What Lack I Yet?

"What lack I yet?"

This is the question that a wealthy young man asked to Jesus of Nazareth. His question was about his own spiritual worthiness to enter the kingdom of God. He had done everything that he had learned, but just wanted to make sure. Jesus' response was pretty demanding, "Sell that thou hast, and give to the poor..."

In another religious episode, Siddhartha Gautama was a wealthy young man who was asking the question, "What lack I yet."  His answer was also to leave everything seek a life of spiritual enlightenment.

Countless other religions have motivated people to do great things, and to do some terrible things. But whatever it is they do, it's hard to argue against the idea that religion is a powerful motivator. Most people in the world owe their current social existence to religion in some form in another. In fact, the idea of a state religion was pretty common until recently. And it's not totally gone now.

Religious and moral motivations are alive and present in nearly everyone's world and they have been for all of recorded history. Just to be clear, I'm talking about religion in all forms - from devout and prescribed religious ceremonies all the way to basic beliefs about what the world is. Even atheists will often act on moral or ethical codes that they believe exist outside of themselves.

My point is that there are things that motivate people enough to change their lives, if not their world. What is it for your character? Does your character have religion? Or perhaps even a religion? What are the things that would make them change the world, or change their lives? What kind of person, god, or prophet would they be willing to follow? When they attend a funeral is it the detached funeral of modern television, or is it the spiritual experience of the Hopi who believed the death was the beginning of a journey for the souls of the departed? Is it a time of weeping, or a time of joy, or does it matter at all?

In current media, most characters are portrayed without religion. Heroes are supposed to be good moral characters, but we ignore the part of their life that helped them become good or moral. In part that may be because it's easy to become too preachy, and in part it's because personal beliefs are just that, personal. Another reason might be that people don't always talk about their religion. It's entirely possible to tell a full and engaging story about someone and never know many aspects of their life. And it's difficult to portray religion well.

But it might be worthwhile to consider your characters beliefs and backgrounds. Do they have the have the individualistic sense that comes from the classical Greek and Roman background found in many European cultures? Or do they have a stronger sense of accomplishment from the success of the whole as in some Oriental cultures. Do they look at a poor person and say, "I should give them my coat." Or do they say, "That lazy bum is getting what he deserves."

The less you plan the religion of your characters, the more their worldview will simply be a mirror of your own or the generic agnosticism of popular culture. Your characters don't have to be religious. But give it a thought once in a while. Maybe a little religion will add some spice to your stories.