Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute) and His Journey Back to God
Dwight Schrute from The Office has a lot to say about God and spirituality – or rather, Rainn Wilson, the actor portraying him. So what are his thoughts in his latest book?
If you’ve ever watched The Office (the US version), you must have loved Dwight Schrute, (If you haven’t watched it, you should!) His character has been one of the funniest in any TV series while, at the same time, so unique and difficult to capture in a few words. He’s been one of my most beloved characters in the show, along with Michael, Jim, Pam, Kevin, Phyllis, Angela, Stanley, Oscar, Kelly, Meredith, Darryl, Jan, Toby, Creed, Ryan, Andy, Erin, Holly, … well, yes, I loved almost all of them in the series, which have watched at least three times so far. But as every fan knows, Dwight has always stood apart and the show could never be the same without him:
The internet knows well that Dwight has been the source of many memorable moments, jokes, and quotes:
But, of course, there’s a real actor behind Dwight and he’s Rainn Wilson. And just as is the case with any character on any show, you could never guess his real life’s journey. It’s an oversimplification missing in all the details, but Rainn was raised in the Baháʼí Faith, left it in his 20s, only to come back to it again. Many puzzle pieces of his spiritual journey have been new to me and I’m glad that I’ve caught up. In many ways, I’m writing this post so that you can catch up too.
Last year, Rainn wrote about his thinking on spirituality and religion in his book Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution (2023). However, it’s not a memoir per se. He authored it in 2015 under the title The Bassoon King: Art, Idiocy, and Other Sordid Tales from the Band Room. So if you’re looking for a book on his life and career, this is the place to go. It’s a story from Rainn’s birth to his starring in The Office and beyond. But Soul Boom is different. As the blurb on his website states:
The trauma that our struggling species has experienced in recent years—because of both the pandemic and societal tensions that threaten to overwhelm us—is not going away anytime soon. Existing political and economic systems are not enough to bring the change that the world needs. In this book, Rainn Wilson explores the possibility and hope for a spiritual revolution, a “Soul Boom,” to find a healing transformation on both a personal and global level.
While the book eventually came out in 2023, he started writing it ‘during the early weeks of the COVID-19 quarantine.’ He saw that time as an opportunity worth taking up:
Hours and hours of free time to vomit forth a potpourri of ideas on all my favorite topics: the journey of the soul, life after death, the Big Guy Upstairs, and the personal and universal spiritual transformation of society!
I’ll mention some of its ideas in what follows. For now, if you’d like to learn a short, 4-minute summary of his spiritual journey, you can watch this 2011 video on Big Think:
As he mentioned in this clip, it was already in 2010 when Rainn wrote his first book, Soul Pancake: Chew On Life’s Big Questions. This was based on a project with the same name. So what are the aims of SoulPancake? Its website states:
Founded in 2008 by Rainn Wilson, Devon Gundry, Shabnam Mogharabi and Golriz Lucina, SoulPancake was created to encourage open-hearted dialogue about what it means to be human. Throughout the years, we created content that explores the ways we all seek connection, hope, truth, identity, and purpose.
Or as he puts it in his Soul Boom:
The same “Life’s Big Questions” that haunted me in my twenties was the inspirational cornerstone that led to my eventual founding of SoulPancake, a website, YouTube channel, and production studio that specialized in creating uplifting content and sparking dialogue about the beauty and drama of being a human. Our best-selling book, SoulPancake: Chew on Life’s Big Questions, was a creative workbook based on many of the profound spiritual issues and inquiries I grappled with in my youth and continue to wrestle with in the following pages.
I’ve actually watched a couple of these videos made by SoulPancake, but back then, I didn’t realize that Rainn’s mind was behind them. Here’s my favourite one that I remember well, on gratitude:
I learned about Rainn’s richer background and interest in religion(s) some two years ago when I came across the first episodes of his podcast Metaphysical Milkshake (co-hosted by the sociologist of religion Reza Aslan). His podcast features many guests on many diverse topics so it’s indeed a veritable milkshake. It’s something you might want to explore as well if you’re interested in Rainn and the questions he likes to explore. I’ve listened to only a few of them and it’s been some time ago now, so I wouldn’t like to comment on them too much. Here’s just a short, 2-minute, intro to the podcast which might convey its vibe:
YouTube features quite a lot of videos where Rainn talks about his spiritual journey. He has also, for example, four longer (40-60 minutes) talks for Talks at Google, but if you have just 20 minutes to learn more about his life & journey, you could listen to this one:
As a fan of The Office, I like how Rainn captured here probably the experience of many when he described the effects the series has had on its viewers:
The greater service is that we made people laugh. And I tell you it has been so such a bomb to my heart to hear from people over the years how much The Office has meant to them. It's cheered their hearts – they were going through a hard time; they were dealing with anxiety or depression; their parents were getting a divorce; someone in the family was sick. ... The Office brought them solace and brought them joy.
But let’s get still back to Soul Boom for a while. This is not a review at all, but rather just a few interesting bits and pieces from the book that at least partially reveal how Rainn thinks about God, science, and religion.
As we’ve already mentioned, it offers his reflections on spirituality which he defines (and contrasts with other meanings) in the opening pages:
The word “spirituality,” as the Oxford English Dictionary defines it, means “the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.” This is exactly what I’m talking about. Way to go, OED!
As the subtitle of Soul Boom implies, he is interested in what he calls a ‘spiritual revolution’, leading to the betterment of humanity. In a later chapter, dealing with such a revolution, he offers ‘seven pillars.’ I won’t comment on them further but here they are:
1. Create a new mythology.
2. Celebrate joy and fight cynicism.
3. Destroy adversarial systems.
4. Build something new; don’t just protest.
5. Systematize grassroots movements.
6. Invest in virtues education.
7. Harness radical compassion.
Many of these as well as his reflections in general offer good general and concrete advice on how to think about things in our lives differently. (However, I’d question a few things, such as, whether we need to create a new mythology of humanity.) Many stories, examples, and metaphors are worth the read and they might truly give you some good insights you might be inspired by.
Now, the topic of our primary interest: What about Rainn’s thoughts on science and religion? In one section (in chapter 4), he writes that the discussions on the existence of God are futile:
In case you were wondering, this section is not going to be like one of those videos where a God-believer and an atheist sit on a stage in front of a partisan audience (who already have their minds made up) and have an argument about whether God exists or not. Those discussions are pointless. Just read the comments sections underneath the videos. No one has ever changed their mind about something as colossal as the Supreme Being because of who scored more points in an argument on YouTube, no matter how articulate the speakers might be.
Well, there might be some truth to this, but are all these interactions pointless? And is success measured by the number of instantly changed worldviews? Or by what people write in YouTube comments? Some changes might be partial, gradual, and require a longer period of reflection on what one just heard. Or it might point one to a relevant book or article which that provide one with further thinking. Maybe it could could lead to a later insightful conversation with a friend thanks to those online discussions. I myself have changed my mind on several non-trivial things over the years as a result of watching online content, and so I’m not so pessimistic at all. Admittedly, I like friendly conversations much more than the debate format, and in that, I can sympathize with Rainn. But I digress so let’s get back to his thoughts. When it comes to the relationship of science and religion, he finds it somewhat strained:
Science. I mean, who doesn’t love the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experimentation! Unfortunately, throughout the ages science has frequently been positioned as being in opposition to faith.
Indeed, he finds a lot sympathy with atheists and the arguments made by them:
Atheists have rejected so many of the obvious hypocrisies, corruptions, and especially nonsensically literal interpretations of symbols and metaphors in most of the world’s religions. At tremendous risk of pissing off every single religious faith in the world, I would simply offer you some examples of these superstitions:
Elephant-shaped gods
The reincarnation of “bad” human beings into cockroaches
People being turned willy-nilly into pillars of salt
Magical enlightenment under trees
Burning bushes that talk to you
Jesus’s body floating away after three days to be with his dad
Mohammed riding a winged horse back and forth to Jerusalem in a night
Besides all the mythological stories, atheists have sooo many very good reasons to not believe in God!
So what are these reasons? As you can imagine, the list includes the traditional culprits:
For instance, from the dawn of time, religion has caused innumerable wars and incalculable deaths. All in an “all-loving” God’s name! From the crusades to the mass exterminations of “nonbelievers” during the first centuries of colonialism to the Spanish Inquisition. From 9/11 to the Iran-Iraq war to Hindu mob violence against Muslims in India to armed Buddhist terrorists setting off bombs in Sri Lanka. No religious faith has escaped this violence. Not to mention the endless list of holy genocides, holy wars, and holy pogroms that have preceded recorded history.
And let’s not forget that God-people seem to be so weirdly antiscience at times! I mean, why this recent bizarre connection in evangelical circles between believing in Jesus and disbelieving in vaccines?!
Shortly after this, we find a section ‘The Case Against God.’ Here, it seems that the ultimate problem is – you guessed it – the problem of evil/suffering:
How do we rectify a Creator that would hand out so much personal tragedy? Grotesque, painful things happening to good and kind people. Heartbreaking.
He goes on to offer three areas of reflection on the problem of evil (1. Where exactly does human responsibility end and God’s hand begin? 2. Could suffering have an intangible upside? 3. Is there a scientific case for suffering?). Eventually, he ends the section on a rather optimistic note:
In summation, perhaps suffering, tests, and difficulties are actually the reason for this material existence, and finding joy while in the midst of them is our life’s greatest and most important challenge.
(Image: The Office Wiki)
Of course, as is it obvious by now, Rainn is not an atheist and follows this with a section ‘Why I Am Not an Atheist.’ So… why not?
If respect atheists so much, then why am I not one, you might be asking yourself. I will dodge that answer with a poem:
To be alive: not just the carcass
But the spark.
That’s crudely put, but...
If we’re not supposed to dance,
Why all this music?— Gregory Orr
Despite this seeming avoidance, he gets back to it soon. He has at least one good reason after all:
So back to the question I’ve been dodging. Why am I not an atheist? Because, according to materialist doctrine, at the end of the day this would mean that there is only “stuff.” Things. Specks. Atoms. Chunks. Molecules. Matter. Plus a little dark matter thrown in. Energy flitting about in between. Stuff that seemingly created itself. A universe that came into being on its own for some completely unknown and ultimately unknowable reason some 13.8 billion years ago. This leads me down the rabbit hole of, “Well, why is there anything at all? Why is there something? Why is there not just nothing?” ... The Nobel Prize–winnin? physicist Max Planck put it this way: “All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent Mind.”
Butt-loads and butt-loads of stuff just popping into existence on its own for no reason simply makes no sense to me. It feels like its own kind of science-based superstition. I “believe” that matter, heat, energy, neutrons, protons, electrons, light, gravity, and time just burst forth from a single point because... well, it just did. That’s just how it is. There is stuff. Period. Case closed. An entire universe of infinite complexity was born in a heartbeat because... science. Really? Sorry, but it feels like a bit of a stretch.
So although Rainn doesn’t seem to like the traditional arguments (or perhaps debates) for and against God’s existence, he is, as we’ve just seen, convinced by the power of the cosmological argument. Yet, there might not be one reason but two. This time, connected to the meaning of life and the universe:
Plus, then it’s all so meaningless! And in a world where we humans are wired for some unknown reason (thanks, consciousness!) to be incessantly searching, questing, longing for meaning, it just doesn’t add up!
But what kind of God does this point to? Here’s what he thinks:
Perhaps we ought to spend less time thinking of this creative force as a what and more like a how—how to live in this world with radiance, humility, a spirit of service, and a sacred harmony. A God that emanates divine qualities in the same way that pesky spiritual metaphor in the sky, the sun, emanates light, heat, and healing.
Perhaps God could not even be considered as something distinct or separate from what He has fashioned but rather as the sum of creation. The fifteenth-century philosopher Nicholas of Cusa had an indelible and unforgettable way of framing the conception of the Creator. He once said, “Divinity is in all things in such a way that all things are in divinity.” He spoke of a God “whose center, so to speak, is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.”
There would be, of course, much to say on each of these points if commentary was needed! But there isn’t, at least not now. All that remains to say is that Soul Boom is a captivating, well-written, and thought-provoking book with plenty of good ‘spiritual’ food for thought. And, well, it’s written by Dwight. I mean, by Rainn.
I hope you now know a bit more about the guy who played Dwight. Perhaps it will make your next (re)watching of The Office more interesting, knowing that there’s much more to Dwight than what the screen was able to show. To me, it doesn’t matter whether and to what extent we agree with Rainn in what he thinks about God or the ‘God arguments.’ At least to me, it’s refreshing to know that actors like him are not just 2D characters who are not interested in the big questions of life. And while I’m not sure if the book will spark a spiritual revolution, it should definitely start at least a couple of revolutions in your brain.