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September 07, 2006
The Soul...
let's face it, when i'm in a class, my mind gets totally consumed by the topic. i love throwing myself into thinking deeply about anything. other things tend to get out of balance when i do this, but this time, i think i'm okay...
so to meet one of the requirements of my degree, i'm in the history of the philosophy of psychology. yeah, i'm not kidding. that's the title :)
for the past couple of weeks, we've been discussing ancient philosophies that contributed to western thought and thus, the development of psychology. religion has come up in class A LOT and tuesday was no exception.
let's establish the fact that psychology is supposed to be the study of the soul. so the BIG questions are:
what IS the soul?
IS there a soul?
is it different than the mind?
does it need a body?
is the soul a social construction?
is the mind a social construction?
can one logically believe in the soul?
i know that many of you are thinking, who cares?! i'm good with God, i don't need to understand these things.
others are thinking, we can never fully understand these things, so why wrack my brain trying?
but for me, these questions have been rolling around in my head all day. i talk to my friends about it at dinner. i talk to my roommates about it as i'm going to sleep. i scribble notes and diagrams of how it might work on scratch paper.
don't get me wrong, i think i know where i stand on most of these questions. and since i already have a reputation in my class for speaking up, i do so. but this morning, God reminded me...
if i speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, i am only a resounding gong or clanging cymbal. 1 cor 13:1
i honestly don't know what my motivations in this thought exercise have been, but i know that today, if my words are not motivated by wanting to see my hurting classmates come to a wholeness in God, i want to be silent. those of you who know me know that task will be EXCRUCIATINGLY hard for me.
i am writing a reaction paper to these questions for class next tuesday. pray God gives me a right heart, a heart builit up by love, not puffed up by knowledge. pray God gives me discernment as to which topics to tackle in my paper.
more thoughts later...
Posted by Autumn at September 7, 2006 10:12 AM