Which Story Are You In
Wherever we look in the West today, we are confronted with deeply disturbing statistics about anxiety, depression, and unhappiness. For example, a recent survey showed that mental health problems amongst young Australians had surged 47% in 15 years. 1 In the United States, there was a 59% rise in teenage depression between 2007 and 2017. 2 In fact, I’m sure that everyone reading this article will personally know someone who is struggling in these areas. It would be easy to quote many more studies highlighting the seriousness of this issue. Psychologists, sociologists and other specialists are describing the problems and probing the causes.
Let’s glance at the other side of the coin for a moment: what contributes to people feeling happy, fulfilled and purposeful? A recent Psychology Today article points to a combination of relationships and a sense of purpose – a purpose in the context of community. 3
As an historian, the more I consider the journey of humanity, the more ironic it seems; the things we think we want – the things we think are freedom – actually ensnare us. Let me explain. Western philosophy and culture in recent years has spent a lot of effort encouraging individuals to reject the “oppression” of inherited beliefs and value systems on the basis that these are simply constructed to keep vested interests in control. Meta-narratives (over-arching stories that transcend the individual) have been rejected. Freedom, it is argued, lies firstly in identifying and rejecting these restrictions, and then in writing our own stories. As the author of our own stories, we determine meaning and purpose – isn’t that true freedom?
It's not hard to see that buying into this process can lead to alienation because our meaning and purpose won’t be the same as that of others. If we’re all authors, writing our own plots with us as the central character means other characters exist largely to further our own progress, meaning they are objectified. This process takes us in the opposite direction from what the Psychology Today article says will lead to happiness and fulfilment.
Of course, it also takes us in the opposite direction from what the Bible says about purpose and fulfilment. So here is an irony: not that long ago, numerous psychologists, counsellors, and self-help gurus were advising people that they should choose their own meaning and purpose, isolating themselves from anyone who wouldn’t wholeheartedly support their quest for their “best self”. That hasn’t worked out too well in practice, and now we see these disciplines changing direction to something that broadly aligns with the Bible. Think of any culture you like, from any country. You’ll find that they all have stories that shape their identity: children are born into these stories, raised in them, and discover their own place in them. Think of your own favourite books and movies; I’m sure they’ll do something similar with their characters. Usually, there will be a quest, a threat, a challenge that needs to be overcome. In the context of a story that is bigger than themselves, the characters will discover their flaws and limits, some will fail utterly, others will succeed. Resources will be discovered, courage will be demonstrated, evil will eventually be defeated.
This is clearly what the Bible does, in a manner that transcends individual cultural stories, and at a cosmic level. The Christian story places all of us in an epic narrative that runs from the beginning of the universe to its recreation. All the way through the story, God is working with individuals, with families, with nations. Relationship, community, and purpose are embedded in every page of God’s story. The first part of the story points towards Jesus, the second part – our part – looks both back to Jesus (incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection) and forward to his second coming.
The serpent presented Adam and Eve with the option of a story that appeared to offer them greater freedom. “Open your eyes” and “be like God” was the serpent’s invitation. It sounds a lot like “be the author of your own story”, doesn’t it? Clearly, Adam and Eve didn’t get the result they were hoping for, just as many in our society haven’t.
Obviously, the malaise of the West is complex, and I am only touching on one aspect here, but I suspect much of our deep unhappiness and disillusionment stems from our conscious (or subconscious) rejection of God’s story, our conviction that we know best. In trying to dethrone the one true Author, our individualised authorial cul-de-sacs leave us unsatisfied and despairing.
My strong suspicion is that the dysfunction of the West is proportional to its distance from God’s story. Yet the one true Author perpetually calls the alienated and purposeless into his family and community, into his epic that is the biggest, best and truest story of all.
