The Hero Path

We have only to follow the thread of the hero path.  Where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outwards, we shall come to the center of our own existence; were we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.

- Joseph Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces

Too Many Options For Significance

We are a culture that prides itself on having an endless array of choices ever before us. Choice gives us the space to be free; free from becoming pigeon-holed or defined to one particular way. Choice also embodies movement; a movement towards the significant.

To us the allure of choice begins with possibilities, possibilities become opportunities, and opportunities turn into hope. And what is the hope? That we might be able to move beyond our current situation and live a life of uniqueness and significance.

And so Significance drives our existence. From the time we are young and told that we are “special” to the moment we graduate assured that we were “created for something more” we desire to make choices that will lead us into a meaningful life.

Choice and Significance seem to be the perfect pair however is it possible that our over-indulgence with choice leaves us empty in our pursuit of meaning?

“As a society of consumers, we define choice “not as freedom to choose one course of action over another but as the freedom to choose everything at once. This is the ‘I-want-it-all’ mentality. ‘Freedom of choice’ means ‘keep your options open.’ However, in real life every choice of any consequence inevitably rules out a whole series of other options. It is literally impossible to ‘keep your options open’ and live a life of any significance.” (Truth Is Stranger Than It Used to Be)

Maybe, then, discovering our significance is found in making the difficult decisions that refine us into the people God has designed for us to become.

Lilly's Construction

I'm going to be honest right out of the gate on this one...I have absolutely no idea what this is. Well yes, I know...it is a combination of tooth picks, styrofoam packaging, and coffee cups. However I don't have a clue as to what they now form.

Each individual piece serves (or "served") a purpose, but I'm not sure just what purpose this "structure" serves. Even more, what are you supposed to do with it?

My 6 year old daughter Lilly is the head designer and chief architect behind this project so I figured that at least she could answer my questions...

Nope.

Lilly doesn't have any idea what this is "supposed to be" or what it is "supposed to do". Further, not "knowing" what it "is" or what it "does" doesn't really bother her. She simply appreciates it because she made it and it is hers.

Lilly's construction reminds me that the value of beauty and art cannot be measured by pragmatic functionality. It is beautiful, creative, and inspiring simply because it is.

When I look at my life, with a scrutinizing pragmatic stare, and wonder just exactly what I'm supposed to "be" and "do" (so that I can measure my worth), I need reminders that my beauty and value as a human being is not measured by mere definitive functionality, but because I am the worksmanship of the master Artisan.

Meaning Beyond Nihilism

Race Matters was written one year after the Los Angeles riots of 1993. In his book Professor Cornel West addresses issues of race relations that still need treatment today. West gives sharp assessment of racial distictives in America as well as the systems, morality (or lack of), and history that have perpetuated a discord between different people groups.

While many factors pose a hindrance to race relations, West underscores the destructive nature of Nihilism to the person and to the larger community.

West writes: Nihilism is the lived experience of coping with a life of horrifying meaninglessness, hopelessness, and (most important) lovelessness. The frightening result is a numbing detachment from others and a self-destructive disposition toward the world...In fact, the major enemy of black survival in America has been and is neither oppression nor exploitation but rather nihilistic threat-that is, loss of hope an absence of meaning. For as long as hope remains and meaning is preserved, the possibility of overcoming oppression stays alive.

What does it mean for someone to say that their life "has meaning"? How is "meaning" found? As people of hope, how do we live lives so that meaning is preserved of all people?