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A-more, oh oh oh oh, a-more....

Friday, March 23, 2001

Mark 12:28-34
Jesus says,
"The most important (commandment) is this ... You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
The second is this ... Love your neighbor as yourself."


More thoughts on good and evil...from Scott Peck in The Road Less Traveled...

Adam and Eve could have set up a debate between the serpent and God, but in failing to do so they failed to obtain God's side of the question. ... Our failure to conduct - or to conduct fully and wholeheartedly - the internal debate between good and evil is a cause of those evil actions that constitute sin. In debating the wisdom of a proposed course of action, human beings routinely fail to obtain God's side of the issue. They fail to consult or listen to God within them. ... We make this failure because we are lazy. ... To conduct the debate is to open ourselves to suffering and struggle. Each and every one of us, more or less frequently, will hold back from this work, will (even actively) seek to avoid this painful step. (p. 273)

One very effective psychological healing technique uses an empty chair. I talk to whomever I want to put in the chair. Then I switch places and talk back to myself as the person I'm imagining. It might be my father or mother or wife or child, my boss, my teacher, my minister, my friend.

I can even talk back to part of myself. Freud's theory of personality divides me into id, ego and superego. In the 1950's, Erich Berne renamed these guys my "parent," "adult," and "child." In the 60's Fritz Perls, savvy bearded German guru at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, named them Topdog and Underdog.

I notice that the spellchecker in Microsoft Word recognizes the word Underdog but has never heard of Topdog. It suggests I change this word to "to-do," as in, "You make such a big to-do about everything!" Actually, that's my topdog talking. Complaining, criticizing, always right (and of course to Topdog, Underdog is always wrong). Underdog is usually tongue-tied (supposed to be seen, not heard). However, when I give a voice to Underdog he often has plenty to say, and at least occasionally Topdog gets put in his place.

Unless you've tried this empty chair yourself, you might be getting a little confused by now. Getting through the day is complicated enough without splitting yourself into two or three inner voices. No wonder we avoid that debate Peck is talking about.

But the debate is crucial to choosing good over evil. The question, "What would Jesus do?" is best addressed by also asking the question, "What would Satan do?" Letting Jesus and Satan go head to head with my words and my voice sheds bright light on my true motivation and goals. Their debate uncovers the ultimately shallow and self-centered compromises I too often choose.

Prayer can become the arena for this debate. Letting God speak to me could involve the debate between God and Satan. This debate is joined in the first chapter of Job...no doubt it continues regarding my life. Taking an active part, bringing it into my consciousness, lets me love God with more of my heart and with more of my soul and with more of my mind and with more of my strength. Thus can I love both myself and my neighbor more.

It's scary, Lord, to think that Satan influences me. It's even scarier, though, to imagine that happening outside my awareness. Give me courage, and provide me the armor I need, Lord, to engage him.



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