Every generation asks the same question in different ways: What is the purpose of life? Is it success, the pursuit of happiness, or the accumulation of wealth and comfort? St. Ignatius of Loyola, writing in the 16th century, offered a strikingly different answer — one that remains as challenging today as it was then.
For Ignatius, human life has a clear purpose: to know, love, and serve God. Everything else — our ambitions, relationships, even our struggles — must be seen in light of this ultimate goal.
This idea forms the foundation of his Spiritual Exercises, a work that has shaped Jesuit spirituality and the broader Church for centuries. At its core is the Principle and Foundation, a brief but radical statement that reorients how we see ourselves, the world, and God.
More than a theological premise, it is an invitation to freedom — freedom from attachment, from illusions of control, and from anything that keeps us from our true purpose.
What is the Principle and Foundation?
The Principle and Foundation is the starting point for Ignatian spirituality. It lays out the reason for human existence and the relationship between people and the world. Ignatius begins with a striking declaration:
“Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul. All other things on the face of the earth are created for man to help him in attaining the end for which he is created.”
This statement is simple but profound. It means that our lives are not random, and we are not here merely to seek personal fulfillment. Our ultimate purpose is to know, love, and serve God. Everything else — our talents, possessions, relationships, even our struggles — should be understood in light of this purpose.
The call to radical freedom
This does not mean that Ignatius calls for a rejection of the world. What he aims for is rather a proper ordering of our relationship to it. He explains:
“From this it follows that man is to use these things to the extent that they help him to attain his end, and he must rid himself of them in so far as they prove a hindrance to him.”
This idea is the heart of Ignatian detachment, or holy indifference. It is not a call to apathy, but to radical freedom. We are not to be controlled by our desires for success, health, wealth, or pleasure — nor are we to be crushed by their absence. Instead, we are invited to ask: Is this thing helping me love and serve God, or is it pulling me away?
For Ignatius, the real tragedy is not suffering or failure, but attachment to things that do not lead to God. If wealth draws us closer to him, we should be grateful. If it becomes an idol, we must let it go. If suffering deepens our love, it can be embraced as grace. This way of thinking runs counter to the modern obsession with self-fulfillment, where we are taught to cling tightly to what we want. But Ignatius’ vision offers something deeper: true freedom — the ability to desire and choose what brings us closer to our ultimate purpose.
Choosing wisely
Ignatius concludes with this guiding principle for decision-making:
“We must make ourselves indifferent to all created things … not preferring health to sickness, riches to poverty, honor to dishonor, a long life to a short life, provided only that we desire and choose what is most conducive to the end for which we are created.”
This does not mean we should be passive in life or stop caring about our well-being. Rather, it means that our highest desire should be to seek God in all things. If we are sick, we should seek healing — but not at the cost of our souls. If we succeed, we should give thanks — but not place our identity in achievement.
Why it matters today
The Principle and Foundation challenges us to rethink what we live for. Are our daily choices leading us toward God, or are they distractions? Do we cling to things that don’t truly satisfy, or do we live in the freedom of knowing that nothing — not success, not failure, not even death — can take away our ultimate purpose?
For Ignatius, true joy is found not in having more, but in loving more. The Principle and Foundation is not just a theological idea — it is an invitation to a life of clarity, peace, and freedom, where everything we do is ordered toward the one thing that truly matters: loving and serving God.
