Here's something interesting from Swedenborg's capstone work of theology from 1770, entitled "True Christian Religion":

"In actual fact there is a kind of field that constantly emanates from the Lord, which pulls all toward heaven. It fills the entire spiritual world and the entire physical world. It is like a strong current in the ocean that secretly carries ships along. All people who believe in the Lord and live by His commandments come into that field or current and are lifted up. Those who do not believe, though, are not willing to enter it." (True Christian Religion 652)

It refers, too, to this brief passage in the Bible, in the Gospel of John:

Jesus said, When I am raised up from the earth, I shall draw all to myself. (John 12:32).

And, (why not?)... compare it to what Yoda says about the force in "The Empire Strikes Back", from 1980:

"For my ally is the force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter." (Yoda)

There's a widespread human perception that there really are spiritual forces in play at a level that we can get glimpses of. The stark good vs. evil struggle in George Lucas's "Star Wars" resonated with a huge audience!

Shifting gears, again, having jumped from Swedenborg in 1770 to Yoda in 1980, let's jump again to 2017, and listen to one of the world's foremost brain researchers, Dr. Iain McGilchrist, in 2017. Here's a link to a deeply thoughtful video of a seminar at Heythrop College, University of London, in which Dr. McGilchrist suggests that there could be a force that pulls us towards some future. It's ALL interesting, and the section from about 45 minutes in, till the end, is where he focuses on purpose as it might exist in the universe.

Happy pondering!

653. Everyone knows that a lamb cannot act except like a lamb, nor a sheep except like a sheep. On the other hand a wolf cannot act except like a wolf, nor a tiger except like a tiger. If those animals were mixed together, would not the wolf devour the lamb and the tiger the sheep? That is why shepherds are set to guard them. Everyone knows that a spring of sweet water cannot produce bitter water from its stream; and that a good tree cannot produce bad fruit. A vine cannot prick like a thorn, the flower of the lily cannot scratch like a briar, or the hyacinth claw like the thistle; nor can the thorn, briar or thistle behave like the vine, lily or hyacinth. These weeds are therefore rooted out of fields, vineyards and gardens, gathered into heaps and thrown on a fire. Much the same happens to the wicked who arrive in the spiritual world, as the Lord's words say (Matthew 13:30; John 15:6). The Lord also said to the Jews:

You brood of vipers, how can you speak good when you are wicked? The good man puts forth good things from the good treasury of his heart, and the wicked man puts forth evil from his wicked treasury, Matthew 12:34-35.