I didn’t give much thought to the title of Ayn Rand’s novel, “Atlas Shrugged,” until this morning.

In Greek mythology the titan Atlas is condemned to support the heavens on his shoulders. In statuary he is depicted holding the world. Hence, we speak of “bearing the weight of the world on one’s shoulders”.

Rand equates the doers of this world, the creative, ambitious men and women of action who are thwarted by government and bureaucrats, with Atlas. What would happen if these folks “shrugged”, packed it in, quit, surrendered?

Allow me a bit of leap as I ask, “What if God ‘shrugged?'” The first chapter of Romans is one of the most haunting passages in scripture with its triple repetition of the phrase, “God gave them up…”

²⁴ Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity…

²⁶ For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions…

²⁸ And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct. 

C.S. Lewis wrote that ultimately there are only two destinies for humanity. There are those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, “Thy will be done.”

I am told that there is one word a narcissist cannot bear to hear. It is when, in response to their demands or drama or antics, the person they are trying to manipulate simply shrugs and says, “Whatever.”

As cold as it seems, could there come a time when God says in response to our narcissism, rebellion and rejection of his overtures, “Have it your way” — at least for a season? Could we be there now?

What if God simply withdrew His hand and let human nature take its course? The world we know today does not require the kind of active punishment we see from the hand of God in the Old Testament. Punishment, if not total annihilation, is built into the system. If “all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing,” how long would we survive if a good God ceased His efforts?

Philosopher Charles Tayor, in his great little book, “The Ethics of Authenticity” develops the implications of our modern conviction that human choice is an ultimate good. I.e., a thing is right because I chose it out of my authentic self. No further justification is needed. Righteousness resides in the choosing, all the more so if I choose it against the norms. The irony is that if there is no higher standard than personal choice, our choices become meaningless and trivial and ultimately devoid of the value they claim.

What happens when, floating in a sea of fellow choosers, no one cares what we choose? “Cool.” “You do you!”

Imagine Frank Sinatra reaching the grand climax of his anthem, “I did it myyyyyy wayyyyyy.” There is silence in the hall, no applause. Then a voice from the cheap seats calls, “Yeah, me too” “So what?” “Who cares?”

I’ll never forget when my English professor told me that Robert Frost was being sarcastic when he wrote that taking “the road less travelled by” had “made all the difference.” It was like being told there was no Santa Claus! But a closer reading reveals this is in fact the point of the poem. Seeking significance in an age drained of transcendent values, old men tell themselves “with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence,” that their choices made a difference. All the difference between what and what?

Novelist Cormac McCarthy tells us that this is “no country for old men” — old men with the values and clarity, meaning and significance of that other time. It might be the lucky ones who get shot by honest bandits before they live long enough to see what has come to be.

Taylor makes the case that choices only have meaning in the face of an ideal greater than choice and individual authenticity. It takes ideals to give Choice A superiority over Choice B, and thereby provide any significance to the existence of chooser. Those ideals are fading away and with them any basis for meaning.

Similarly, “authentic” self-assertion relies on opposition for its energy.

What happens when no one pushes back? What happens when nothing is transgressive or wrong or shocking or counter-cultural? When society says, “Whatever.” We may have to manufacture opposition and “enemies of progress” just to validate ourselves a little longer.

When nothing is right or wrong, nothing matters. When nothing is good or bad, nothing is better or worse. “Nothing is real,” and there’s “nothing to get hung about.”

Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see
It’s getting hard to be someone but it all works out
It doesn’t matter much to me

How could it matter? There is hardly any me to matter to! I am fading away, another ghost with a cellphone and a credit card.

But don’t worry…

There is no pain [even though] you are receding
A distant ship smoke on the horizon
You are only coming through in waves
Your lips move but I can’t hear what you’re saying

Meaning and significance are becoming distant memories.

When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown
The dream is gone
I have become comfortably numb

T.S. Eliot imagined that the world would end not with a “bang, but a whimper.” Or maybe a yawn and a shrug.

Lord, please don’t give up on us. Help us turn back to you.