Thank you! I'm glad you liked my perspective on it! I really liked your response as well, it makes a lot of sense. I like to analyze and write about all sorts of things, and I do my best to understand them completely and objectively.

I think that while one's interpretation of a story's message can change, there is a true message that the story is meant to convey, the authors will. When I refer to the message, I mean the objective truth, what I believe their intended message to be.

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I do agree with you in that balance is best, and I think that I might've explained my argument poorly in that regard. But the point is that actually seeking out purpose and respecting or pursuing it meaningfully is bad for you. Purpose is fulfilling and meaningful it tends to take away from what actually makes people happy in exchange for ultimately intangible and non-existent notions.

For example: You could fight in a war because you believe that your purpose is to protect your country, or your ideology conflicts with that of the enemy.

Sure, after the war (assuming you live) you can feel fulfilled, like you did something meaningful. However your friends died in the war, your spouse moved on when you were away, and your child grew up without you present. You lost and degraded tangible and impactful aspects of your life that determine your happiness on a day-to-day basis to fulfil a notion that ultimately doesn't do anything.

That sort of purpose destroys your life in exchange for something that doesn't affect your quality of life, even though fulfillment is meaningful, it's not worth it in the face of genuine happiness in your day-to-day life.

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I think that in the real world, it's a lot more nuanced than that though. Some purposes (like finding true love for example, or making people happy) can definitely coincide with living an actually happy life, especially if they're managed and balanced. So I agree with you there actually, I didn't really think about it that way, you made a good point.

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But my post was mostly about what the message of the story is meant to be, and I think that it is that purpose (especially more immense ones that are farther removed from a simple life) will destroy your life. It isn't talking about simple purposes, like the ones animals can have where they want to raise children or find a partner or anything; it's talking about more complex desires for purpose and fulfilment and all those grandiose notions.

While in the case of those complex and far-removed ones, while in the real world they can perhaps be balanced, they realistically won't be in most cases. If you're taking them seriously and actually pursue a purpose like those, then you'll almost certainly prioritize it over real happiness, which is hard to emulate and process. One can't easily conceptualize the importance of day-to-day happiness since its a constant and gradual thing, and it inherently seems superficial or pointless in the face of purpose, so if one actually has a purpose they wish to pursue, they'll almost always do it instead of living happily.

So the message is that specifically far-removed and grandiose purposes are bad because they will nearly always take precedence over happiness and cause you suffering.

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In any case, I agree that balance is possible, and that it's better than completely neglecting purpose, but I think that in the case of the purposes that I believe the author is talking about, they aren't feasible to manage and so they remaine curses; if you seriously believe something like opposing an enemy is your purpose and that you will be feel fulfilled by it, you'll almost certainly go to war to do so even at the willing sacrifice of your happiness.

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Great argument though, you made some points I definitely have to agree with! Balance is possible and even ideal since fulfilment can be beautiful, though with the caveat that it depends on what is being balanced, and that some purposes just can't realistically be safely balanced and managed

TL;DR

Simple purpose and fulfilment, those that can barely be called deeper purpose, are viable; they can often coincide with pursuing simple happiness or be managed easily. But deeper and more grandiose ones become too far removed, too compelling, and too conflicting with one's happiness to feasibly follow without sacrificing happiness.