Man wants to be free, but always looks for a king to rule him. A strange contraction in human nature. The truth is, when things are great and seem to be under our control, we just want to be left alone. We don’t want anyone to tell us what to do when we have what we want, and we gladly take credit for our own fortune. However, when things get bad, we cry for a savior and blame anyone but ourselves for the troubles we find ourselves in. (Hmm… I think I just defined both political ideologies) Everyone has varying degrees of each in their lives, but this article is about the latter: Our search for a messiah to save us from our troubles. The sad truth is, we had one, but we didn’t like what he had to offer.

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Technorati Tags: Christian Mysticism, fake messiahs, Jesus Christ, material messiahs, political saviors

The never ending debate of nature vs. nurture in modern psychology overlooks a third obvious possibility: choice. Medicine and psychology are chomping at the bit to blame all our actions on genetics, chemical imbalances, or bad parenting… just about anything other than choice. The recent rebirth of the classic Batman comic, The Killing Joke, reminded me that there are two kinds of perspectives people have. To some, all the injustice and hardships in life serve as fuel to excuse their poor and destructive behavior. To others, all those hardships and injustices are just obstacles to overcome and opportunities to grow. Continue Reading »

Technorati Tags: alan moore, batman, choice, freewill, nature vs. nurture, the killing joke

More people have, or are diagnosed with, depression today than ever before in our history. I believe this is largely caused by the secularization of medicine. Symptoms once seen as spiritual or psychological problems are now seen as physical and chemical illnesses. This has lead to lazy treatment habits as people with real life issues are being labeled as “sick” and given a pill, thereby covering the symptoms and leaving the root problems unsolved.

The truth is that while there are physical conditions that can contribute to depression, depression is a manifestation of poor mental and spiritual health. I have little interest in discussing physical causes in depth as there are innumerable resources on that subject. Instead, this article is about the spiritual and psychological causes of depression.

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Technorati Tags: depression, needs of the soul, understanding depression