Our Holy Longing

What are we really looking for?

We yearn for love, meaning, belonging, and transcendence. This is our soul’s holy longing, whether we name it that or not. And we remain restless until we find what we seek.

If you’re not especially religious, you might wonder why I’ve included transcendence in this list. Love, meaning, belonging. Sure. But transcendence? That sounds like God-stuff. Not everybody seeks God. Or at least not God as Christians understand it. Right?

Let’s reframe transcendence for both the spiritually curious and those who reject the idea of a higher power. In its simplest terms, transcendence means beyond.

We yearn to connect to something beyond ourselves.

Beyond our ego.

Beyond our achievements.

Beyond applause that fades.

Beyond the stuff we’ve accumulated.

Beyond even our death.

This is more than just religious longing—it’s a universal spiritual desire. A search for meaning and purpose that outlives our circumstances.

Photo by Rainier Ridao on Unsplash

Surveys reveal how widespread this longing really is. Take Generation Z, the people born between 1997 and 2012. They are the least religious generation in modern history. They rarely attend worship services. They often doubt God’s existence—or reject it completely.

And yet, 83% of Gen Z believe in an afterlife.

They believe in something beyond this life.

(See the @ryanburge essay “Is There A Religious Revival Occurring Among Generation Z?”)

To me, even the barest belief in life after death isn’t just intellectual. It’s emotional. It’s existential. It’s a yearning—an ache for something eternal. A desire that no social feed or career milestone can satisfy.

In our time, there’s no single way to talk about this. No shared language for soul hunger. No consensus on what spiritual experiences mean. But the yearning itself hasn’t disappeared. It’s what keeps us looking for a spiritual pathway.

Longing for transcendence isn’t about escaping to a better place. It’s about anchoring ourselves in something real. Something deep. Something that fills this life with meaning that doesn’t fade.

The letter to the Colossians offers a glimpse into how the transcendent guides and informs our everyday existence.

“We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.” (Col. 1:4-5)

Hope for what’s beyond shapes how we love in the here and now.

Our connection to the transcendent molds our character. It forms our patience, our courage, our capacity for joy—even in suffering.

Colossians says it like this:

“May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father.” (Col. 1:11-12)

This longing isn’t a drive to be satiated. As we’ll see in the next reflection, it’s our finite soul’s longing to be stretched—to have more and more space within us to receive the infinite God.

This post is the first reflection in a four-part series The Infinite in the Everyday.
On successive Fridays the next reflection will drop. Watch for:
Part 2: What Makes Your Life Meaningful
Part 3: Rethinking Your Spiritual Path
Part 4: Where the Infinite Finds Us

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Scheduling me to speak at your event

Connecting with curious, insightful people is one of my happy places. That’s why I love speaking at conferences, retreats, and other events. My calendar for 2025 is full, but my colleague Holly Davis is adding events for 2026 and beyond now. Click the link below to contact her.

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