Jesus was a talker

Being a listener--the kind where you become a mere sounding board for others to pound their words into--is overrated. After years of practicing active listening, I've concluded that endlessly listening to someone share the same relational problem on 'repeat', where I can't give them advice, is a complete waste of time. People who only want a muted audience are typically self-absorbed; their problem may well originate from this narcissistic tendency to begin with. 

It sounds callous and uncaring--maybe that's why it took me so long to speak up--but it isn't. In all the accounts we read where Jesus deals with people, there isn't one single story where he listens endlessly without speaking into someone's life. Being a muted listener seldom helps anyone.

In contrast, a helpful friend should speak up, trying to break the loopy thought or behaviour of another. A good counselor should probably do the same--though the temptation to allow a patient's endless verbal avalanche may be too much, when one is paid by the hour to be a 'good listener' :).

Rolling out of winter soon...

Angry sky

Feb 8/11 Vancouver sky line

Sweet light

Self-portrait at 17:19

Ants in my dream

Happy Valentine's Day!

Light up the hidden world

In the book Blink: the Power of Thinking Without Thinking, the author, Malcolm Gladwell explores and attempts to explain some of the mystery that comprises our subconscious world. One interesting thing he points out is that our subconscious selves may possess attitudes and beliefs that are contrary to our consciously held values.

To demonstrate this psychologists at Harvard use something they call the Implicit Association Test (IAT). For example, when Gladwell took the Race IAT, he discovered that he had pro-white associations subconsciously even though he himself is half-black; in fact, 80% of those who took the test had such results. Why is this? Surely not all 80% of the participants are racists! One explanation is that our society is full of things associating good with being white and, conversely, inferiority with having coloured skin. Even as we consciously decide against racism, our minds are fed images, information and impressions--which our subconsciouses can't help but absorb. 

No wonder countercultural values can sometimes create a nasty mess inside our minds!

Toward this end, Christians should consider verses like this: the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our inner most thoughts and desires (Hebrew 4:12). By cherishing the truth in the Bible, God's word can illuminate our subconscious world and instill deep within us the values that we consciously choose to uphold--even values the world around us subtly oppose (Ephesians 6:16, Psalm 119:9-16). 

The Egyptians triumph

It's been satisfying watching how the Egyptian story unfolds and this is a fun article about it: Dual Uprisings Show Potent New Threats to Arab States

Speaking of struggles and change

This song is pretty cool: Marina and the Diamonds' Mowgli's Road

Taming our subconscious (2)

When our subconscious causes havoc we gain an opportunity to change some part of our hidden selves.

An undisturbed Id, one that has all its desires satisfied, doesn't bother us. But an unhappy Id brings discomfort and thereby draws attention to a previously hidden area where our trouble lies. Struggling with our subconscious isn't always a bad thing. For example, we should put up resistance when an inordinate desire seeks control or when a blindspot in our personality causes involuntary unwanted behaviour. Internal conflict and struggles may well be indications of divine transformation at work (Ephesians 4:22-24, 2 Corinthians 5:17).

Many wise people in my life have said that people don't change. There is even a Chinese saying "At age 3, you are set til age 80"--meaning no substantial personality change is possible beyond age 3. But my experience has been quite different. I have gone from being extremely shy to having confidence, from having resentment to forgiving people, from being arrogant to being more humbly self-aware. Each of these profound changes surprised me to the core; they were never a result of something I initiated or even wanted. Change--of our deep selves, our Ids, our subconscious, is possible...

Experience tells me that the internal work of the Holy Spirit must be true (Romans 8).

Taming our subconscious (1)

In the Freudian model of human psyche, our subconscious--he calls it the Id--is the mysterious part of our personality that does much of the driving in our lives. It does not consider situational reality; instead our Id is consumed only by the need to meet its desires.  For example, babies do not consider the desires of others nor the reality of their situation. When a baby wants food, needs a change, or wants relief from pain, the baby will cry until the need is met. Likewise, when our Id is unhappy, it will cause vivid dreams, sleepless nights or illness to get our attention in order to satisfy its demand.

In other words, Id lives in a completely self-oriented world, motivating our decisions and actions mostly unbeknownst to our conscious selves. I don't know how much of the Freudian theory can be accepted as fact, but what this basic concept describes does match experience and makes some sense. It reminds me the apostle Paul when he describes his internal conflict in Romans 7:15-23. Paul call this part of him sin and confesses that he is helpless--without God--to control its whims and wants.

It seems that life then, at least to some extent, is about taming the Id in us. But how? We know in our head that Jesus can conquer Id, so what does it mean when sleepless nights hit, when disturbing dreams wake us or when bodily diseases cause us grief? Is Jesus not at work when these things happen?

The power of words

In Genesis 1:1-25 we read that God spoke and the material world came into existence. The creation account in many ways can simply be considered a series of divinely spoken, powerful words.

In the New Testament the apostle James warns how evil man's words can be (James 3:1-12). So he admonishes us to tame our tongues. And while his allegories about the power of our tongues seem exaggerated, we know from experience that what James wrote is true. Man's words can be powerfully destructive.

In both cases, we conclude that words are powerful. With words we create new worlds in people's imagination (think of Lord of the Rings or any other novels that you've read). With words we instill desires into people's hearts (remember all the clever advertising tag lines logged in your subconscious?). With words we can either soothe or cause pain (consider the effect parents' words have had on their children). With words we can create hope in desperate times or despair in idyllic circumstances (who hasn't been affected this way by a spouse or good friend?).

It's easy to forget the influence of our words, but we are held responsible for them. Didn't Jesus say that we will have to give account on judgement day for every careless word we have spoken? (Matthew 12:36-37)

Hope, fear and words

Hope is our fuel, it energizes, empowers, propels us into action. Fear is a puncture in the fuel tank, it drains hope and paralyses us. They are opposite powers working on our psyche. Which side ends up winning may be influenced by our words.

The Egyptians protesting right now are running on hope for a better future--a civilian-run society where they are no longer oppressed. But there is fear too: you see it when reporters ask about the potential rise of an Islamic state like Iran. Those interviewed become angry! Why? Maybe beneath that anger, they fear what the West fears as well; they respond with anger, not wanting to give fear any room.

The internet has now shrunk the world. Words from the West can inject either hope or fear into the tense situation. I wish news commentators were more sensitive when they air their opinions; any pessimistic 'what if's' are just not that helpful right now.

What's missing in the gospel we spread?

North American churches have been sending missionaries to Africa for over 100 years. When I was in South Africa, there were churches everywhere, the effect of missionary effort visible every Sunday morning. Yet with all this apparently successful evangelism, why does the continent struggle so hard to enter the first world?

It begs the question: why hasn't Christianity made more societal impact? We witness extreme poverty, disease, crime and war in many areas of the African continent. Culturally speaking, the Gospel seems powerless there.

Then one day I heard a sermon preached by our dear missionary friend. He asked this rhetorical question to the group of church leaders he was preaching to: "If you had a choice to choose between being a pastor/missionary or the president of South Africa, what would you choose? Of course you should choose to be a pastor because it is much more important to represent God than a country!"

It seems self-evident that one way of rendering Christianity weak is by demeaning believers that fill functional roles in society--as if believers can't reflect God's lordship within those roles. Doesn't the good news of the kingdom of God have anything to do with the way believers live their lives within the kingdoms of men?

Is WikiLeaks evil or good?

My first reaction is that it feels very wrong to publicly disclose private communication. Morally speaking, stealing information and then disseminating it is sneaky and underhanded. Not to mention the potential danger to persons, regions and even countries. In some cases such leaks might actually jeopardize the work people are doing. And by saying we are entitled to know we second guess our leaders, arrogantly presuming that "we know better".

But then, the leaked communiques, while private, are not entirely personal correspondances; they pertain to the nations their authors represent. In a sense, the people writing these things were doing so on our behalf--or at least on behalf of the Americans (it was, after all, an American leak). We have the right to know how and why decisions are being made on our behalf, don't we? And if we don't like the way we're being represented we can then exert influence for change. Viewed this way, this becomes another way to keep elected leadership in check. The case can be made that this is consistent with democratic ideology.

Perhaps the question being asked is too black and white; everything doesn't just fall under two categories, good or evil. While information itself is neutral, individuals are seldom so. How we act upon what we know is the issue. And people do act on information...

Some say that the WikiLeaks sparked the Tunisian uprising, which has now rolled into an Egyptian uprising. Information is power. Given that humanity's track record for wisely using information isn't great, the role of Christians today to pray for divine influence on our decision-making cannot be underestimated.

WikiLeaks may result in good consequences, which wouldn't necessarily justify the release. Or it may result in awful consequences, which wouldn't necessarily condemn the release. In either case, we should see the need for God's help to steward the massive amount of information we face today.

What's wrong with this picture?

For the last few days, news media has been dominated by the unfolding story of the Egyptian uprising. Now on day 5 of their stand to end President Mubarak's 30 year reign, the movement was initially sparked by young people expressing their frustration through social media.

Ironically, I just now came across a different news item describing the apathetic attitude of Canadian youth has towards voting. Elections Canada is literally scratching its head over how to engage youth participation.

What's wrong with this picture? It seems that when things are good, people don't care very much. In contrast, oppression and injustice have a way of igniting passion in people--to right wrongs.

Yet we are encouraged to stay engaged and passionate with life and society even when things are rosy. Aim to go from good to great! Jesus said: "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded..." (Luke 12:48).

The opposite of faith is works

But faith without works is dead (James 2:20). How confusing!

That's why it's hard to tell whether someone has faith or not just by observing their outward performance. Some people (religious and irreligious) work very hard because they are self-reliant, striving to justify their worthiness by what they do. In contrast, others work very hard because their faith in God empowers them to dream big, then strive to see those dreams become reality.

On the outside, the faithful and the faithless can both look the same. Though I'd bet that the faithful sleep better at night than their self-reliant counterparts.

Who needs faith when there is Tony Robbins

We live in an age of heightened self-awareness. All sorts of self-help gurus and motivational coaches teach us how to live successfully; they advocate behaviours that are good for us--things like having honesty, integrity, being grateful and positive, etc. And what they say does empower us, at least for the short term. These people help us recognize that there are principles in life, almost like natural laws, that guide human existence toward effective living. Who needs religion or faith when there is all this abundant knowledge about ourselves?

But then I'd like to argue that it's one thing to know the methods of successful living but quite another to actually do them over the long haul. The problem with self-help approaches is that they all rely on our 'self', i.e. on our works and performance. For those of us with weak will power, merely knowing a great methodology is basically useless. For those elite strong-willed few, constantly having to self-help becomes a heavy heavy burden; in time they show cracks too.

Unlike self-help gurus who put the burden on us, Jesus motivates with these comforting words: "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

Think win/win

That's habit #4 in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This win/win mentality is not our natural default. Life experiences point us toward win/lose thinking.

For example, there's only one champion for every Olympic race, one team holding the Stanley Cup, one winner crowned in each beauty pageant, one realtor claiming the top sales award, one movie receiving the Oscar for best picture, etc... In any contest or competition, each winner is trailed by numerous other 'losers'.

No wonder it is hard for us to be truly happy for others when they win. In the back of our mind their win usually means our loss. And so our scarcity mentality kicks in; instead of win/win, we think win/lose. How can we overcome this limiting and ungracious habit?

Christian theology has the key to free us from the scarcity mentality. Christians are children of the God of abundance and generosity (Psalm 50:10, Matthew 7:9-12; 2 Corinthians 9:8-10). By looking to God for our every need and desire, God's offspring can afford to be generous--making it easy for us to become win/win practitioners.

The challenge always is: do we have faith to live out this truth and make win/win thinking and living our natural habit?

Will there be faith when we need it?

When everything is predictable and familiar, faith can be just a concept; something we don't need now. That doesn't mean we don't value it, but we are content to hold it loosely until 'the future'...say, on our death bed or times of turmoil when life's storms happen.

That's not how Jesus talked about faith though. In the parable of the wise and foolish builder, he taught us to build ourselves on solid foundation before the storms of life hit us (Matthew 7:24-49). If we live through life without trusting God for much, how will we know that He'll come through for us when we have dire need?

I like the idea that faith will magically appear when we need it. But that's not how it happens with the Bible heroes we read about--Abraham, Moses, and Joshua for example. Each of these were in relatively calm situations when God called them to action--what I call faith-building opportunities. Later, when life's storms inevitably hit them they triumphed. We would be wise to follow this pattern, building our foundations when things are calm.