The Issue with the Contemporary Sense of the Word "Passion"

Everyone says they want to find their true passion. People think that they would be happy if they could figure out what makes them passionate. No one would be asked about their higher-level goals without mentioning something that includes the words "passion" and "strive." But does anyone know what passion is?

We have a systemic problem on our hands. As we have been taught since childhood, we all have to search for our passion. But at the same time, we can't define the word "passion" accurately because what may make one person feel passionate will not necessarily make another feel the same way. There is no standard model that tells us what passion is, why it is important, and how to get it.

We still listen to self-development mentors and try to find our passion, but what's the outcome? The outcome is a whole generation chasing undefined goals, building their happiness on a never-existing future. This is called the passion problem, which has become a crisis.

In this article, we will discuss the passion problem and its implications, as well as what we can do to overcome it. However, in the end, you should understand why pursuing your passion is never a good strategy, despite what people tell you.

The Definition of the passion problem

The problem with passion is that it is not easily defined. If you look in the dictionary, you will find that passion is simply a strong emotion that can hardly be controlled. This broad understanding makes the idea of passion open to interpretation. In addition, it seems that passion is a recent trend that our ancestors had no prior interest in. In general, passion has two main problems:

1. Passion can't be defined easily, which makes it such a bad goal to pursue.
2. Searching for passion is a modern phenomenon that was not previously required to achieve happiness.

Let's sum it up quickly by saying that passion is indefinable, and its meaning varies according to each person. In addition to that, it is used to describe a contemporary and unconventional idea related to the concept of happiness. Today, when people describe passion, what they really mean is their pursuit of lasting happiness.

In addition, this causes incoherence. A person knows that they must follow something, but they don't know which direction to go or how they will know whether they have reached their destination. This is one of passion's problems. Not to mention the role of society, which promotes far-fetched goals and gives people false hope and a false sense of progress.

Passion is considered a high-level problem. If you check the hierarchy of personal needs according to the American psychologist Abraham Maslow, you will realize that the need for self-actualization is at the top of it. As a result, we can look at passion as self-actualization, while the needs that precede this are food, shelter, and clothes.

Those needs that precede self-fulfillment are obviously more important, which is what makes them basic. However, the second part to which the problem of passion relates is our perception of those needs as not essential and of less importance. On the other hand, if we think about it, our ancestors didn’t have the luxury to satisfy any of these more important needs, such as self-actualization. Because, instead, they were too busy ensuring that their basic needs were constantly met. So what was the outcome? A healthy and happy nomadic society, but after we met these basic needs through agriculture and industry, our fulfilled societies have changed. As a result, this gives us more time to reflect on our self-actualization, at the expense of making us relatively less happy.

This means that when most of us can't define passion, very few people can benefit from it, and herein lies the problem of passion. Therefore, it's important to understand how the idea of passion has changed over time in order to be able to fully overcome it.

What does passion mean in the contemporary sense?

Today, passion is perceived as a way to achieve our greatest goals. If you ask someone what they aspire to, their answer is likely to be finding their passion. This is logical since we were taught that the purpose of life is to pursue our passion. A goal that can be considered an act of selflessness, but in reality, it's an act of selfishness. Our perception of passion is self-centered, and your pursuit of passion is an attempt to figure out what will bring you lasting happiness; hence, passion for some people lies in helping others. If you were one of those people, we salute you. Considering the contemporary meaning of passion, for most of us, it is about things that directly benefit us.

You may want to become a famous musician because you love music. However, you may find that your passion is fading away since you realize that no musician in history makes more than $100 a week.

Being passionate implies being selfish. Self-actualization—by  definition—concerns the person's own self and not others’, just as it is not referred to by saying "the actualization of the other's." However, being passionate is far-fetched in the contemporary sense because strong or uncontrollable emotions don't last.

It is possible to have a high level of happiness, but when that goes away, what will you be left with? Achieving a goal gives you temporary self-confidence. However, when you're alone with your thoughts, what matters to you? Likely, you are not thinking about that goal at that time.

What does passion mean to our ancestors?

Things were different in the past. About 10 thousand years before the agricultural revolution, life was very difficult, and people had to work hand in hand in order to survive. As a result, they didn’t have the privilege of thinking about self-actualization. Because everyone was busy trying to survive, what was the outcome? According to Maslow, people were busy trying to meet their basic needs, such as food, water, and shelter.

How did they manage to do that? By relying on society; we couldn’t have survived on our own in the past. Instead, we had to rely on each other in order to survive. In the past, people didn't have the privilege of ordering a pizza and sitting down to reflect on the essence of our existence. Instead, we had to hunt together tirelessly for days to provide each other with food. Back then, passion was not a problem. Perhaps prehistoric people didn't think much about what we now call "passion." They experience lasting happiness by helping their people. In a way, passion was traditionally acquired by satisfying the basic needs that Maslow classified as lower-level needs, at a time when early humans were not even trying to pursue their passion. Instead, they were just trying to survive. However, their ability to do so was euphoric enough. This means that passion at that time was more identifiable. In other words, the goal of "the survival of the tribe" can be accurately measured.

How can we deal with the problem of passion?

In fact, relying on our previous perception of passion instead of our current definition of it can help solve the problem of passion more effectively. The emergence of this problem is caused by the disparity between our current perception and the past perception of passion. Therefore, we need to go back to our origins if we want to overcome this problem.

Let's stress the fact that the two main problems with contemporary passion are that it is indefinable and that it is selfish. On the contrary, the two main advantages of passion—traditionally and in prehistoric times- are that it can be defined easily and that it is selfless. In addition to the fact that this traditional passion was not the main goal of human beings back then, it was a by-product of trying to survive.

The truth is, we don't need to survive anymore, at least not if we live in a contemporary western country. Yet we are forced to feel this need to have passion. Today, our lower-level needs are met, and this makes us focus on our high-level needs only. However, the problem is that these needs are not defined and are unfulfilled.

Therefore, in order to overcome the contemporary problem of passion, we need to emulate passion in the traditional sense, and instead of trying to find our passion, we need to set defined goals that help our people. Also, we need to stop considering self-actualization as something of high importance. Instead, we should focus on the pleasure derived from satisfying our minimum needs.

In conclusion

Having passion is not a bad thing, but it would be a bad goal to pursue if you perceive it in its contemporary sense. Instead, you should make your passion definable and selfless. If you want to pursue it, only then will it satisfy you in the way you desire.