A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog about discontentment which you can find here. Please read that blog first, it will give more of a complete context of what we are talking about. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I have been reading and working through Timothy Keller's book, 'Making Sense of God' and he devotes a whole chapter on Discontentment (Chapter 4). It is a fascinating chapter and I wanted to engage and interact with his thoughts and the themes he brings up in the chapter.
I want to primarily focus on how a Christian worldview explains the issue of discontentment and fulfillment. Previously,we looked into how discontentment affects us all, whether we lived in ancient or modern times, discontentment is a problem for everyone.
A good question that Keller poses is this, "What is the cause of this seemingly inescapable condition of enduring discontent?" One modern theory summarized by Jonathan Haidt as the "Progress Principle" says that, "People find more pleasure in working toward a goal than they experience when they actually attain it" (Keller, Making Sense of God, p.88). Consider romantic relationships, many people if they are honest, would admit that the chase was more thrilling than the actual relationship. The actual relationship wasn't as satisfying, the thrill of the chase is no longer there. So we break up- go on that chase again and maybe this time we will find what we are looking for.
Keller notes that evolutionary psychologists tell us that this "Progress Principle" is just an adaptive mechanism that helped our ancestors to survive. The discontent, the feeling that nothing in the world fulfills our deepest longings, is actually a chemical response in the brain. The sense that we have that "something is missing" is therefore an illusion, a trick played on us by our genes to make us work harder (Keller, Making Sense of God, p.88). If this is true, then we are chasing after the wind and chasing after something that isn't really there- that may sound cold but at best, according to this frame of thought, it creates in us a great work ethic, which helps with our survival.
Philosopher Thomas Nagel says that we shouldn't think too hard about these questions, why torture ourselves? He writes:
"The grave is (life's only) goal, perhaps it's ridiculous to take ourselves so seriously" (Thomas Nagel, What does it all mean?, p. 101)
We are asking for too much, so just enjoy life as much as you can. But can we really ignore the questions? Does that describe what we feel when we feel such discontent? Even Nagel admits that many want more than that. They want a reason to believe that our lives "matter from the outside"
The Christian worldview, however, offers a different explanation- philosopher Augustine of Hippo argued that our discontentment had both a functional cause and an ultimate source. Augustine argued that the functional cause of our discontent was because our loves are "out of order". We often love less important things more and the more important things less. Timothy Keller explains:
"There is nothing wrong with loving your work, but if you love it more than your family, than your loves are out of order and you may ruin your family by neglecting them...if you love making money more than you love justice, then you will exploit your employees, again, because your loves are disordered" (Timothy Keller, Making Sense of God, p.89)
When our loves are disordered, it has the potential to hurt the people we love and eventually, it will hurt us. In a heartbreaking blog post, J.R. Storment, encouraged parents to spend less time at work and spend more time with their kids after his son's death.
So for Augustine the functional cause of our discontentment is the disorder of our loves. However, the ultimate disordered love, the ultimate source of discontentment, is our failure to love the first thing first- the failure to love God supremely (Timothy Keller, Making Sense of God, p. 90). Augustine argued that not only were we were made by God but we were also made for God. The Bible tells us that we were created in His image to know Him and experience his love and joy.
When we turn to created things for our ultimate joy and contentment, then according to Augustine,
Therefore, the reason even the best possible things that this world can offer will not satisfy us is because we were created for a degree of delight and fulfillment that they cannot produce (Timothy Keller, Making Sense of God, p. 90). We were created for a God that loves us and only in Him can we find that satisfaction and contentment. It doesn't mean we cannot love things or enjoy them, quite the contrary, Augustine writes:
In other words, do not put your trust and ultimate hope in things that can be taken away. Instead, choose to look at things for what they are- great gifts. They are things that we can love and enjoy. Keller explains:
"Instead of looking to things of the world as the deepest source of you contentment, you can enjoy them for what they are. Money and Career for example, become just what they are supposed to be. Work becomes work, a great way to use your gifts and be useful to others. Money becomes just money, a great way to support your family. But these things are not your source of safety and contentment. He is." (Timothy Keller, Making Sense of God, p. 93)
The Christian proposal then, is that contentment and fulfillment has to be found in something that lasts- something that you cannot lose. Therefore, that "thing" as Augustine is arguing for, can be found only in a person- in God.
I want to primarily focus on how a Christian worldview explains the issue of discontentment and fulfillment. Previously,we looked into how discontentment affects us all, whether we lived in ancient or modern times, discontentment is a problem for everyone.
A good question that Keller poses is this, "What is the cause of this seemingly inescapable condition of enduring discontent?" One modern theory summarized by Jonathan Haidt as the "Progress Principle" says that, "People find more pleasure in working toward a goal than they experience when they actually attain it" (Keller, Making Sense of God, p.88). Consider romantic relationships, many people if they are honest, would admit that the chase was more thrilling than the actual relationship. The actual relationship wasn't as satisfying, the thrill of the chase is no longer there. So we break up- go on that chase again and maybe this time we will find what we are looking for.
Keller notes that evolutionary psychologists tell us that this "Progress Principle" is just an adaptive mechanism that helped our ancestors to survive. The discontent, the feeling that nothing in the world fulfills our deepest longings, is actually a chemical response in the brain. The sense that we have that "something is missing" is therefore an illusion, a trick played on us by our genes to make us work harder (Keller, Making Sense of God, p.88). If this is true, then we are chasing after the wind and chasing after something that isn't really there- that may sound cold but at best, according to this frame of thought, it creates in us a great work ethic, which helps with our survival.
Philosopher Thomas Nagel says that we shouldn't think too hard about these questions, why torture ourselves? He writes:
"The grave is (life's only) goal, perhaps it's ridiculous to take ourselves so seriously" (Thomas Nagel, What does it all mean?, p. 101)
We are asking for too much, so just enjoy life as much as you can. But can we really ignore the questions? Does that describe what we feel when we feel such discontent? Even Nagel admits that many want more than that. They want a reason to believe that our lives "matter from the outside"
The Christian worldview, however, offers a different explanation- philosopher Augustine of Hippo argued that our discontentment had both a functional cause and an ultimate source. Augustine argued that the functional cause of our discontent was because our loves are "out of order". We often love less important things more and the more important things less. Timothy Keller explains:
"There is nothing wrong with loving your work, but if you love it more than your family, than your loves are out of order and you may ruin your family by neglecting them...if you love making money more than you love justice, then you will exploit your employees, again, because your loves are disordered" (Timothy Keller, Making Sense of God, p.89)
When our loves are disordered, it has the potential to hurt the people we love and eventually, it will hurt us. In a heartbreaking blog post, J.R. Storment, encouraged parents to spend less time at work and spend more time with their kids after his son's death.
So for Augustine the functional cause of our discontentment is the disorder of our loves. However, the ultimate disordered love, the ultimate source of discontentment, is our failure to love the first thing first- the failure to love God supremely (Timothy Keller, Making Sense of God, p. 90). Augustine argued that not only were we were made by God but we were also made for God. The Bible tells us that we were created in His image to know Him and experience his love and joy.
When we turn to created things for our ultimate joy and contentment, then according to Augustine,
"(we) sin when, neglectful of the order, we fix our love on the creature instead of on Thee, the Creator"(Augustine, The City of God, book XV)
Therefore, the reason even the best possible things that this world can offer will not satisfy us is because we were created for a degree of delight and fulfillment that they cannot produce (Timothy Keller, Making Sense of God, p. 90). We were created for a God that loves us and only in Him can we find that satisfaction and contentment. It doesn't mean we cannot love things or enjoy them, quite the contrary, Augustine writes:
"Don't harden your heart against love, but don't give your heart ultimately to things that you can lose.."
In other words, do not put your trust and ultimate hope in things that can be taken away. Instead, choose to look at things for what they are- great gifts. They are things that we can love and enjoy. Keller explains:
"Instead of looking to things of the world as the deepest source of you contentment, you can enjoy them for what they are. Money and Career for example, become just what they are supposed to be. Work becomes work, a great way to use your gifts and be useful to others. Money becomes just money, a great way to support your family. But these things are not your source of safety and contentment. He is." (Timothy Keller, Making Sense of God, p. 93)
The Christian proposal then, is that contentment and fulfillment has to be found in something that lasts- something that you cannot lose. Therefore, that "thing" as Augustine is arguing for, can be found only in a person- in God.
Comments
Post a Comment