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Have you ever heard of Maslow\u2019s Hierarchy of Needs?<\/strong>\u00a0 This psychological concept suggests that human beings have varying levels of motivation based on what needs are being met. For instance, the base of this pyramid is \u201cSafety\u201d and deals with needs such as food and shelter. A person who does not have food, or who is living in a war zone, does not care about such needs as love or self-esteem. The highest point of this pyramid is \u201cSelf-Actualization\u201d which deals with such needs as creativity and acceptance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There really is no scientific proof for the Hierarchy of Needs, though most Psychology is what we call a \u201csoft science\u201d. While I agree with the basic premise: that human beings have a number of needs that may be prioritized one over the other, motivation isn\u2019t so simple.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n A starving child may spend most of their time trying to figure out how to fill their belly, but that doesn\u2019t mean they will not spend any time crying over the loss of a family structure or fearing for a future where they have no means of improving their station. I think the countless Revolutionary Wars are proof that we, as human beings, are willing to place our safety at risk in order to reach those \u201chigher levels\u201d of Maslow\u2019s hierarchy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A book that addresses this basic need for self-actualization is the complex, literary sci-fi novel, The Midnight Library<\/em>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The Midnight Library<\/em> follows Nora Seed, an incredibly unhappy woman in her late 30s.<\/strong> Nora has countless regrets in her life. Her choices have led to a life alone with her cat in London. When one horrible day leads to her losing her job, her side-job, and her cat all in one night, Nora makes the worst decision she could in the situation and decides to end it all.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After downing a bottle full of pills, Nora finds herself stuck in a sort of limbo. The Midnight Library is a library balanced between life and death where the clock always reads midnight. In it, Nora can choose different books that represent alternate realities off the shelves.<\/strong> Each of these realities hinges on a single choice. By making those choices, Nora can live the life of her alternate self. The moment she is dissatisfied, her experience is over. If she never experiences dissatisfaction, Nora can disappear into that new life and live it to its natural conclusion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0The majority of the book leads Nora through the various versions of her own life. She lives a life where she did not break up with her fianc\u00e9, and they own a pub together on the shore. In another, she pursued science and worked in the North Pole. In yet another, she continued pursuing her music career, and is a global superstar, though her brother is dead of an overdose.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0Through each experience, Nora faces the danger of lingering too long between life and death. If the clock moves past midnight, she will slip over into death, and be lost forever.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n As Nora drifts in and out between multiple realities, she finds that happiness isn\u2019t as simple as fixing one regret. Often a regret resolved creates multiple other regrets. Many times the changes she needed to improve her own life devastated the lives of those around her.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n If she chose to move to Australia with her friend, for instance, then her friend died in a car accident.<\/span><\/p>\n Some things could not be changed no matter what she did. She believed her cat had been killed outdoors by a car. when she lived a life where she chose not to let the cat outside, he still died under the bed from a genetic illness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In a final, near-perfect life, she found great happiness as a mother, a scientist, and a wife.<\/strong> She did not live far from her original home in London. When she returned, however, she found that her music student was a drug addict, and the older gentleman she brought groceries to was dead.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Finally, as the library crumbles around her, and death is near, Nora decides to escape back into her original life.<\/strong> She gets medical help and survives her suicide attempt.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In a conversation in the hospital with the brother she had previously lost touch with, Nora admits that life is about the choices we make. But it\u2019s never too late to make the right choice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If I had to choose the most unsatisfying ending, after the suicide attempt, this would be it. I do think, however, that any search for meaning outside of Christ will always feel fundamentally unsatisfying to me.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n I like to say I am a Nihilist saved by Grace.<\/strong> Or that I don\u2019t lean into all five points, but I\u2019m still the most Calvinist person out there. I tend to be pessimistic, distrustful, and have an incredibly negative outlook on life. Sure, it might not be something worth taking pride in, but according to science, pessimists have a better grasp on reality. So there is that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When I look at the big, existential questions about life, I have a difficult time with the atheistic narrative that life is about enjoying the little things, and living in the moment until death takes us.<\/strong> In the horror show, Midnight Mass<\/em>, one of the characters, having lost her faith in God, waxes poetically about breaking down into a million atoms and being spread across the universe. Likewise, the end of Philosophy-centered comedy \u201cThe Good Place<\/em>\u201d ends with an optimistic, agnostic idea of being sprinkled over the universe and thus always being near the people we love.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I think if I were to sit down and speak to Nora with such concepts in my mind, I would have very little hope to give her. After all, she may have had a hundred options of relatively good lives to choose from. Many of us, however, do not have such opportunities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Nora may have been able to choose between life as an Olympic swimmer, or life as a famous musician. If a street orphan in India, for instance, had entered the Midnight Library, they might have a choice only between being trafficked, begging for food, or selling their infant sister to feed the rest of their siblings. These are real choices that many have to make to this day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Life is not a matter of taking joy in the little things. Sometimes there is genuinely no joy to find.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n That is not to dismiss the trials that real people like Nora are dealing with. Loneliness, the loss of relationships, and the loss of jobs are all real troubles.<\/strong> We could note how strange it is that people struggling with the top section of Maslow\u2019s hierarchy are faster to turn it back into the first tier. But again, the science on those matters is wobbly at best.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I think what\u2019s more important to note is that those who have happiness within reach are much more unwilling to live without it. Yet, they are much less likely to find it<\/strong>. A child is, arguably, one of the least safe individuals on earth. Young children face many dangers, especially if they are not protected by those who are supposed to care for them. Yet, it\u2019s hard to find anyone as joyful and carefree as a child.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When we face heart-wrenching questions about suicide and mental health issues, many people are faced with the understanding that those who chose to take their own lives were just unhappy.<\/span><\/p>\n Perhaps it was an illness. No different than, as one friend once wrote, cancer or covid.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n Maybe it is a social matter. Many parents of children suffering from gender dysphoria have been asked \u201cWould you rather have a dead son or a living daughter?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Perhaps it is a matter of circumstances. If the government provided adequate health care, the cost of living was lower, and bullying didn\u2019t exist, perhaps that individual would still be around.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There are aspects of all of these questions that we must ask and look at. People are complex. There is not a single answer.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Some people would deny there was an answer and argue that if someone wants to die, we have no right to stand in the way. As someone who spent most of my adult life caring for a depressed and suicidal husband, I\u2019ve heard that argument. I\u2019ve also heard it turned around on me when I was told \u201cYou didn\u2019t do enough. You should have done more.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As someone who battles depression, anxiety, and CPTSD myself, I have been tempted on multiple occasions to consider the possibility of \u201cending it all.\u201d I think many of us have. I have not gotten far in that direction though. For me, it is the same pessimism that causes the temptation that grounds me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What if we were to change our approach to life? Scripture is very clear that God wants us to enjoy a simple life<\/strong>. He has given us good food. The ability to experience great joy. Sex. Family. Friendship. Creativity. We have so much to take delight in. Scripture is also very clear that happiness is not our chief aim in life.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n In the book of Ecclesiastes, scripture introduces us to the realities of life \u201cUnder the Sun\u201d (On Earth, apart from God). Solomon, the son of David and wisest of all men decided to try an experiment very much like Nora in The Midnight Library<\/em>. A lot like Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love<\/em>. Very much like most of us in our daily lives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Solomon, in the second chapter of Ecclesiastes, says \u201cCome now, I will test you with pleasure. Enjoy yourself\u201d. But behold, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, \u201cIt is mad\u201d and of pleasure \u201cWhat use is it?<\/em>\u201d (Ecclesiastes 2:1-2<\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n The problem is, that Solomon leaves the path of wisdom to search for joy, but cannot find it anywhere else either.<\/strong> Labor, he lists as vanity. Wisdom is vanity. Success was vanity. Just like most of the rich and powerful of today, Solomon learned that his heart was never satisfied.<\/strong> Not only was pleasure not good enough to dedicate his life to, but nothing else was either.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 1 Corinthians 10:3<\/em>1 carefully points us into the direction of true meaning. \u201cWhether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nThe Horror of a Life Lived.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The Choices that Define Us.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nUnhappiness is Huge<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Is Happiness the Answer?<\/strong><\/h2>\n