Which do you consider to be more important, the pursuit of happiness, or the pursuit of meaning? The pursuit of happiness may be enshrined in your founding documents, and you may see everyone you know putting forth a great effort to obtain it, but is it the most valuable thing? To answer this question consider the tradeoff. Do you know people who pursue happiness and end up shallow and disappointed, lacking substance? Who can endure a meaningless life? This is a spiritual longing that you can’t ignore. How many people do you know that lead meaningful lives who are unhappy?

Do you see the church as a separate entity, isolated from the society at large? You could point to the verse that says come out from among them and be separate. Yet you are also called to be in the world but not of the world. It is hard to live in isolation from the general culture. Is it desirable? One of the criteria for church leaders is that they have a good reputation among those who are without. Have you found that good character traits are universally admired, even by those who make no profession of faith?

Are you familiar with the concept of a variable focal length lens? This is more commonly known as a zoom lens. It has the advantage of offering you a wider perspective than a fixed focal length lens. Do you see a spiritual parallel for this? How wide is your spiritual perspective? Can you zoom out to see far-reaching effects of your current actions? The spiritual perspective adds the dimension of time beyond the immediate visual frame. You don’t know what the future will hold, but you do know that your current actions will ripple forward in time.

Can you see your shadow? That would require a point light source and looking in the right direction. It is easier for other people to see your shadow. Can you extend this concept beyond visible light and optics? You could think of your shadow as your unlived life and unresolved issues. You can see these things in other people, how it affects their behavior and how they project their biases and rigid thinking onto others. It is harder to see in yourself. You could conclude from inference that if everyone else has a shadow then you do too.