Life is Like an Iceberg

The answers to life's most important questions can only come by experience, and not by a quick google search. It's kind of like an iceberg.

If we hold onto our questions long enough, without settling for shallow answers, we will get the real answers to the most important questions and desires in our lives.

Questions like: Is God real? Is there meaning in life? What does it mean to be a child of God? What is the good life? What does true fulfillment feel like? The more experience and perspective we get over time, the stronger we will feel in our answers to our questions.

We hear the words people speak, like the tip of an iceberg, but often don't see the experience (or lack thereof) behind those words. People's words are merely theories about the answers to life's questions, big and small.

The statements we make about life are based on our interpretations of our experiences. The first variable of our theory is the quantity of experience we get. Some people have a very large iceberg full of experiences, and they are very firm in their convictions about those topics they have experienced, but how we interpret our experiences also matters.

Quality of experience is the other variable that affects our understanding about life. How we interpret things determines if we will see things as they truly are, or live in a never-ending loop of confirmation bias, seeing only what we believe, believing only what we think we see. If we don't look beyond that, we may never see anything else.

The problem with this black-and-white way of seeing is that you will not be able to reconcile two seemingly contradictory truths. Either God is just, or He is merciful. Either life is fair, or it's not fair. People are either good, or they are bad. We may not be able to accept that there's more than the simple stories in life, if we don't mature past the simple stories and stereotypes.

The answers to the most important questions in life take the longest to answer, because it takes time to see the additional context, nuance, and intervening variables that affect the realities of life.

If two things seem true, but they contradict each other, then at least one is false, or there is a third fact that reconciles both truths. These "third sides" usually are not immediately apparent, but come to us slowly over time.

The most basic truths are also the biggest, and take the longest time to measure and understand for ourselves, maybe even a lifetime. Maybe longer. So hold onto your questions. Don't settle for easy answers, that have no substance and hold no lasting value. Don't let go until you are deeply satisfied, eternally.

Podcast: Listen to this episode about how studying history helps us to see things the way they really are

Want to think more about this idea? A t-shirt is a tangible way to remind you every time you wear it!

Life is Like an Iceberg t-shirt

This shirt helps remind you that there is always more than meets the eye, don't judge a book by it's cover, and everyone has a whole iceberg worth of experiences beneath the surface. I hope this starts some great conversations for you!

Buy Now