Sermon I

Sunday, January 12, 2020

The soul has almost no physical existence. In fact, from a physical point of view, it may not even be real.

But on the mental plane (or context) the soul has great power.

Choices are based on perceptions about the world, past experiences that lead to predictions of the future, and the teaching and training that has molded what we are capable of imagining, what we want, and the price we are willing to pay.

But after all this weighing and measuring, it is the soul that puts the finger on the scale.

Put another way, it is the soul that points the way. When various options are offered, when various possibilities exist, when various trades are available (I can get this result in return for this action), it is the soul that says “that. that is what I want to happen. that will satisfy me.”

This is what we experience as free will. It isn’t free as in perfectly unfettered. It is restricted by how we perceive the world. Possible choices are eliminated if we do not see them as possibilities. Part of this is our belief about consequences. Possible choices are not available if we believe they will lead to very negative results. All of this is greatly affected by what we have learned by experience and by training to desire and to avoid.

Like the great chess masters, we don’t even see the possible choices that are not beneficial. We choose between options that we perceive to be equally advantageous. But life is more complicated than chess and we overestimate our ability to weigh costs and rewards properly., and also our ability to see all the possibilities.

Creative living comes from reevaluating this balance. This means checking our perceptions to see if they are accurate. Since accuracy is not always easy to determine, we also have to check whether our perceptions are helpful. We may find that, with thought, we can untangle some of the attitudes and feelings that make us desire one thing and fear another. To heighten or lessen our desire, or to heighten or lessen our dislike, is to disturb the balance that makes us choose one way or another.

This is also the soul’s work. To see things with fresh eyes, without the accretions of worries, the opinions of others, the lessons we have been taught about ourselves and our world, and about what we should desire and what we should not.

Pure objectivity (in the fullest sense that includes awareness of emotions as well as reason) cannot be attained, but it can be approached. Understanding what is at the base of our needs and desires is a good way to start. How much is our want for something genuine, and how much is it based on what we have been told to want? How much of our dislike or fear of something is realistic (based on unpleasant things that may happen), and how much is it based on poor predictions or worries about the judgment of others?