Intrapsychosis

The field of psychoanalysis has given us the gift of introspection. And it is a gift, for "the unexamined life is not worth living." But just as with all good things, excess is self-indulgent and painful - like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. They're good, but trust me, not if you eat like 12.

What's happening inside of you is important. It is part of the whole system of right being. Jesus talks a lot about your heart and God claims that he'll be in you if you let him. To refuse to admit that there is stuff going on inside of you, or that it affects your behavior which in turn affects others, is to deny a large part of your life.

At the same time, to believe that what's happening inside of you is the only thing going on is kind of silly. You would then be denying the importance of your interaction with others, their inner worlds, our outer world, the winds that are blowing, the entire ecosystem and what God is doing with the collection of it all.

Keep Singing

I was thinking about singing. It's hard to be a good singer. I mean there are some really good ones, and then there are some people who need a little more polishing on their vocal stylings. You've seen American Idol, right?

But have you ever seen concert footage where the entire crowd knows the words and they are singing along to some anthemic tune? I'm sure there are widely varying talent levels in those crowds when it comes to singing, but the resulting swell of the voices sounds pretty darn good. It's like the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. What the mob can do together is far better than what they could do individually.

It says something about the merit of getting lost in something greater than ourselves - in a collective consciousness, a relationship with God and others that is greater than who we can be on our own.

We Can Never Know

Man, you can really drive yourself nuts trying to figure out stuff. I mean, real neurosis springs from the drive to figure out what is happening in ourselves and in the world. There are endless books, articles, theories and discussions examining what God is doing and what we should be doing in response.

The problem is we can never really understand it all. It's fairly complicated, so it's good that a Being much more powerful than us is in charge. We sit and entertain gratuitous discourse on the meaning of life and He probably just laughs. Just think of the book of Job. Job and his friends sit and discuss the origin of suffering, the nature of God and which actions caused which outcomes and God doesn't say anything for 35-odd chapters.

Sound familiar? How many times have you heard someone say "God is doing this certain thing in my life to teach me this certain lesson?" Or, "God meant for this circumstance to occur so that the following could be true."

How do you know? Things are pretty complicated, and to say that we understand the inner workings of the cosmos, down to what exactly is happening here and now and to presume to know why is a little ridiculous sometimes.

When God does finally show up in the book of Job, he in essence takes Job on a tour of the cosmos, saying "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?" Sounds like a big, "You don't know what you're talking about, so be quiet and trust me."

I don't know, what do you think?