Why Am I Doing What I'm Doing?

 Take a minute. Ask yourself what's motivating you to do what you're doing or say what you're saying? The other day, I really had to ask myself why I looked at the news, and what was motivating it. When it really got down to brass tacks, it was my threat response that was motivating it. I wanted to be informed. Why? Because I didn't want to be caught not knowing what was happening. Why? Because I wanted to be prepared if something went south, that is, if something went wrong and could possibly affect me or those I care about. This is a perfectly human response. It is also entirely governed by my brain's threat assessment and response system, not from any motivation stemming from the Spirit of Christ. I want to look at the news because I want to be aware of potential threats. There are, of course, other kinds of news, but even this has this undercurrent, if only subtly. It starts boiling down to how do I avoid threats and encourage desirable things, whatever those might happen to be? 

     This is, fundamentally, a perfectly normal, human way of looking at the world. It is the base, default way for looking at and assessing the world, really. It is also, at its very core, hamartia. Instead of being motivated by, in cooperation with, or under the control of the Spirit of Christ and displaying love, joy, peace, patience, trust, kindness, courtesy, and self-control; instead of these things, whether I have good intentions or not, I am looking to do away with threats and maximize whatever I consider necessities or desirable. 

     The Spirit of Christ is not concerned with threats or necessities because nothing can threaten Him, and He is already sufficient for everything. Threats and necessities are entirely the scope of the physical body, the brain's self-defense mechanism, but I, you, and we are not our physical bodies. We inhabit them temporarily before returning to our Source. This threat response system has its proper place in keeping the body alive and in procreation, but it cannot govern everything we do, and it is dysfunctional to where unless it is checked, that's exactly what it does. It always views everything in terms of threats or necessities, what it calls "bad" or "good."

     There is nothing inherently wrong with looking at the news, but I have to be aware of why, and what impact it has on me. Is it going to feed the fear response? Is it going to feed the aggression response? This is true of anything we engage with. Is it going to feed the feeding response? The sexual response? Again, these things are not wrong in and of themselves, but they become problems when they are what is driving us and do not shut down when they are supposed to. When left to its own devices, the brain will pursue all of these things with little to no control to varying degrees depending on the person's brain chemistry.

     Disengaging from this and engaging with or "enslaving oneself to" the Spirit of Christ allows the source of one's actions and words to be rooted in the God who is Love, and His Joy, Peace, Patience, and so on. It allows for this threat response system to shut down when it's appropriate for it to do so rather than try to govern all actions and events inappropriately.

     So, take a minute and really look at what is motivating you to do what you're doing. Ask this one simple question, "Why?"