I am definitely not the first person to talk about this idea of faith-inclusive hedonism. In fact, John Piper has developed a whole ministry based on the idea that "God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him."
What do you think that means? From his position, I have gathered that he wants listeners to invest their attention in the pursuit of Godly pleasure, to become so lost in the worship of God that they become satisfied by His spirit. Biblically, this seems like the goal, simplified. We want to worship God, to be positioned so squarely in His presence that we are totally satisfied, because God is more than enough. While this is a belief that I agree with and hold, I think it may be a bit too theoretical for me. I don't think it is really telling people how to be happy in God, or even just in general. To me, it feels like saying you can have higher self esteem by sitting next to all your past successes printed on paper or depicted in pictures - look at them everyday, and you'll have a higher self esteem! I don't know if that is enough information. While you stare at them, you'll probably feel better, but the fact is that none of us can just sit in the same place for the duration of life, chewing on only the theory that we could be happy. We also live in an animated and physical world that impacts our feelings about self, and life. Below is an excellent twelve minute video I really hope you'll watch, it's about the mechanisms that people tend to use to assess and to achieve happiness.
Dr. Shawn Achor is describing a principle of positive psychology which says that people tend to be in pursuit of normal, when normal is merely an average, and often times not an accurate average, but skewed to too many negative examples. There is a tendency to relate and focus on more negativity than positivity, and the result is a population of people who believe that the regular, everyday norm is just not that good. His suggestion? To actively pursue the good. His research has been able to demonstrate how the inclusion of random acts of kindness (such as sending an encouraging email or opening a door for someone), of journalling about one positive experience everyday greatly improves a person's mentality, and this is actually more predictive of success at work and school than is IQ alone. I find that very interesting, because it suggests that we can manipulate our own habits and thinking to literally create more happiness.
Happiness has been marketed as something that some people have, and some people don't. It is spoken of in reverent tones when noted in someone else, and people generally aspire to attain the things that will, one day make them happy, too. I have been chewing over this idea for a couple years now because in my own life I had been completely convinced that being a goal setter and plan follower, doing everything you maturely and thoughtfully set out to do was the way to happiness. Ongoing success makes you happy, right? I'm learning that that is wrong. Success makes you desirous of more success, and like Achor is suggesting, it just means you're aiming for a moving target.
My newest thought has been to be where I am, and do good, be good and see good right there. I am saying happiness is something that you take from life, not something that life gives to you.
What do you think that means? From his position, I have gathered that he wants listeners to invest their attention in the pursuit of Godly pleasure, to become so lost in the worship of God that they become satisfied by His spirit. Biblically, this seems like the goal, simplified. We want to worship God, to be positioned so squarely in His presence that we are totally satisfied, because God is more than enough. While this is a belief that I agree with and hold, I think it may be a bit too theoretical for me. I don't think it is really telling people how to be happy in God, or even just in general. To me, it feels like saying you can have higher self esteem by sitting next to all your past successes printed on paper or depicted in pictures - look at them everyday, and you'll have a higher self esteem! I don't know if that is enough information. While you stare at them, you'll probably feel better, but the fact is that none of us can just sit in the same place for the duration of life, chewing on only the theory that we could be happy. We also live in an animated and physical world that impacts our feelings about self, and life. Below is an excellent twelve minute video I really hope you'll watch, it's about the mechanisms that people tend to use to assess and to achieve happiness.
Dr. Shawn Achor is describing a principle of positive psychology which says that people tend to be in pursuit of normal, when normal is merely an average, and often times not an accurate average, but skewed to too many negative examples. There is a tendency to relate and focus on more negativity than positivity, and the result is a population of people who believe that the regular, everyday norm is just not that good. His suggestion? To actively pursue the good. His research has been able to demonstrate how the inclusion of random acts of kindness (such as sending an encouraging email or opening a door for someone), of journalling about one positive experience everyday greatly improves a person's mentality, and this is actually more predictive of success at work and school than is IQ alone. I find that very interesting, because it suggests that we can manipulate our own habits and thinking to literally create more happiness.
Happiness has been marketed as something that some people have, and some people don't. It is spoken of in reverent tones when noted in someone else, and people generally aspire to attain the things that will, one day make them happy, too. I have been chewing over this idea for a couple years now because in my own life I had been completely convinced that being a goal setter and plan follower, doing everything you maturely and thoughtfully set out to do was the way to happiness. Ongoing success makes you happy, right? I'm learning that that is wrong. Success makes you desirous of more success, and like Achor is suggesting, it just means you're aiming for a moving target.
My newest thought has been to be where I am, and do good, be good and see good right there. I am saying happiness is something that you take from life, not something that life gives to you.
10.) I will do good anyway. The Paradoxical Commandments are a list of life statements and guidelines written by Dr. Kent M. Keith that have really spoken to me recently; I encourage you to read through them.The tenth resolution I wrote for 2012 references The Paradoxical Commandments and I find that this is a good springboard into the challenge for the year which is to literally be good. Many of the references here suggest that good is, but humans don't naturally choose to see what is good, but instead see what is less than ideal, less than the goal, good. I like the paradoxical commandments because they remind us that there is always a little struggle involved with doing (or being/seeing) good, but that you should do it anyway. In my mind happiness is the product of knowing and seeing what is good. Happiness, to me, is the result of a superior understanding of what is all around us.
 |
| Source |
No comments:
Post a Comment