What's the Really Big Picture? / Perspective in a Life Worth Living

The really big picture is, well, really big.

The fundamental truths about who we are and what the world is and how it all goes together.

Most of the time, we just have a sense of this really big picture. It’s not an object of conscious thought or explicit description.

But when we’re working to discern what matters most, it’s important to articulate and refine our understanding of the really big picture. On the one hand, looking at the really big picture can help us make sense of why your commitments about the good life make sense to you.

Lecturer at Yale College and Life Worth Living Co-Founder, Ryan McAnnally-Linz suggests that we need the courage to hold convictions, but the humility to recognize our limitations, in this chapter-by-chapter video curriculum series based on his bestselling book (with Matt Croasmun and Miroslav Volf), Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most.

Transcript

In the background of all our values and visions of life worth living is a sense of the really big picture of things.

The fundamental truths about who we are and what the world is and how it all goes together.

Most of the time, we just have a sense of this really big picture.

It’s not an object of conscious thought or explicit description.

But when we’re working to discern what matters most, it’s important to articulate and refine our understanding of the really big picture. On the one hand, looking at the really big picture can help us make sense of why your commitments about the good life make sense to you.

You might realize, for example, that your commitment to spreading joy is rooted in the idea that human consciousness is an almost unfathomably rare occurrence in the grand scope of the universe, one that it would be a shame to squander by making each other sad.

On the other hand, you might find conflicts between your big picture beliefs and your vision of life worth living.

Maybe you realize that you have a very individualist vision of the good life but when push comes to shove you believe humans are intrinsically social beings.

Like it or not, we can’t escape the relevance of the really big picture.

Now, I recognize that the really big picture is, well, really big. To get your bearings as you reflect on it, you can start from two questions borrowed from theologian Norman Wirzba:

First, where are we? What is this world that we live in? Is it a rationally ordered cosmos? The astonishing product of random chance and physical laws? God’s good creation? Something like an illusion? Or something else entirely

The second question is, who are we? What does it mean to be a human being? Are we first and foremost knowers? Especially sociable animals? Beloved creatures of God? Moral agents? Sufferers? Strivers? Makers? All of the above?

I want to acknowledge that these questions are daunting. We’re supposed to figure out what’s fundamentally true about the world and ourselves?! In our spare time?!

Daunting as it is, that doesn’t mean we can dodge the question. It means we need the courage to hold convictions, but the humility to recognize our limitations. And it means we should probably have a little patience and understanding for ourselves and others when we don’t have everything worked out.