Insights from Dallas Willard

This article is the second in a series looking at the top insights from the life and work of Dallas Willard. The first article was an introduction (Dallas Willard – Spiritual Formation Insights That Will Propel Your Growth). We will continue to explore additional insights in future articles. In this article, we look at the first insight, what did Dallas Willard believe about reality and the good life?

Insight #1: Dallas Willard’s Four Great Questions of Life

1. What is Reality?

This is the first question because it is the most foundational. Reality may seem obvious on the surface, but philosophers have debated what is truly real for thousands of years. The first leading narrative about reality today is based on scientific naturalism (or scientism). The thesis is that only things that can be proven scientifically are true and real. There is nothing supernatural. This claim itself cannot be proven scientifically. It must be taken on faith. This puts it on the same footing as all other religious worldviews that require a level of faith as well. Despite this, many people today unquestioningly accept this scientific approach to reality.

Psychological wellbeing is another popular narrative. What is real is whatever you think is most real for you. This comes across in popular culture phrases like “Live out your true self”, “Be true to yourself”, and “Find your own truth”. Self-actualization is the top level in the hierarchy of needs. This has become the core way of defining identity. Your identity is whatever you determine for yourself.

There is a tension between the widely accepted scientific naturalism and the nearly ubiquitous psychological approach. The tension is between the objective reality based on science and reason against the subjective reality of our own psyche and experiences. This tension highlights the inadequacy of both approaches to understand what fundamentality reality is. They are both true, but neither can be the whole truth.

What did Dallas Willard believe about reality?

Dallas Willard’s answer to the first great question of life “What is real?”: God and his Kingdom. God and his Kingdom is not purely or even primarily physical. God created reality to be more than matter. We are more than our physical bodies. We have a will, heart, and spirit. The physical limitation of scientific naturalism intuitively fails to capture the full extent of our reality.

Dallas Willard also believed in moral realism. Morality only works when right and wrong correspond to something real. They can’t be merely subjective and relative and still function successfully in society. Moral knowledge is possible because moral reality is based on the reality of God and his Kingdom.

God’s Kingdom is not solely a future reality. It is here and now. We unpacked the importance of this view of the gospel in a previous article (The Gospel – What did Jesus think he was doing?). Only when we build our life on the solid and true reality of God and his Kingdom, will we be safe and secure.

2. Who is blessed? Who has the good life?

The second question is about the good life. We are all seeking some version of the good life. Beyond avoiding pain and seeking pleasure, humans also seek meaning and significance.

The world offers many narratives about what the good life entails. The most common is probably a combination of individualism and hedonism. The American Dream is built on the freedom to accumulate enough material wealth to be able to fulfill all your wants. Barriers to seeking pleasure are problems to be overcome. Money, sex, and power have become the markers of success. The church is not immune to this influence. It may be more subtle, like expecting a certain kind of house, having the latest tech gadget, or seeking a large number of followers on social media.

If reality is fundamentally limited to psychological experience, then the good life is determined by mental wellbeing. This has become increasingly clear with the rising mental health crisis. People tend to frame their core struggles in terms of how things make them feel. Their feelings can become the driving force in life. Good feelings define the good life. Mental health is important, but wellbeing is much more than good feelings. Again, the church is also not immune to this either. Therapeutic Christianity (Christianity focused on making people feel good) only offers a technique. It won’t get you to a true life with God.

What did Dallas Willard believe about the good life?

Dallas Willard’s answer to the second great question of life “Who has the good life?”: Anyone who is alive in God’s Kingdom. God knows what is best for our lives. If we are following God, then we no longer need to worry about the outcomes. We can live securely with God. We acknowledge that what we desire in our view of the good life is false.

The good life is made up of training and ruling. We train to become the type of person who desires what God desires (more on that below). We rule with God in his Kingdom by living out the original vision of Genesis. This involves learning to judge according to the moral reality of God. People becomes more important than things. The good life culminates at the second coming of Jesus.

3. Who is a good person?

The third question is one of ethics, who is a good person? Philosophers have come up with various paradigms for answering this question. Utilitarianism claims that whatever is the best for the most people is right. Kant described a categorical imperative where what is right is whatever can be universalized to apply regardless of context. Ayn Rand describes selfishness as a virtue. Many later philosophers gave up on right and wrong as valid categories altogether. Does Christianity have something better to offer?

What did Dallas Willard believe about who is a good person?

Dallas Willard’s answer to the third great question of life “Who is a really good person?”: A person pervaded with agape love. Agape is a Greek word for the highest form of love. It is love that seeks the good of the other. Jesus is the only person to fulfill this perfectly. He provides the ultimate example for us to follow. This reaches the epitome on the cross.

Jesus understood this well. This love is the basis for the greatest commandment.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.

Mark 12:30-31 NIV

A good person shows love by seeking the wellbeing of others in the realm of influence that God has given them. This stands in stark contrast to the way other people are only a means to an end in the money, sex, and power paradigm.

4. How do you become a good person?

We live in a culture of quick fixes and self-help. This mentality is also pervasive in the church. There is a steady stream of new books, podcasts, and videos about how to be a successful Christian coming out of the evangelic industrial complex. While some of these resources make good points, the reality is that the path to becoming a good person is a lifetime of work. It is not quick fix. There isn’t a technique learned in quick, easy steps. It is a relationship with Jesus.

What did Dallas Willard believe about becoming a good person?

Dallas Willard’s answer to the fourth great question of life “How do you becomes a really good person”: Become a disciple of Jesus. Jesus is our example of who a good person is, so we need to do what he did and follow what he taught in order to become more like him. We take on the role of disciple, apprentice, and friend. As a disciple, we follow Jesus. As an apprentice, we learn from Jesus. And as a friend, we love Jesus.

This doesn’t happen purely by effort or through direct intention. It is through building a habit of spiritual disciplines (or practices) that we grow in following, learning, and loving Jesus. We learn to align our will with God’s will. The disciple comes to see the things that Jesus says to do as invitations to join him in his Kingdom. We will discuss spiritual disciplines and discipleship more with insights #4 and #5.