Reading Notes: We Who Wrestle with God, Part 2

On Faith, Focus, and Clarity 

‘In the face of adversity we must have: faith, humility, and courage. Faith in the spirit within, the eternal flame of the Logos'

First of all, if the Logos is a new concept to you and the frequent mention here is throwing you off, I recommend quickly reading Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, everything by Carl Jung, and A Life of Meaning by James Hollis. For now, as I understand it, the Logos is a divine principle that creates order from chaos. It is the transcendent truth that humans can align with through speech, action, and consciousness. It functions simultaneously as the cosmic organizing force and the innate human capacity to perceive meaning and act in accordance with that deeper order. 

The Logos is not a substitute for God; rather, it could be thought of as God’s energy that flows through and resides within each of us, and moves us towards that which is best and holiest as a life experience. So when Peterson says we must ‘have faith in the eternal flame of the Logos’, I take that as the search for a center of stillness, peace, and clarity within our souls. I even picture a candle flame in my center when I meditate and pray - shoutout Tam Al’Thor! That space, that ‘Sacred Garden’, as Robert Bly might put it, is a holy space within and between all of us that always gives sanctuary to the meaning and true direction of our lives. It’s almost like the guiding principle of our essence. It’s remnant of our childhood dreams, or purest emotions, and our best thoughts. That eternal burning Logos will never go out, but it may dim. It takes focused effort to find it - effort through exploration, discovery, thought, and prayer. 

‘God is the truthful and upward-oriented Logos who makes the cosmos that is Good.’

The quest to find and stoke your eternal flame is in fact service to the Logos, to what is highest. The search alone is what fuels the fire, and illuminates your path. This search, this meaning-quest for truth and orientation, is also by default a righteous effort of singular purpose. Hence Peterson’s warning here:

‘Serve Unity and the Logos, not a multiplicity. Multiplicity brings confusion, anxiety, aimless, hopeless.’

Yeah, that. What is multiplicity? Quite literally, this is distraction, laziness, and disorganization in your life. More figuratively, it is aimlessness, nihilism, and Joseph Campbell’s wasteland. I always struggle with what to focus on, especially in the macro. Daily sprints are easier for me to execute, and certainly help with professional endeavors, house chores, etc. But what am I building, that lasts? What am I, what are you, aiming at that takes years of focus and practice to complete? A Christian interpretation might be that with consistent prayer and communion, the path will be revealed and God will bring you to your destination. Maybe. But I think the Logos requires more than this, more ink on paper, and some skin in the game.

Does this mean something as basic as a written goal-setting exercise and tracking system? Maybe, but that has never worked for me. It does require some organized effort, though, and I think that starts with writing things down. Perhaps you try to simply write out some core values on a blank page. What is important to you? What would you go out of your way to defend? Cal Newport has some helpful value-discovery writing exercises out there. 

I also like the framing of ‘lifestyle design’. Tim Ferriss gets into this a lot, and Martha Beck has her ‘Perfect Day’ exercise that I recommend exploring.

Then from these values and designs, maybe you start to see some goals. What do you want your life to look like, right now? What about a year from now, ten years? Ok, now bridge the gap. What aim does this require…creatively, physically, spiritually, professionally? Now, you might be feeling some pull towards action, and even some clarity regarding what to focus on. Hopefully, this process, however you go about it, takes you away from the distraction and unsettled multiplicity, and towards a figurative place of serenity and determination, and you can start to build something that lasts. 

As James Hollis so aptly puts it: ‘Remove yourself from the stimulus-response melee of modern life. Seek peace in purpose rather than distraction.’

Back to Peterson, the danger of aimlessness and lack of faith in the Logos: 

‘Evil is a consequence of remoteness from God.’

Peterson cites numerous examples and a body of literature exploring the inherent evil within every person, and the horrific manifestation of this evil at every scale of existence. This is Peterson’s classic story of ignoring the Dragon in your home, even as it feeds itself and grows, eventually becoming a Satanic behemoth that destroys your life. It’s the ‘Ordinary Men’ of fascist Germany who became sadistic Nazi prison guards as a result of complacency, ignoring the truth, and lacking the courage to speak up. Massively, it’s the annihilation of millions of people by Stalin in the Soviet Union, brilliantly distilled by Solzhenitsyn in the Gulag Archipelago down to a catastrophic and systemic failure of personal responsibility.

So, back to faith in and focus on the Logos, the truth; the closeness we must fight to maintain with God in our hearts and souls is necessary in the battle against evil. The active effort to properly orient our thoughts and emotions will stave off the darkness that is quite literally within us. Are your thoughts mature and sober? Are you letting impulsive feelings govern your actions? Are you suppressing memories and feeling states that need to be dealt with, and dealt with soon? Contend with these things, and perhaps with the help of others. This will bring you closer to the truth, and God knows it will deliver you from evil.

This kind of effort will set you straight and provide the tools to control your own actions in the world, but it sure as hell doesn’t mean it won’t be hard and even require you to suffer. As we learn from Job in the old testament, we must retain upward aim and devotion no matter what. This is when it gets hard, but the more we sacrifice now, every moment and every day, the stronger we are when facing the trials that will surely come.

‘Had we made the proper sacrifices, would the dread spirit of the punishing God have passed over us? These are in truth open questions... That is an unbearable burden, although a noble burden; certainly a challenge; possibly the ultimate challenge.’

We now flirt with the margins of Fire and Brimstone, the traditional ‘fear of God’, that I think quickly loses its value as a message when taken too far. Too many people fall into a simple reaction-based way of living out of fear that God will directly intervene in their lives according to how they (and everyone) acts. The underlying message here is right, but it should be thought of as a guidance - a playbook - rather than a mechanism to censor, or suppress, the adventure of life. As Peterson visits throughout the book, the lesson is that God’s punishing spirit will make itself known in any number of ways, some more directly than others, if we aren’t practicing noble forms of sacrifice in our lives. 

This is a fairly easy application to consider in our lives. For example, if you don’t sacrifice your urge to eat dessert every night, you’ll be fat and you’ll suffer. More seriously, if you are not sacrificing hedonistic urges small and large, you’ll waste away your energy, and quite possible destroy your life and your family. The same can be applied of course for saving money, exercising, consistent creative output, etc. On a small, personal scale, James Hollis tells us your psyche comments on what is misplaced. This could be thought of as God expressing displeasure with your choices, and it manifests as anxiety or depression. On a larger scale, that of civilization, God floods the world and sends the plague.

So be wary of divine wrath, but only to the extent that you keep your eye on the proper target - one of truth, love, and abundance as you strive upward every day. Set aside your urges in moments of weakness, and lift up yourself and those around you. Seek joy, adventure, and love.