Wednesday, January 3, 2018
What makes you tick?
Socrates said that an unexamined life is not worth living. How many people do you know live examined lives? Do you?
We are so focused on the external world we rarely explore our inner kingdom. It is vast, mysterious, at first frightening, and then glorious.
Freud taught us that we have two minds: the conscious and the unconscious. The unconscious mind is revealed somewhat in dreams, in slips of the tongue, in acting out. Freud said that we can either talk it out or act it out. Children act it out, but as their vocabulary and self awareness increases they are able to talk it out. Talking it out is usually perceived as a sign of maturity.
Jesus told us that the kingdom of God is within and among us. If we are to grow spiritually, we need to explore that kingdom. Traditionally, this was called "contemplation". Some prefer the term "reflection."
Do you take time throughout the day to reflect on your experience? In educational pedagogical theory this is also called "meta cognition" which simply means thinking about what you think. What condition is your condition in?
Ask yourself "Why do I think what I think," Why do I feel what I feel," Why do I behave the way I behave," "What is the level of understanding that I have of what makes me tick?"