Living the Life That You Are By Nic Higham

★★★☐☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review.
In various seasons of life, we may wish that parts of our lives (or even the whole thing) were different. Most of us have compared ourselves to others, felt alone, or have been confused about who we are, negotiating life.

So we suffer. We try to make life better. That's common to all of us. But how do we respond to difficulties?

If you believe each person has been created as a unique creation, you are confident that we have been set into the world for a reason. God centers us in his wholehearted love and asks us to love and serve others (Jesus: Mark 12:30-31). Therefore, life has great meaning. Christ-followers seek to understand our special personhood and our personal contribution to the world.

This book comes from a different direction. A Western Buddhist, Higham attempts to explain humanity as a vast cosmic flow moving through meaningless cycles of reincarnation. He explores human suffering and aloneness, where a cultivated mindfulness can endure suffering without strivings or passions.

In Zen Buddhism, life at its best means cultivating emptiness, where our efforts bring escape. Attaining nirvana means life's candle winks out into cosmic nothingness. But there's no great attraction for me in viewing humanity as our ultimate limitation (in contrast to viewing humans as God's ultimate and beloved creatures.)

The life and teaching of Jesus offer a radically different path. Jesus said he came to bring "life in abundance" (John 10:10). For his followers, life on earth and into eternity is a gift of utter fullness to be enjoyed by savoring the love of God and others. I'm passionate and thrilled to be alive! not trying to dampen this wonderful and sometimes-terrible life into nothingness.


I believe all truth is God's truth, so in Higham, you will find insights into how a self-centered and emptied life can seem desirable for some people. The book offers a closer look at some aspects that may be present or absent in our lives. Personally, ongoing cycles of reincarnation and escapism in order to attain nothingness make ZERO sense to me. I find nothing attractive in trying to escape from another life cycle, attempting to set aside passions and striving, and ideally gaining less and less meaning with each return. WHHHHAAAT? That's no fun and not meaningful (which is, I guess, the point.)

This book may help you may understand the pull of Westernized Buddhism for those trapped by materialism and over-the-top consumerism. I found this glimpse into a very different vantage point very interesting indeed.