"Come let us reason together," is a message from God given to the people through the prophet Isaiah (Is. 1:18). The Contemporary English Version translates the phrase as: "I, the LORD, invite you to come and talk it over." The New Revised Standard Version presents the passage as: "Come now, let us argue it out, says the LORD." Although the nuances may be significant, the basics are also important: our spiritual relationship with God has something to do with coming together with our brain, reason, talk and argumentation. This article begins a series looking at the relationships among our spirituality, our ability to reason and some of the irrational beliefs that we get taught to think of as real, reasonable and healthy. We will explore the intersections of spiritual wisdom, our own life experiences and the tenets/concepts of Rational Emotive/Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (RET/CBT).
During this process, we will see that the roots of the "modern", western cultural school of RET/CBT sink deeply into our heritage. By the fifth century BCE, the Greek Stoics were teaching that it is not what happens to us in life that is disturbing, but rather how we interpret what happens to us. At the same period, Asian wisdom was explaining that crises occur in life that we may learn and grow from them; and if we choose not to learn, then life will give us a thousand more crises.
There is a powerful story from traditional China about a farmer who through boom and bust (birth & death, economic/political ups & downs) responds to his neighbors' celebrations and wailing & weeping with a steady response to each life change not to judge as good or ill but to live life with a balanced "we'll see." RET/CBT encourages and guides us to take a reasoned approach to life's events rather than an emotional, reactive response.
Our scriptural tradition is consistent with this view of life. In the eighth chapter of Paul's letter to the church at Rome, he reminds the believers that God works for good in all things for those who love the Lord (Romans 8:28). The Holy Spirit/Counselor calls us to seek out the wisdom and learning in life occurrences rather than to react with just our emotions. In Philippians, Paul writes: "I have learned in whatsoever state I am in, therewith to be content" (Philippians 4:11). This theme is found in other great literature as well. William Shakespeare says " there is nothing good or bad but that thinking makes it so" (Hamlet II,ii).
There are two sources of pain in human life. The first is when internal or external agents act upon flesh and bone. That is the realm of medicine and the healing arts. We are concerned with the second, irrational thoughts and beliefs about feelings and behaviors. We will explore how emotional disturbance is caused by irrational beliefs and thought, and then see that self-talk directing new patterns of action can greatly reduce and often remove those disturbances. Human irrational thoughts/beliefs fall into twelve areas: demand for approval, high self expectations, blame proneness, frustration reactivity, emotional irresponsibility, anxious over concern, problem avoidance, dependency, helplessness for change, perfectionism, fear of rejection, and relationship dependence.
Each article to come will deal with several irrational beliefs and then offer a process for reframing the thoughts to create new behavior. It is a consistent and committed change in our thoughts and actions which will, over time, result in new and positive feelings and interactions. As usual, discussions, comments, disagreements, questions, snide remarks, and silly stories are welcome. ROB