There are days when it feels as though the world isunraveling. Truth is questioned. Values are mocked. Evenmeaning itself seems up for debate.
The Danish philosopher Kierkegaard once warned that the sickness of the soul sets in when a higher purpose is abandoned. In that empty space, something else always rushes in. This is often outrage, oversimplified narratives, and the temptation to divide the world into “us” and “them.”
The sociologist James Davison Hunter describes thismoment as the rise of a new, nihilistic culture. He writes that it’s defined not by what it builds, but by what it tears down. A culture driven by fear, demonization, and the will to destroy. He notes that identities are increasingly formed through opposition: I know who I am only because I knowwho my enemy is. And from that comes rage, hatred, and the thirst for revenge. In a strange, distorted way, that rage becomes a source of meaning.
But is that really the only story available to us?
This episode explores gratitude as a real antidote to nihilism and finding purpose by seeing the world in a different way.
#spirituality #livingtobe #nihilism #PurposeDrivenLife #MoralCompass #BeyondPolitics
Information:
www.reinogevers.com
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