I recently saw Silver Linings Playbook, and I have to say I loved the movie: the story was well-written with just the right mix of realism, sentimentality, and just the right dose of absurdity. The acting was fantastic: Jennifer Lawrence took best actress at the Oscars for her role as a young woman knocked off-kilter by the sudden death of her husband. Bradley Cooper was surprisingly great as a bi-polar trying to regain some balance in life, and Robert De Niro nailed it as a quirky, flawed father trying to get close to his struggling son freshly home from a mental hospital. The theme of mental disorder was handled well, showing some dark moments of despair, and then tempering those with some highly comical moments without being irreverent. The music was fantastic, and during the middle of the movie, there was a great, meandering montage set to Dylan's "The Girl from the North Country." That alone would have been enough for me, but all around the movie was smart, thoughtful, and subtle when it needed to be. Finally, the message was one of hope, overcoming, love, and family. Which made me walk away from the theater with that afterglow that Hollywood, when it wants to, can aptly provide. Which got me thinking... it was a great movie, and I loved the message, but is it really telling the truth?
Personally, I have to be pretty vigilant about letting my mind conform to truths that I read in great literature or great films. I have a tendency to have a too-high view of what I read and what I see, especially when it appeals to my aesthetic taste. I'll always remember what our brother Drew said one night after bible study, and I think that he attributed this to one of his professors: "Good writing (and good art) doesn't necessarily mean that it tells the truth." This is an important point to let sink in. If we go all the way back to Plato, he warns us in his work The Republic that art can only be an imitation, and sometimes it can be a deceptive imitation. As Christians, we are asked first and foremost to ascribe truth to its source, God, and worship that as truth. Jesus says in John 14:6 that He is "the way and the truth and the life" and this fact should be the lens in which we look at the created world, including the arts. We can enjoy all of the great works of art out there, but we must also be aware that the truth in art is not ultimate truth. We must always first look to Jesus for ultimate truth, and then we can discern the truth of the world from the truth of God's Kingdom.
In our modern world, we are constantly being flooded with signals and messages from "the arts". It's not hard to see how these messages and signals take stronger and stronger hold over our decisions and our points of view. In fact, they make up a lot of how we see the world through our own cultural lenses. I am essentially American because I grew up surrounded by American messages and symbols. Jina is Korean for the same reason. But if we don't take a deeper, Gospel-view of the world we live in, we may fall into our own cultural traps. We might even find created things, like fashion, beauty, possessions, titles, degrees, knowledge, concepts, even love and relationships, have taken a dangerously higher place than God in our lives.
Paul gives us great, Biblical advice on how to avoid such traps. In Romans 12:2, he says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." You'll notice here that Paul isn't asking us to protect ourselves from the world. After all, we live in it. He doesn't ask us to live in caves. We can enjoy beauty, art, relationships, our jobs, and fashion. We might even enjoy political concepts. But he says, "Do not be conformed,"... which means, do not let created things shape you. Don't let them change your heart, your mind, and who you are; but rather let it be the "will of God" that is supreme in everything you think, feel, and do. For the will of God is perfect.
In Silver Linings, the main character, Pat (Bradley Cooper) struggles with what has been diagnosed as bi-polar disorder. He was institutionalized after nearly beating his unfaithful wife's lover to death. But he reveals that his troubles go further back, including delusions that sound like paranoid schizophrenia. Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) suffers from severe depression which makes her act out with self-destructive behavior. Both Tiffany and Pat are full of "strategies" and "affirmations" they have learned through their ordeals with depression, self-coping, institutionalization, and therapy. Tiffany seems to arrive at an uneasy peace with her behavior, telling Pat she likes the parts of herself that act out (including one retold episode of workplace promiscuity). But under her defensive, resilient armor there is a palpable vulnerability that hasn't fully healed.
Pat takes an opposite approach: he is in "fix himself" mode. In the opening minutes of the film, he tells his mom to stop by the library so that he can read an entire English syllabus. Pat's mother gives him a questioning look, but Pat proclaims "Mom, it's a good thing. I'm remaking myself!" This basically sums up his approach to getting better, that through his own will he can make himself better and somehow repair his broken relationship with his wife. Pat's philosophy is to use the negativity around him and find the "silver-lining." In other words, through positive thinking he can transform himself into a better human being. As the audience, we root for him and wish him success, but we are all too aware of the many environmental and psychological factors that stand in his way. As he thinks he is getting better, we see episodes that show that even with his best defenses, Pat cannot protect himself from... himself. He battles with his destructive tendencies and it becomes clear that for Pat, positive thinking is not enough.
The happy ending that develops (of course it's happy, it's a romantic comedy!) is based more on luck, supportive friends and family, and the nearly spontaneous love of a beautiful woman. Pat's hard work helps, but it is these outside elements that allow him to maintain his equilibrium. It is a great story, but it is not a happy ending that most bi-polar, paranoid schizophrenics will be lucky enough to find.
Positive thinking alone tells us that our perspective is everything in any situation. If we look for a silver lining in a bad situation, then the bad situation won't seem so bad. Look on the bright side, it says. But the Gospel goes one step further. It tells us that we have a reason, a solid foundation, a deep truth, for why we should look on the bright side. That reason is God's promise. If we see every situation through God's promise-- that He sent His son to live and die among us so that we might have direct access to His Kingdom, and that He has prepared a place for us. You see, all of the iniquity, shame, violence, hatred, depression, rape, murder, war, addictions-- all the things we see this world perpetually stuck in, and possibly even getting worse, there really is no amount of positive thinking that can overcome such a reality. We would have to ignore most horrible things and really just focus on the positives in the world. In this light, positive thinking is escapism, and not realistic. But in the promise of the Gospel, where God is renewing everything, our positive thinking has a firm, realistic foundation. We can think positively because it says so in scripture, in Romans 8:28:
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
We know that God is making whatever circumstances in our lives work towards something unfathomably good, something better than we could even dream of. Even our darkest hours will be succeeded by the beautiful light of the truth, of the glory of the Cross. As the lyric goes, "Cling to the crucified", for Jesus promises that even death has no eternal sting, that though we may "weep in the night, joy comes in the morning (Psalms 30:5). If we know this truth, not just intellectually but in the deepest threads of our being, then we can face whatever the world and this difficult life can throw at us. Believe it!
I know that mental illness is a serious issue, and that finding a solution is not as easy as simply shouting out a few lines of scripture. But I do believe that with the promise of God in our hearts, we are given the most sophisticated and effectual approach towards facing our problems. Coping mechanisms and even medicine may have their place, but that firm foundation of Jesus is the rock that I want to stand on when tragedy, misery, and brokenness strikes. For the one who loves God, the search of the silver lining will always reveal Him, and his mercy and love for us.
It's nice to know that you do accept that "coping mechanisms and medicine MAY have their place." Lots of very good people have spent entire careers devoloping techniques to help increase the quality of life for sufferers, aswell as debunk ignorant myths about mental health problems, my parents included. To have their work dismissed, with the suggestion that a book written almost 2000 years ago, that has repeatedly, been proved to be wrong, is deeply offensive. Thankfully, you are not in a position to make mental health policy. In fact, if you applied for a position as a mental health carer (in the UK, at least), and expressed some of the sentiments you do in this piece, you would be politely asked to close the door on your way out. Replacing individual delusions with socially acceptable ones, such as religion, is certainly not an answer to mental health problems, it's a continuation of them on a much grander scale.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Andrew. My point was not to debunk the mental health field, but to suggest, to believers, that our security is in God, that in Him lies all of our hope, and that everything both inside of us and outside of us is being redeemed. This knowledge is the bedrock of our faith, and if it appears to you to be a delusion, then it is a matter of perception. We see wholeness, community, responsibility, vitality, and love working in our lives through the Holy Spirit, not just as a social tool but also working very powerfully in our own personal lives. So, yes, to the believer, this relationship with God is more important than placing our trust in modern psychology alone. And as you noted, modern medicine/ psychology has its place, and is compatible with faith; however, it is not primary. It is not a matter of a binary opposition between God and medicine as you have proposed, but rather an issue of where we put our deepest trust.
ReplyDeleteMedicine is endlessly misused within mental health nursing. Because of understaffing, a lack of funds, pressure from drug companies, etc, it tends to be used more as a sedative than anything else. There are usually a lot more constructive ways to improve people's mental health. So, I wasn't particularly promoting the use of drugs and certainly not in direct opposition to using any mythical deity.
ReplyDeleteAnd religion seems to work very well as a coping mechanism for dealing with hardships in one's life, especially for people who have been indoctrinated young. Not being a believer though, I can only imagine that it's a constant mental struggle, for otherwise (seemingly) rational minds, to keep up that faith and keep convincing youselves that it is actually true. A position which I believe ultimately will do more damage to your long-term mental health.
I would be interested to hear what you, as a believer, does actually think about introducing religion (yours or any other) to sufferers. I'm not sure if you would suggest this and perhaps I'm putting words in your mouth, but I think it would be dangerous to try and introduce religion to somebody with schizophrenia or dissociative identity disorder. Imagine putting the Christian Bible in front of somebody who already has delusions, telling him that it's all true and asking him to start at the beginning. By the end of Genesis, he would be completely out of his mind. He'd be hacking up furniture to make a raft, using the cutlery to saw off his own foreskin, sacrificing any kids in the vicinity and he'd probably never eat fruit again.
The Christian response, when truly following the Gospel, has always been to relieve the sufferings of others. Throughout the Bible and especially in the New Testament, God seems to work towards, in, and through the "undesirables" in any given culture. Christ was berated by religious authorities for his exchanges with what were considered the dregs of society, in which he responded, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:17). I note this particular passage for two reasons.
ReplyDeleteAbove, you said you imagine that it is a constant mental struggle to keep up faith and convince oneself of that the Gospel is true. In one respect you are absolutely right: it is a struggle, and it should be. Faith that has not been forged by doubt is, I expect, very weak faith indeed. Truth is never easily come by, and if our nature is inclined against truth, as the Bible says it is, then we will be inclined constantly to follow our nature. So, yes, faith is a sort of struggle, but the Christian is keenly aware of the dichotomy of misplaced faith in our own wisdom, and faith through prayer and relationship with God. And within our own narratives believers will become further and further convinced that our own understanding is corrupted by sin. The Christian narrative goes directly in the opposite direction of the secular humanist ideal of self-actualization--"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3). This is radically countercultural, especially in the west where we hold our own reason to be the highest authority. But for the man who truly learns this, the struggle to make one’s self believe becomes obsolete. The term “born-again” doesn’t get much respect these days in the secular world, but Christ used the image of new birth to describe a radical restructuring of values that occurs in followers. This is not mere “indoctrination” in which a person accepts beliefs uncritically; rather, it is seeing the Kingdom of God at work in the physical world. Our critical lenses, our reason and rationality, and our discernment are just as intact as ever, and even more so. But what has changed is a complete redirection of our hearts towards God. I think once this happens, it is more difficult to entertain the idea that we live a solely material existence. And I would conjecture, and I know you will disagree with me here, that much of our modern despair and existentialism comes from the difficult mental struggle to uphold and pretend that the whole breadth of human experience is a result of random events with no absolutes, and certainly no meaning beyond what we create ourselves.
For the Christian, reason is the apparatus by which to learn, to grow, and obey in a vision that is much greater than our reason can directly apprehend. For the western secular mind, this is seen as weakness, in light of the championing of our own reason. This might seem well for the people who by appearances have it all together-- with education, career, relationships, wealth, health, and what have you. But for the majority the ideal of self-actualization is a philosophy of despair, reserved only for the elite and the lucky. Again, Christ came for the sick. That was why religious people of his day who had everything figured out could not see it. That is why we elite moderns cannot see it, for we do not admit our own great need, at least in public we don’t. We are self-sufficient to a fault. And we do not like to admit that we are full of sin, and that even our greatest kindnesses are born out of deep corruption. But for those of us who are sick, we can see it clearly. No need to pretend. No need to struggle convincing our selves of our own need for Him.
Your humorous account of the Bible in the hand of a schizophrenic is probably pretty on target. Fortunately, just giving someone a book is not a Christian approach to loving someone. Biblical exegesis always happens in community and for very good reason. All of the cults and crazy offshoots of Christianity do not happen as a result of following the Bible in community, they always are a result of an individual introducing unbiblical ideas into a faux-biblical context. The problem with fundamentalism is not, as we think, too much religion-- it is not enough of it. It is taking snippets here and there and building them around our own desires. The Bible is not a set of secret spells that give us esoteric knowledge into reality, but rather an on-going narrative of a community of mankind in its relationship with God. But I won’t go into Biblical exegesis here, I’ll simply suggest that the bible is not a cure all on its own. It is all about the response one has to scripture, and most often that response needs to happen in community. Most folks who read the Bible and are curious for more will find their way into a community of believers.
ReplyDeleteA schizophrenic is not going to benefit much from a literary encounter with the Bible. But they will respond to a community that loves them, tries and helps them in any way they can to heal, and to let them know that deep beyond the pain and suffering and delusion there is a rainbow of hope. In other words, some will benefit and be healed by an implicit encounter with the Gospel in that they are recipients of the kind of love that is found in it. As I said earlier, the Bible contains many accounts of people loving the marginalized and we are compelled by God’s love to do so. Our modern western humanistic approach to outreach has its roots in this (and I’m not saying this to keep score, but any honest appraisal of western society will be aware of its Judeo-Christian foundations. In many non-western countries, there is much less of a movement towards the marginalized). And it is true today, that if you go to church you will find people suffering. You will encounter undesirables. You will be around people that are not going to be welcome in most circles. And if it is a true Gospel community, you are going to see a community that gathers around to help that person, and if that means getting them medical or professional help, that will hopefully happen. The Bible and the Church are only “curative” in the extent to which they move that community to love and heal and help. For someone suffering mentally, grasping the truth of God’s love is less of an intellectual exercise then it is an experiencing it first hand. And that is the point, that at the very bottom of our brokenness there is a well-spring of hope in God, and I think that changes everything about one’s reality. It may or may not change circumstances outside of one’s control, but it will change the attitude of the heart. Paul said from deep within prison walls and facing death by execution, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Phil. 4:12-13).
One last note on mental health: No one is healthy in mind and spirit. We are all delusional. To use your word indoctrination, we are all indoctrinated by culture, by events, by social and psychological factors and through these we misread reality. No one is healthy: definitely not me, nor you, nor my pastor, not Saint Paul, not the Pope, the Dalai Lama, not even my yoga teacher. There was one man who was healthy, and so offensive was his health to us that we pinned him to a cross. So high was our view of health that we tried to eradicate it. And as we jeered from the bleachers, we yelled, “Save yourself, if you are God!” But we know the story. He died, and instead saved us.
ReplyDeleteI think this is why Christianity is going to stick around even as it loses popularity. It is because of that story that simple people, intellectuals, Arabs, Brits, prostitutes, clergy, murderers, scientists, old, and young will be drawn to the Gospel. Among the nations of the earth there will always be those who are drawn to this story, beyond their health, beyond their illness, beyond wealth and success, beyond hedonism and austerity, beyond plenty, beyond desperation and abject failure, they will seek out the Cross.
So, you're basically saying it's the quality of storytelling that counts.
ReplyDelete