The road from Substance Dualism to Functional Holism

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 have been preoccupied for a great deal of time with human beings. I’m fascinated by our complexities and – conversely – often frustrated by our complications. We’re one hell of a metaphysical variety.

What are we?

What makes us tick?

It’s a truism to note the variety evident in the human race. There are many physical, cultural, religious (etc.) contours that testify to our distinctions. Trust me – you can’t walk down Hollywood Boulevard without noticing how many types of people there are.

And yet…

There is something that unites us.  We’re all human beings.

Which brings me back to my original question: what are we? What is a human being?

My early thoughts about human nature revolved around somewhat mundane classifications. I voluntarily accepted much of the “folk-ontology” that I had grown up with. Human beings were essentially something like a spirit that indwelt a body – two separate and distinct entities. Jesus was all about getting my spirit saved via his “spiritual” redemption. I suppose I thought my body was important. It helped me interact with other people and I certainly liked the benefits I received from having a body (i.e. the pleasure of eating a good meal or seeing a beautiful sunset), but I didn’t consider my body essential to who I was. It was something of an extremity.

I liked that perspective. It was so naïve, but so satisfying. I could sleep at night.

In late high school and early college, my thoughts began to change. I was introduced to the great Greeks (i.e. Plato and Aristotle). Something about them felt marginally safe. They posited something similar to the “folk-ontology” of my early years, but they seemed to take things a step further. They talked about something like a relationship between “spirit” (i.e. soul) and “matter” (i.e. body). While Plato conceived of this spirit/matter pairing as unfortunate, Aristotle suggested a necessary metaphysical link between the two – soul gave form to matter. Whatever I made of these ideas at that point, I couldn’t help but feel like my simplistic conception of human nature was expanding. Thoughts of “necessary relation” or “form” had never entered my mind. Maybe, per Aristotle, we had a body for a reason. Maybe…

At any rate, I was intrigued. These ideas stuck a chord with me and I jumped on board the substance dualist wagon. Looking back, I was surely confused concerning which wagon I was on exactly – my conflation of important distinctions was remarkable – but I was confident that I was (probably) most essentially my soul but now with some important relationship with a body. At this point I was still, however, most convinced of an asymmetrical relationship between body and soul where the soul influences the body, but not vice versa.

Through the end of college and into my first year of seminary, I don’t think much changed. I was getting more comfortable on my substance-dualist wagon and didn’t foresee any need to get off.

Unfortunately, I kept reading books.

Word to the wise: If you ever want to maintain you perspective on something, don’t read books.

Most notably, I read two books: Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies by Nancey Murphy and Body, Soul & Life Everlasting by John W. Cooper.

Both of these authors come from notably different points of view. Murphy is Professor of Christian Philosophy at Fuller Theological Seminary and Cooper is a long-time Professor of Philosophical Theology at Calvin Theological Seminary. Nevertheless, both of them played a part in coaxing me towards the next step in my thoughts about human nature.

Murphy’s book explores the implications of recent scientific and philosophical advances concerning human persons. Given her interpretation of the data, she concludes that non-reductive physicalism best accounts for what human beings are. On her view, our bodies are essential to being human. Without them we do not exist. That thing we used to call the “soul” (i.e. the epicenter of human-ness) is actually unnecessary to posit.  Our physical brain gives rise to “immaterial” mental states that supervene on us. Given her understanding, if we can explain where immaterial thoughts come from without the soul, then we don’t need the soul any longer. Well, whether or not this perspective actually works is another story (In fact, I think this theory runs into some difficulties – especially in relation to personal identity over time and biblical testimony on the afterlife.). Nevertheless, It motivated me to reconsider some of my, at that point, engrained opinions about human beings.

Maybe we’re not essentially our souls.

Cooper, on the other hand, provided me with an enlightening read of Scripture sans dualistic presuppositions. His explication of Old Testament data helped me see the Jewish holistic perspective on human beings. On their view, a human being is not a circumstantial concurrence of spirit and matter, but a complex unity of ‘apar and nephesh/ruach. There is such a tight unity between the body and spirit that one might even understand them to be mutually dependent. Again, whether or not Cooper is exactly right on all of this biblical interpretation (although, I suspect he might be) is somewhat secondary for me. At the end of the day, he stirred something transformative in the way I think about us as human beings.

Maybe we’re not essentially our souls.

At this point, I think I might count myself as a functional holist. Cooper introduced me to this language and I find it satisfactory. As a functional holist, I believe that human beings are naturally embodied beings. We were created to exist in that way. This does away with any gnostic denigration of physicality. Nevertheless, there is still a non-physical part of who we are as human beings. Scripture makes it difficult to deny the unembodied state of some persons post-death. And I’ve yet to be convinced of either immediate resurrection theories or substitute body theories for the intermediate state. Maybe one day they’ll win me over, but for now it seems that something unembodied exists post-death that is identical with the embodied human person pre-death, so I have to accept something non-physical in order to jive with that.

I suppose I’m rambling now, so I’ll wrap it up.

I guess I’m happy.

I’m happy that I see the value of the body. I’m happy to see that (in some way) I am my body. I’m happy to appreciate the fact that my body can influence my spirit/soul in some meaningful way.  I’m happy to see how my body can instantiate God’s Kingdom in the physical world.

I’m happy for this body you all call Dave. 

Here's to the future and what new ideas it will bring.
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For more reading on the topic of embodiment, check out my friend's article here:  http://theotherjournal.com/2013/11/25/reenchanting-the-body/

Why do you read the Bible?

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hy do you read the Bible? What do you expect to gain from reading it? Is it something you do because you feel like you have to? Do you read looking to mine out timeless truths claims that you can believe? Are you looking for existential comfort or encouragement?  What is it that draws you back? Or are you drawn back? Do you lack desire to meditate on Scripture? Do you find it dry and boring?

           

You might find yourself on one end or the other of this spectrum (and, for that matter, anywhere in between). But wherever you are, I hope you might entertain a different idea with me for a moment. As Christians, we believe that Scripture possesses a unique authority in our lives. It is the norming norm by which all other knowledge of God is weighed.  Reason, tradition, and personal experience all find their better in the deliverances of biblical revelation. 

Right? Yes, I think we could all agree with that.

Unfortunately, I think the next move we often make is mistaken. Because we believe the Bible is authoritative, we’re often tempted to scour it looking for essential truths that we can live by. To our chagrin, those truths are often buried under fluffy narrative and anecdotal “Sunday school” stories, so we try to sidestep the story to get to the “really good stuff.” This isn’t a malicious move we make – I think it’s done more unaware than anything else. However, I think in doing this we might actually be missing out on something HUGE that God is trying to communicate to us.

Don’t forget, God could have chosen to reveal himself to us any which way. He could have written the “Top Twelve Things to Know About God” on a piece of parchment and disseminated that to the whole world. He could have had a voice from the heavens eternally repeating the Ten Commandments. But he didn’t do anything like that. He gave us records of a narrative. 

A story.

A drama. 

So what does this suggest to us? What might God be inviting us to by revealing himself in such a way?

Well, I think Scripture as narrative unreservedly draws us into the throws of an unfolding cosmic tale. It offers a redemptive background for us to discover ourselves against and a foundation for us to anchor our lives to.  We each have a personal history; a sequence of past events that have made us who we are. Scripture offers us an opportunity to tether that personal history onto the unfolding Divine plan. The message of Scripture is not at its core a list of “15 fundamentals” or “6 Essential Beliefs.” Instead, it is a narratival invitation to an experiential relationship with God the creator. Jonathan Edwards captures something of this necessity of experiencing God in his Religious Affections when he says, “He that has doctrinal knowledge and speculation only, without affection, never is engaged in the business of religion.” Story engages our affections and pulls us into truth via our hearts.

It strikes me that God is keenly aware of the effect that story has on us. Don’t you think he chose to reveal himself in this way for a purpose? I welcome you to meditate further on the narratival form of Scripture and ask the Lord how your reading of the Bible might afford you the opportunity to be further caught up into His grand narrative. Who knows? Maybe this exercise will change the way you read the Bible. Maybe it will help you see that God is after your heart and not just your head.

Emerging Adulthood

Emerging Adulthood:

(or) How the myth of “what you’re supposed to do” stalls you out until you don’t care anymore and just pick something.

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here is a growing body of psychological literature that sketches a view of the “Emerging Adult.”  This is a social category of persons anywhere between the ages of 19 and 29 who no longer fit in adolescence, but fail in one way or another to fill out the elusive category of adulthood (what exactly is this “adulthood” anyway?).   Emerging adulthood is the age of becoming; a discovery of who you are; a differentiation between your niche and everyone else’s. During this period a person unwraps the mystery of themselves and finds their proper place in society (or so they say).  It usually involves a delay of taking on responsibility, an exploration of a variety of careers, and an almost palpable anxiety about “choosing the wrong path.”

This new social category strikes older generations as a bit strange.  I heard a story recently that captures this quite clearly.  Once while speaking with his grandfather, a professor friend of mine mentioned his frustration concerning his son who refused to commit to any particular life path.  His grandfather chuckled and said, “When I was young, I didn’t have any problem knowing what I’d do. I started driving a team of oxen when I was 5 and I kept at that my whole life.” This charming anecdotal story speaks quite strongly to the differences that even 50 years can make when it comes to forecasting your life. The panoply of perceived options proves debilitating for the Emerging Adult.  She’s left wondering, “It seems like that grandfather hardly had to think twice about what he’d do. Why can’t my life be the same? Instead I’m faced with 100 different options. What do I choose? What should I become?”

Well, whether or not you believe Emerging Adulthood should even exist (let’s just posit for now that it does), I think we can all agree that something needs to be done about it; there needs to be some movement forward. I’m just as humored and bothered as the rest of you by the stereotypical male, college graduate who lives in his parents basement and plays video games all day or the female twenty-something who is off on another year long adventure at another job trying to “find herself.”  We all know this gets ridiculous at some point and something needs to change.  Toward that end, I think it will be helpful to examine two myths that are often circulated around this topic of discovering identity.

[I think it’s important to note here that I don’t t believe this category of Emerging Adults applies de facto to all 19-29 year olds. In fact, I know a good number of respectable, hard-working, faithful, responsible adults in this same age bracket. Nevertheless, I think what follows will be helpful for that group as well (God-willing, myself included) as we envision what life could be.]

Myth 1: I Can Be Anything I Want To Be

I regret to burst your bubble, but this is just flat out wrong. You can’t actually be anything you want to be. How about an illustration to make this clear? Let’s consider Billy. Billy is 20 years old. He’s trying to determine what to do with his life. He’s tried a couple of jobs, he even went to college for a year, but he just can’t seem to find that one thing that he’s supposed to do. Well, Billy’s parents (being kind and loving parents) told him his whole life that he could be anything he wanted to be when he grew up. Billy remembers his parent’s encouragement and decides that he wants to be a professional baseball player.  So, he goes and tries out for the Boston Red Sox even though he hasn’t played a day of baseball in his life. Obviously he doesn’t make the team. He leaves tryouts dejected and chalks this up to another failed attempt at discovering what he’s supposed to do.

Well, obviously this is only an illustration and it suffers from the same hyperbolic bloat that many illustrations do.  But I think it illustrates the point I’m after. Billy is not in fact able to be anything he wants to be. For Billy, “anything he wants to be” includes the idea of being a baseball player. Unfortunately, Billy is actually incapable of becoming a baseball player. Why? Because Billy doesn’t have the proper capacities for the sport.  Perhaps you’ll say, “Well, this is clearly an improbably situation. Nobody in their right mind would attempt to be a baseball player if they hadn’t played a single day in their life.” True.  But how often do analogous situations play out in everyday life? How often do people genuinely believe they can succeed in something without the requisite capacities?

I can imagine an objection at this point. Couldn’t the notion of infinite horizon still be true, but just dependent upon acquiring the necessary capacities? I have two things to say here. First, I might be more open to this qualified sense of “infinite horizon.” However, remember that as soon as you take a step towards Option A you take a step away from Option B. Billy can’t pursue being a professional baseball player and a banker at the same time. To do either one of those well, he will need to devote his time and energy to developing the requisite capacities of that career.  Second, I would add that there seems to be some things that, regardless of how hard a person tries, are just impossible for them to attain. We’ve all heard those bands that really should give up their dream about becoming the next U2.  Their hearts are golden, but their fingers are lead. I digress.

Emerging Adults need to realize that what is open to them is limited. As soon as they step towards one option, another option closes. But this isn’t a bad thing! It’s a real life thing.

Myth 2: There Is One Thing I’m Supposed To Be

I think this second myth is particularly frustrating for Christian Emerging Adults. We’re supposed to live life with purpose. Right? We’ve been commanded: Don’t Waste Your Life! We’ve gotta get on this personal identity thing….like yesterday! Let me just help you relax for a moment. Guess what? The reality is, there isn’t actually any “one thing” you’re supposed to be or do.

            Again, I can hear the wash of objections popping up in your head. What about God’s will for my life? What about “THE PLAN”? Well, have you ever stopped to think about “the plan”? Have you ever noticed that your life up until this point has been deeply embedded in the cultural and social variables of your environment? You probably didn’t decide to go a high school that was two states away from where you parents live. Why? Because you were reasonably restrained by the reality that a high school existed two block away from you. The fact is, our physical, emotional, and spiritual location determine quite a lot in our lives.  I think the advent of exorbitant amounts of technology has dimmed our understanding of this reality. Our ability to “know” about opportunities around the globe might cause us to forget our limitations and seek meaning in unattainable goals (see discussion above).

            At the end of the day, “the plan” will include something – some vocation. You inevitably will do something along the timeline that is your life. But I think identity prescription is a retrospective tool; something that is valuable only when thinking back on your life. You can only know what you were supposed to be after you have become. Maybe I’m wrong about this, but it strikes me somewhat intuitively.

What does this mean for the Emerging Adult? It means they can stop worrying about what they should be. As if that is some transcendent metastructure exists that they need to cram their life into and stress out about. It means that they are free to discover themselves….FREE! This is the beauty of life. You have been given freedom to find yourself! This is an especially beautiful reality for the Christian because part of their spiritual location includes the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the Church. These two realities provide an extra set of variables that non-Christians do not have on the journey of becoming.  They uniquely aid in directing the individual towards a life filled with meaning and purpose by confronting them with the reality of God’s kingdom.

Undoubtedly there is much more to be said about these issues. However, I hope these few thoughts might inspire conversation among Emerging Adults as they (we) attempt to figure life out.