philosophy

I don't know if you've ever read literature from people like David Foster Wallace or Nietzche, or if you've ever ever heard of them. They are both very intellectual people searching for purpose and meaning in a life that otherwise lacks both. Actually, Nietzche believed that meaning was found in man's search to tear the 'Veil of Maya', the only thing keeping him from truth. Yet Nietzche is also a nihilist who believes that humans crave purpose only because Christianity has instilled it in them and not because it is a natural instinct. I don't understand how meaning and no meaning work together, but that's just my limited understanding of Nietzche. David Foster Wallace believes that our entire life's purpose is to see experiences without personal bias and to choose what to think- to put yourself in another's shoes essentially. He believed that we search for the truths that are most obvious around us and at one point gives the analogy of a fish trying to convince himself that the thing surrounding him was water. Wallace wants us to get out of our 'default' setting in order to control our brain and its thoughts.

What I don't understand is why life has to be contemplated so philosophically- why meaning has to be so deep and undiscoverable. Shouldn't meaning be something that is an urge instilled in every person across the globe? A yearning so great that it cannot be stifled? 

Did you know that both Darwin and Nietzche were at one point devout Christians (or at least devout in the secular view)? Both went to church and had a strong passion for God. Then Darwin lost his daughter to an illness and began doubting. Nietzche lost both his dad and brother at a young age. He stopped going to church and stopped believing. God had died. 

It's interesting to me that two men who have so significantly shaped today's culture both experienced deep and painful loss. Why do we humans doubt God's goodness and purpose in pain? How can devout followers reject a God because he seems to spite them? 

The truth is actually simple. We are messed up humans. God is perfect beyond comprehension. And we try to get SO philosophical about meaning and life that we miss the simple truth: God loves us and wants to have a relationship with us. Indeed, God himself is the most philosophical being in existence. He always has been, always will be, has all power, knows all things, is perfect in righteous anger and in righteous mercy, lacks bias toward race, gender, or religion yet can judge righteously. Yet, His consistency is simple. 

"What can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. From the creation of the world his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse." 

-Romans 1:18-21

Philosophy is overrated because the truth is simple. God is alive and he lavishes grace and love.