You’re unlikely to clarify your life’s meaning if you aren’t clear on what the words you use to describe it mean. 

When we’re dealing with the ambiguous, it helps to have clear language to communicate that ambiguity.

 “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” -Ludwig Wittgenstein

A profession is, first and foremost, an act of language: it communicates our promise to our calling. To support that, we’re providing linguistic resources.

Our aim is four-fold: 

• Provide vocabulary that describes unclear feelings, the abstract, etc.
• Avoid using terms in lazy, different, and confusing ways
• Encourage precision. Clear communicating leads to clear thinking
• Know ourselves better by knowing which language resonates with us

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  Ikigai

  “(生き甲斐, pronounced [ikiɡai]) is a Japanese concept that means "a reason for being". The word refers to having a direction or purpose in life, that which makes one's life worthwhile, and towards which an individual takes spontaneous and willing actions giving them satisfaction and a sense of(...)
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  kairos

  Noun. Greek for “right time,” “season” or “opportunity”, it contrasts with the other Greek word for time: chronos. While chronos is quantititive and sequential, kairos is qualitiative. “Every kairos is a chronos, but not every chronos is a kairos.” -Hippocrates The Sanskrit(...)
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  Profession

  Noun: Originally a solemn commitment declared publicly to do certain work, especially in response to a calling.  “professors” would hone their talents with study. Institutions evolved to ensure those earned a living, and later to protect that livelihood, especially from competitions and other(...)
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  raison d'être

  The most important reason or purpose for someone or something's existence.
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  Swadharma

  Sanskrit from swa (own) + dharma (duty) can be translated  "what you are made to do" . The ancient text, The Bhagavad-Gita says Swadharma is action harmonized with our inborn nature: talents, values, callings. It leads to fulfillment in life .( Gita, 3 . 27–35 ). The Lord Krishna says (in(...)
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  “Toolishness”

  Noun. A portmanteau of “tool” & “foolishness”, is the tendency to attribute excessive hope, and even magical powers to tools, especially ones new or even yet unknown to us. We presume merely wielding the tool will confer such power, without realizing it’s incredibly hard to learn both a new(...)
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  Torschlusspanik

  Noun. German for "gate-closing panic," a word to characterize the fear of diminishing opportunities as one ages. This may include panicked sensations of time running out, one's range of options are narrowing, particularly, that one's life is passing by. While women racin the “biological clock”(...)