wisdom and the soul

 

Most everybody is aware they have a soul and most people desire or at least admire wisdom. Yet, what do most people know about wisdom and the soul? How would most define these terms? make sense of them? apply them in their own life? Many people don't know what they don't know. Many people are not particularly aware of or care whether they understand these ideas in a sensible way.

For many this blog might even be a waste of time.

On the other hand, I post this blog because I am aware and do care about wisdom and the soul. I have thought about these a lot. It matters to me as I try to live well in this world.

Stay with me if you wish to explore wisdom and the soul more.

First, wisdom is considered a good thing to have. We trust others who we deem to be wise. We seek their counsel and look to them for guidance. The 1828 Webster dictionary says wisdom is "the right use of knowledge." That's nice, but do we all know what is right in the same way? The dictionary goes on to say this about wisdom - "a faculty of the mind of discerning or judging what is most just, proper, and useful." Again, as with what's right, just, proper and useful can be quite subjective. Is wisdom about abortion concerning what's just for the unwanted pregnancy or the unborn child? Is justice for the illegal immigrant justice for the sovereign nation? Wisdom for one person may not be wisdom for another. This can make wisdom somewhat problematic.

The Greek in the Bible for wisdom is rooted in the work "sophia." This appears over 50 times and means "clarity." "Sophia" is the root word for philosophy, a field of study to gain perspective on things like knowing, behaving and governing. So, in a sense philosophers have attempted to bring clarity to life and thus wisdom. How well do you think they have done. The Bible says that man only gets wisdom or clarity from the Holy Spirit. If this is what you believe, then wisdom is not man's to produce but to only receive.

Now for the soul. Again, going to Webster we read, "the spiritual, rational, and immortal substance of man, that part of man that enables him to think and reason and render a moral government." That's a lot to take in. There are many theories man has about the soul. These explanations in many ways describes various religious views man has as people try to connect the soul to this idea of spirit and immortality.

The Bible references the Greek word "psuché" over 100 times in the New Testament. This would mean the NT says twice as much about the soul as it does wisdom. Since this word for soul is the root for psychology, then this field of study focuses what man can learn about the soul. 

So, there is what man has learned about the soul, human psychology, and what the Bible teaches us about the soul. Let's call that Kingdom psychology. Interestingly, I have studied both in great depth. I find it fascinating that every construct explored in human psychology is also covered in the Bible. Things like motivation, perspective, emotion, self esteem, satisfaction and acceptance.

Yet, what Jesus says about these things are exactly the opposite of what humans have discovered through their research. This should not be surprising because humans can only see flawed human nature, what mankind is like because it fell from grace. We can only learn and discover the Kingdom soul through eyes of faith. Using physical senses cannot reveal to us the nature of the Kingdom soul.

There is an awful lot to learn about the Kingdom soul. It's all there in the Bible. Just look for it. It's not theology, its Biblical psychology. You probably can't find many churches who want to or can tell you about Kingdom psychology. It's a fantastic field of study to ponder. I can attest to that.

gratitude and thankfulness: a difference without distinction?

 

You hear many people advocating "an attitude of gratitude" as a preferable perspective on their life. We also celebrate Thanksgiving and advocate a thankful heart as a great way to live. It is easy to use these ideals interchangeably, but are they? And if not, does it matter? 

Two good questions you've probably never asked.

Let's explore.

Webster says gratitude is "an emotion of the heart, excited by a benefit or favor received." Thankful is "impressed with a sense of kindness received and ready to acknowledge it."

On the surface we recognize that being grateful and thankful are a little different (or we wouldn't need both words" but seem very similar, at least in practice. So we can safely say they are different, but does the difference really matter. In other words, is there a distinction?

If two things are distinct, then their effect is different. So, for gratitude and thankfulness to be "different without a distinction" then there are subtle differences but their effects are basically the same. Let's see. 

The effects of gratitude and thankfulness occur within the soul of the one who is grateful and thankful. These ideals should give us a positive sense of our surroundings and how they affect us. Both certainly do. But there is more we need to explore. There are possibly other effects each may have on our soul, and they may be different (making them distinct).

For gratitude, Webster goes on to say, "an agreeable emotion accompanied by good will toward the benefactor, and a disposition to make a suitable return of benefit." This implies gratitude is a social exchange phenomenon because there is a need for reciprocity of some kind. You say, "Ok, that's normal." Well, yes it is. Social exchange is fundamental to the human condition. Humans must find some way to return favor when favor is received. It's our nature. 

Webster stops with thankfulness as just an acknowledgment, not a need to return favor. Would it surprise you if I said gratitude is not a Biblical concept? Only thankful is. This makes sense since the Bible is God's view of redeeming human nature, not a better way to apply it.

The Greek word in Scripture for thankful is "eucharisteó", like 1 Thessalonians 5:18 - "in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus." What is it about this word that makes it distinctively different from gratitude in how it affects your soul?

This Greek word means, "God's grace works well." See, grace is the opposite of social exchange. Grace is favor received simply by the good will of the giver. We simply acknowledge grace. There is not a sense of returning favor to keep things balanced. 

God's grace has a profoundly different effect on our soul than favor we receive that generates a need to return favor, like gratitude. 

In this way, gratitude and thankfulness is not just different, but also distinctively different.

So, is it the right testimony of a Christian to say, "I have an attitude of gratitude"?

Worth pondering ..... 

"the right to life"

 Arguably the most contentious issue in American society for the past 50 years has been the rights of women (e.g. abortion0 vs the right to life (e.g., the unborn child). In fact, I suspect that passionate discussions by Evangelical Christians with the world around them have centered more on "right to life" than the Gospel itself. Just speculation from observation.

Yelling at the world about rights, especially to life and liberties, has increasingly been the reason we have the term "Christian conservative values." As a Christian this has increasingly disturbed me. "Why?" you might ask. "Doesn't the Bible teach life is sacred and freedom of religion?" 

I don't think so and here is why.

Let's go back and try to understand the key words in "right to life," such as rights and life.

First, let's examine "rights." Your "right" is granted to you by someone (something) or you just claim you have it. Our country was founded on the principle that those in the USA have "inalienable rights." What is meant by this is that our rights are not granted to us by a central government. There is an assumption that mankind has natural rights in this world granted by God. But is that what the Bible says?

There is no reference in Scripture to the rights Christians have in this world, In fact, The Kingdom of God in which Christians dwell in citizenship is not of this world. Christians are aliens and sojourners. Do aliens and sojourners have rights granted to them. Jesus says the world will reject you because of me. If we are rejected, why would we have rights? Jesus goes on to encourage Christians to not try to stand on the rights of this world. If you're asked to go one mile, go two. If you are asked for your tunic, give also your cloak. If someone hits you on one cheek, give them the other to smack. These are Christian values which give us a freedom not provided to us by "rights."

The founders wrote about an assumption they made - God gives humans certain rights in this world. I don't see where God said that.

Second, what is "life"? There are at least 3 forms of life expressed in the Bible. There is physical life of the body, there is the Spiritual life of God, and there is the human soul of the basis of the self. Death, the idea of the end of a life, is the Bible is from the Greek language idea of "being severed from something." So physical death is when the soul is severed from the body and spiritual death is when the soul is severed from God's spirit (the Holy Spirit).

From the Bible's perspective, physical death is normal and is not a crisis of "self." However, spiritual death is not God's idea of what's best for humans. In fact, spiritual death is tragic in God's eyes. I don't see where the soul can be severed from itself which may mean the soul does not die.

The soul before physical death lives with God through His Spirit or is in fact dead spiritually, although alive physically. When the soul is severed from the body, the person as the world knows them is no longer alive. However, the soul lives on either connected to God's spirit or not. 

Many of you may disagree or have never thought about a person's soul as being forever, but Christians call eternal life the life in which the soul is influenced by or in relationship with God's Spirit.  

In conclusion, "the right to life" for a Christian has nothing to do with the body or with this world. It is simply God's plan to have relationship with His chosen for ever and ever, whether still in the body or not. Paul makes this real clear many times.

This is the Good News of the Bible I ponder, This what should be shouted out to a dark and dying (spiritually) world .....  

 There are many reasons I have to be "pro-life". I think society functions better when each person is not in a position to have someone else sever their body from their soul. I happen to consider the unborn as a person. These are my views from civics (how a society governs itself), not from God.

There is no political agenda in this blog!
 

Your ID, please

 How often have you gone to an event, attraction, restaurant, or to purchase a product that you were asked for your ID. Certainly when you travel by air, your ID is mandatory. Much civil debate has occurred over the issue of voter ID. Your identification is a frequent and pervasive requirement to live a normal life. 

Then there is another way identity has been important. You've heard of people having an "identity crisis." You may have even had one yourself. In many ways identity is the beginning of mental health issues. You often hear about "identity politics" where race, sex, ethnicity, gender orientation, political affiliation, and other factors divide society into political tribes. In many ways identity keeps people in disunity.

Identify seems to matter a lot. Its referenced frequently and in a variety of contexts. Identity is a common, simple word. On the other hand, not a word that is well understood for all it's implications on us. The purpose of this blog is to try to shed light on its role in the human condition.

So, what do we know about identity?

In human psychology one's identity is the starting point for all thoughts, feelings, and choices. I'd say that's pretty important, wouldn't you?

You might say your identity is your psychological selfie. 

Your identity is your self concept. It drives self-esteem.

You make sense of yourself in many ways. Each has different effects on you and can change across time and situation. Your identity has key influence on how satisfied you are, how you are motivated, and your overall sense of being OK.

Let's examine some of what human psychology has found makes up your identity. 

You have a social identity, constructed by your family, your work place, where you live or where you are from. You have a personal identity. Some aspects of you come at birth, such as color of eyes, hair, and skin, personality (the tendencies you have to satisfy your needs), mental and physical abilities, physical attributes of size, and many more. Some aspects of you relate to what you do over your life. Mistakes can define you. Professional choices and achievements can define you and so forth. There is a particular movement to have purpose define you. Thirdly, you have a natural identity. You are a human being and not a plant or animal. Being only human brings a number of influences on how your mind works. Biases and flaws in reasoning come to each person when they identify with their human nature.

Because of how identity naturally works to influence the human mind, it's no wonder the forces of this world assault identity to deceive humans from what is true. Likewise, it's no wonder Saint Paul admonishes the Christian church to "be transformed by the renewing of the mind." It's no wonder that the main consequence of the redemptive work of the cross is a new creation (identity), an identity in Christ. 

A transformed believer with a renewed mind will naturally reason from an identity in Christ that brings a completely different influence on how to think, feel, and choose than the natural reasoning coming from a human identity. Paul calls this walking according to the Spirit rather than walking according to the flesh. "According to" means identifying with.

What does all this mean? Basically it means that an identity in Christ is a loving relationship where 

1. the influence of the Spirit satisfies us based on the provisions of the Kingdom willfully and graciously bestowed on us by Christ versus a satisfaction where the flesh requires us to successfully exchange what we do to gain what we need from the world  ,  

2. the influence of the Spirit motivates us to receive and reflect the light of Christ versus a motivation where the flesh requires us to pursue and produce goals that the world finds favorable,

and

3. the influence of the Spirit declares we are OK based on Christ's actions on our behalf versus an acceptance where the flesh demands us to conform to the demands of the world to be OK.

You should understand your identity, why the Prince of this World wants to contaminate it, and how the Gospel of Jesus Christ resolves all of the self concept distress we have by identifying in any way other than in Him.

A Bucket List to die for

 I have spent much of the day today with what feels like a "heavy heart." This is a phrase often used to refer to some burden that we are carrying around at the time. Often it is a sense of deep regret, disappointment, failure or many times a deep sense of grief. I found out this morning that a long time friend and former colleague has cancelled chemo for his pancreatic cancer and called in hospice. The end of this life is near. He's brave, he is a Christian and has handled this illness and its prognosis with great human courage. He doesn't seem depressed at all about imminent death.

So, why am I or should I be burdened in my soul for him and this situation? He and I both know that physical death is simply a step along the way of eternal life. To get a more proper perspective and not feel burdened by a heavy heart but lifted up by a rejoicing heart, I have pondered, how should I think about my friend and this time of passing?

One of the more endearing ways people view the passing of life is through the notion of "bucket list." This represents places or things someone aspires to as they age and find life closing in on them. Kind of a final wish list.

So, I let my mind turn to my friend. This time I pondered what would be a good bucket list if I were in hospice care. After all, this means there are only days left on this earth. This is about as final as things get. A perfect time for a bucket list.

By pondering what my bucket list might be, my soul was light, not burdened. I found that a "heavy heart" is not necessarily a heart that is under the weight of negative forces, but simply a heart that finds most of it's attention on one thing. In this case, my heart was fully attending to how my friend must be feeling and what words of encouragement could I give him.

My spiritual practice for the past 20 years has been to stop in the midst of what I am doing and ask, "God, what does this look like to you?" He never fails to provide a thought, an insight into truth that transforms my moment.

And He didn't fail me this time either. The thought He gave me was this, "at the top of any Kingdom dweller's bucket list is resurrection life." That's it. The most significant thing I want is RESURRECTION LIFE. Right when God gave me this word for my heart, I heard the words of a song which went something like this, "The great I AM makes all things new."

I now have words to share with my friend and a new number one item on my bucket list. My heart is still heavy, but not burdened. It's heavy because it's full of, actually obsessing over, trusting His promise.

"on the other hand"

There is a frequent segment on CNBC financial shows called, "On the Other Hand." Here, John Fortt presents an argument for a popular issue in business. Once it seems he has convinced you of one view on the issue, he stops and says, "on the other hand," as he argues the counter position on the same issue. I find it fascinating in how this approach can disarm divisiveness and conflict. 

I was walking to the stadium today when I passed this sign. In every other week the signed said, "parking $20". I began to ponder. This home had a large yard that could park some 100 cars. It seemed that the owners of this land understood capitalism. Today was Auburn vs Ala football game, the biggest crowd of the year. Maybe for these folks, supply and demand suggested higher prices for parking cars at the game. On the other hand, the demographics of those who lived here suggested they were likely Democrats, who would not see capitalism as a preferred way to operate. Maybe their loyalty to Auburn suggested they wanted to stick it to those Ala fans coming in from out of town by jacking up the prices.

Some say this is a way capitalism is not fair. It takes advantage of those who have no options but to buy. On the other hand, those who support capitalism claim it is fair to charge what the market will bare. It's hard to say which of the two views is the real reason for jacking prices today.

I heard someone say this week that we should never use "but" or "however" when discussing two opposing views on an issue. When we use these terms to introduce our perspective, we are in a sense rejecting the opposing view. This is divisive, maybe even condescending. If we say "on the other hand," we are suggesting simply there is another way to consider the issue. 

While reading the Apple News feed, I saw back to back articles that were discussing important issues of our times. One article was debunking the myth that "if you try hard enough, then you can build the life you want." Many believe our country is the land of opportunity. The author of the article was rejecting that idea by labeling it a myth. The article claims Matt Black's book, "American Geography," however dispels the myth. Every place Black visited that had poverty rates above 20% revealed structural obstacles to success. Black "belies the idea of opportunity." As far as I am concerned, Black did not advance the discussion of this question about opportunity in society because he has a "but" argument and not an "on the other hand" discussion.  

This was the next article. This points out how a Dr. who had sought to solve problems with dementia found himself a patient. He chose to build an "on the other hand" view of the disease as he examined what he saw as a patient and not what he knew as a doctor.

 

Maybe you don't consider the difference between "but" and "on the other hand" to be significant. When I pondered it, I begin to feel that this change in how we advance conflicting ideas might transform much of the discourse in the public arena and maybe even in our business organizations and families.

 

Fear "of" and fear "to"

 We are in a time where an admission of failing mental health (primarily anxiety) is seen as a positive development in someone's life. The culture seems to honor a person who drops out because they admit they suffer from a mental health issue, especially a celebrated athlete of entertainer. I came from a background where we were encouraged to push through anxiety and do what we are committed to do, especially in performance situations. I grew up in a "get over it" world where anxiety was not to be condemned, but was not an acceptable distraction from doing what we should.

Life is full of anxiety, along with its stronger big brother, fear. It's not new. It's not an issue for people because of recent events. Maybe it would be helpful to examine anxiety and fear and identify it's source. Maybe learning to deal with the reasons for anxiety and fear is a better option for our culture than giving in to it and demonstrating tolerance by celebrating it.

The most common source for anxiety is fear OF the future. By definition, the future has not yet occurred and is thus uncertain. The inability to control the future to eliminate uncertainty is part of the futility of being human. Anxious about what might happen grips the human soul and stresses mental health. Fear in the moment, like performance anxiety, is really about controlling the future because the moment is the immediate future until it happens and then it is the past. Guilt and shame from what has happened can stress mental health as an anxiety. Fear about how past failures will affect the soul's uncertainty of its future acceptability is stressful.

So, one view of fear is the fear "OF "the future. This ever present anxiety is most commonly dealt with by therapy centered on a hope or assurance of the future. This is an especially common approach in Christian circles.

A less considered view of anxiety is a fear "to." This is more profound than just a play on two little words. What do I mean by fear "to"?

    

    Let's explore this.

There is a condition of the human soul that is even more pervasive than the desire to control the future to eliminate uncertainty.

What might that be?

You may or may not have heard the term "metaphysical." The word sounds complex, maybe even scary. It's really not. It's just a fancy word for the unobservable, the invisible. Understanding what we cannot see with our physical eyes has stressed humans from the beginning of time. 

For thousands of years, philosophy has been man's way to explore rational models to understand the unseen. Yet, philosophy fails to establish conviction because it is impossible to prove a metaphysical fact. Everything man knows about the metaphysical is speculation. Trusting what we cannot see is problematic to the soul. The soul is not made to rely on unobservable knowledge.

That's why faith is what God requires of His people. Faith is trusting what we cannot see with our physical eyes. The fear that may be a greater mental health problem for humans is the fear "to" trust what we cannot see. Overcoming the fear "to" trust unseen evidence does not involve therapy, but transformation. For many, both Christians and secular, trusting what they cannot see (which everyone does in some way) lacks an assurance and thus seeks therapy. For some Christians, fear "to" trust the unseen is dispelled by revelation of God Himself to humans by the Holy Spirit.

This may be why fear "to" trust the metaphysical is seldom dealt with well, even when theology or proper beliefs about God are present.

Just some random thoughts on mental health that come to me in my quiet time. I give them to you to ponder .....