The Irrational Mind Part 1...Maybe

In a bible study that I am apart of we have been discussing what it means to love God with all of our mind. For many of us, we have grown up familiar with the verse "love the Lord you God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength". 

Loving with all my heart- This is difficult to "quantify" in an explanation but I believe entails an emotional component and is self-explanatory.

Loving with all my strength- suggests loving even when I feel like I can't or perhaps, also, using the physical strengths that I have to take care of the body He has given me. That is an aspect of love as well.

Loving with all my mind- what does this mean? Or of more importance, what does it look like?

Love is so complex and yet so simple. I don't suppose that it is easy, as I'm sure you would agree. There are times when loving someone is difficult. Perhaps the things they do and say are not the things you find yourself liking or agreeing with. Perhaps, that is not an issue, but distractions come into play and your heart is in different places. Sometimes I wish I could just be a child again.  As children we just do things without diving into all the "wells", "what-ifs", "but-thens", and "yeah-that-may-be-what-they-said-but-they-probably-meants". 

From the verse above we see that there is a command: love. Love is never stationary but calls us to act in different ways, whether that be with our hearts, bodies, or minds. It is easy to box love as a nice little heart and keep it there. It is also easy to put love into physical action. We "love our neighbors" when we rake their yards (oh, wait, that's a northern thing haha) or jump their car battery. This is love. But when it comes to our minds...what does love mean?

Plato writes the Allegory of the Cave. Here he explains that we are like cavemen chained in a cave. Behind us is a fire and stage where puppeteers project shadows on the cave wall in front of us. For our whole lifetime all we see are the shadows of moving people. To us, a "person" is the shadow. We do not know any differently. But one day, some guy breaks free. He leaves the cave and upon entering the outside, he sees these "things" that walk like the shadows. His eyes are burning from the sun and after a while he realizes that the moving things are more real than the shadows that the sun projects off of them. But it takes time to convince him to change the way he has thought of things all his life. Finally, he rationalizes that what he knows as a person is just a shadow. This walking thing is a real person. The story continues but eventually Plato makes his point that what we see and experience is not all that there is. A greater and more perfect Form exists. Some argue that this train of philosophical thought contributed to the eventual New Testament thinking that our present, physical realities are but a reflection of the glory that exists in the Spiritual realm. I'm not planning to dive into that. But just think about the Allegory for a minute. How does this pertain to our minds?

This post could go so many directions, I'm feeling a sequel with the C.S. Lewis quote about being far too easily pleased might be necessary. But I suppose I should try to formulate my present thought as best as possible. Here goes.

Philippians 4:8 

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

I think this is where we begin when we want to examine what it means to love the Lord with all our mind. We should dwell on the above listed attributes of God. I have blogged about that before. But I am beginning to realize that there are far more implications to that verse than we might have originally seen. 

I'm going to start with the beginning and expand on that. 

Whatever is true

Loving God is a multidimensional discipline. Loving others is a multidimensional discipline. Loving others is a part of loving God. When we consider our thoughts, how much of them are based on what is true? If we break down that verse into the command and the attribute we are commanded to think and the attribute tells us that God delights in the truth. What is the inverse of the command and attribute? We should not dwell on the things that are not true or not real.

Let that sink in for a minute.

The ladies and I in the bible study spent a week thinking about our thoughts (Woah! Metacognition homework!). The things that we thought about were special moments, impending assignments, what people meant in such and such conversation, how we were perceived at this time or that, was taking or not taking this or that opportunity the best choice, what if we do all this work but it doesn't pay off...the list went on and on. What underlies all of these thoughts? They were oftentimes based on things that were not true, un"real"istic, or unknown.

Thinking on what is true means dwelling on the promises of God. I am thinking this means remembering that God has a plan for our future, there is hope (Jeremiah 29:11). So in light of the thoughts that our efforts may be futile or what if we don't make the grade on that particular assignment or things don't turn out like we expected them to -- God knows. He is still working. The future is in His hands. The present day is all we can deal with and it is so much easier to handle when we realize that God desires to give us a hope and a future.

Thinking on what is true means remembering that God will make our paths straight (Proverbs 3:4-6). He has promised this to those who trust in Him, and lean not on their own understanding but instead acknowledge Him. We are in the cave when we view our lives through our present circumstances and then start making assumptions about the future or about other people based on them. Our understanding is limited. Freeing ourselves from the chains inside means we have to face the light and climb out, looking to a Greater Understanding that frankly, we might not get to know (that might frustrate Plato).

Thinking on what is true means that thinking on what is not true is sin. It is easy to discount sin, but it is what separates us from God. I think that when we allow untrue thoughts about His nature and His people to be entertained in our minds, we further distance ourselves from Him. This applies in what thoughts we entertain about others in our minds as well. It said whatever is true, right?

Ladies, this is one of our biggest struggles. Guys, this is something that I'm beginning to realize girls struggle with a LOT. BUT, after talking with a few people in classes, bible study, and random get togethers over the last couple of weeks, I'm beginning to realize that while this is definitely a hurdle in the female mind, this is a sin of mankind. We are all guilty.

 When we take the words that someone tells us and delve into their meaning beyond what we heard or read, we are going beyond what we know is true. When we start making assumptions and stretching a thought into a whole new mold that we have nothing to base it on, we have begun to sin. That is scary. Because when a thought plants itself in our minds we have two choices, to think about it or to dismiss it. Once we transform what John/Jane Doe said last week "I wish you were here" into "he/she said I wish you were here, but when they said it, I had already said ___ and they felt compelled and responded like that. They didn't mean that. If I think they meant that then I'm missing the subtle cue they are trying to send me. It's probably better if I discount what they said." --once we have done this, we have sinned. We have deluded ourselves into thinking that we are rationalizing the other person's words so that we can avoid whatever outcome we are afraid of. That is not rational thinking. That is irrational and has turned away from whatever is true.

When we twist the words of God's promises and the words of His people, we make them out to be liars. God does not lie. Yes, people do, but we are to think noble thoughts and should therefore take them at their word. If they have lied to us, they have lied. That is not for us to extrapolate and assume. But instead, we must chose to regard others more highly than they may deserve. This is part of loving God with all of our mind.

This post is getting pretty long. Perhaps I can say more another time. We will see. But in an attempt to wrap up the last few paragraphs let me say that many of these ideas that I'm writing about are not entirely my own. I've been reading the book Loving God with All Your Mind by Elizabeth George. She says a lot of this much better than I do and uses much more Scripture to point out the Truths of God's Word. Through my personal reflection, the bible study discussions and resulting discussions with friends in the last few weeks I have noticed how much of our minds are used to think poorly of ourselves, our abilities, others and their intentions, our potential, and so much more. Loving is multidimensional. Emotions come and go. Strength to continue is needed to keep going, but even athletes get tired. To rely on those two aspects to love God and others cuts out an essential piece. The mind. Let us not use it irrationally.