{"id":31438,"date":"2023-02-28T09:01:39","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T17:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=31438"},"modified":"2023-02-28T09:09:10","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T17:09:10","slug":"whos-in-charge-of-our-well-being","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/whos-in-charge-of-our-well-being\/","title":{"rendered":"Who’s In Charge of Our Well-Being?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/span>In his memoir, <\/span>A Thousand Days,<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/em>former Kennedy aide Arthur Schlesinger reproached himself for not objecting during the planning for the Bay of Pigs invasion: \u201cI can only explain my failure to do more than raise a few timid questions by reporting that one\u2019s impulse to blow the whistle on this nonsense was simply undone by the circumstances of the discussion.\u201d<\/span>[1]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

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According to a Nobel prize winner in economic science, our natural cognitive state is riddled with biases, fallacies and illusions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Daniel Kahneman gives us a vision of flawed human reasoning in the way we see ourselves. \u00a0If human irrationality is the great theme of his book, <\/span>Thinking Fast and Slow, <\/span>perhaps the recurrent theme in the book is that many people are overconfident as they place too much faith in their intuitions. Like Arthur Slesinger\u2019s confession to his cognitive ease, he made a poor decision in thinking fast hoping it was \u201cclose enough to reality.\u201d <\/span>The <\/span>New York Times<\/span>\u00a0columnist David Brooks declared that Kahneman and Tversky\u2019s work \u201cwill be remembered hundreds of years from now,\u201d and that it is \u201ca crucial pivot point in the way we see ourselves.\u201d They are, Brooks said, \u201clike the Lewis and Clark of the mind.\u201d<\/span>[2]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

\u00a0Where Does Overconfidence Originate?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The image of our human nature being flawed is not new news to us and nor should it be when we consider the plethora of Christian book titles about renewing our minds and making decisions.<\/span>[3]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Our entire faith system is based upon the truth that we are in desperate need of a Savior which is what makes our reading this week so compelling to me. In light of how the public Christian narrative is so distorted, in reading Kahneman\u2019s book, I have discovered a possible source of the problem: Overconfidence and WYSIATI (What You See Is All There Is).<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a theological and psychological depth to our impulsive or intuitive thinking. Christians are not strangers to our damaged impulses or what the New Testament calls our \u201cold nature\u201d<\/span>[4]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0or the flesh. \u00a0Nor is being transformed by renewing our minds foreign to us, that by \u201ctesting you may discern. . .\u201d<\/span>[5]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 \u00a0The words for \u201cby testing you may discern\u201d translates to Greek <\/span>dokimazo,<\/span>\u00a0which often has the sense of finding out the worth of something by putting it to use. Paul even confesses about the two \u201cpowers\u201d running his inner life.<\/span>[6]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 We are especially prone to an exaggerated sense of how we understand ourselves in the world. <\/span><\/p>\n

What Is the Best Kind of Confidence?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thinking Fast and Slow <\/span><\/em>shows us how two systems of our brains are constantly fighting over control of my behavior and actions. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 System I\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0System 2<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

Automatic, Intuitive, largely unconscious mode<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Slow, deliberate, analytical consciously effortful mode of reasoning<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

This book was not written through a theological lens; yet, while reading the book, I kept hearing in the back of my mind, \u201cThe heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?\u201d<\/span>[7]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 Daniel Kahneman understands the heart\/mind fairly well and points us toward some rich and profound answers to how we as Christian leaders can put together a better story based on evidence we don\u2019t yet see.<\/span>[8]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

How Much Effort Do We Need to Make?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The two systems make sense. Readers quickly learn that our brains are lazy and that our brains want to save energy. (And when it comes to money, we need to leave our emotions at home). In fact, the combination of a coherence-seeking System 1 with a lazy System 2 drew me back to Threshold concepts when Land writes, \u201cTo arrive at meaningful knowledge, they must learn through deep inquiry, as the unexamined life is not worth living, so the unexamined fact is not worth believing.\u201d<\/span>[9]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 System 2 must deliberately seek information through deep inquiry.<\/span><\/p>\n

Am I Motivated to do the Work?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where I found the good of Kahneman\u2019s work connected to threshold concepts: I won\u2019t care if I have to wade through deep inquiry (or a painful colonoscopy) if the goal is satisfaction. I will fight to find the evidence I don’t yet see until I find what is missing. What is the end goal of good decision making? Is it a Differentiated Self? Rational Thinking? Or something else? \u00a0Kahneman says it’s well-being or happiness. <\/span><\/p>\n

Is happiness worth the work?<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes! Especially if there\u2019s A Reward!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Kahneman differentiates between \u201cexperienced\u201d well-being, as opposed to the \u201cremembered\u201d well-being. And he found that these two measures of happiness diverge in surprising ways. What makes the \u201cexperiencing self\u201d happy is not what makes the \u201cremembering self\u201d happy. \u00a0The \u201cremembering self\u201d does not care about duration\u2013how long a pleasant or unpleasant experience lasts. The bottom line is the \u201cremembering self\u201d is who decides about our happiness. \u00a0The \u201cremembering self\u201d is what will help us work through what we need to work through to cross our thresholds.\u00a0 And there’s where we discover the reward of well-being.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe from here on out, I will replace the word \u201cConfident\u201d for the \u201cRemembering Self,\u201d in my work and family life. \u00a0After all, by the time I finished reading this book and writing this post both my systems 1 and 2 were still running after each other and I am \u201coverconfident\u201d that I spent too much time thinking about what to write!\u00a0 May my “Remembering Self” never forget.\u00a0 Here’s to our well-being!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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[1]<\/a>\u00a0Jr, Arthur M. Schlesinger. <\/span>A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House<\/span>. 1st edition. Boston: Mariner Books, 2002.<\/span><\/p>\n

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[2]<\/a>\u00a0Holt, Jim. \u201cTwo Brains Running.\u201d <\/span>The New York Times<\/span>, November 25, 2011, sec. Books.<\/span>\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

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[3]<\/a>\u00a0\u201cRenewing the Christian Mind: Essays, Interviews, and Talks: Willard, Dallas, Black Jr., Gary: 9780062296139: Amazon.Com: Books.\u201d Accessed February 27, 2023.<\/span>\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[4]<\/a>\u00a0Galatians 5: 16, ESV<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[5]<\/a>\u00a0Romans 12:2, ESV<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[6]<\/a>\u00a0Romans 7: 17-24.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[7]<\/a>\u00a0Jeremiah 17:9, ESV<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[8]<\/a>\u00a0Kahneman, Daniel. <\/span>Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/span>. 1st edition. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013. P. 87<\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

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[9]<\/a>\u00a0Land, Ray, Jan Meyer, and Michael T Flanagan. <\/span>Threshold Concepts in Practice<\/span>. 1st ed. 2016. Educational Futures, Rethinking Theory and Practice. Rotterdam: SensePublishers, 2016.<\/span>\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0In his memoir, A Thousand Days,\u00a0former Kennedy aide Arthur Schlesinger reproached himself for not objecting during the planning for the Bay of Pigs invasion: \u201cI can only explain my failure to do more than raise a few timid questions by reporting that one\u2019s impulse to blow the whistle on this nonsense was simply undone by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2660,2659,2559,2074,2067,2658,2032],"class_list":["post-31438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-blink","tag-overconfidence","tag-threshold","tag-daniel-thinking-fast-and-slow","tag-experiencing","tag-remembering-self","tag-self-differentiation","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31438"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31443,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31438\/revisions\/31443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}