Identity

Who am I anyway? Where will I fit in? What am I worth?

Identity is at the core of who we are. For better or worse, it will determine our destiny. The things we say about ourselves are critically important. We are our biggest influence. I work with some gang members. When a young man decides he will be a “Vice Lord”, that decision will change his life, maybe forever. In some ways, it is extremely limiting and that is all he will ever be. Change a person’s identity and you can change their life. It doesn’t need to take seven years of therapy. It can happen fast. In middle school it’s all about fitting in and finding some acceptance. Unfortunately, there’s a lot at stake in this desperate quest for an image; better explore your options. So, that is what we will do:

You get to know people backwards. You first notice their looks or look, then their mannerisms and personality. It takes much longer to see what is below the surface. The heart of the person is what really counts, the underlying values, goals, dreams and aspirations. Somewhere down deep, fears, fantasies and dark histories lie in shadows. It makes me nervous when people are too quick to jump into romantic relationships. People should slow down, keep things Platonic and discover what the other person is really about and whether they can be trusted. Superficial intimacy typically ends in disaster. Emotional and physical commitments cannot sustain a relationship, if goals and values are not shared. The couple will eventually drift apart, but not until they’ve experienced much drama and pain. One cannot deny what is at the core.

So, what lies below the surface?

At the very root, a person has some sense of how they were made or accidentally came to be. It may not be well defined or sorted out, but every other self-assessment flows from this root. Postmodern answers to this question have evaporated. At the beginning of the 21st century, answers are regarded as unenlightened and intolerant. “Who knows?” “How dare you claim to know?” Pontius Pilate was a kindred spirit, when he pridefully asked, “What is truth?”

Because everything flows from our view of origins, that is where we will begin. There are a limited number of theories regarding our genesis (actually two big schools of thought). We will test these theories for explanatory power, consistency (especially internal consistency), coherence and workability.

Origins fall under one of the two BIG models-Naturalism and Supernaturalism. We’ll start with Theism or Supernaturalism.  Supernaturalists start with God. God is the Creator not a created thing. So, by definition, God is self-existent. This is exactly how God described Himself to Moses. “I am who I am.” God existed before time and matter. Then God, being creative, decided to create.

God made the natural world and built it to run according to His design, laws or principles. The creation was objectively real. Although creation was dependent on God, it stood separate from God, as a painting stands separate from an artist.

Then, God made unique creatures- humans. Human’s were made with natural bodies and brains, but were endowed with a spiritual essence. That essence had some of the god-stuff. The spiritual characteristics were qualitatively and dynamically different than the rest of nature. Nature operates by cause and effect or causal processes. Humans can operate by logical processes. With their spiritual essence, humans are capable of reason, choice and moral judgment. They can transcend their mechanical world and bodies.

There are some Supernaturalists called Deists. Deists believe there is a Creator. The Creator, created, set things in motion and then walked away. Some would place Thomas Jefferson in this camp. However, if one could show a single piece of evidence of God’s involvement with creation, one would have to abandon Deism for Theism. It seems unlikely that a Creator, with initiative to create, would have no further involvement with the project or creative work. Plus, there are a host of theists that say God has been very active. Christians believe He even paid us a visit in human form. All this evidence becomes palatable once a person decides that God exists. Only the naturalist dismisses such evidence out of hand on the basis of his or her presuppositions.

The other major model starts with Nature. Since Einstein, the stuff of nature has often been thought of as “energy.” In the beginning was energy. It just was. Some finite amount of energy just happened to exist. This energy operates according to cause and effect. These causal, chain reactions happen mindlessly. By inference, one can see that the various effects of a mindless causal process will have no purpose. This philosophy in its leanest form is called, “Materialism.” Nothing outside of nature/matter exists. Nothing is independent of nature and natural processes. Brains mechanically produce thoughts by complex chemical and electronic reactions. Thoughts are caused not reasoned.

There is an eastern alternative within naturalism. Some think consciousness accidentally appeared within nature. This “life force” or “cosmic consciousness” is a natural phenomena and is as close to a god as we are going to get. This god/energy is a part of nature and dependent on nature. The view that nature and god are one and the same is called pantheism. God is everything natural, pan-every-thing-ism. The life force contains what we would call good and evil, pleasure and pain. We are part of god, you, me and Charles Manson.

Star Wars was somewhat written from this perspective. Both Luke and his mysterious father, Darth Vader, the good son and evil father, received their power and life from the Force. This Force contains all things, good and bad, constructive and destructive. They balance each other. One approaches the Force subjectively, “Feel the Force, Luke,” not “Think the Force.”

Some of these naturalists believe there is one thing or substance that makes up all other things. Diverse things or separate entities are not really separate objects, just parts or manifestations of the one thing. Separate objects are illusions that need to be dissolved into oneness. Buddha was a proponent of this view. This view is also called “monism.” The one thing swallows up suffering, goodness, evil, truth, falsehood and individuals. There are no separate entities, just oneness. “Be the Force Luke.” Be the force and you cease to exist. This is Nirvana, the annihilation of the self.

Pantheism and Monism fall within naturalism. This is the naturalism of the east. Instead of approaching the world analytically, they strive to rid themselves of analysis to make all distinctions disappear. In other words, they approach nature through non-analytical means.

Materialism has been the foundation of our education for decades. (How materialism rose to dominance is an interesting story, but alas, a story for another time.) Energy is the secular concept of reality and the source of life. One can substitute energy for matter, as they are believed to be the same thing relative to speed (E=MC2).  So, if mindless energy or matter operates by cause and effect toward no purpose, how do we explain the existence of humankind in all its complexity? Enter, Charles Darwin:

Darwin offered an materialistic explanation for our appearance on the planet. Nature was the blind chooser of who survived and who was eliminated. We are biological accidents, leftovers from a long unguided process of elimination. Darwin believed that this change occurred through genetic variance in response to environmental change. Mendel demonstrated almost from the being of this fledgling science, that genetic variance does not lead to novel change or macroevolution. Genetic variance is a conservative mechanism that allows a specie to survive potentially detrimental changes in the environment. Evolutionists now lean toward mutation as the mechanism of change.

Darwin’s theory spawned some dubious and dangerous ideas. Our mindless progression was believed to go from inert chemicals, to simple cells, to complex cells, to algae, to various plants, to  jelly fish like animals, to worms, to insects, to invertebrates/crustaceans, to a vertebrates/fish, to amphibians, to rodents, to a lemur like animals,

to monkeys, to apes and eventually to our current form. (Striking similarity, although Charles ears are bigger.)

It is all in a flux. We’re still changing; to what? Only time will tell. Within this continuum, there is no basis to say all races have evolved at the same rate.

Adolf Hitler believed the Aryan race was more refined in its adaption.  Natural selection has been a process of violent struggle, tooth and nail, wanton waste and elimination. Hitler believed Jews were subhuman and the Holocaust began. Hence, Social Darwinism has been deemed a racist theory. Indeed it is, as it cannot support human equality or dignity. A dignified, common, shared, human essence could only exist by design.

Hitler and others thought they would help the process along by eliminating what they considered to be maladaptive misfits or cripples, thus, cleaning up the gene pool. Natural selection opens the door to eugenics. Let us create a hybrid, a superman. This is consistent with Darwin’s theory. Ben Stein explores these ideas in his movie,Expelled. Please, watch it as this story seldom gets told.

Darwin found an explanation for human existence that was rooted in materialism. Humans were not created by design or preloaded with personal characteristics. Kant was wrong. We came with nothing, no innate capacities or categories, no personhood, no purpose, no value. Humans are just another form of energy spun out by the cosmic machine. John Locke captured the idea in philosophy. Humans have a blank slate, a tabula rasa.

If Darwin offered a materialistic explanation for our existence, where did the appearance of our personality come from? What forces are scribbling on our slate? How can one explain our unique personality with just mindless causal processes? Enter modern psychology- Most psychological theorists were ardent materialists. Humans operate according to cause and effect. Their behaviors can be studied scientifically like other causal processes. What were the causal determinants of behavior? Sigmund Freud offered the first grand, deterministic theory of human behavior.

Like the rest of nature, causes are an exchange of impulse or energy. Freud thought human behavior was determined and driven by sexual and aggressive impulses. Other behaviors emerge as humans tried to gratify these impulses in a social environment that may react adversely to sexual gratification.

B. F. Skinner disagreed with Freud as to the determining factors. He observed some of our distant relatives, rats, pigeons, dogs and such, and concluded that behavior was determined by classical and operant conditioning. We are duped by complexity and ignorance into thinking we have freedom and some self control. We are really controlled externally by our environments. Skinner believed freedom and dignity were illusions.

We must pause to point out the obvious error in this thinking. If Skinner was conditioned to produce Behaviorism, why would we believe it to be true? If Freud and Skinner’s thoughts were inevitable or caused, their theories were formed by necessity. The effect of one cause is as good or bad, right or wrong, as the effect of any other cause. Any theory that negates the possibility of truth instantly evaporates. They developed theories that discount all theories.

Frederich Nietzsche applied evolutionary concepts in his attempt to explain morals. He thought morals were nothing more than a power grab. He hoped the aristocrats would eventually win the battle and take up their position as masters over the masses. These aristocrats would evolve into supermen. Hitler whole-heartedly embraced this “new morality” and vowed to be that man.

Naturalism seems to offer some explanation for the human animal. It has been woefully inadequate in offering humans anything transcendent. Man is a cog in the machine, without freedom, value, dignity or truth. Without truth, naturalists lose their explanation.

Steven Turner wrote for Rolling Stones magazine. He captured the crux of our current dilemma.

It is time to revisit Supernaturalism:

Jews, Muslims and Christian Theists have a transcendent view of human nature. Transcendence flows from their view of origins. They start with an intelligent, personal, relational Creator:

Humans were created in the image of God. They possess some of the God-stuff. They were also given a job- to be stewards of God’s creation. They were “keepers,” zoo keepers, gardeners, early ecologists or conservation officers. Humans were also created to live in relationship, with God and one another. They were creative and had the ability to communicate. Adam had a moral capacity. He was given a directive and knew he had a choice to trust and obey God or contradict Him. Without choice, morals are not possible. With freedom comes the possibility and the dignity of error. Adam’s decisions even influenced God. Whatever he called the animals, that was its name. Human reason and choice are inherent throughout the account. Adam looked at the animals and inferred that he had no counterpart.

We come preloaded with the God stuff. Our unique capacities were endowed by our Creator. Unlike naturalism, reason comes from a Rational Source, not a non-rational source. Choice comes from Something Choosing, not from inert matter. Morals come from a righteous and just Being. Morals are real, not illusory. Humans are able to respond or responsible, not conditioned by impulse or their environment.  We are more a product of our decisions and responses than our environments or genetics. To summarize our supernatural uniqueness, humans are transcendent and have the following capacities:

Nature cannot produce reason by cause and effect. Effects happen by necessity. Necessary events cannot be true or false. Conclusions are only determined by premises or prior reasoning. Reason begets reason. Reason is the most undeniable reality in human experience. One could deny the physical world, but to deny reason, one must use it. The most undeniable reality happens to be metaphysical or spiritual in nature. That should shake up a few empiricists.

The natural world of cause and effect produces necessary outcomes. What is, is. Humans can think in terms of what “ought” to be.  One cannot get an “ought” from what “is.” If there were an avalanche, would a little rock on the bottom ask, “Why did it come to this? Who is responsible here?” No, it just lays there, no reason, no injustice. It just is.

Supernaturalism does a better job of explaining what it is like to be human. We are persons not objects. We can rise above the machine. It also explains these realities in a consistent manner. In naturalism nothing operates independent of the machine. Truth and the validity of reason require some freedom and independence. Supernaturalism offers the freedom to form a meaningful conclusion.

If consistent, naturalists would have to say evil and suffering are natural. Reality is full of anguish and alienation, so get used to it. Jewish and Christian theists contend that something has gone horribly wrong. Alienation and evil can and should be confronted and conquered. Our sad state comes from a broken relationship with our Creator. They also believe help is on the way as God had taken initiative to restore what has gone wrong. Does your alienation feel normal or do you get this sense that things are not the way they were intended to be?

So, how does this supernatural essence exist in a natural body? What is the relationship between reason and nature? Think of your brain as a radio. Radios have no freedom. They work electronically and mechanically. Radios don’t create songs or speeches. If they produced sounds, we wouldn’t expect meaningful messages, just noise. Brains are biological machines. They function on chemical and electrical impulses. There is no freedom in the gray matter. If brains produced thoughts, like your liver produces bile, no one would take them seriously. Conclusions would not flow from premises, but from irrational brain states. These conclusions would be caused not inferred. Truth would not be possible.

Like the radio, the meaningful messages come from somewhere else. They transmit through the brain to achieve expression. If a radio or a brain is damaged, the speaker is limited or, in extreme cases, prevented from communicating. This is a transmission theory. On a spiritual level, all humans are equally valuable. On a physical level, not all brains function with the same efficiency. If we were physical beings only, one might value humans with superior brains above humans with brain damage.

The transmission theory makes sense of abnormal psychology. A person is normal if reason is in charge. If something organic or chemical jeopardizes one’s rational expression, the individual’s function is abnormal.

Sting was close to the truth when singing, “We are spirits in a material world.”

Supernaturalism, Christianity in particular, will do wonders for your self-concept. You aren’t just a biological accident or a cog in the mindless machine. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Your Creator has not abandoned you. In fact, Jesus came to rescue and restore you. He’s been dying to meet you.