Threads That Connect

How do we appreciate a life well lived? Is it a summary of a person’s accomplishments—however big or small? Or does appreciation of a life well lived emerge from something less tangible—a legacy, a trace of wisdom, a memorable phrase, a lasting memory? In our contemporary culture of speed, we don’t usually take stock of life’s meaning until we lose a loved one or when we face our mortality.

Most readers of Psychology Today have probably not heard of Thomas Hylland Eriksen, an extraordinary Norwegian scholar who died from pancreatic cancer in November 2024 at the tragically young age of 62. Although he was taken from us far too early, his relatively brief time on earth was filled with accomplishment. As a young man, he distinguished himself as an important scholar. During his career, he conducted ethnographic research in Mauritius, Seychelles, Trinidad, Australia, and Norway. Those research experiences inspired his work on the social ramifications of globalization, nationalism, identity politics, the culture of speed, and the personal and social impact of climate change. Eriksen believed that his work, which conveyed considerable practical wisdom, should be as widely accessible as possible, meaning that he wrote textbooks, presented public lectures, and published reviews of a wide range of books in Norwegian newspapers. He was a true public intellectual. At the time of his death, he was a professor at the University of Oslo, a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, an external scientific member of the Max Plank Society, and an honorary member of the Royal Anthropological Institute.

Conversations with Thomas Hylland Eriksen in Accra, Ghana, January 2020

Source: Paul Stoller

Although I could write extensively about Thomas Eriksen’s academic work, I prefer to focus on the personally inspired dimensions of his thinking. I met Eriksen in January 2020, when we attended the Anthusia Summer School at the University of Ghana, Legon, a two-week joint Ghanaian-European anthropological workshop for graduate students. By that time, his illness had made him frail, and the tropical Ghanaian heat seemed to slow him down even more. Even so, he vigorously participated in the debates and academic exchanges with perseverance and dignity. We found time to discuss social science research, social justice practices, public scholarship, memoir writing, and the books we planned to write. Upon parting, we committed ourselves to future exchanges.

In October of 2021, Eriksen sent me a message that he was… “thinking of writing a non-academic book tentatively titled “Seven Meanings of Life.” That work resulted in a soulful text, Seven Meanings of Life: Threads That Connect. It is a book brimming with insights about the meaningfulness of life, a text that demonstrates powerfully how much Thomas Eriksen had to teach us about living well in a turbulent world.

The Cover of Eriksen's Seven Meanings in Life

Source: Thomas Hylland Eriksen, 2022, Kagge Forlag

This book consists of beautifully written chapters about what constitutes the seven meanings of life—relations, scarcity, dreams, slow time, the moment, balance, and severing the threads. In the first chapter, “Relations,” Eriksen writes about how we cultivate the bonds that create social trust. They are the threads that help make human existence meaningful. In the book, Eriksen suggests that we spend much of our time in the world, cultivating the social threads that connect us. In the second chapter, “Scarcity,” he demonstrates how the absence of resources—water, food, or shelter—increases our awareness and appreciation of the material aspects of life in the world. In the third chapter, Eriksen addresses the special meaning he associated with “Dreams.” Drawing from a psychoanalytic perspective, Eriksen suggests that dreams not only express our repressed fears and desires but can also reveal a path through the trials and tribulations of everyday life. “Slow time”, the theme of chapter four, is a particularly important element for Eriksen, who in his writing critiqued the culture of speed in which there is less and less time for reflection, conversation, or face-to-face social relations (Eriksen 2014). In the speedy swirl of human relations, however, “Special Moments”, the subject of chapter five, slow or stop our world. These are often breathtakingly powerful events that compel us to slow down and take in the beauty of the world. In chapter six, “Balance”, Eriksen suggests that the quest for greater balance—harmony—can be the means of healing ourselves and healing the world. In the book’s final chapter, “Severing the Threads” Eriksen confronts the subject of death, which severs the threads that connect us to family, friends, colleagues, and the world.

The chapters are filled with memorable psychological, ethnographic, literary, philosophical, and musical references relating to the seven meanings. But it is in the last chapter of this wonderful book that the reader grasps the wisdom of a thinker who lived fully, who suffered, and who, perhaps as a result, gazed on life’s meaning with a clear vision and penetrating thought. Contemplating his mortality, Eriksen wrote:

“You have to allow yourself to let go when the time is right, sit back and daydream…The world managed before your birth and will continue to do so when you are gone. Life is intrinsically meaningful, but there is a time for everything, including saying goodbye and allowing the traces and threads you have cultivated to grow and flourish in your absence, connecting your thoughts with the Buddha’s, the squirrel to the oak, the crab to the monkfish, and the algorithm to its programmer, and all of them to everything else. Only then has the circle been completed.” (2022)

After reading this book, I reflected on the importance of Eriksen’s seven meanings of life. While each person must find her or his own list of meanings that emerge from their life experiences, the wisdom found in this powerful book is a starting point that has universal appeal. Having faced my own mortality during my cancer journey, Eriksen’s words are reflective and healing. I remember the conversations we had in Ghana when Thomas was frail and ill but still engaged with life’s important elements—the art of conversation, the extension of generosity, mentoring the next generation, and living life fully. This short tribute barely scratches the surface of the life, contribution, thought, and work of Thomas Hylland Eriksen. While he has said goodbye, his work lives on and continues to help us to understand life’s meanings. His existential circle is now complete, but his presence remains in wise words that chart a path toward living—and living well—in our turbulent times.

Rest well among the ancestors, dear Thomas.