Meaning or Purpose Greater Than Self ("Calling?")

In Nihilism, the Universe comes with no "pre-defined" meaning. In Optimistic Nihilism, we make our own meaning or choose it. We choose to be good because we can: we want to do the right thing because we can (to some degree) examine the consequences of our actions and debate ways to make our lives and the lives of other better.

"Calling" as Bullsh!t: "Calling-s" as Better Concept

The notion that every person is born with one calling is both demonstrably false, and dangerous and insidious. This puts too much pressure on knowing what hobbies, career, areas of study, or areas of interests one should engage in before one has even attempted or even been prepared to attempt such things.

Humans are weird and get ideas implanted in their heads about living life a certain way which may not comport with the way they actually like to live or are good at living. (Maybe you get the idea lodged in your head that you should be an electrical engineer, but you hate soldering and you hate circuit diagrams! Maybe you are better at sitting at a computer editing text and should just stick to programming (and neighboring fields) because you are really good at it! At least you gave electronics a go, however! And at least you let it go!)

A better conceptual approach would be to try different things and to have a healthy attitude toward experiment and stumbling into different areas of endeavor. You will more than likely not know beforehand what you will like to study, to learn, and what skills you are good at improving or keeping sharp, how you enjoy spending your time. Therefore you should try many things and always try new things.

If one can eliminate types of work and practice that one knows one dislikes (from experience and not from supposition), one can then at least start to look for one's possible callings. Life is short and there are many interesting fields of business, academics, and types of hobbies that any one person may end up gravitating toward. If one can experiment with gaining experience and expertise in neighboring areas (using the skills and knowledge in one area to move to adjacent areas) one is more likely to find a local maximum or "happiness" (or happier-ness )! Assuming that one will find The One True Maximally Good Calling, especially in one go, ("Find your calling! Find your calling!") is pure folly.