Agnosticism, Susan Cain and Bittersweet… I recently listened to two podcasts with Susan Cain, back to back. One with Tim Ferris and the other with Carey Nieuwhof. They both focused on her new book, Bittersweet.

Who is Susan Cain?

I’m late to the party in regard to Susan Cain. I hadn’t heard of her before but that only shows that I must live in a cave. Her book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in A World That Can't Stop Talking, is in its eighth year on The New York Times bestseller list and was named the best book of 2012 by Fast Company. Her viral TED Talk, "The power of introverts," has been viewed more than 40 million times, making it one of the most popular TED Talks of all time. And LinkedIn named her the 6th top influencer in the world. She’s currently doing a podcast tour promoting her new book, Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole.

Okay. I’m impressed!

Susan Cain’s Longing

I found Susan quite interesting. She identifies as agnostic, which means “not knowing.” She’s not sure what she believes about God but she admits that she has a growing openness to the idea. Her current book looks at the longing that rises up in our souls when we see beauty and experience sadness. 

She’s observed that there’s a longing within us for something better and believes that we “are creatures born to transform pain into beauty.”

Susan loves C. S. Lewis because he often alludes to this same longing. But she doesn’t land in the same place as Lewis. Whereas Lewis said that our hunger for more points us to God, Cain isn’t so sure. She finds wonder and beauty merely in the longing itself. Susan doesn’t necessarily need God to be the end point of our longing to benefit from the longing.

I’m Not Throwing Shade

I want to say up front that my observations aren’t meant to judge Susan Cain or Tim Ferris. They are on a spiritual journey and I applaud them for that. I appreciate their savoring what many religious people skip over to embrace simplistic platitudes. Nothing is more offensive to me than people who smugly quote scripture or religious cliches but show little grasp of who God is. I have greater respect for people who honestly express their lack of faith but a willingness to grow. My reflections are only meant to look at people’s reticence to believe in God.

Susan Cain’s Interview with Carey Nieuwhof

Comparing the interviews of Carey and Tim was insightful. Carey Nieuwhof is a Christian leader whose primary audience is church pastors. As he led Susan through his questions he would often try to connect the dots of her thoughts on longing to the Bible. But she never ran with those ideas since she doesn’t believe in God.

Susan Cain’s Interview with Tim Ferris

Contrast that with Susan’s chat with Tim Ferris. In his interview with Susan he said that he was very open to religion but he was by no means a Christian. So Susan and Tim were on the same wavelength in this interview, bantering and laughing as they explored the topic.

It was fascinating to hear them cover some of the same concepts as with Carey but from different vantage points. What really stood out to me was Tim and Susan’s love of not knowing… of not coming to any conclusions about the spiritual longings that they share. Keeping the topic open-ended seemed more freeing to them than getting locked into religion.

Susan mentioned how conversations like theirs are attractive to many people who are allergic to dogma. They don’t like being told what to believe but want to think and discover for themselves.

Is the Joy in the Journey or in Arriving?

People often say that the joy is in the journey and I think Susan even mentioned that. She said that her observations didn’t need to lead her to anything definite, like a personal God. She simply enjoyed noting the longing she has and that gave her hope of something better somewhere.

It reminds me of the Apostle Paul’s letter where he said that some people are always learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth. 2 Timothy 3:7

I understand the idea of the journey being valuable. Exploration is exciting and fun, but ultimately we want to arrive at a destination, don’t we? Isn’t that why we set out in the first place?

I’ve done quite a bit of traveling this past year, and arriving was always the best part. That’s where my friends were. That’s where the celebrations were.

The Fear of Knowing

There’s a joy in learning… the joy of tasting from the world of ideas and philosophies. It’s rich and fascinating. But my hope for people is that in their exploration they would eventually be able to find God.

Maybe people are afraid to believe out of fear that they will have to stop their exploration. To become a Christian, to some, means that your world gets very small. You have to buy into a solitary line of thinking and shut down any and all contradictory input. It means to become less of a person, like the simple minded people often portrayed as Christians in movies and the media.

The Joy of Knowing

There is joy in the journey and exploring spirituality but there are some joys that only come from deciding what you believe and committing to it. One can enjoy the world of dating, but once you marry you choose to close down that exploration to explore the depths of one person. You choose to confine yourself to one person but that confinement actually brings you greater joy and deeper experiences than meeting a myriad of new people. And, it doesn’t preclude you from continuing to get to know and enjoy other people, albeit in a different way than before.

In the same way, you can put your faith in a personal God but still enthusiastically explore other philosophies and religions. In fact, in some ways, you might enjoy your explorations even more through a new filter of your relationship with God. Your faith acts as a rudder that guides you through your exploration.

Reconstructing a Deconstructed Faith

We live in an age when people are deconstructing God, faith, and the church. That can be healthy. I’m the first to admit that we need a better model of what it means to follow Jesus than what the world has today. I’m often sick at what the world sees coming from Christianity: partisan politics, judgmental attitudes, church abuse, etc.

In the days to come, we will hear more and more spiritual discussions like Tim and Susan’s that touch on God without coming to any conclusions about God. My hope is that people will eventually grow dissatisfied with the journey of deconstructing faith and want to arrive at a destination where they can know and enjoy a personal God. I think Lewis was right: the longing we have is meant to draw us to God.

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Related Post: Deconstructing and Reconstructing Faith