We live in a medicated culture. Daydream? ADHD. Cry? Depression. Bad memories? Post-traumatic stress syndrome. Nervous? Anxiety disorder. Moody? Bipolar. Granted, I believe all of these conditions are real. Both children and adults have Attention deficit Hyperactive disorder. I know people who experience the loneliness, suicidal thoughts, and physical torment of clinical depression. I have known war veterans who live the reality of real Post-Traumatic Stress disorder. I know people who have become incapacitated by suffering the panic attacks of an Anxiety disorder. And I have witnessed the drastic mood swings of severe mania and hopeless depression caused by Bipolar Disorder. I don't have to be a doctor to know that the conditions are real. But I also don't have to be a sociologist to know that we live in a culture eager to label people and medicate them.
An article in Relevant Magazine ("Wonder Drug, September/October 2006) raises the question of the power of drugs in knowing God. I know it sounds ludicrous. But who hasn't heard of the drug-induced encounter with God? One of my friends describes an encounter with God after smoking too much weed. He heard God say, "It's over. You're done." It scared him so bad he hasn't smoked since. In college I knew a guy who found faith in Christ because of a really strange acid trip during which he met both Jesus and Satan. He made his choice while he was still on the trip. But not every drug-empowered encounters with God are so dramatic. As the Relevant article explored, people with ADHD find a new ability to concentrate in prayer through drugs like Adderall. They find a connection with God that they never knew was possible. People suffering from depression often live their lives in isolation, never knowing the God-mandated notion of community. For many of them, Wellbutrin or Cymbalta make community possible. And that doesn't say anything about a depressed person's capacity for hope!
Maybe some people really do experience a new spiritual freedom from psychiatric medicines. Maybe SOME people really do need this kind of help to know the abundant and eternal life Jesus teaches. But there's something about that kind of thinking that seems dangerous. Are we replacing the power of God with the power of the prescription? Are the real spiritual guides the doctors? Are the real servants the insurance companies? Are the real spiritual leaders the prescription drug companies? I know it might sound a little melodramatic, but how far away from this kind of thinking are we? How big of a jump is it to move from taking Adderall to work longer hours or Wellbutrin to have better self-esteem or Zoloft to like people more... How big of a jump is it to go from that kind of medicated self-help to taking Adderall for a more fulfilling prayer life or Cymbalta to have more fun at Bible study?
It seems we have already begun sinking deep into the pit by renaming "sin" as "sickness." Where will it end?
10 comments:
hmmmmm.... drugs and such.... hmmmm
hmmmmm
drugs and such...
I guess for me it comes down to what do drugs actually do for us (humans)?
I think drugs help people. They are a tool.
Like literacy, print, books (aka bibles) guitars, drums, paintbrushes, stage lightings, cars, wheelchairs, eye glasses, condoms, and even our own hands, legs, eyes, and body they are all tools.
So whats wrong with using a tool, or tools?
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
If using drugs to connect to God is no longer sacred, then would not using tools such as the bible to connect to God be no longer sacred as well?
I guess I do not see a difference between taking a drug to help worship, and singing a song or beating on a tambourine to help worship as well.
Do I need to sing to worship? Do I need a tambourine to connect to God?
of course not, but yet just because i do not need to, does not mean that it can be beneficial.
I think this applies to drugs as well.
I currently take medication for Manic Bipolar, and already have had a dramatic change in my relationships with other people.
This being said, lets tackle your questions:
1. Are we replacing the power of God with the power of the prescription?
Aren't these the same thing? Isn't God all and everything? doesn't God work through reality, and things in reality? (Like Jesus!!! name drop points 100) Did not Jesus even heal people through medical (at the time) methods? Throughout the Old test, and New testament, technologies and ways of the world are used to help people understand, know, and have a relationship with YAHWEH. (Name drop 200 points)
2. Are the real spiritual guides the doctors? Are the real servants the insurance companies? Are the real spiritual leaders the prescription drug companies?
I am linking these together since they seem like the same basic question.
God always makes the less the great, and the great the less. He always is reversing the way we think about who is the spiritual guides, and who are the real servants.
Did God not put Moses in the house of Pharaoh (A rival god). Did God not take Joseph and establish him in Egypt? Throughout the Bible, God is always placing his followers and his leaders in places where we would think are the last places to look for Godliness. Even the disciples of Jesus are the most unlikely characters.
If fishermen can be spiritual leaders.... why can't doctors?
Instead of questioning who might be, or where the new spirit group might be, why not just let the spirit go wherever it wants, (it is in control) whether through HMOs, Doctors, Drug companies, or even crazy guys who hang out in graveyards with demons inside them (Legion! name drop demon points 300), it is all part of a plan that I can say "I get to be a part of"
3. I know it might sound a little melodramatic, but how far away from this kind of thinking are we? How big of a jump is it to move from taking Adderall to work longer hours or Wellbutrin to have better self-esteem or Zoloft to like people more... How big of a jump is it to go from that kind of medicated self-help to taking Adderall for a more fulfilling prayer life or Cymbalta to have more fun at Bible study?
as for this last question or series of questions.
This seems like the same responses that people gave when anything new was added to the "Worship Experience". Like when song was first added, or dance, or hymns changing to modern music, or guitars, or drums.
People are always afraid of new tools.
Like when powerpoint first entered the church. Or even the electric Organ.
This question seems pessimistic, narrow minded, and very much like something Reverend Shaw Moore from "Footloose" would say to Ren McCormack (Kevin Bacon's character)
{SUPER DOUBLE NAME DROP 500 Points!!!!}
So I guess my question is if were living in a new age "Footloose" movie, what is our "dance" in the church?
The sale of prescription drugs has more than doubled in the U.S. during the past 8 years. In 1990, Americans spent $37.7 billion on prescriptions; in 1997, national spending on prescriptions reached 78.9 billion.
back in 1976 it was estimated that over half of americas population was using some form of medically prescibed chemical every 24-36 hours.
WHY IS THIS???
The majority of the population in the west (Not just the US but Europe and Australia as well) are afraid.
Our culture has become a culture stricken with fear. We're not only increasingly afraid of death, but we are also afraid of pain both physical and emotional.
While in Sudan one day before my convoy was ambushed a group of rebels came to the village I was in to rest for the evening. They brought me a young man who had been shot through the arm with an ak47. I cleaned his wound as best I could with the remedial first aid kits we carried in our land cruisers. He never flenched. Never asked for medicine. Never made a sound.
The majority of non-western culture sees emotional trama a hundred times more than we could ever know. Many of the people in Darfur loose family members on a monthly or weekly basis. Many children have seen their famies murdered before their eyes. They have little to no access to clean water and food, yet they stay positive. They smile, laugh, and play games, all the while staying content with the cards that life has dealt them.
AND we sit over here across the ocean using more than 1000 times more water per household, gourging our fat asses on fast food, and taking pain killers and mood suppresents like they're candy.
So you lost a family member, you had a rough childhood, your not as well off as you'd like to be, your boyfriend/girlfriend dumped you, you don't deal well with pain...
SHUT THE F*%# up!!!
Go live somewhere other than your white, suburban, middle classed, neighborhood for one week and see what it really means to have it hard.
I promise you will be ashamed of yourself when you see a 5 year old with no shoes, who has no family, playing out side with a make shift soccer ball made out of something from the local dump... and loving every minute of it.
A sin is a sin is a sin.
All sins are equal.
The same can be said for suffering.
Suffering is suffering is suffering.
All sufferings are equal.
The suffering of a white upper class American are the same as a poor child soldier in Sudan.
The sufferings of death is equal to the suffering of hang-nails, wardrobe anxiety, physical pain, cancer, loss of family, tight pants, chaffing… all suffering is equal.
Just like murder, lies, adultery, and rape are all equal.
It is very dangerous to create degrees of sin and/or suffering.
To say one group suffers more than another, is to judge suffering.
This is one step closer to creating “In-groups” and “out-groups” and to create division.
Judging and creating degrees creates division.
I will hold all suffering equal, for I am one man with one perspective.
I will respect the sufferings of all people no matter the race, social class, or background.
And for everyone wondering how does this all work….. lets dive in!
“Degrees of suffering” is dependant on a specific view point. That “I” am an individual separate from you.
“I” as an individual suffer by myself.
However I do not see my self as an “individual”
I am a people.
Like the Hebrew are a people, where even my Jewish friends today state that “They were delivered from Egypt.” Even though this happened more than 2000 years ago, the sufferings and joys of their ancestors are their own sufferings and joys.
They are like a body.
If my eye suffers, my whole body suffers with it.
If my hands suffer, my whole body suffers together.
If my heart feels joy, my entire body celebrates joy.
My body is not a group of individual cells, they are One.
The One and The Many.
The church is a Body, and like a body the church is free of degrees of sufferings. The church suffers together, and the church shares joy together.
If the church contains both rich Americans snobs and poor African children, then both suffer together and both share in joy together.
We are all connected.
Jesus is constantly showing us how interconnected we are.
Jesus is constantly showing us how the rich and the poor are the same.
They both suffer, and they both sin, and the both share in joy.
I think to compare the suffering of one group of people to another, is very close-minded.
It may seem like its gaining perspective, and that would seem open-minded.
But in reality it is creating division in a body, setting a house against itself, and judging.
Maybe their not equal, but its not my place today to say otherwise.
Only God can say what suffering is greater or worse than others. And until I am God, I will not judge suffering whether it’s a stain on a white-T or Global Thermonuclear War.
Very valid point word. I should not look at a persons suffering here in the US as easier or harder than someone else somewhere else. I'm stoked you posted that reply.
I probably got off track on that last post, but one thing I did mean to emphasize more is how drugs play a role in that suffering. I don't think our sufferings have doubled in the US in the last 8 years, but for some reason we have bought twice as many drugs.
Yes, an African childs suffering should probably not even be compared to someones suffering here, but what can be compared is how we deal with that suffering.
And I think as a whole this nation is doing a pretty piss poor job of dealing with pain. I agree with you that drugs can be used as a tool and if used simply as a tool they can be beneficial. However, using them as a crutch could destroy someones life. Its happening all over the west. Just look at the rise in clynical deprsession.
We have forgotten how to make the best of our lives, instead we spend millions on trying to change the way we feel.
I agree that we should compare and assess how we as a culture/nation deals with suffering and how that impacts and relates with other cultures suffering.
I agree that we as a culture/nation are losing our focus with dealing with this issue. I think that knowledge and awareness are lacking here.
As for the rise of drugs, I think technological advances, better understanding and knowledge of anatomy, medicine, chemistry, quantum physics, and sociology and psychology have lead to an increase in available drugs. I would not say that drugs are increasing due to suffering increasing. I would rather say that do to the above mention fields of studies, we can better deal with and provide aid to suffering. (many of which we could not 20 yrs ago.)
I agree we should be making the best of our lives. As a student of Zen, living in the present and accepting life for what it is, and making the best out of it is of chief concern to myself. But I do not see “spend[ing] millions on trying to change the way we feel.” to go against “making the best of our lives”. In fact in many cases, drugs may even help make the best. I do not think “making the best” means going down with the ship. I do not think that we have to make the best with only what we presently have. I feel that we can make the best, by understanding our strengths and weaknesses and using (and even relying on the help) of aids and tools such drugs and medications.
I would never ask a diabetic to “make the best of life” without Insulin, and I assume that you also would never ask that as well.
So I guess I see the point here being that maybe this idea, (which seems good on paper above) is being abused by a consumerist, narcissistic , and egotistical culture.
But how can I separate the grain from the weeds?
How can we fix this situation, if this is indeed what is the problem?
I don’t really have an answer but I think that the answer should be “inclusion” and not “exclusion”
Whatever that means I do not know?
Also Doc, I was pondering this question today in school…. [total side note]
But is Forgiveness the opposite of judgement?
Are these two concepts polar opposites? Can one Judge and Forgive at the same time?
Just my thoughts to work on for today.
Man... thats a great question.
My first instinct was to think, yea maybe they are opposites. But after I have been thinking about it, they may not be opposite at all. In fact they may even be closely related, so much so that one depends on the other. I'm not really sure, but here is what I am thinking.
I think that maybe judgement must take place before there can be forgiveness. Before we are completely forgiven, are we not judged for our sin. Forgiveness is the verdict of the judgement from God if we accept it, but the judgement must still take place regardless of the outcome.
Maybe its the same with us. for example. I'm bad about judging folks harshly and then allowing it to have a negative effect. I judge churchy folks all the time because I have been burned so bad by them. As a result, my verdict is harsh, like, "all churchy folks must be the same, so I'm going to distance myself from them."
However if I were to judge them correctly, by not lumping any individuals into any certain group, then maybe I could acknowledge that everyone is flawed in their own way and who am I to pass a harsh judgement on someone else no matter what the reason.
As a result of a proper judgement maybe I would do a better job at forgiving those folks who mess up just like you and me.
God can judge properly, thus leading to forgiveness because He knows and sees all. We see so narrow that our judgement is usually flawed and one sided thus making it more dificult to lead to forgiveness.
I dunno, maybe that doesnt make any sense. What are you thinking?
I think it is so great that were dialoging on Jonathan’s comment space. Why e-mail, when we can just make Jonathan post our conversation?
Initially I had the same approach “Yeah, these seem like valid opposites.” It really works on a superficial level. But when really taking it apart the “duality” seems to get cloudy. I once read somewhere that God’s judgment and his Forgiveness were one and the same. So I started here at the other end. If their not opposites then maybe their one and the same?
This too worked at first. Yeah, sure… makes sense. But that too seemed only skin deep. This week I heard a quote:
“Sometimes two things which completely contradict each other, can both be true at the same time.”
To me it’s like some things can both work, and not work together at the same time. It is like Yin and Yang. Both are opposites who contradict each other. This is the superficial view of the symbol…”Duality” of opposites.
But Yin and Yang have nothing to do with “Duality”. What the symbol is about is a circle. The symbol is a circle. It is not divided space. It is not about half black, and half white. It is about the completeness of a circle.
What is even more interesting is the fact, that this perfect circle, is composed of two opposing and contradicting “non-circle” parts.
I think its “The sum is greater than the parts” type philosophy.
The Yin and Yang symbol thus represents that some things can’t be defined in a dualistic mindset. Sometimes things transcend the level of duality. Its about something greater than just opposites like right/wrong, black/white, good/evil, christian/nonchristian. It is saying that “the circle” a divine symbol transcends these concepts.
This to me sums up the message of Jesus. Jesus transcends all of what we argue about. Jesus transcends what we hold as reason and logic and organization.
Its funny how interwoven and inseparable my different beliefs are (Zen, Taoism, Judaism, and Christianity) and yet even though they all might be contradictory, they all make something greater than the sum of their parts. To me that “Circle” is Christ.
To bring this ride home, I think that Judgment and Forgiveness may be far apart from each other. But together the can become more than just judgment and forgiveness. Christ the “Circle” can take two opposite shapes and make them perfect within himself.
I do not know if any of this makes sense, but I’ll post it anyways.
[HEY I wrote this a few months ago... I think It helps to reinforce my prior comments]
Sometimes you can read one thing and watch another yet when you read and watch them together something totally new emerges. This happened to me recently. I was watching my favorite movie “V for Vendetta” and also currently reading “A New Kind of Christian” by Brian McLaren. In and of themselves each story has a very different message to me, yet together I saw something new.
My whole life I have grown up under the belief that telling lies is wrong. Not only wrong but a sin. All lies were sin, no matter what context period! This has always been a struggle for me to believe, and I have had many times in my life I have not known what to do with this belief.
I know in Buddhism that lying is viewed as a “Do not” yet it is clearly marked “Try not” for they say there is always a “time and place”. Honestly, my western little Christian brainwashed mind never new what that “time and place” really meant, so I always skipped right over it.
When someone who is fat asks you “if they look fat?” should you lie? Is it a sin to tell your children about Santa Clause, or the Tooth Fairy? Is it a sin to tell someone you are scared, when they are looking for support and reinforcement? I just could never accept that “a sin was a sin was a sin”.
In “V for Vendetta”, V uses lies to teach people about themselves and the Truths of the world. One of his friends quotes her father, “Artist use lies to reveal the truth, politicians use lies to conceal the truth.” This in and of itself, was not to meaningful, but then I went back to “A New Kind of Christian”.
Brian McLaren wrote this book. It is a story about two friends, Neo and Dan. However Neo and Dan do not really factually exist. This story is a fiction story… a lie. However, Brian wrote this story with the intent not to lie to use, to conceal the Truth, but to create a story in which to display God’s Truth.
This revolution of lying has hit me harder than I thought. Here I am a Rhetoric major in college, (Rhetoric being the “art of persuasion”) learning not only how to lie, but how to lie effectively. All this time, I have viewed lying as a negative art, and something I study and use which disgraces God. But maybe (like everything else) the Kingdom of God does not exist on the line that lying slides on. Maybe the Kingdom transcends lying and its uses. Maybe its not a matter of calling one action bad, and one action good, but instead using all action to glorify God and bring about the kingdom of heaven.
Kingdom of Heaven
Good Lying -----------------------------------------------Bad Lying
(Notice the Kingdom is not on the line.)
Thinking more about this i raised the question, "If sin is not found in the action, where then is sin found?" If you can do any action good or bad, then what actually is sin and where is it?
For every action we can draw a line and have good intent, and bad intent on either side.
Stealing for selfishness --------------------------------- Stealing to help the poor
So where is the sin?
I am starting to see that sin can not exist in a dualistic Good vs. Evil theology.
Sin is something much more than merely a point on a line graph.
What do you think about the nature of sin? Where is sin? What is Sin? Can we have a dualistic concept of actions and sin?
Another consuming thought when thinking about lying, and stories being nonfactual yet retaining and delivering Truth, is the thought of "what else is a lie?". If "V for Vendetta" is a lie, and "A New Kind of Christian" is a lie, what about "Oedipus Rex"? What about "Gilgamesh"? What about Shakespeare? What about "The Odyssey" and "The Iliad"?
What about the bible?
What about the people in the bible?
Could they all also be nonfactual yet True?
My mind raced through everything I have ever held as "factual" and suddenly I was surrounded by doubt and conspiracy theories.
If I wanted to I could become obsessed with this pursuit for Facts vs. Truth.
That when I just let it go. I let go of facts. I let go of Truths. like letting go of a balloon and watching the wind take it off out of reach. I have become free of facts, not through increased knowledge (as many use knowledge to overcome facts.) But through pure faith and trust in the Truth that I have received all my life. I no longer care about "Facts" because I have been given "Truth" in my life.
What in your life is True, and what in your life is fact? Do you see a difference between them? Is one better than the other?
My final thoughts on this whole conversation is that maybe everything that we can put on a line graph, that is everything we can organize dualisticly (such as good/evil, right/wrong, saved/not saved, in-group/ out-group, sacred/ secular, church/work) is not on the same page as the kingdom of heaven.
Maybe dualism and pluralism are not the ends, maybe they are not the point, not the answer, not even a guide, but merely a stepping stone to the Way.
That is one of the problems I see with the church today. they define sin so that they can come up with "do this, dont do that" rules. I strongly believe that sin is not the action. sin is not lying, killing, stealing, etc. those things are a byproduct of sin in us. so what is sin?
I guess the Sunday school answer is distance from God, or choosing our own selfish desires over Gods. or maybe its just darkness. any area of our lives that we dont allow His light to touch will exist in darkness, and from that darkness comes all sorts of action whether it be stealing, raping, murder, whatever.
I agree with you on the difference between fact and truth. That was a very good point.
Ill finish later... I have something else that you made me think about but I aint got time right now to hash it out.
Feel free to jump in any time Jonathan :)
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