Raison d’Être

There’s a French expression—raison d’être—that a lot of people in the English-speaking world have adopted. Literally, it means “one’s reason for being,” but English speakers tend to use it pretty loosely, to mean something like a thing I love doing or my passion.

And in a sense, that’s not necessarily wrong. But personally, I like to think of it as having a much deeper meaning. This is something that I must do to survive. Like van Gogh had to paint. Like any real artist must create. It’s something within that has to come out. Something that must be done. Almost to the point of obsession.

To me, that is raison d’être.

And really, I’m convinced there aren’t many people in the United States who would meet either of those definitions – much less the stricter of the two.

This is something I observe carefully when I’m out and about among others. I notice it in conversations, in passing interactions, in getting to know people over time. And what I’ve found is that there really aren’t many people who have a passion – a passion in the truest sense. A passion that reaches the level of meeting even one of those definitions of raison d’être.

Sure, someone might like model trains, watching television, knitting, playing tennis, watching football, or whatever else. But enjoying something, or finding pleasure in it, doesn’t necessarily rise to the level of an obsessive passion. Sometimes it does, but for most people, it doesn’t.

I find that the majority of people move through life without much commitment to anything in particular. They do what they must to get by, and the rest of their time is spent in distraction or entertainment of some sort.

It sometimes even feels like the greatest goal for many is to be free of passion altogether.

I find this both fascinating and depressing. I’m an artist, and I’ve come to realize that I only truly enjoy the company of other artists. Perhaps it’s because we share this idea of passion – the passion of creation.

Now, we could take this down a very deep philosophical rabbit hole, but instead, let’s just leave it at this: a certain percentage of people express the creative spirit openly, while the majority don’t… at least not to any obvious extent.

And in my view, creation is a critical part of the idea of raison d’être. If someone doesn’t have, or doesn’t express, any creative drive, then they can’t possibly have what I would consider a reason for being.

Though, as much as I’d like to take this in a very concrete direction, maybe we should slow down a bit; because I may be starting to sound like some people are special and others aren’t. And that would be wrong. Right?

So maybe it’s more like this: some people, for whatever reason, have an awakened drive that allows their creative spark to shine in obvious ways – painting, writing, music, teaching, creating beauty in one form or another, in the way they build relationships, solve problems, or care for their community.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean everyone else is missing out on some deeper sense of purpose. Perhaps, for one reason or another, their instinct to discover that purpose simply lies dormant, at least for now.

Maybe we’re all part of the same reason-for-being spectrum; whether that reason is expressed or not.

So I’ll continue to fight the urge to divide the world into “creatives” and “non-creatives,” and instead, try to look for the unique ways each of us might express our divine creative spirit – that little spark of creation that resides within everyone. Somewhere.

And if you haven’t found your reason for being yet, it’s there. Waiting for you. Just keep looking.

Cheers, friends. Let’s continue discovering together.

Join us in making the world a better place. You’ll be glad that you did.