Would you like to know what the essence and the root cause of the midlife crisis is? Would you like me to let you in on the Big Secret? It's not a secret at all, but it is BIG. The infamous midlife crisis is nothing more (and nothing less) than a crisis in meaning. My background includes a lot of time spent researching Western philosophy and theology. From the outset, I've been consumed by a curiosity to know, "What does it all mean?" Like it or not, accept it or reject it, embrace it or run from it, that's what makes the midlife transition so life-shattering: it brings you to face to face with the question of all questions.
Not everyone can look at this question dead-on in the eye and face the answer that emerges from the darkness and confusion. After all, by the time this question emerges, decades of life have already passed full of comfortable assumptions. You've assumed you knew where you came from, where you are, and where you're going. Yet, once the Question steps up and stares you in the face, all other bets are off. What seemed like a rock-solid foundation you could stand on with confidence and security suddenly reveals itself as quicksand masquerading as solid ground. Having the courage to ask, "What does it all mean?" does more than take you to a deeper level of understanding; it signals a paradigm shift of huge proportions.
The assumptions that we all grew up with taught us how the world works what does being grounded mean. It taught us that humankind has been around a very long time and has a tremendous body of knowledge to offer us. We learned that wisdom was to be found in history, tradition, and culture. Perhaps the greatest loss to humanity might have been the day that Julius Caesar burned the fleet in the harbor of Alexandria, Egypt, and inadvertently set fire to the great library there. That library contained copies of all the amassed knowledge of the then-known world; much of it was lost forever in that fire. Yet, enough survived to teach you how you ought to believe, to think, and to behave. You were taught the principles of right and wrong. Even today you are a child of human history, and your story is inextricably linked to the story of all humankind.