According to a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the answer is "42". Others say it is "to find your gift." The corollary purpose being "to give it away". Kind of nebulous. Wiki didn't help. Merriam-Webster offers a definition:
But it goes on and on. I was disappointed that it was only offered as a noun. It's a verb. And it's yours. And if you look carefully, you'll see it's not defined by "others". So don't get trapped in that line of thinking whatever you do.
And now, a story. Back in the day I sat through an exercise where you were given 30 cards, each of which had some aspect of life that you could assign a value to. The cards were labeled with things like family, wealth, spirituality, friendship, integrity, security, etc. - you get the picture. A similar exercise is here, and I invite you to give it a try. Anyway, in the exercise you gradually had to jettison values to save your life, and in the end, you had just one.
As I looked down at my one value, I wasn't very satisfied. It seemed narrow.
I knew right then I needed to change, but I didn't know how.
