Minimalism, The Documentary

I have a confession to make. I have, to the best of my knowledge, never watched a documentary before. Gasp, right? In the past I have enjoyed National Geographic specials, wildlife shows, and various other educational programs on Discovery Channel and such; but I have never found the documentaries I've encountered appealing.

Fast forward to two nights ago and my trying to find something interesting to watch during my almost nightly routine of laundry folding. I decided to make an attempt at watching my first documentary, with the thought that if it were horrible I could always switch back to my routine go-to's of watching Gilmore Girls, Star Trek, or Fixer Upper for the umpteenth time.

I happened across the Minimalism Documentary on Netflix, thinking that it would help inspire me for the decluttering projects I have planned for the New Year, (anyone else cleaning out house for the New Year?). I have found the premise of Minimalism interesting for some time now and the prospect of having less to clean up is greatly appealing.

The documentary itself is a bit dry, so I haven't finished it yet, hopefully that will happen during tonights laundry folding. Although it maybe that I find it dry because that is normal for documentaries, I have nothing to base that thought on though.

What I did find while watching Minimalism was that the thought of minimializing the stuff in our lives can go far beyond physical objects. Again and again, the various people in the documentary state that minimalism is about weeding out the things in our lives by only keeping that which adds value to our lives. The idea being that we only keep that which adds value to our lives and discard that which deprives or detracts our lives of value. This premise means not getting rid of stuff just for the sake of having less, but getting rid of things that do not help our lives to grow to the full potential that we would like them to have and experience.

I began to realize that this thought of minimizing that which detracts value from our lives can also be applied to the relationships and activities of our lives. For a very long time I have been in the process of evaluating the "WHY" behind certain thoughts, ideas, and things in my life. Do I want that object, relationship, or to participate in that activity solely because I have been told that I should want it? Are my ideas for an ideal home, possessions, relationships, or appearance based upon things that I truly like? Or, instead, are theses areas based upon advertising telling me what I should and should not like? And if these things are based upon external sources, what do I truly like?

The idea of focusing on things that add value to our lives isn't something new, yet we are bombarded with advertising designed to warp our ideas of what is useful, necessary, needed, or wanted. Every piece of marketing is designed for the sole purpose of making us believe that we NEED whatever is being advertised. Additionally, we are now faced with Social Media attempting to advertise and dictate to us what our ideas, opinions, relationships, and friendships should look like or be like. None of it actually taking into account the wellbeing of the audience.

I found this train of thought tying in with my last blog post about boundaries and mental health. How often do we NOT draw boundaries because we have been told that we should not have boundaries in that area of our lives or that boundaries are bad? We witness similar relationships through the lens of Social Media and assume that is what our relationship should be like as well. We even go so far as attempting to replicate relationships we see in tv or movies, good or bad. In attempting to copy what we see or assume should be are we actually doing more damage to ourselves or short changing our own wellbeing?

I am not necessarily advocating the dismissal of relationships. We already saw too much of that just from the politics and opinions surrounding the last election and are now learning to live with the fallout of those presumptuous burning of bridges. Instead, I would suggest evaluating the relationships we allow free reign in our lives and the demands we allow to be placed upon us. Perhaps in the process of cleaning, decluttering, and New Years resolutions we include an evaluation of our own boundaries and wellbeing. Maybe in the process of cleaning up our homes we evaluate if and how we should clean up our relationships and lives.

Depression and Religion

Have you ever typed something into a Google search just out of curiosity only to find yourself surprised by the search results? What starts as an innocent search out of curiosity leads to a small tumble down a rabbit hole, or further questions, or, in the extreme, a reevaluation of information you previously knew. Google is great for solving debates, answering curiosity, amusing, or finding information easily. We use it for so much, yet there can be times when the search results return information that can take you off guard, surprise you, or confirm something you already knew.

For many years I have heard it stated that religion can be a insulator for believers, helping them to cope with depression and preventing them from becoming depressed. On a fluke I decided to Google 'depression rates by religion" hoping to have the search results return a quick, easy statistic in answer to my query. Instead I found myself looking through pages of information.

The information I found confirmed ideas that I had already suspected, but thought no one had acknowledged. Religion does not prevent people from becoming depressed, it does not act like an insulator for believers, because religious believers are still human and therefore, susceptible to depression just like anyone else. Religious beliefs don't inoculate believers to prevent depression. To hold to that idea grew increasingly flawed as I read through the articles in the search results.

Unfortunately, the majority of the articles and research papers I found reached a conclusion yet stopped just short of offering any form of explanation, solution, or even valuable insight. They were filled with factual data pulled from studies, research, and experiments. However, they offered no helpful solutions nor conclusions. What's more is that these studies appear grossly outdated with no further research or attempts to understand the problem. It was as if the researchers came to the results and then deemed further investigation unworthy of pursuing. The information, while cold and factual, left me puzzling as to the CAUSE of the higher rates of depression among religious believers.

CBC News practically attempted to portray the information as a reasoning for the conversion to atheism. Drawing upon scientific research from done in a psychiatric study done in 2013. While the article attempted to offer a conclusion the results of that conclusion come across as biased and predisposed in opinion.

The further I read through everything the more I realized the lack of conclusion, or rather the lack of helpful solutions. It began to appear to me that the researchers and authors all recognized a problem, yet offer no solutions or even attempts at helping those who are religious and suffering from depression. As I puzzled through this I began to form my own hypothesis. In an attempt to test if my hypothesis was correct I turned to the Pinterest to test my ideas, very scientific, right?

The more I scrolled through ideas posted by real people the more it seemed to confirm my hypothesis. My theory being that the increased rates of depression among believers is highly due to the discriminatory way that they are allowed, or rather disallowed to draw boundaries to protect their mental health without being attacked by accusations of being intolerant. This regulation of healthy boundaries creates a dynamic in which unhealthy relationships and abuse can be perpetuated unchecked. Should a believer attempt to draw boundaries in order to protect their mental health they are accused of being unforgiving and unreligious; thereby, manipulating them into being in toxic relationships or worse abused. Cries of intolerance go up without allowance for the persons wellbeing or mental health.

Religious believers are faced with demands that they be tolerant in the face of toxic behaviors and treatment. Society as a whole demands that they allow themselves to be subject to mistreatment under the guise of religious observance. Should the person draw boundaries for their own mental health they are then faced with demands to cease practicing their religion or accusations that they are not truly religious. This demand doesn't seem limited to the restraints of their religious peers, and instead seems to be reenforced by society as a whole. I have observed that when the non-religious set up boundaries in the name of preserving their own mental health, wellbeing, and self care they are applauded and encouraged; however, the same reaction is not given as response to religious people setting up the same boundaries for the same reason.

Society seems to have created or is in the process of creating a caste system as to which groups are allowed to care for their own mental health, and wellbeing through the drawing of boundaries. This caste system cannot help but to cause people to remain stuck in unhealthy patterns, and toxic, or abusive relationships through the abuse and manipulation of that persons religious beliefs. It is also demanding that religious beliefs be used as a license to abuse people, and keep them from drawing boundaries to escape toxic relationships or abuse. This discrimination is, perhaps, the largest reason I believe that the statistics show higher rates of depression among religious believers.

This discriminatory behavior seems to scream that if the person not allow themselves to be abused or remain in a toxic relationship they cannot practice the religion of their choice. As if allowing oneself to be abused were a merit badge, or pass required to allow the practice of that religion. Not only does this set up a system solely beneficiary to the abusers but it also creates a culture that, if carried out to it's extreme, denies mental health care to those deemed of the "wrong caste", offering the full benefits of mental healthcare to only parts of that society.

This manipulation of beliefs must stop. Everyone should be allowed to draw boundaries for their own mental health, and wellbeing, irregardless of beliefs or religion. If we are to have an equal society, with equal access to mental healthcare, and equal allowance for the creation of healthy boundaries we cannot allow the perpetual abuse and manipulation of religions as a whole to entangle people in toxic situations and relationships. We also must do everything necessary to stop abuses wherever we can, including learning and teaching the difference between intolerance and boundaries.

40 Days

The other night I was reading in Luke 4 and one single word stuck out to me that changed the entire way I was reading. That one word popping out changed my perspective on the entire chapter. It's funny how that can happen some times, right?

Luke 3 ends with Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan river. A powerful and beautiful moment that is immediately followed by Jesus being led into the desert by the Holy Spirit. Chapter 4 begins there, with Jesus being led around the desert by the Holy Spirit.

Luke 4:1-2 HCSB - Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by (under the influence of/in) the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry.

I have read this passage many times, yet the other night one thing in it stuck out to me. Verse 2 starts by stating that FOR forty days Jesus was tempted by the devil. Reading this in the past I jumped to the conclusion that it was at the end of the forty days that the devil showed up and tempted Jesus. It hit me in that moment of reading the passage again that it was over the course of the entire forty days that Jesus was tempted, not just at the end.

In that moment I realized that Jesus wasn't just sitting around doing nothing, or sitting around praying the whole time. He spent that forty days being tempted the entire time. Never once in the following verses does it say that it was at the end of the forty days when the devil showed up to torment Jesus, it just says that the devil did tempt Him. Jesus wasn't just tempted when He was hungry, He was tempted the entire time, and we are given only 3 examples of how He was tempted.

HELPS Word-Studies gives this interesting thought on the forty days.

(Link)

Following this thought from HELPS Word-Studies this time period was to grow Jesus in the knowledge of God's approval of Him. Interesting when we consider that the last thing that Jesus heard from God was "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased" (Luke 3:22 HCSB).

As I was studying this a few things went through my thoughts. The devil, as we know, tries to steal, kill, and destroy; often in the very midst of God revealing His love to us, or more deeply to us, depending on where we are at.

You see, what God approves, the devil tries to steal or destroy. The devil attacks us, in that moment of closeness with God, in order to hurt God. His goal is to hurt God as much as he can in his war against God, using us like pawns to inflict hurt and harm, in order to win the war.

The devil is a narcissistic manipulator. He lies and manipulates. He twists everything to confuse and trick us. He warps and twists every word to entangle and mislead us to the point where we think down is up and are left wondering how in the world we became so confused and lost. Outsiders in that moment, looking on, staring in rightful confusion, wondering how we got in that place of such confusion. The devil comes into that moment of closeness with God and tries to lie and manipulate us into letting go of or giving away what is rightfully ours.

The devil will never receive God's blessing so he tries to steal ours instead. If he can't steal it he will do his best to make us miserable. The saying goes that misery loves company and so does the devil. He will do whatever he can to drag as many as possible down with him.

During these forty days that Jesus was in the desert He was tempted by the devil the entire time. Given that details of this are in the Bible, I can only come to the conclusion that Jesus either told His disciples about it or the Holy Spirit revealed the details to the disciples after the fact.

We are only given 3 examples of the temptation that Jesus went through in the desert. I find it interesting what was chosen to share with us.

Jesus was tempted in His flesh by bodily hunger. The devil taunted Him, mocking His physical hunger by trying to get Him to eat rocks. Yes, Jesus could turn the rocks into bread, but in the natural humans are not able to transform rocks to bread. The devil didn't truly believe that Jesus was the Son of God. He was testing to see if this was true. Either way in that moment the devil would have thought his victory sure. If Jesus wasn't the Son of God, had He given in to the taunts, He would have been eating rocks. Yuck! The damage that would have done to His body in that moment would have been a victory for the devil. Had Jesus turned the rocks into bread He would have been giving into the devil and taken 1 step down a slippery slope of listening to the devil instead of to God, becoming easily taunted into disobedience. Jesus ends up doing what the devil didn't expect in that moment and speaking truth into the face of manipulative lies.

Jesus was then tempted in His pride. Jesus knew that He was the rightful ruler of all the earth, He was there at creation, and knew that in finality all the kingdoms of the earth would bow before Him. The devil throws the temptation for immediate gratification at Him. The devil offers rulership and the gratification immediately to Him, if only He will serve the devil. The devil appeals to His pride in His identity. Satan in that moment attempts to twist Jesus's previous quotation of scripture back on Him. Tangling scripture in a very narcissistic manipulation of Truth. Twisting scripture trying to make himself the worshipped instead of God. Jesus doesn't fall prey to confusion, holding to Truth as one lashing themselves to a solid foundation in the midst of the chaos of a hurricane. He refuses to bow to the devil, seeing through the manipulation to Truth.

Jesus was finally tempted in His identity. The devil couldn't confuse Him into idol worship so He attacked His very identity. Jesus was taken to the very top most parts of the temple in Jerusalem. He is taken to the very seat of God's throne on this earth. The center of worship of God, the place where God's Spirit rests among men. Where God meets with men and speaks. Where atonement is made regularly for sin and offerings made daily to God. In this place Satan mocks Jesus, and in reality mocks God's ability to protect and save His creation. The devil isn't just tempting Jesus at this point, he is flat out sending the message to God that God isn't stronger than him and saying that all of mankind is his for the destruction. Perhaps at this point it was starting to dawn on the devil that just maybe Jesus was the Savior. In that moment the very temple erected to worship God was also the tempting ground and a place of battle for Satan and Jesus. They stood toe to toe in that moment sizing each other up, getting a measure of their opponent. One trying to assess the success of the coming battle, the other knowing the outcome of the battle. Jesus stood toe to toe with the devil, and took a swing. Jesus lifted the full weight of scripture, and hit Satan with it. Sending Satan reeling backwards to gather himself, reassess his strategy, and plan his next attack.

Satan had his forty days of attacking Jesus, assessing Who Jesus was, testing his merit against Him, and ultimately failing. Satan spent not just the finality of those forty days attacking Jesus, but the entire time. Unbeknownst to Satan in that moment, he inadvertently further enabled Jesus to relate to the very people Satan sought to destroy; and thereby gave us an advocate against himself to equip and enable us for victory.

Not only was Jesus tempted in those forty days but he also passed through that refining period as one passing through fire, emerging fully ready for victory. What Satan intended to use to tear down Jesus was used to sharpen and equip Him for battle. Jesus left that desert fully knowing and understanding God's approval of Him. He became the victorious battle champion, honed and ready to win every battle forever more.