Spiritual Lessons from Biology

Some decades ago, Johns Hopkins University conducted a survey of about  8,000 students from 48 colleges. The analysis was part of a two-year study sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health. The purpose was to determine what these college students considered most important in life. Surprisingly, only 16% of the students said ‘money’ while 78% said ‘finding a purpose and meaning to my life’.[1] I think an excellent follow-up study would be to track these people down today and ask them if they indeed found a purpose and meaning to their lives.   Why is it so hard to find purpose and meaning? Why is something essential to living well so elusive? I believe part of the answer is firmly rooted in fear. I once saw a cartoon of Kermit the Frog sitting in front of a doctor. The doctor is holding up Kermit’s x-ray, which shows a human hand inside of Kermit’s head. The speech bubble above the doctor reads, “What I’m about to tell you will change your life forever. Are you reall...

  Have you ever noticed the questions people ask when they first meet you? They usually ask what your name is, what you do for work, or where you go to school.  They don’t ask, “who are you?” It’s a simple question, but a jarring one. If someone asked you that question right now, how would you respond?   Perhaps you’d revert to one of the former questions by giving your name, your occupation, and so on. But those things aren’t really who you are. An ancient Greek maxim states simply: “Know yourself.” Do we truly know ourselves? Or do we only have a handle on who we are with relation to external circumstances like jobs or families?   Socrates argued that it’s important to know ourselves so that we can understand our meaning in life. He said, “the life unexamined is not worth living.” But how can we truly know ourselves? We are lost to ourselves, and this is nothing new, as proven by the many ancient cross-cultural adages prompting us to find ourselves. G.K. Chesterton...