Three random Saul Bellow quotes abused

"[There is] an immense, painful longing for a broader, more flexible, fuller, more coherent, more comprehensive account of what we human beings are, who we are and what this life is for." - Saul Bellow, from his Nobel Lecture

It's found in the Word of God. It requires the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, to discern and to value.

"A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep." - Saul Bellow, from his To Jerusalem and Back: A personal account

Vanity, worldly pride, and rebellious self-will.

We need better teachers of the Word of God, the state of man, the history of redemption, the plan of God. The academics aren't getting it done. They are too shallow. The preachers aren't getting it done. They are too shallow.

Churches and churchians aren't getting it done. They are taken over by the devil.

Really, without the pure and whole, received Word of God; without the Holy Spirit; and without a clear body of inspired doctrinal teaching that isn't lost in a million words and a thousand personal quirks and demands and that doesn't include catastrophic leftovers from Rome (the confessions aren't getting it done either) the path to getting understanding is going to be severely corrupted if not impassable.

"People can lose their lives in libraries. They ought to be warned." - Saul Bellow

If you never discern that all the multitude of influences fall into a hierarchy and that at the top of that hierarchy is the Word of God then, yes, you can lose your life in terms of time and years and so on. If you begin to discern that hierarchy and begin to climb by beginning to pursue influences that reside just above your current level of understanding and just beyond your current interests then you can lose your life in a good way. You can lose your old life and become born again.