The Journey of the Soul Without God

Chapter Nine

In the modern era, where belief in a traditional God or divine authority has diminished, individuals must create meaning and purpose through their relationships, actions, and personal engagement with the world.

Lillian Hartley

The question of how the soul can journey toward meaning and purpose in a world without a traditional God has captivated philosophers, theologians, and modern thinkers. In exploring this theme, we turn to the works of Buber, Barrett, Heidegger, Dupré, Kierkegaard, and others, each offering a unique perspective on how individuals navigate the existential challenges of life when divine certainty is no longer a guiding force.

 The Human Condition and the Crisis of Meaning

William Barrett’s *Irrational Man* explores how the Western world has, since the Enlightenment, slowly distanced itself from religious and metaphysical frameworks. This distancing has resulted in a profound crisis of meaning, as individuals are now faced with the existential task of creating meaning in a world that offers no inherent purpose. Barrett reminds us that the rationalist model of humanity—rooted in Cartesian thinking—viewed man as an epistemological subject, a detached mind seeking certainty through reason. This model, Barrett argues, is no longer sufficient in an era where human experience is characterized by uncertainty, ambiguity, and emotional complexity.

Barrett’s critique resonates with the arguments of Louis Dupré in *Passage to Modernity*, who notes that the shift from a theocentric to an anthropocentric worldview marked a fundamental transformation in how we understand ourselves. In the medieval period, individuals saw their emotions, desires, and actions as part of a larger cosmic order intimately tied to the divine. For example, the medieval farmer experiencing drought did not see his suffering as a personal misfortune but as part of a larger cosmic imbalance requiring divine intervention. This worldview created a profound interconnectedness between humanity, the cosmos, and the divine.

As Dupré highlights, the Renaissance and the Enlightenment internalised this connection, placing the individual at the centre of meaning-making. As a result, the modern person became responsible for constructing their meaning, with the divine relegated to the background if acknowledged. This transition left individuals grappling with the pressures of self-determination, often feeling unmoored from the sacred order that once provided comfort and guidance.

Existentialism and the Search for Authenticity

Søren Kierkegaard’s *Fear and Trembling* responds to this crisis of meaning. Kierkegaard’s notion of the “leap of faith” is not simply about believing in God—it’s about confronting the existential uncertainty of life and choosing to live authentically despite the absence of external guarantees. For Kierkegaard, the modern individual must face the terrifying freedom of losing divine authority and take responsibility for creating meaning in a world without inherent direction. This “leap” requires a courageous embrace of the absurd, acknowledging that meaning is not given but must be constructed through personal choice and commitment.

Martin Heidegger builds on this idea with his concept of *Dasein*, or “being-there,” which challenges Descartes’ view of man as an isolated thinking subject. Heidegger argues that human existence is fundamentally relational and embedded in the world. Rather than mastering or controlling the world through reason, humans are “thrown” into existence, and their task is to confront the realities of death, anxiety, and limitation. Heidegger’s existential framework rejects the Cartesian notion that we can detach ourselves from the world to find objective truth. Instead, truth emerges through our engagement with *Being*, through our participation in the world around us.

In *Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It’s Doing to Us*, Will Storr explores how modern society’s emphasis on the “perfectible self” has exacerbated the existential crisis by placing enormous pressure on individuals to achieve external success and perfection. Storr highlights how this cultural obsession with self-improvement, driven by social media and self-help ideologies, leaves individuals feeling inadequate, isolated, and overwhelmed. The pursuit of perfection, Storr argues, distracts us from the deeper, more meaningful questions about what it means to live an authentic and fulfilling life.

As exemplified by Kierkegaard and Heidegger, the existentialist response to this crisis is not to seek external validation or perfection but to embrace more profound uncertainties and limitations of life. In Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard emphasises that the heroism of life lies not in achieving perfection but in confronting the absurd and living authentically. Heidegger’s notion of care and concern similarly highlights the importance of accepting life’s finitude and finding meaning through engagement with the world rather than pursuing some idealised version of the self.

Buber’s Relational Spirituality: Meaning Without God

In *Between Man and Man*, Martin Buber offers an alternative vision for finding meaning in a world without God. For Buber, meaning is not something that must be created individually but something that emerges in the relational space between people. Buber’s concept of the “I-Thou” relationship emphasises the sacredness of human connection. In this relational encounter, individuals experience the divine not as an abstract, distant being but as something that arises in the immediacy of genuine dialogue and connection with others.

Buber’s relational spirituality provides a way to find meaning without relying on traditional notions of God. He argues that the divine is not something “out there” but comes into being when individuals engage deeply and authentically with one another. In this way, Buber’s philosophy offers a vision of spirituality grounded in human relationships rather than metaphysical abstractions.

Ray Billington’s Religion Without God expands on this idea by suggesting that spirituality can be found in the natural world and in human experience. Billington advocates for a form of spirituality rooted in mindfulness, compassion, and ethical living. Like Buber, Billington rejects the notion that meaning must be derived from a transcendent God. Instead, he argues that meaning emerges through our relationships with others and our connection to the world.

The Crisis of the Self and the Hero Myth

The soul’s journey without God is not simply a metaphysical or existential question but also a psychological one. As Will Storr points out in *Selfie*, the modern myth of the perfectible self has created a profound crisis of identity. The pressure to constantly improve and be the “hero” of our own story has left many people feeling disconnected from their true selves. This modern hero myth, which Storr critiques, is dangerous because it reduces the complexity of the human experience to a simplistic narrative of success and achievement.

In contrast, existentialist philosophers like Kierkegaard and Heidegger and spiritual thinkers like Buber and Billington suggest that the journey of the soul is not about perfection or external success. It is about confronting the realities of existence, engaging deeply with others, and accepting the limitations of life. The existential crisis is not something to be “fixed” through self-improvement but embraced as part of the human condition.

As Louis Dupré argues in *Passage to Modernity*, the shift from a theocentric to an anthropocentric worldview has placed the burden of meaning-making squarely on the shoulders of the individual. This has led to a profound sense of alienation and anxiety as individuals struggle to create meaning in a world that offers no inherent purpose. Dupré’s analysis of the modern condition echoes the existentialist critique of modernity, which emphasises the need for individuals to confront the absurdity of life and find meaning through personal choice and authentic engagement with the world.

Conclusion: The Soul’s Journey Without God

The journey of the soul without God is not a journey toward nihilism or despair but one toward a deeper engagement with life. As the philosophers and thinkers discussed in this chapter suggest, meaning is not something that can be handed down from above or imposed from outside. It is something that must be created through our relationships, our actions, and our acceptance of the world as it is.

Kierkegaard’s leap of faith, Heidegger’s *Dasein*, Buber’s relational spirituality, and Billington’s naturalistic ethics all offer different pathways for navigating the existential challenges of life without God. While the modern myth of the perfectible self may lead to anxiety and despair, the existentialist and spiritual traditions remind us that meaning is found not in perfection but in authenticity, connection, and the courage to confront the uncertainties of life.

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**Sources:**

1. Martin Buber, *Between Man and Man* (Routledge, 2002), 45-56.  

2. William Barrett, *Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy* (Anchor Books, 1990), 32-57.  

3. Louis Dupré, *Passage to Modernity: An Essay in the Hermeneutics of Nature and Culture* (Yale University Press, 1993), 112-140.  

4. Martin Heidegger, *Being and Time*, trans. John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson (Harper Perennial, 2008), 227-247.  

5. Ray Billington, *Religion Without God* (Routledge, 2002), 92-105.  

6. Søren Kierkegaard, *Fear and Trembling*, trans. Alastair Hannay (Penguin Classics, 1985), 63-87.  

7. Will Storr, *Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It’s Doing to Us* (Picador, 2018), 78-93.