Why We’re Building This (Nick’s Version)

I met Danny as a downstairs neighbor after moving to Chicago in 2019. I was beginning my doctoral studies in industrial-organizational psychology at the time, and Danny was considering returning to school to pursue his graduate studies in chaplaincy. It wasn’t until a few years later that Danny told me his idea for The PATH. I expressed curiosity about the project, and we began to realize our many overlapping interests and complementary backgrounds in business, chaplaincy, and psychology. I can remember one conversation in particular when Danny was conducting preliminary research to inform the project’s prototype, and he interviewed me about my personal experiences with spirituality. We recently listened back on this recording, and my response to Danny’s question about what spirituality means to me was something along the lines of “an innate human need for meaning-making and guiding values.”

“Spirituality means [...] an innate human need for meaning-making and guiding values.”

This statement reflects the experiences of a Millennial raised in a secular and progressive environment, occasionally dabbling in “spirituality.” I have always been thankful for my secular upbringing, unbounded by traditional religious obligations and the potentially ensuing ideological dogma. But these post-enlightenment characteristics of contemporary society, such as open-mindedness, rationality, empiricism, and tolerance, also often leave the participant with a lack of structure, a sense of deeper meaning, and explicit values. As someone who has always been curious about life’s bigger questions, at times teetering into what a qualified expert might call the “existential crisis,” I have struggled to find fulfillment with respect to my above description.

“I have always been thankful for my secular upbringing, unbounded by traditional religious obligations and the potentially ensuing ideological dogma.

But these post-enlightenment characteristics of contemporary society, such as open-mindedness, rationality, empiricism, and tolerance, also often leave the participant with a lack of structure, a sense of deeper meaning, and explicit values.“

With the digitalized availability of endless information, ideas, and content, I have historically found myself meandering from one impulsively intriguing ideological framework/philosophical idea/religious practice to the next without truly finding the deeper sense of fulfillment that comes with structure, intentionality, and living in alignment with one’s acknowledged values. This is why Danny’s description of The Path concept resonated with me so much: in a world of increasing information overload, secularity, individualism, and tradition blending (for better or worse), it can be difficult to engage with one’s spirituality, well-being, or even mental health, in a way that feels productive and gratifying. Yes, we have mindfulness apps, but in reality, the majority of people using them (me included) use them as tools to cope with life’s temporary challenges and acute stressors and not to guide them on their meaning-making paths.

Part of my pursuit for deeper meaning has led me into the discipline of organizational psychology, which involves leveraging diverse domains of psychology to improve the lives of people in organizational settings. As a psychology researcher with expertise in data analysis, I manage PATH’s back-end data models and enrich our content with research-based evidence and practice. When it comes to spirituality and diverse religious practices, Danny and Sean have taught me a great deal, and I am an avid user of the PATH platform for my own meaning-making journey. For example, I have learned that I am both a communalist and a personalist (see our meaning-making reports to explore these terms more) with associated values that I have been able to identify and live more in alignment with. In a world where finding deeper meaning can be so difficult, it is our goal here at The PATH to combine our diverse expertise and deliver to others an easy-to-use, inclusive, and evidence-based platform for doing so.