The Challenge of Creating a Life of Purpose in a World of Boundless Choice.

I still remember the engulfing silence when I returned home to the small Yorkshire town of Harrogate following nearly two years as a missionary in Madagascar. The silence was in stark contrast to the excitement and flurry of activity that surrounded my departure. It was almost like returning to a ghost town.

I’d had an incredible experience in Madagascar, as I focused on serving others. While there, my schedule was planned to the minute: I worked harder than I ever had in my live, living within a rigid structure with a clear understanding of my purpose and direction. Returning home was like looking into an abyss. So many more options as to where to go and what to do, but axiomatically accompanied by the unwelcome and overwhelming feeling of, “What now?”

My full reckoning with the abyss that I felt myself glancing into wouldn’t come until I’d been home for nearly four years – the distractions and temptations of student life had to take effect in my spiritual disorientation before I reached that point. But the reckoning did come, which is told within my TEDx Talk Escaping the Hedonism Trap.

“Oh, poor bird that felt free, and now beats against the bars of this cage!” – Friedrich Nietzsche

I’m not the only one

Having too many options can be problematic in its own right; having an abundance of choices that lead to bad places even more so. What we want in the short-term often isn’t what we need in the longer term. And when what we want (to satisfy immediate desires) is so readily available then we’re in a perilous situation.

In a recent interview with the FT, actor Denzel Washington made the following observations on the spiritual perils of the times in which we now live due to an abundance of choice:

“We’re the only animal on this planet that’s blessed with free will, and we live in a time where it’s like free will on steroids. We’re free to think and go in any direction we want in this information age, and we have to protect our ears, our eyes, our minds. We have to be very careful with the information we take in and rely on as truth. We have to look inside, not outside. We need spiritual callisthenics.”

Whether looking through the lenses of spirituality, psychology or neuroscience, our informational inputs determine the lives we lead and the people we become. But the context in which we choose the life we want to lead and who we want to become is crucial.

“In the world we’re in, if you don’t have some spiritual anchor, you will drift any way the wind blows you.” – Denzel Washington

Nietzsche, Prophet of Western Nihilism

Despite his hostility towards Christianity, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche recognised the problematic nature of what he wrote of as modernity’s ‘murder’ of God. In his aphorism The Madman within The Joyous Science, Nietzsche wrote the following on the drastically deleterious impact of this unparalleled murder:

“How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the whole horizon? What did we do when we unchained this earth from its sun? Where is it heading? Where are we heading? Away from all suns? Are we not constantly falling? Backwards, sidewards, forwards, in all directions? Is there still an above and below? Are we not straying as though through an infinite nothingness? Do we not feel the breath of empty space?” 

God and the Christian religion had long given those within western civilisation a horizon, which were essential parameters in living lives of purpose and meaning. As Nietzsche saw it, modernity’s destruction of that horizon would have seismic, though not immediate, consequences. To Nietzsche’s mind, the inherent meaninglessness of infinite nothingness could easily pave the way to purposelessness and nihilism. Following his declaration that “God is dead” within The Madman, Nietzsche had to face his own nihilism. 

Nietzsche’s thoughts on the moral implications of Christianity’s decline are particularly interesting, as he writes in section 4 of Twilight of the Idols:

“If the English really do believe they will know, of their own accord, ‘intuitively’, what is good and evil; if they consequently think they no longer have need of Christianity as a guarantee of morality; that is merely the consequence of the ascendancy of Christian evaluation and an expression of the strength and depth of this ascendancy: so that the origin of English morality has been forgotten, so that the highly conditional nature of its right to exist is no longer felt. For the Englishman morality is not yet a problem…”

In other words, Nietzsche saw Christianity as so well embedded within the English moral consciousness that it could ostensibly be discarded and yet remain. But perhaps not forever. And then what?

Values Vacuum

It’s clear that western societies have undergone significant upheaval in recent years. The foundations upon which they were built have been significantly rocked, long after Nietzsche’s prognostications at the end of the nineteenth century. Materialism and rationality have pushed God and spirituality out of public institutions and discourse, while commercial actors within capitalist societies speak to individuals' greed and hedonism to sell more product, often speaking to what customers want at the expense of what they need.

Demagogues and activists at both extremes of the political spectrum have had their way in manipulating the minds of spiritually vulnerable and disoriented citizens, using fragments of truth to stir up mass resentment and anger. The chickens are coming home to roost. Empty vessels do not remain empty; they will be filled by something. How should they be filled?

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. – Matthew 9:36

Empowering Lives of Purpose, Meaning and Fulfilment

As I think back to my 21 year-old self, newly returned from missionary life in Madagascar, I have compassion – my falling into the hedonism trap (and its ensuing nihilism) was quite inevitable in the environment and context that I was in. A reckoning had to be had at some point – I had to make some big decisions. Thankfully, my mentor Mike empowered me to make good, principle-centred decisions that would ultimately enable me to create a life of purpose, meaning and fulfilment.

Working with Mike opened my eyes to the positive impact and influence that one good person with the right guiding principles can have on the life of another. Since that time I’ve created a mentoring program to empower others to create lives of purpose, meaning and fulfilment for their own version of sustainable success. This has been, and continues to be, a labour of love.

I know first-hand what it’s like to feel the pain and disorientation of purposelessness in a world full of distractions, temptations and challenges. And I empathise with those who currently find themselves in that situation.

If that’s you, then reach out. I’m here to help.

If it’s someone you know, then send them my way.

The abyss is deep, though it can be escaped. I know how.

And I’d be honoured to be your guide.

Drop me a line: tom@3stewardships.com.