Important Spiritual Questions in Current Economic Crisis

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I would like to explore, in a series of notes, some of the important issues impacting people’s lives as a result of the current economic crisis.

One of the first things is the kind of questions people are asking. Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen poses three questions she hears people asking:

“What can be trusted?”
“What will sustain me?”
“What do I really need in order to live?”

She observes that these are the kind of questions that people typically ask when initiating a spiritual search. “If you follow these questions out,” she says, “they lead us to a deeper, more passionate, better way of living; and a much deeper connection to a larger reality.”

I share her hopefulness that these times will lead to deepened spirituality and richer faith. It seems to me that this can be true -- but it is not necessarily so. People appear to be looking at their lives differently because of the economic and social changes taking place. The monumental question of authority stands in the center: “Who is my authority?” “To whom are we accountable?” “What is the authority that governs our society, our world?”

For those who subscribe to the “centrality of the sovereign self,” history is not optimistic. It shows this questioning only leads to doubt, disappointment and despair. No social system built on narcissism and self-autonomy (more on this later) can last. Christopher Lasch said contemporary narcissism creates, “an inner sense of emptiness by exalting the self and cutting it off from reality. Such isolated self-scrutiny, packed with psychiatric clichés, made people so self-conscious that they felt as though they were performing their existence rather than living it.”

Crisis can lead us to question. Questioning can open up our awareness to misplaced assumptions about life, the world, and faith in God. The journey of increased awareness, working through personal blindness, idolatry and ignorance, learning to understand and love those different from us, and the joy inspired by new understanding are extraordinary things in themselves. But, I doubt that the benefit of self-reflection can overcome the need for something higher than, or outside of myself. History stands against it.

My personal, “’sovereign self” is not enough. Neither is a collection of “sovereign selves.” I need meaning. I need transcendent awe to sustain me. I crave purpose beyond my culture and myself. I seek to belong and have value beyond religion and “me, me, me”. No matter how much I love personal discovery, I don’t see satisfying answers to the above questions as coming from withinmyself, or even humanity. I need transcendent good news.

The Gospel, by nature, is a perspective that comes from outside of us – that is greater than ours. It is God’s opinion of what I need to live, what will sustain me, Who I can trust. I will not pretend to understand all that means – either for the whole human race or myself. I’m not naïve enough to believe that my understanding of the Gospel gives me perfect answers to these three questions. On the other hand, the Gospel does give me a place to start and from which to live. It can lead to “a deeper, more passionate, better way of living; and a much deeper connection to a larger reality.” If the current global economic crisis leads folks to hear answers to their questions in Christ, then it is a good crisis.

This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. (Psa 91:2 NLT)