Trinity at 1871 Podcast

In the spring of 2018 Trinity Christian College joined 1871 as a university partner. 1871 is a highly-rated technology and business incubator within the city of Chicago. The potential connections for our business department may be clear in this partnership. But what about the other parts of a campus focused on the liberal arts?

Sara Baillie and Kara Wolff, faculty members in Education and Psychology respectively, recruited students to join us in exploring the possibilities for our disciplines at 1871. Two graduate students in Counseling Psychology, Garsca Brooks and Jeanine Bakker, agreed to investigate the space and think some about how a business incubator might interact with people-focused academic areas.

Out of our conversations and visits to 1871 the idea for a podcast emerged. 1871 has a well-equipped podcast studio for use by members. The students were intrigued by the possibility of sharing with the TCC community more about their work in a previous course focused on multicultural counseling.

What emerged are a series of three conversations. The first episode centers on how the brain processes novel ideas. This leads to some discussion of what human beings do when confronting issues of difference. The second episode interviews a guest, Christine Scholma, about what it is like to live with health challenges that others might not be able to see. The third and final episode centers on thinking through the ways in which intersecting identities are explored and addressed in daily life. In this conversation Garsca Brooks, a graduate student in counseling psychology, shares her life experiences to illustrate some of the ways in which marginalized and privileged identities interface in her lived experience.

We look forward to you joining the conversation through these podcasts! After you listen please feel free to leave a comment on this post with questions or comments. We look forward to the conversation!

Trinity at 1871 Podcast (click the links to listen)

Part 1: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1OoKXjq2vWln6xwPxGEwajVAqEkgMlvUz

Part 2: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1tS0n178pDDxxHu0bd7ApixruIzM0FvwI

Part 3: https://drive.google.com/open?id=15eIZl37ZeyKxhBRuT5k0j_7n5TozmFTJ

Any questions can be directed to Kara Wolff at kara.wolff@trnty.edu or Sara Baillie at sara.baillie@trnty.edu

Thanks for listening!

Psychology Research:Two Tensions for Christians (Part 1)

Our guest blogger, Dr. Sherri B. Lantinga, is an academic consultant, editor, and adjunct professor at Handong Global University. You can also read her delightful blogs about being an expat in Korea here: http://korealantinga.blogspot.com/

I taught the senior psychology research course at Dordt College for about 15 years.  Students didn’t want to take it, dreaded taking it, and were sure it would be the worst class in their college career (although History of Psych was a close contender).   They were usually terrified of statistics and/or public speaking, did not feel the joy of APA style, and really wanted to help people by doing counseling–not wasting their time and talents with independent variables and ANOVAs and proper DOI citations.

But I loved teaching the course.  Because I knew something my students didn’t: researching people is really fun (ok, not 100% of the time, but more than they expected).  And I knew that even if they never again came within 10 blocks of a p value, they would turn out the best paper and conference presentation they’d ever done.  In fact, our department staked a fancy steak dinner on it every year.

“Well, that’s nice for Dordt,” you dear Trinity readers may be thinking. “But WE have to reflect on Christian Perspective and, really, what does THAT have to do with the size of t or the insanity program called SPSS?”

Good question–and one I couldn’t answer myself for many years.  But gradually I found at least two sticking points for Christians doing psych research.  The first point I shall get to indirectly.  Imagine that you are in Florida and visiting a local swamp (just go with me here).  Your travel companion wonders aloud: “I wonder.  How many teeth does an alligator have?”* You do not know the answer.  And, lo, there is a dead alligator just yards away!  Do you (a) say “Oh, curious friend, let us adjourn to Disney World and leave behind your strange nature-y questions!”; (b) open the mouth of said gator to count the teeth therein; or (c) repeatedly attempt to access Google or your mom or pastor or anyone wiser than you for the answer?

The method you chose to answer that question (and many other questions in life) reveals something of your beliefs about the proper way of finding truth. (Some of you may suspect we’re nearing the great swamp called epistemology. Fear not.)  In the same way, different academic fields have different preferences for the way they answer questions like these.  By this time you probably know that psychology is a relatively new discipline (Wilhelm! Wilhelm!) that has struggled, like a teenager with bad breath, for respect among its academic peers.  Psychology straddled the line between philosophy and biology for a time, but sometime around Watson and Skinner it opted for scientific, empirical methods for answering questions and booted out the introspective meanderings of Wilhelm and Sigmund and others.  As a result, neither philosophy nor biology respect us because they both think we’re using the wrong methods to learn about human behavior.

Now back to the alligator’s dental situation.  If you chose to count its pointy teeth, that’s akin to using empirical methods: using your senses to make systematic observations to gain knowledge about the world. (And, if you had time on your hands, you could rustle up some other alligators to count their teeth and consider variables like gender, diet, and dental insurance coverage.)  When you, O Student of Psychology, use empirical methods to study human behavior, you don’t just trust Plato or the Bible or Urban Dictionary for answers–you look for yourself (in a systematic and unbiased way, of course).

So where exactly is the darn “sticking point” this essay is supposed to be about? Here it comes. God gave us senses and the brainpower to learn about his creation. Very cool, that. If empirical methods are your only tools for learning about people, you’d be an empiricist. From a Christian perspective, empiricists miss big opportunities for learning about people in other ways, including what God reveals through his Word and his Spirit and the wisdom of other people.  My first-year grad professor at UIC was a dedicated empiricist who sprinkled even normal conversations with zingers like, “If you can’t measure it, it doesn’t exist.”  But Christians believe in a much larger universe. Christians believe in unmeasurable things like the twisted power of sin and the redemptive, unceasing movement of the Holy Spirit. We have faith in things we cannot see, as the author of Hebrews reminds us.  Empirical methods are very cool God-given tools; but there are other tools in the bag, too.

Back to our gator one last time.  An empiricist is sort of like someone who counted that dead gator’s teeth, took its measurements, carefully documented the terrain and the goo in its stomach, and then concluded that he/she knew everything there was to know about alligators.  But, of course, this gator is dead: the researcher would have completely missed learning about some of the most important aspect of gators (like how they whirl around to attack the Gator Boys of TV fame).  The field of psychology pushes empiricism in an attempt to get respect from the natural sciences.  But Christians in psychology must remember the bigger picture: our senses don’t give the whole story about people. And thus, from the mouth of a gator, we have one source of tension for Christians doing psychological research; you’ll have to wait for the next episode, about snowflakes, to learn about tension #2.   

**Thanks to Francis Bacon for his teeth-in-the-mouth-of-a-horse analogy in the 16^th century.

Shalom, Multiculturalism and Christianity

Keenan Cleary is a graduate student here at TCC in the Counseling Psychology MA program.

The reason we engage in multicultural counseling is a direct attempt to restore shalom. While shalom will never truly be reached, it is something that we should continuously strive for in order to better humanity. Sin has lead to racism and bigotry, which not only separates us from shalom, but keeps us from a true sense of community. Shalom, or the attempt to reach a true sense of shalom, impacts counseling in multiple ways. Shalom guides how we should approach counseling, and acts as an example as to what should be achieved through counseling. There are obstacles to shalom in counseling though, including classism, racism, and an ignorance of culture and cultural context. 

Multicultural counseling helps us reach Shalom in three key ways. First, multicultural counseling helps us understand the views and motivations of others. When counselors are able to work with people from a variety of backgrounds, people are able to grow in their understanding of one another, as well as grow within their knowledge in other cultural groups, separate from their own. Second, multicultural views help us understand ourselves in new ways. When encountering other cultures, we are encouraged to analyze the way we do things, and the way we interact with people, which helps us grow and develop. The final way is through uniting these different cultures in their new understanding. Once people are able to understand others differently, and themselves differently, multicultural bonds can begin to form, and restore us to this sense of Shalom. This is necessary in the first place because of how far we have deviated from this idea of shalom in reference to multiculturalism. Because we have fallen so far from multicultural shalom, we must work to reclaim it, and a large part of that can be done through multicultural counseling (Plantinga, 1995).

One of the biggest threats to this multicultural shalom in the USA is the lingering effects of racism and bigotry, beginning with slavery, and going through the civil rights movement, and even into today. While racism and bigotry have evolved, both still exist, and all cultures suffer from the residual effects. In his film The Psychological Residuals of Slavery, Dr. Hardy discusses the true repercussions of slavery, and how they still, to this day, effect African Americans, and their relationships with Whites. Feelings of hostility, as well as deep feelings of shame are usually associated with the residuals of slavery. These residuals have also kept African Americans separate from many major parts of culture like television, movies, and even toys. This has lead to a great psychological trauma, as many African Americans have reported feeling like second class citizens. This is where sin has fragmented the true idea of shalom. When Whites are thought of more highly than African Americans, our true sense of Shalom has been forgotten, and the issues of sin become evident as a result (Hardy, 2008).

This not only shows an oppression of African Americans, but a lack of cultural knowledge by those who are white. Many white people do not understand the extent to which separations between white culture and black culture are made, and this is in part due to the lack of clarity around white racial identity development. When white people ignore the culture that they are taking a part of, they enable the disregard of another. Plantinga says, “To shut one’s eyes to an injustice, to look the other way, to pretend ignorance of evil - to do these things is to connive. We generally think of connivance as a case of active conspiracy, but it needn’t be and often isn’t.” While many white people do not have an understanding of their own culture, it is often by their own choice that they do not seek out an understanding (Plantinga, 1995, p. 182). This lack of understanding leads to a misunderstanding of other’s cultures, and how those cultures relate to one another. Plantinga is demonstrating that it is this kind of blind ignorance that is leading to a disruption in Shalom. While people may not be maliciously pursing racism or bigotry, the lack of knowledge of racial and cultural differences, and how those differences effect other races, leads to the subjugation of those different races (Plantinga, 1995).

Multicultural counseling tries to combat this in a very direct way. The recognition of other cultures, and the differences that come along with those cultures is imperative to the psychological empowerment of clients. It is also important for counselors, in the sense that it may bring counselors to a better understanding of their client’s issues. Once a client is able to realize what their role within their own culture is, they can better assess who they are as a person, and realize what cultural withholdings may be preventing them from a psychological shalom. Especially when working with clients from different cultures, issues associated with racial and cultural identity can be directly linked. While workplace anxiety may be a reality for most working individuals, the additional stress of racial discrimination could cause many different issues, especially in regard to diagnosing and treatment options for a client. If these issues are not addressed correctly by the counselor, a client’s wellbeing may be at risk. It is important for a counselor to understand these cultural intricacies in order to develop proper rapport with their client, and to better understand the needs that go along with a client from another culture. This understanding brings us closer to a place of shalom because we can better assess the needs of our client, and help them through the healing process in a way that takes these events into account (Ponterotto, 2010).

Justice plays a key role in this.. As Christian counselors, we have a duty to each other and to God to see that shalom be restored, and the effects of sin be minimized. If counselors are able to understand those who come from a cultural background that is different from their own, the Christian ideal of community can be better achieved. A multicultural understanding will prevent the demeaning of other races and cultures, as well as help create strong communities that embrace their diversity. This idea of justice is imperative to the pairing of multicultural counseling and the idea of shalom. Justice is the motivator that brings change that is necessary in order for shalom to occur. When justice is the mindset of the community, change will become something that is part of the culture. This change is what is necessary especially when racial conditions have become as askew as they currently are.

Sin applies to every aspect of multicultural counseling. Sin is something that we must consistently contend with as mental heath professionals, and from a Christian perspective, it must also be something that is addressed in counseling. Sin prevents this idea of shalom from manifesting in every aspect of life, and inversely, sin tarnishes every aspect of our life and separates us from shalom. When we disregard the importance of a multicultural perspective to counseling, we are in a way polluting that therapy, and further separating ourselves and our clients from the possibility of shalom (Plantinga, 1995).

Kirksey (2009) also pointed to the idea of a multicultural acceptance being much deeper than a general acceptance of different races. She shared a story of a group of students from multiple racial backgrounds coming together. The point that Dr. Kirksey was making was that, multicultural understanding seems to almost see past these racial dividers and through to a very human level of understanding. While race, and the understanding of race still remain important, true multicultural understanding seeks the individual person, instead of the surface level racial understanding. It is this deeper level of understanding that will lead us to a better version of community, as well as a greater understanding of God’s love. God called us to love others, but more importantly, to love others as he loved others. In order to have this kind of love, it is important for us to look past (but not ignore) those differences between one another that may separate us, to recognize that there is a person that God has love for, and that we should also share that love for.

The problem that we face within seeking shalom is that we can never truly escape from sin. As we are born sinful people, sin will always be something we must contend with in order to attempt to reach shalom (Plantinga, 1995). Even when presented with difficult situations, there is something great about fighting for the progression of shalom. It allows us to truly see the grace and love of God, as well as be able to experience the tools that have been laid before us to better ourselves and others. This is something that God has laid before us for a reason, and it is our duty and obligation as both Christians and counselors to attempt to restore shalom to the clients that we treat (Plantinga, 1995).

Hardy, K. V. (Producer and Director). (2008). Psychological residuals of slavery [Motion Picture]. (Available from Alexander Street Press).

Kirksey, K. (Director). (2009). Christianity and Multiculturalism: Understanding an Important Dimension of Diversity [Motion picture]. US: Microtraining Associates.

 
Plantinga, C. (1995). Not the way it's supposed to be: A breviary of sin. Grand Rapids, MI:Eerdmans.

Ponterotto, J. G. (2010). Handbook of multicultural counseling. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Multicultural Counseling and Shalom

 

Donna Brown is a graduate student in counseling psychology here at TCC.

Shalom is what God wished for us, His people; and, on our best days that is what we wish for ourselves. But by our very sinful nature life is not what it is supposed to be. Comparisons of this group to that group, this flaw to that flaw, this success to that success leave us as multicultural counselors open to a variety of cases that will test our ability and our will to promote shalom. “Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be” (Plantinga, 1995, p.10). Multicultural counseling is about seeing outside of your own worldview and through someone else’s to help them create shalom in their life. At the same time the client’s worldview and sin may disrupt the shalom in your own life as the counselor. Both shalom and sin create varied dynamics in the multicultural counseling setting.

Plantinga (1995) writes about spiritual hygiene and corruption and how corruption attacks the spiritually hygienic person. “A spiritually hygienic person is one who combines strengths and flexibilities, disciplines and freedoms, all working together from a renewable source of vitality” (p. 34). It is important that counselors, especially Christian counselors, strive to be this type of person. This person follows God’s purpose for their life. To help move things back in the direction in which it is supposed to be: shalom. One has to be called by God to do so by God. It is in poor taste for a counselor to be unhygienic spiritually because they would further disrupt shalom. A counselor promoting shalom in a multicultural counseling relationship and setting must shun the stereotypes and prejudices that might disrupt and negatively infiltrate their rationale and emotion. When counselors fail to do this they fail their culturally different clients because they have been corrupted. It takes discipline for a white counselor who has just learned about the residual effects of slavery and what it actually means to be White in America to withhold racially prejudiced comments that have been imbedded in them since birth. Spiritual hygiene does not come overnight but with time and discipline it is absolutely needed in the multicultural counseling setting for change to occur.

Those who promote multiculturalism and social justice are trying to create shalom in the world and they should be applauded for that. If Jesus Christ was walking the earth today it seems certain that He would be trying to break down systemic oppression and institutionalized racism.  It is a call for counselors to help create shalom not just in the personal lives of clients but to advocate for them outside of the therapy session. If that means speaking to a school counselor to coordinate service plans for a child in family therapy, or going down to Springfield to lobby for an increased budget for government-owned mental health care facilities, or implementing the social justice organizational development theory at the college level at the local college then it should be done to help create shalom. However, sin is never too far away. “God hates sin not just because it violates his law, but more substantively because it violates shalom, because it breaks the peace, because it interferes with way things are supposed to be” (Plantinga, 1995, p. 14). Even in the midst of these great things sin disrupts it. For example, it is easy for a counselor’s head to get inflated. Any great man or woman who has been a major contributor to change is at risk for being puffed up on one’s own accomplishments. With everyone lavishing attention on them for being so charismatic, taking a stand, and fighting for what is right it is important to know that they have a personal life. That personal life outside of fighting for multiculturalism, fighting for shalom can be filled with sin. Some, not all, cheat on their spouses, go without seeing their kids, accept bribes, and are highly narcissistic. When anyone tries to create the life that is supposed to be, shalom, the devil is always lurking around to tempt people with sin. It is by our own lusts that we are tempted. Counselors fighting for multiculturalism want shalom but sin is always lurking around so it is important to watch your motives and to discipline yourself to stay spiritually hygienic that way shalom is not being created in one area while simultaneously sin taking over in another.

References:

Plantinga, Jr, C. (1995) Not the way it’s supposed to be: A breviary of sin. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

 

 

Multicultural Counseling and Sin in a Reformed Perspective

Belinda Adame is a graduate student in the MA program in Counseling Psychology here at TCC.

“Evenu shalom alejem, evenu shalom alejem, evenu shalom alejem, evenu shalom, shalom, shalom alejem.” This is a traditional song that is sung at my church in order to greet the congregation. Translated this song reads: God’s peace be with you, God’s peace be with you, God’s peace be with you, peace, peace, peace be with you. This song most commonly reflects the definition that individuals often associate with shalom; peace. However, shalom, as Plantinga (1995) describes, has a deeper significance. According to him, shalom is “the way things ought to be” and “a spread of appropriate thoughts, desires, emotions, words, deeds, and dispositions” (p. 10). This includes relationships between two or more people as well as races within different nations. However, the problem arises when individuals begin to realize that the way things ought to be are not the way things are currently. If everyone imagined his or her perfect world, every individual would paint a different picture. However, some common themes may include happy, unified families, spiritual prosperity, and contentment. When it comes to the topic of shalom and sin, it could be stated that sin is the absence of shalom.

Sin is Generational

“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned” (Romans 5: 12, NIV).  In order for one to label sin as sin, one should feel a certain degree of culpability. However, this culpability is also presented in the form of a more structural element, one that is acquired through social learning;  generational sin. The first instance recorded in the Bible of someone sinning against God’s orders was when Eve ate from the forbidden fruit and shared it with Adam. This act symbolizes that just as it was that simple for Eve to share the forbidden fruit, sin is just as easily shared. When it comes to discussing race, there are many opinions. Racism is a generational sin that has been progressive, even before the birth of Jesus.

When slavery is mentioned one might automatically assume that one is talking about African Americans who were until recently subjected to this traumatic experience. However, in the book of Exodus, the bible narrates the story of the obstacles Moses had to overcome in order to release his people from slavery. Sins such as slavery, segregation, and superiority have not developed over the night, rather they have been generational. “Recognizing that youngsters not only idolize but also imitate their heroes… imitation is one of the main ways children sow what they have reaped” (Plantinga, 1995, p. 71). This quote is a perfect example of what happen with the fall of humanity. Eve ate from the forbidden fruit, shared the fruit with Adam, as a result both were released from the garden, where they procreated, and had two children. Most people who have read the story know that Cain, Adam and Eve’s son killed his own brother Abel. While murder is a sin, the sin was caused as a result of what Adam and Eve sowed. Cain and Abel were conceived in sin; therefore, this was part of their humanity. Similarly, one could explore how White privilege could also be generational sin.

According to Sue (2004), White privilege means to, “inherit and benefit from” and to “knowingly or unknowingly have a stake in the perpetuation of White Racism.” Simply because one is White, he or she has been born with the freedom to do more than individuals of other races. White privilege does not mean that White people do not also struggle to get where they are in life, it simply means that in some instances, opportunities have been more readily available to them.

Sin is Perverse, Polluting, and Disintegrating

Sin is repulsive because it separates us from what ought to be. Sin holds us back in terms of spiritual and personal growth; however, sin has more than just negative effects on the individual. Just as sin is generational and has the ability to grow, sin also leaks and spreads onto other individuals much like the flu or the common cold. In chapter three, Plantinga (1995) describes sin as a father molesting his daughter. While most of us are quick to reject the idea that we could possibly be compared to a child molester, sin is sin. Whether that father was lying to his daughter or molesting her, the fact is that because that father decided to pervert his relationship with his daughter, other relationships such as other members of the family, are also polluted. Plantinga claims that pollution is a way in which relationships are weakened due to the integration of an unknown element (p. 44). Furthermore, disintegration involves, “The breakdown of personal and social integrity the loss of shape, strength, and purpose that make some entity an “entirety” …Disintegration is always deterioration, the prelude and postlude to death” (p. 47).  Many times individuals do not examine how our sinful actions will cause harm to others because we tend to be most interested in what is more accommodating to us.

Sin is Self-centered

We live in a society that values independence. Being dependent on others and acknowledging that not everything could be done on our own is difficult to admit. While self-sufficiency is a trait that most of us value, this can lead to feelings  of pride, which is a sin that also disturbs shalom. Plantinga (1995) is very direct when he states, “God wants to fill us with his Holy Spirit, but when we are proud we are already full of ourselves. There’s no room for God” (p. 82). This statement is difficult to accept because even if one is prideful, one is unaware of this characteristic. Having some pride is not always harmful; however, it is when this pride directs us to engage in discrimination that it is not acceptable. Much like the Holy Spirit wants to work within us to restore our lives and simply to be a part of us, God also desires us to depend on one another. However, an issue arises due to the development of various assumptions that separate us rather than unite us. For instance, it may be difficult for some Caucasians to accept the reality of slavery. And although “moving forward” for some African-Americans would be ideal, this experience is not a simple task (Hardy, 2008). For some African-Americans it may seem that Whites are being prideful in not acknowledging their experiences, and this thought or action is causing disintegration between one another.

On one hand being prideful is a sin, but being envious and holding resentment is also a cause of sin. Resentment is, “anger aimed at what the angry person regards as unjust, insulting, demeaning, especially to her personally” (Plantinga, 1995, p. 166). Resentment may stem from one’s racial experiences or inability to be accepted or understood at a multicultural level. If one does not allow the Holy Spirit to work with the anger and resentment that is being stored, this is also a development of sin. Avoiding the Holy Spirit within us would be to push God aside and claim that we are self-sufficient individuals, however, God’s intended plan for our lives was and is to depend on Him, our creator.

Sin is Deceiving                                          

Sin is beautiful. After claiming this most individuals would be fast to argue this statement, however, if sin were not desirable, it would not be difficult to voluntarily stop engaging in sin. Ordinarily, things would probably being going the way they ought to. What attracts us about sin is, “the goodness in it” (Plantinga, 1995, p. 94). Sin is disguised so that what is wrong seems right to do. However, how could this be translated into our society in regards to multicultural counseling? For some individuals, the way they conceptualize race is normal. Again, this may be due to the way a person was raised by his or her parents or by the lack of racial consciousness. However, this does not excuse the behavior that it perpetrates. Because racism could be as subtle as not feeling any responsibility for feelings expressed by African-Americans in regards to slavery, it is often difficult to accept that one is “racist” and therefore, much easier to deny it. According to the AMCD Multicultural Counseling Competencies, counselors are expected to have certain skills, knowledge, attitudes and beliefs in regards to their own understandings of cultural values as well as a worldview perspective (Arredondo, 1996). However, in order to do so one has to ask the Holy Spirit for guidance and let go of pride, regardless if one believes he or she is subjected to it.

 
References:

Arredondo, P., Toporek, M.S., Brown, S., Jones, J., Locke, D.C., Sanchez, J. and Stadler, H. (1996). Operationalization of the multicultural counseling competencies. AMCD: Alexandria, VA.

Hardy, K. V. (Producer and Director). (2008). Psychological residuals of slavery [Motion Picture].(Available from Alexander Street Press).

Plantinga, Cornelius. (1995). Not the way it’s supposed to be a breviary of sin. Grand Rapids, MI:              William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Sue, D. W. (Producer and Director).  (2004). What does it mean to be white? The invisible whiteness of being [Motion Picture]. (Available from Alexander Street Press).  

 

Anxiety and the Christian Life

The following blog entry is adapted from a chapel meditation given by Dr. Wolff on May 7, 2014.

I John 3:18-24 The Message

My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.

And friends, once that’s taken care of and we’re no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we’re bold and free before God! We’re able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we’re doing what he said, doing what pleases him. Again, this is God’s command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command. As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave to us.

As a psychologist I have spent many years being trained in how to be aware of people. Really much of my academic work has been to think about how people’s feelings, actions and perceptions all work together to form them. And perhaps you’ve heard the jokes that people tell psychologists when they’re introduced; “Don’t analyze me,” “I better watch what I say around you,” or “can you read my mind?” To me those oft-repeated jokes, while funny and corny, also betray an inner sense of worry that we have, “what will happen if I’m truly seen by someone? Will I be unmasked? What will really be known about me?”

1 John seems to speak to that a bit, he reminds us that, hey, we all have that debilitating self-criticism, that inner voice that can plague our thoughts with reminders that we aren’t any good, or aren’t very capable. I don’t know about you, but I am visited by those kinds of thoughts on occasion. I suspect most of us live with some worry about our ability to measure up. We’re frequently aware of the ways in which we aren’t good enough. This is a paradox, though, for the generation of the “selfie”, that despite our focus on ourselves and our usage of things like social media to “announce” the smallest detail of our lives, we still live with uncertainty and insecurity about our worth and value.

The author Anne Lamott puts it quite well in her book, Bird by Bird (1995). This is a book on how to write, but as is characteristic of Lamott, there is a fair amount about the human experience as well.

“If you are not careful, station KFKD will play in your head 24 hours a day, nonstop in stereo….Out of the left speaker will be the rap songs of self-loathing, the lists of all the things one doesn’t do well, of all the mistakes one has made today and over an entire lifetime, the doubt, the assertion that everything that ones touches turns to shit, that one doesn’t do relationships well, that one is in every way a fraud, incapable of selfless love, that one has no talent or insight, and on and on and on” (p. 116).  

I suspect that many of us can relate to Lamott’s radio station analogy, that in the very moment we ready ourselves to do something difficult or challenging we are plagued by negative thoughts about ourselves. I know that I have had those moments when preparing for class or even before getting up to share this chapel meditation.  Maybe like me you’ve heard the phrases in your head “Why did they ask me to do this? I don’t have anything to offer. This is going to be a disaster!”

All of this is what we psychologists often call negative self-talk, and some of us struggle with it more than others. And as I John references, it’s even harder to shake because often pieces of it contain truth. When 5% of our critical thoughts contain some truth, we hear that 5% amplified as through loud speakers blaring throughout our minds, often blocking our ability to do or think about much else, leaving us stuck.

What follows this critical attack on our sense of self? Well, many of us shake it off, we combat it with good thoughts or reminders about our capabilities. Perhaps we even remind ourselves about our worth in Christ as the scripture suggests. But for others of us this negative thinking will lead to feelings of depression and anxiety. Worry might overtake us for a while, and we find our belief in ourselves shaken.

So what is anxiety? Most professionals agree that anxiety is a series of worries about everyday events, fears about the future and apprehension regarding social interaction. All of us will experience brief periods of worry in our lives. In fact, as I often quote to my students before an exam, a moderate amount of anxiety can be motivating! It helps us to study harder and become more prepared. But once that worry becomes more extreme and excessive, it can become paralyzing.

The statistics suggest that a great number of us are familiar with feelings of worry. According to the National Institutes of Mental Health 40 million Americans over 18 in a given year could be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. That’s about 18% of the population over 18 years old (Anxiety Disorders, 2014). Additionally, the Association for University and College Counseling Centers continues to note that anxiety is the most predominant presenting concern among college students who are seeking help from college counseling centers (2013). And these numbers don’t include those of us who just get caught in the grip of worry occasionally. What this suggests to me is that I John’s acknowledgement of our self-debilitating criticism is an accurate reflection of our human condition. Most of us know how that feels. We can relate to feelings of anxiety because we have known them.

A band I enjoy is the Wailin Jenny’s; they have kind of a guitar folk style, and as a preface to one of their songs, they offer this introduction:

“But even if you don’t consider yourself a chronic worrier, I think there are times in all of our lives where we find that our mind is not with us at a particular moment. It’s not seeing anything that is actually going on in front of us. Its running the little films of our lives in our head you know of what maybe shouldn’t have happened a few weeks ago or what is going to go wrong a couple of months from now or go right a few months from now. It’s just not with us, and I think that the antidote to worrying is being in the moment. So I wrote this song to remind us to be mindful.”

The singer goes on to offer a song called, Begin that focuses on staying present where we are at any given time. Mindfulness is an increasingly popular term within the psychological community. It’s been integrated into several mainstream treatments for anxiety, like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Over and over studies of the effects of mindfulness in psychology say, yes it works! It helps people cope with feelings of worry.

But what is it? It’s a practice of staying present in the moment and really focusing on the what is going on around you rather than letting your mind wander off ahead of you into the what if’s. I also hear a nod to a practice of mindfulness in 1 John. It’s a specific kind of acknowledgement that abiding in God’s presence keeps us grounded and mindful.

When I read this passage in I John, I can’t help but feel openness, a sense of space enlarging before me and an awakening hopefulness. It’s sort of the same feelings that I have had during the last few weeks when it became clear that spring is sticking around. The life-giving greenery around me in contrast to the cold, snowy, dark winter that we’ve just come out of is refreshing to my spirit.

That feeling of freedom that the passage suggests is in direct contrast to the chains that anxiety shackles us with.  Such freedom seems to be possible both due to the acknowledgement of our struggle and a response that God knows us better than we know ourselves.

Does this lay out a formula for eliminating anxiety and worry from our lives? No, it does not. The organic methods of the Holy Spirit are much more complex than that. What I see instead is the offering of hope for our troubled and weary selves. The wonderful line, “truly living in God’s reality,” feels like a promise to me, one that I’m not even sure I can fathom. I’m encouraged by it, but also left wondering, what does that mean? What does it look like? Especially when we are weighed down by troubles, what is God’s reality?

The passage seems to suggest that there is something that can change simply by living in God’s knowledge of us, rather than our definition of self. It’s a good reminder that our sense of our own identity is ultimately limited. As is our vision of the world. God’s is greater and much clearer.

There is also the reminder to love one another. The passage doesn’t use the word “authentic”, but it’s a good word for our era. To love each other authentically. To really see each other, worries and imperfections and all.  One of the great privileges of being a psychologist is sitting in a space with people that eliminates the need for social convention. Therapy often allows us to simply be present with each other, to sit in the moment and really listen. It’s always remarkable when strangers allow me to enter in to some of the messiest parts of their lives. It’s an act of truly being seen and heard by someone else. One of the things I’m most grateful for is the way it has changed me, and taught me to really look at the person in front of me.

And outside the therapy room in all aspects of our lives, we are presented with opportunities for authenticity, or to worry about how we are perceived or we worry about taking relational risks. Will the other person reject our attempt at authenticity? Or will it be received with love and tenderness? I find myself worrying about those things in my day-to-day life.

So this passage in I John is a good reminder that God’s promise is real, and it’s inviting us into freedom.

  

References:

Anxiety disorders. (2014). Retrieved April 17, 2014 from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/index.shtml

Association University and College Counseling Center Directors. (2013). Annual survey. Aurora, IL: Author.

Lamott, A. (1995). Bird by bird: Some instructions on writing and life. New York, Anchor Books.

The integration of Christianity and Psychology

Molly Johnson is a recent graduate of TCC who would like to work with children, in particular through the Department of Children and Family Services or an adoption service. 

I believe that the best way to look at Christianity and psychology is through an integrated lens. My overall synopsis would be that Christianity and psychology should be integrated and work together in order to heal patients as well as guide them in the right direction to living a happy and healthy life through the glory of God. I feel as though Christianity and psychology cannot be separated into their own separate realms because they need to incorporate the insight of the other in order to function as a key component in understanding how life works. This type of integration can bring us one step closer to an even better understanding of God’s kingdom through the knowledge He has given us about it through His word and through the scientific knowledge we have been blessed with.

For a specific definition of psychology, I would say that psychology is the knowledge and understanding of our cognitive processes. It is these processes that we study and our attempt to explain them leads to even more linked discoveries. It is the study of human nature as well as the study of human cognitive processing. Psychology is aimed at not only our cognitive processes but our behavior as well. It requires careful observation and thought and is interconnected to other aspects and areas of scientific knowledge such as biology, physiology, chemistry, etc. Our description of the psychology that is unique to us as humans helps us differentiate between other living things.

Psychology serves the purpose of being able to understand why we do the things that we do and how certain things affect how we live and experience our lives.  It is also the means through which we help people work through their disorders, conditions and problems. We study psychology in general to be able to improve our well-being and to gain a better understanding of our capabilities as human beings. We should study the discipline of psychology in order to engage with the world in our surroundings and other people while doing it in a way that glorifies God. We strive to help others better understand themselves and show them the ways that explain how and why they are the children of God.

The relationship between Christianity and psychology should be that they have the potential to be separate but when they are brought together they bring us one step closer to knowing even more about ourselves and the world we live in. Psychology helps us to understand the individual while using Christianity as a means to answer the questions we cannot scientifically prove. In the same breath, a Christian psychologist should play a role that seeks to provide scientifically sound therapy or counseling while also addressing those ‘unknown’ bits of knowledge through a Christian perspective. They should be able to provide a place of welcoming peace and remind the patient that they are one of God’s people and that He always has their best interests in mind.

We would be able to recognize work in psychology as “Christian” by acknowledging that it is faith-based with the goal of providing evidence that shows that we are doing this work ultimately through and for God. All work in psychology should strive towards the common goal to better God’s kingdom and help His people be the best that they can be. Some, but not all evidence should be scripturally-based since the Bible is not a textbook and we should not use it as such. We can recognize work in psychology as being Christian by seeing that it is centered in God and that the person who is involved in that particular work has a strong faith background.

Anything in life can be looked at through a Christian perspective and it is important for us to not have all of life’s answers because that is where faith comes in. It brings mystery and enchantment into our lives and it will always provide us with God’s love no matter what we encounter. We must leave it up to faith in order to answer the questions that cannot be proven by science. The questions we have simply cannot all be answered but at least we may have some peace of mind that everything in life happens for a reason. Psychology brings us closer to knowing more about the world, ourselves and God, but only just so much that we don’t obtain all of the world’s answers. Those answers we cannot have are God’s and God’s alone. We must put our faith and trust in Him because in the end, all that matters is that we are blanketed in His unconditional love.