A coworker of mine was reading this blog and she raised the point to me about how many non-believers in times of crisis will instinctively call out to god for help. Her feeling was that these people are simply acting on impulses taught to them as children, either in Sunday school or by other adults. And she's probably right. From birth most of us are taught that god is out there and that he's just a thought-call away. We might make the conscious decision as adults to walk away from superstitious and religious beliefs, but under intense psychological stress these childhood beliefs could manifest themselves.
And I don't think it's fair to say that these reactions prove an underlying but ignored belief in god. If I were to find myself in agony, pinned under a building or something like that, I might call out for help. But in any normal situation I know what I believe. I think people in these situations are just desperate for someone to help them. If that means calling out to "god", then so be it.
And I think there's another, deeper reason even non-believers still seem to have some connection to a "higher power." I know this is a simplification, but essentially our mind is composed of two spheres, the conscious and the subconscious. Our conscious mind is our awareness, the part of our mind that observes and comments. The part that interacts with the world. Our subconscious mind resides just out of reach. This is where real thought happens. This is the part of our mind that accesses and processes information, sensory input, memories, and then presents its findings to the conscious mind.
The conscious mind has no access to the subconscious, generally. It only receives what the subconscious wants it to receive. Here's what I'm getting at.
when you have a thought it comes in a flash. A telling phrase is, "something occurred to me." You, your conscious mind, had nothing to do with gestating that thought. It merely heard the subconscious mind blurt it out. It's really almost as if our subconscious mind is a separate entity residing inside of us, communicating with us sporadically.
I think this accounts for people's feeling that they aren't alone, even in their own heads. Most people attribute "that still small voice" inside their mind to god, but in fact it's only you.
And since even non-believers live with the constant sense of "being with someone" inside our skin, we might instinctively call out to them in a time of need.
3 comments:
I am deeply sorry that you are out of touch with God. really....So tell me, after we all die, each in our own time, what will we see then? Nothing? Deepest and darkest blackness?.....probably for those who don't believe in God and His Son Jesus who ultimately will save us from that miserable end!! But for those who do believe, they will see the brightest light after death...and it will be greater than what we are seeing now on this tired, aging planet of ours.
The Body, the Mind, and the Spirit: the Body is our temporary 'earthsuit', a unique shell for us to keep and take care of for our individual life journey here. The Mind (emotions,thoughts,knowledge gained from the world, personality,etc.)is generally considered to be the soul part of a person. --this part of a person, when controlled properly - not foolishly, should create a sound balance with the other two parts of the person (the body and the spirit) thus creating a wholesome, prosperous lifestyle in tune with the will of God. And thirdly, the Spirit. This part of a man is the closest to God in comparison to the other two. This is the part that returns to Him when the body and the mind expire on Earth. Keep all three facets of a person strong, but keep this one (the Spirit) the strongest. Most people do the complete opposite of that and strengthen only the other two (great body, supersmarts, but a human spirit that is out of tune with God? Not wise. Yikes...I'm not sure what else to say about that....let Him be the judge!!! Whether you approve of this comment or not, this is the straight truth man.
Even in all of your doubts and misunderstandings He still loves and cares for you...no lie -- and the funny thing is--you don't even notice the little things that He is doing presently and what He has done in the past. You just think that He's not there. Well you're wrong. God is forever present, in an unseen form. After all, faith is believing in the things that you cannot see. Don't lose heart man, you MUST love and have faith in God and grow up in it with Him. Faith without love is worthless. No one said that the walk would be short and easy. It's different for all of us, but just know that God knows the best way better than how you think you know it. He wants you to ask Him for this insight. In doing this, you're showing Him that your interested in His Way of thinking and He will answer. If things don't work out the way you thought, sometimes it's for the better. God always sees the bigger picture of things. Before your time is up on this water-covered, internally blazing rock of a planet, you'll see the truth somehow - and then change.
May God bless you.
Thanks for the comment. This reply is hopelessly late, but due regardless. Here's the interesting thing. I can tell that you care. Care about my salvation, and probably me as a person (not that you know me.) And that's commendable though not necessarily warranted.
Here's my issue with your mentality. You are so focused on the afterlife, to the detriment of present life. You're more concerned with whether my soul is good with god than whether I have enough food to eat, or whether my I'm happy in my job. Ultimately it's a question of priorities. When my vantage point, this life, this world is all there is. Period. When you die you don't see black, or anything for that matter because YOU don't exist. So if I want to make a difference for people, all I can do is improve their life right now.
This is not to say that there isn't value in helping people mentally, help with their internal worlds. But that world (mind in your model) is intrinsically tied to the physical world. It's the ephemeral manifestation of a purely "meat" world.
I think if people like you and churches around the world stopped worrying about sin and eternal life and started putting more resources into improving the current state "of this tired, aging planet" we'd be in a much better place, right now.
So please keep your blessings. They do me no good. A hamburger would me nice, though.
Gad. I should have read that post before I saved it. Too many grammatical errors for my taste. May god strike me down if I do that again...
Post a Comment