Life Hacks for Christian Guys

Prologue: The Ache

Imagine you take a step forward and snap the collar of that leather jacket a bit tighter around your neck. The girl that sat behind you on your retro V9 Roamer hops off the back of the bike, slips off her helmet, and leans against you as you watch the sunset ruddle over the Pacific Coast. A hot wind blows in over the ridge where you stand, and you're left wondering how Hawaii won't boil as the sun dips into the ocean. Life's perfect for a moment. Life's beautiful.

Got the scene? Feel the breeze on your face and the girl on your arm?

Now is when you'd expect the cheesy Christian twist. I hope not to do that to you, though. (I also believe that Christianity at its core is the opposite of cheesy, but we'll touch on that at a later moment.) I want you to hold the perfect moment in your mind. You can change it as you like. Change the sunset to a moonrise or a thunderstorm. Change the brand of motorcycle if you want. Change California for the red volcanic hills just outside Reykjavík, Iceland. Change the girl for someone that means the most to you. Once the moment is perfect and peace, hold it there... and breathe.

Got the sensation? Feel it in your gut? That's what we all want in life, happiness, peace, perfection. It's the ideal. No stress. No pain. A bliss full of meaning.

Now brace yourself. I'm going to slap you back down to reality. Hit the ground hard and take a second to look around. Place yourself once again in the real world. This may create a second sensation (depending on where you find yourself in life), one that might be labeled as anxiety or disappointment. Maybe even depression. It's good to recognize this within yourself, but don't stay there. We still have one more step, the step to sehnsucht, discovering the ache.

Try to hold the ideal in your mind again, but not leaving reality this time. Stay conscious of where your feet are planted as you imagine the scene. Desire it. Let the desire for goodness, truth and beauty pull you forward, pull you upwards. Feel the tension. This is sehnsucht, a very particular, nuanced and existential sensation. It's a sort of nostalgia, but not a desire for the past. It's nostalgia for the future. Nostalgia because it's a sort of homesickness. You belong in that perfection. It's what you're made for.

I'm going to pull a Matrix Morpheus at this point and say, "What if I told you..."

What if I told you that we're all destined for the bliss-full-of-meaning, and that the sehnsucht is the hope pulling us toward that perfection? You on board? Ready for "the good life"?

Here are some Hacks.