Most of us live a schizophrenic existence. We can talk at length about our prayers, church, and our relationship with God, and wax eloquent about our spiritual lives. But the rest of life —- our work, relationships, and a long list of other decisions — are devoid of a spiritual orientation.
There are a variety of reasons we live in this fashion. Some of it has to do with our materialist view of the world and the value we attach to what we can see, feel, hear, and smell. We are inclined to believe that what we can measure is real.
Some of it has to do with our utilitarian bent. What we can use is what matters. And back of those tendencies is a long list of historical reasons for why we are the way we are.
But there is also a fundamentally spiritual explanation for the way we live as well that has as much to with the way we choose to live, as the way we are taught to live.
Bernard of Clairvaux is helpful here in outlining the choices we can make.
Some, he notes, are weighed down by the material world. They are possessed by it, driven by it, dominated by it.
A second group of people live in wonder of the world around them — often exploring and measuring it. Ironically, Bernard observes, they can also have the greatest contempt for the world around them.
The third group asks what divine purpose the world around might have and then choose to live in accord with those purposes.
For those who are genuinely devoted to living a spiritual life, it is this third choice that provides the key. If we begin to ask ourselves how our work, relationships, and daily choices serve divine purposes, life begins to acquire the spiritual character we long to find. It is not a matter of bending the world around us to our needs, it is a matter of the way in which we choose to view the world.
The schizophrenia is of our own making. Everything has a spiritual dimension, if you are willing to see it.
Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermon for Pentecost 3,3-4 (with thanks to my wife the Bernardine scholar for bringing this to my attention!)
Dear Fred,
The entire Kingdom of God is enriched because of your commitment to Jesus and the wisdom He has given to you.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts daily with us.
With a mentally ill person in my family I take the word “schizophrenia” very seriously although my relative does not suffer from this particular illness. Being a member of NAMI has brought me into a whole new family group with others who struggle from someone being mentally ill in their family. There is such stigma attached to it.
So if we as Christians are living our lives with mental illness because our minds are not stayed on Jesus then it is best for us to rethink just what our purpose is here. Scriptures promises that if we keep our minds fixed on Him then Jesus will keep us in perfect peace. I guess that is another way of saying we won’t be living schizophrenically.