“Despite the rise of the mental health profession, people are becoming increasingly vulnerable to depression.”
A thought by John Ortberg (2014-04-22) from his
book, Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 46). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)
Now why is that? John writes, “Martin Seligman, a brilliant
psychologist with no religious ax to grind, has a theory that it’s because we
have replaced church, faith, and community with a tiny little unit that cannot
bear the weight of meaning. That’s the self. We’re all about the self. We
revolve our lives around ourselves. Ironically, the more obsessed we are with
our selves, the more we neglect our souls.”
A Study in The
Journal of the American Medical Association showed that in the twentieth
century, people who lived in each generation were three times more likely to
experience depression than folks in the generation before them.
Now why is that? John writes, “Martin Seligman, a brilliant
psychologist with no religious ax to grind, has a theory that it’s because we
have replaced church, faith, and community with a tiny little unit that cannot
bear the weight of meaning. That’s the self. We’re all about the self. We
revolve our lives around ourselves. Ironically, the more obsessed we are with
our selves, the more we neglect our souls.”
Now there are chemical
imbalances that bring about depression.
That needs to be checked but a self focus goes a long way to bring it
on. So many people live in a world that
totally revolves around themselves and not their soul.
John continues, “All of
our language reflects this. If you’re empty, you need to fulfill yourself. If
you’re stressed, learn how to take care of yourself. If you’re on a job
interview, you have to believe in yourself. If you’re at the tattoo parlor, you
must learn to express yourself. If someone dares to criticize you, you have to
love yourself. If you’re not getting your own way, you have to stand up for
yourself. What should you do on a date? You ought to be yourself. What if your
self is a train wreck? What do you do then? Self is a stand-alone,
do-it-yourself unit, while the soul reminds us we were not made for ourselves.”
John quoted former
opera singer Scott Flaherty where he said. “Imagine singing, ‘Then sings my self,
my Savior God to thee,’ or ‘Jesus, lover of my self.’ Innately we know that the
self is not the soul, even as we do everything we can to preserve it.”
We have somehow changed our focus from our soul to our self and we are suffering the emotional
consequences of it.
So is it self or soul
that is the focus of your life?
Bill, Good questions. I focus on both, but when there is an imbalance it is only when I have become focused on what I do not want to happen, instead of focusing on the good things for my soul. I pray for God's merciful Hands to bless me and mine. Pray for me please and thank you.
ReplyDeleteTheresa, I will for sure. God is the one who helps to keep us in balance. Thank you for your connect.
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