What is Shaping our Mind ...

Wednesday, Mar 5, 2014. What is shaping our mind? Currently, we have some discussion in Germany about taboos in public discussion. It is interesting to observe such taboos. What are the main lines of our thinking, and where do we stop thinking, as a matter of social consensus?

Pre-Shaped Ideas about our World …

What is the problem? In Germany, the discussion arises from problems with migration, which the public does not want to be discussed. It is not allowed to name particular groups, which have special problems with integration. As soon as you touch some of the problematic points, you are called a racist. One of the authors which is heavily discussed calls it a social taboo. If you violate it, you are strongly sanctioned by social groups, by the media, by the influential political layers.

I do not want to go into further details about the migration question here. But what is much more interesting is how our mind and our social environment work and interact. Our ideas about what the world is and how it works is strongly shaped by our environment and our social consensus. This touches questions of democracy, violence and authority, roles of men and women, marriage and many more. We live in a time where these ideas are reshaped and changed - with strong forcing coming from particular groups, in particular those who govern the media structures, but also education and politics.

What is driving these developments? Is it a wave of “new social consensus”, where individuals have little to resist it? There seems to be a forcing beyond individual decisions. Where does it come from? How much freedom do we have as individuals to live our way, to think our way, to become or remain what we want to be?

Be Shaped by the Holy Spirit …

The bible tells us to be shaped by the Holy Spirit. It tells us to be shaped by Christ himself, through the word of God as it is recorded in the biblical letters and scriptures. It tells us that it is very important to be shaped by the source of life, the eternal saviour, and to resist the worldly forces.

There can be quite some conflict between biblical teaching and secular guidance. Also, the judgement about what is good and what is bad might differ considerably. Biblical teaching first puts God's grace in Christ Jesus. This grace is acting on the background of God's holiness, his purity, his truth and faithfulness. Secular teaching will not accept God's existence, nor his holy character and the guidelines which he has set for our life.

Coming back to the discussion about taboos. I think we need to be open minded. And we need to love our neighbors and our enemies - as Jesus has commanded. That does not mean to close our eyes with respect to the problems which are there in our communities. It means to take the challenges serious, and to work on them, to work towards change on all levels of our social life. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts