{"id":2703,"date":"2013-04-10T15:35:39","date_gmt":"2013-04-10T20:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/emergentvillage\/?p=2703"},"modified":"2013-04-10T15:36:57","modified_gmt":"2013-04-10T20:36:57","slug":"when-you-know-better-you-do-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/emergentvillage\/2013\/04\/when-you-know-better-you-do-better\/","title":{"rendered":"When You Know Better, You Do Better?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>There is no question that ignorance can harm us; but I\u2019m not sure knowing better is necessarily equated to doing better. When we are ignorant of something, we simply don\u2019t know and we act in accordance. A great example is how in the first half of the 20th<\/sup>\u00a0century doctors would recommend cigarettes to help ease their patients\u2019 nerves. And it worked! But, it also gave people cancer. Ignorance. Knowing that smoking kills has no question motivated many people to stop, but you would think if we knew cigarettes can kill us we would have made them illegal by now and removed them from society. Yet, there is still a strong demand for cigarettes even though we all know better. This makes me think there must be a deeper power that compels what we do.<\/p>\n

One of my favourite authors and Christian mystics, Richard Rohr, says it this way, \u201cWe don\u2019t think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves into new ways of thinking.\u201d Let\u2019s really consider this. When it comes to our Christianity \u2013 our believing about Christ \u2013 there are many statements we hold to, and ideals we subscribe to, both verbally and with our dogmas. Yet the glaring contradiction in the vast majority of us is in our actions \u2013 our actions betray what we think. We say we know how God wants us to live, yet we live another way.<\/p>\n

I think that the power of our rationale is greatly underestimated. I don\u2019t know about you, but I have the ability to rationalise almost any behaviour. Sometimes my rationale is as simple as \u201cdon\u2019t think about it\u201d.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So how do we subvert this system? How do we actually move from thinking that does not change our lives to another alternative? I think this is where the wisdom of the Monastic Movements over the centuries invites us.<\/p>\n

The wisdom of the Monastic Movements in regard to transformation was not rooted in statements or dogmas, rather in a practice of living. They formed communities where they submitted themselves to particular ways of living and trusted the wisdom of those ways to produce in them the goodness that centuries later, when reading their stories and statements, it is evident how it really did create entirely new ways of living and thinking.<\/p>\n

What would it look like for us to submit ourselves to some practices that would have the potential to create the goodness that we long for? Some of you might say there is no freedom in that. I push back and say true freedom is not the ability to do whatever we want, rather the desire to do what is good.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There was a campaign in the 90\u2019s called \u201cWWJD \u2013 What Would Jesus Do\u201d. I think there was wisdom to this campaign, but sadly, it was rooted in a rationale-based model that somehow if we asked the question, we would do better. I think a more helpful way of engaging this question would be to establish practices of living so that when moments of decision come, we have already submitted ourselves to ways that create patterns that free us from the burden of our rationale. The question is then no longer, \u201cWhat can I get away with?\u201d but rather, \u201cWill this option violate my values?\u201d This may seem confusing but I\u2019ll see if I can sum it up in a simple way.<\/p>\n

We are created in the image of God, and therefore our fundamental longing is to reflect that image. This is a soul desire or we could say our deepest and truest knowing.\u00a0I believe practices help the soul bring the mind back into submission and has the power to relieve us from the burden of believing that if I just think \u201cright\u201d, I\u2019ll do better.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I can hear the objection to this already, \u201cWhat about the passage that says \u2018be transformed by the renewing of your mind\u2019?\u201d\u00a0For me, as a pragmatist, I don\u2019t even bother with this anymore. I simply look at what it created in my life and recognise it wasn\u2019t working. So have I given up on thinking well? Nope. I\u2019ve simply decided I\u2019d rather live well in line with what is most true in me \u2013 which is the image of God.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a question for reflection: What practices have you built into your life that reflect the image of God in you?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is no question that ignorance can harm us; but I\u2019m not sure knowing better is necessarily equated to doing better. When we are ignorant of something, we simply don\u2019t know and we act in accordance. A great example is how in the first half of the 20th\u00a0century doctors would recommend cigarettes to help ease […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1323,"featured_media":2704,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[407,266,76,61,4,196,26],"tags":[175,132,344,558,559,560,522],"class_list":["post-2703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-addiction-2","category-bible-2","category-church-2","category-culture","category-emerging-church","category-personal","category-theology","tag-freedom","tag-god","tag-life","tag-rationale","tag-soul","tag-spiritual-practices","tag-spiritual-recovery"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen You Know Better, You Do Better?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There is no question that ignorance can harm us; but I\u2019m not sure knowing better is necessarily equated to doing better. 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