I am 17 years old and I grew up without a God. I have spent my Sunday mornings in the kitchen with my mother, or watching cartoons with my father, or waking up on my friends’ couches. I have not once attended a church service or been to a synagogue. In my short 17 years, I have seen the glories nature can offer -- a sunset over the fjords, or the midnight sun, or sleeping volcanoes at dawn -- but I have never felt a deep connection with the frosted woods after a storm or the view of circling rainclouds from a high mountain peak. The world seems indifferent to me, a place where the choices I make define who I am. I do not, and cannot, believe in a higher power that guides my life or produces an ultimate judgement. The only guiding force in my life is rationality and an irrevocable belief in existentialism.

Over the duration of human existence, I know I am an anomaly. Faith has helped men and women across the ages advance society and find a deeper meaning in life that people like me, relying solely on reason, cannot fathom. In America today, there is a rising number of people who are religiously apathetic or unaffiliated, and who feel no spiritual connection to nature or any higher power. This abandonment of spirituality and religion has allowed us to make choices detrimental to our current lives and the future of our society. To improve both the present and the future, Americans must stop rationality from precluding spirituality -- we need to rely on both reason and a more abstract understanding of the world to make decisions.

Since human society began, mankind has drawn upon faith and spirituality as well as reason to make decisions and interpret the world. Religious scholar Karen Armstrong defines these two attitudes as “mythos” (the spiritual influence), and logos (pragmatic thought). She describes mythos as “concerned with what is thought to be timeless and constant in our existence”, a spirituality that “looks back to the origins of life, to the foundations of culture, and to the deepest levels of the human mind” to seek out the meaning in life (Armstrong). Mythos “provides people with a context that makes sense of their day-to-day lives; it directs their attention to the eternal and the universal” (Armstrong). On the other hand, logos is practical, and encompasses scientific thought, innovation, and rationality. Logos cannot answer the questions about the meaning of life that mythos addresses, but provides the empirical reason essential to functioning in daily life. Due to the complementary nature of the two thought processes, pre-modern human viewed mythos and logos as distinct but both essential.

In modern times, however, the American populace has turned away from mythos and is increasingly relying solely on logos to make decisions. As rationalism and scientific success swept the West in the 18th century, Americans began to view logic and reason as the only path to truth. Over the past three centuries, we have begun to dismiss mythos and spirituality as superstition. This disengagement is reflected in the religious demographics of the American population.

According to a Pew Research Center study in 2012, one-fifth of Americans -- termed the “Nones”-- were unaffiliated with a religion, a number that is quickly rising (Nones). Although some of these people are spiritual in ways outside of organized religion, the “Nones” are less likely to think about the meaning of life and their purpose in the world, the fundamental cornerstones of mythos (Nones). Furthermore, many people who identify themselves as religiously affiliated are “religiously apathetic”, as a young man interviewed for the Huffington Post described himself, and would rather focus on “the tangible, the real things like mortgages or their favorite football team or the everyday world” (Fleet). In fact, in a 2011 Baylor University Religion Survey, 44% of respondents, a considerably higher percentage than the “Nones”, stated that they “spend no time seeking ‘eternal wisdom’”; a higher percentage also responded that it is “useless to search for meaning in life” (Fleet). Logos has undisputably become the foundation of American thought and decision-making today, with little to no merit given to more abstract paths to truth.

This rejection of mythos and spirituality for pure reason has been incredibly detrimental to American society. Human existence in the United States and our choices today are driven mostly by rational thinking aimed at a personal happiness -- family and wealth -- that society extolls. In general, Americans make choices that will rationally produce a personal benefit, but often the pure reason behind our decisions hinder our view of the big picture. Citizens unaffiliated with religion and relying on solely on logos are 21% less likely to value communal unity, and less likely to contemplate their role in the world (Religious). Pure rationality promotes a very narrow outlook that fails to fully account for long-term, abstract concepts or provide a sense of purpose in life. Just imagine the average college student who decides to major in the most lucrative field possible, but later finds no pleasure or meaning in their work. The logos-driven choices people make often leave them feeling empty and barren because, as Armstrong recognizes, “unless we find some significance in our lives, we mortal men and women fall very easily into despair” (Karen). The lack of mythos in our society removes our attention from “the eternal and universal” (Armstrong). This shift in focus from the big picture to rational benefits has allowed human morality to warp, creating a world where we destroy the land, pollute the seas, and kill indiscriminately. Mythos should help humans find significance and meaning in life. The growing lack of spirituality in America is advancing the opposite -- feelings of insignificance, greed, confusion, and emptiness -- and harms both the current lives of citizens and the future of our world.

This rejection of mythos has negatively impacted the world and will continue to do so until humanity regains some kind of faith. Reflecting upon my own life, I know that I am part of the problem -- my rationality completely dominates any sense of spirituality, and I often make choices without considering the larger impact of my actions or my place in the world. I use reason to make all decisions in my life. Existentialism is a good personal philosophy when making decisions in the realm of logos, but I sometimes ask myself if my actions really contribute to the world, and if anything I do really matters at all. I know that if I were a more spiritual person, I might better understand my role in society. I would make better choices for the world and for my overall happiness, a well-being transcendent of material wealth and more similar to eudaimonia. Often, I wish I could believe in a God or some higher power to help guide my life. However, the rationality inculcated in me as a child by a logos-based society has precluded any spirituality or religious affiliation which might be able to help me answer some of these questions.

To truly advance our society and rediscover legitimate personal happiness, Americans must help future generations find some kind of higher power or faith to believe in. I am not advocating for everyone to attend mass every Sunday and worship a god, or to participate in a Sun Dance out west to commune with nature. However, I do believe that all children should be exposed to both mythos and logos, not presented as I was with a purely rational view of the world with no guidance or faith. Without rationality completely disallowing for a discovery of spirituality, future Americans would be able to find their own unique sense of mythos. This abstract influence, coupled with America’s innately rational attitude, would allow the citizens of the future to live more full, rewarding lives and positively contribute to the world.