “Chopped wood, carried water.” What are you doing now, after comprehension? “I chop wood and carry water.” Another parable. Two people were carrying heavy stones up a high mountain, one was joyful and cheerful, the other was sad and exhausted. A traveler passing by asked the second man what he was doing and why it was so hard? The answer was as follows: “I carry heavy stones up a high mountain, so I’m tired.” Then the traveler turned to the first man, who was cheerful and joyful. What are you doing? “I am building a Temple!” Why Mission is an attitude to any business that gives meaning to life. The main thing is what is above everything else. There is “The Main Thing,” and everything else is less important and secondary. Based on this, there should be one Mission, since, most importantly, there can only be one. But a person is designed in such a way that he easily makes the main activity that corresponds to his needs, interests, and also believes, and this is also in his interests, that other people need it. Often two or three “main” things appear at once, which cannot be in the meaning of the word “Main” - what is higher is more important than everything else. You can also come up with the concept - “the most important”, “the most important”, then the secondary for the “most important” will simply be “the main”, but the meaning does not change, one thing must be in the first place. If you have 3 or 5 main things that can be called the Mission, then they must inevitably conflict with each other, because the Mission is something the biggest, and there are no two “biggest” things, or then we must admit that any business can be called the main thing, giving the meaning of life, at least at some specific point in time. Analyzing the concept - Mission, we connect it with another concept - the meaning of life. What is this about? In this case, we can assume that “Mission” and “Meaning of Life” are similar concepts. They answer the question - why? What will be the result? When they ask what is your Mission, they mean - what will be the end result of the main work of life? When asked a question about the “Meaning of life”, they also mean its outcome, result. Thus, the concepts of “Mission and meaning of life” are the result of life. To be more precise, “Mission and meaning of life”, as a result, always refers to to a specific person. Let “Man” be one of the variables in the defined concept. Life is long. Which part of it are we talking about? Mission from birth to death or Mission for five years? Let this parameter be “Time”, we mean a certain period of time. If we talk about the result, then who should use it, for whom are we fulfilling our Mission? If your “Mission and meaning of life” is for no one, then the very concept is lost. Let us define the recipients (beneficiary) of the benefit (benefit) as “People”. Which of these variables can be combinations? “Person” - “People” - “Time” - the result of life. Let's look at the options. 1. One person, fulfilling his Mission, invests in another, while spending part of his life (time). This situation is typical for a teacher and a student. The teacher individually invests his knowledge and skills in the student; if the time is relatively short, then the Mission ends when the result is achieved in the allotted time. For example, the mission of a particular teacher is to prepare a student in a certain subject in one year for admission to college.2. One person, fulfilling his Mission, gives something to many people, spending part of his life on it, 10, 15, 20 years. People can use the results for a very long time, several generations, centuries. As a rule, the more time is invested in completing the Mission, and the more people it is aimed at, the longer society enjoys the results of this Mission. T. Edison spent a lot of his life on experiments and inventions; people have still used his incandescent light bulb since the 1870s.3. One person carries out his Mission, invests in himself (he is also part of the people), devoting part of his life to this. But then a dilemma arises: either exclude yourself froma list of people in whom it is worthy to invest, or not to call it a Mission, since people should benefit from its results. On the other hand, we are like this now, thanks to investing in ourselves, studying, staying healthy, acquiring skills, etc. Sometimes they say: “My Mission is to become a great scientist, athlete, doctor.” A legitimate question - well, why? What does other people have to do with this? The legitimate answer is that they will also feel good (useful) with me. What should I call it?4. One person, fulfilling his Mission, invests his whole life in another person. When is this really a Mission, and when is it not? Is it worth investing your whole life in one person? Maybe the Mission is to raise a great musician? Will it be a mission to invest your life in supporting an alcoholic, how will he completely disappear without me? Don't think. That is, there will be some kind of result, well, the alcoholic will live longer, then it will be possible to say: my Mission is over - I have left for another world, so what? I mean, what is left after the completion of such a Mission?5. One person, fulfilling his Mission, invests in other people (society), devoting his whole life to it. This is often called the path of service to society. For example, Mother Teresa carried out her Mission throughout her life. Scientists who work in their field all their lives, making discoveries that will later be used by all of humanity, see this as the main meaning of their activity.6. One person, fulfilling his Mission, invests his whole life in himself. While a person is alive, his Mission on earth is not completed, but if it consists only, for example, in “personal growth”, “self-improvement”, “opening the third eye”, etc., then, upon completion of the Mission, that is, death, the person will not be able to take advantage of the result. Therefore, in this case, the concept of “life result” does not make sense. “All my life I have been doing nonsense. Receive, Lord, your likeness back...” Groshek I. These are several options for combining variables that influence the definition of the concept “Mission and meaning of life” for a particular person. It is also important to introduce another criterion - the adequacy of the Mission. That is, how other people (person) perceive your Mission. Like feedback from the world - does it need your Mission? If your Mission is a matter aimed at one person, then you can simply ask him. Don't be surprised, but this is rarely done. For example, many parents see their Mission as investing time, money, their nerves, and health in their child so that he becomes a great musician. Everything seems to be correct, it’s a useful thing, it’s clear, there’s a desire, people like geniuses, they like talents. There is one BUT, the child does not want and cannot, most likely, at first he cannot (the bear was jumping on his ears), and then he does not want. Are you sure that the world and people need such a Mission, and what about the child? If your Mission is a matter aimed at many people (part of society), then it is more difficult. How do you know that the Mission is for the good of people, or at least they need the results of your main work, which gives meaning to life? There are different approaches to this issue. Someone is interested in demand, what do people need, what is required, for example, will it be useful to fly into space for science? Okay, let's build ships. But this may just be a favorite thing, many designers were simply passionate about it, to what extent can this be called a Mission? Some people simply believe, for example, I believe that my Mission is to make people happy. There is no point in talking to someone like that; when asked to justify why this is so, you will receive an answer - I believe. Such a person may or may not be right. It will be clear upon completion of the Mission, or during implementation, if a person is flexible enough to notice feedback from people. Missionaries, for example, converted the aborigines to their faith, and those who were against were sent to the stake; no one was interested in the opinions of these unfortunate people. Thus, time and effort will be wasted, or will be harmful, if the Mission is not adequate, does not meet the needs of other people. Mission is like motivation. Let's consider this option. There is an assumption that the Mission is needed by those people who simply cannot work well and productively. A.