In Part 1 (Attention) and Part 2 (Context) of our series on the Scaffold for Coherence, we saw how coherence weakens when attention is pulled into different directions and context shrinks.
We define coherence as the alignment that allows thought and action to remain stable over time, even as conditions change. What we pay attention to shapes “what” we notice. Context grows from that attention and gives it meaning. Purpose follows from context and anchors what we do.
Put another way, purpose is where attention and context begin to reinforce each other.
When this scaffold collapses, our actions become reactive rather than intentional, and meaning starts to erode.
This same principle applies to machines, which operate with constraints on attention and context but lack an inner sense of purpose. In this context, constraints on attention and context affect the coherence of the output.
Learning Machines: A scaffold for a more coherent year (Part 1): Attention (January 2, 2026)
Machines process attention and context based on the purpose we direct them toward through prompting, but they do not possess an inner sense of purpose we have (at least not yet). Their goals are assigned from the outside, which allows them to act efficiently and precisely, but not necessarily with intention in humans. Machines do not wrestle with meaning, nor do they experience passion, which in humans often serves as a precursor to purpose.
Here we explore purpose as the ultimate element in achieving coherence: how it differs from passion and how meaning emerges from the balance between what we expect of ourselves and what others might expect of us, especially as we get older.
Purpose is the Candle, Passion is the Spark
Passion and purpose are often used interchangeably, but they play very different roles in sustaining coherence. Passion can ignite the spark of action and hold things together for a while, but it cannot sustain coherence on its own. Purpose provides the framework that continuity to decisions over time, keeping life coherent over time when energy, novelty, and external validation begin to fade.
When passion is not supported by purpose, energy is spent without direction, and eventually coherence can begin to erode, opening the door to burnout. Passion answers the questions of “what,” “where,” “when,” and “how;” purpose answers “why.” And that “why” is based on what others expect of us, as well as what we expect of ourselves.
Immigration reform illustrates the gap between passion and purpose in a way that is hard to miss. When visa policies shift, green card backlogs stretch indefinitely, or families are forced to live with prolonged uncertainty, the response within the Indian American community has been immediate and intense, because the stakes are personal and the injustice feels self-evident. People engage quickly, lending their voices, showing up to meetings, and calling for change.
Over time, however, the nature of the work changes. Reform moves away from public outcries into sustained engagement with policy, process, and advocacy, where progress is slow, and much of the effort happens outside public view. It is at this stage that enthusiasm wanes, not because the issue has lost importance, but because passion alone cannot carry attention indefinitely. Purpose is what sustains engagement when the urgency of the moment fades, when outcomes are delayed, and when the work demands patience.
Passion sets the pace, purpose sets the distance, and burnout is what happens when we run fast without knowing how far we are meant to go. When the purpose is unclear, we say yes too often, absorb pressures that are not ours to carry, and confuse being needed with being aligned.
Over time, this creates a strain that rest alone cannot resolve. In this sense, burnout is not a failure of resilience or motivation, but it is a signal that purpose has been displaced by obligation or external validation. When passion loses its steam, we lose the drive to persist because our purpose is not visible. Exhaustion is rarely caused solely by workload. Burnout emerges when expectations, boundaries, and ego fall out of alignment.
When inner and outer purpose are aligned, coherence strengthens. Work becomes an expression of values rather than a reaction to pressure, and effort feels meaningful even when results are uncertain. Life may not become easier, but it becomes steadier, because who we are at our deepest level is no longer in conflict with what we are trying to build for others. In this sense, we shape our purpose through consistent choices aligned with our core beliefs.
Purpose, Belief, and Coherence
Purpose does not arise from achievement, recognition, or the constant demands of daily life, but from reflection that unfolds over time as we examine what we believe and how those beliefs shape the way we live. Across cultures, this inward orientation has served as a guide for making sense of uncertainty and responsibility.
The Bhagavad Gita speaks of acting in alignment with duty even when outcomes are unclear, the Bible emphasizes service and love as sources of meaning that persist through suffering, the Tao points toward harmony, patience, and restraint as organizing principles for life, and the Quran reminds us that even the smallest acts carry significance when they are aligned with something greater than the self. Though these traditions differ in language and structure, they converge on a shared insight: coherence emerges when belief, action, and purpose are brought into alignment.
History makes this alignment visible in a way that theory alone cannot. Figures such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela were sustained not by certainty of success or by the promise of external reward, but by a deep consistency between what they believed and how they chose to live over long periods of resistance, delay, and uncertainty. Their influence came from fidelity to purpose maintained over time, particularly when progress was slow, and the cost of persistence was high.
AI can process attention and context with remarkable efficiency, but it lacks an understanding of inner purpose. Its goals are assigned externally, and it does not wrestle with meaning, fatigue, doubt, or misalignment. So, while the output may be precise, it may not be relevant. On the contrary, for us, outcomes may remain uncertain, but coherence ensures that action remains consistent, allowing change to occur without drifting off course.
In the end, coherence allows work to feel purposeful rather than performative, responsibility to feel chosen rather than imposed, and sacrifice to feel meaningful rather than obligatory.
At different stages of life, inner purpose and outer purpose take on different weights. Inner purpose is the internal compass shaped by our values and beliefs that give life meaning, while outer purpose is how that compass is expressed through our roles, work, and actions in the world. When inner and outer purpose come into balance, coherence is at its strongest.
READ: A scaffold for coherence (Part 2): Seeing the big picture in a small screen world (January 14, 2026)
A coherent life may not always be loud or celebrated, but it endures. Long after outcomes fade, coherence remains the measure of a life well lived.
In an increasingly fragmented and noisy world, the new measure of our progress is not status, wealth, or credentials—but coherence. When who you are, how you live, what you create, and what you believe are no longer at odds. They speak for you. Checking in occasionally with ourselves can help us course-correct:
What holds our attention right now?
What purpose does that attention serve over time?
Where in your life are passion and purpose aligned?
And where might coherence be eroding not because we care too little, but because purpose has become unclear?