Re-Animated Soul Dialogue, Part 2

As I mentioned last week, my brother Marcus, who is also a novelist, helped me rewrite one of my previously posted Soul Dialogues to make it funnier and more interesting. Since this blog most often takes up themes in religion and science, the topic of the soul fits right in. What is the soul? Is it something science can study? Is it a specifically religious concept? And what am I doing talking to my imaginary friend Dan? Why are we now in Chico's Upper Bidwell Park five miles away from where we started?
Questions to ponder...
I submit to you the part deux. In last week's edition, I'd just stated "it’s also what makes sense in the church."

Dan: So things are good?

GSC: Yes, so far they are. What are you thinking?

Dan: Well, I just have a feeling that you’d want me to do this, so I’m going to get all specific right now.What do you mean by “it”?

GSC: I mean the way that we bring together all we are—body and soul—under the power of the Spirit.

Dan: Got it.And, what about the Bible?

GSC: What about the Bible you ask?

Dan: Yes.

GSC: Well,glad you asked. I have one word for you.

Dan: Yes?

GSC: Philippians.

Dan: Philippians?

GSC: Philippians. It’s just 104 verses, but in it you can find the answer to almost every theological question. 

Dan: In just those 104 verses, everything you want to about God is contained! That’s amazing!

GSC: Thank you, Ed McMahon. (Last-century-Johnny-Carson-Tonight-Show reference.)

Dan: Dan.

GSC: Dan. 

Dan: Please, no applause. Just doing my job.

GSC: At any rate, it’s true—and in Philippians.

Dan: Yeah.  Heard that somewhere. So the Bible agrees?

GSC: It does. I think about chapter four and Paul’s emphasis on the mind, or our attitude: 

“Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4

Mindset directs hearts. That’s how God made us.

Dan: Ok, that makes sense.  But that’s not all, is there? We’re not near the lunch place yet.

GSC: There’s more, don’t worry.I think next we need to take on a common misconception about life and happiness.

Dan: I see, a nice small topic before our meal. What are you thinking?

GSC: I’m remembering something I heard the other day in a sermon—“Christian faith isn’t all in your head.” On the one hand, Amen to that! On other, faith isn’t all in your feelings, either!

Dan: Not to be too philosophical, but no, duh.

GSC: I know, right? But people fall for the feelings trap. “If it feels good, it’s right.” To which I say, “Really?” Your feelings change. They’re not a reliable guide. Instead, put your faith in what you know to be true and the feelings will follow.

Dan: So, cart after horse?

GSC: Exactly.

Dan:  But wait, hold on, I am your imaginary friend, but I have to ask, as a friend,what have you got against emotion? Isn’t everything you care about based on emotion?

GSC: Good question! 

Dan: Again, just doing my job.

GSC: I love emotion. And like Jonathan Edwards’s famous 18^thcentury defense of “religious affections,” emotions or “affections” are central to most believers’ understanding of Christian faith and most people’s experience of life.

Dan: Sounds true. Or at least accurate. But is there a difference for Edwards between emotions and affections?

GSC: Yes. “Affections” for Edwards represented something a bit more substantial than ephemeral emotions. Still the point stands—it’s not all cold rationality. 

Dan: That sounds right. And makes sense. You’ve convinced me again. As Plato often comments in his dialogues, “Socrates, you are the wisest man alive.”

GSC: Thanks.

Dan: What are friends like me for? And I know you’re about to expound again, but one more thing.

GSC: Yes?

Dan: Aren’t these affections or emotions a gift to give us motivation?

GSC: God definitely gives us emotions or feelings. At the same time, it’s not feelings that define us. It’s actually walking in God’s way that does. As C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter in 1950, using “obedience,” a word not heard much today, 

“Obedience is the key to all doors: feelings come (or don’t come) and go as God pleases. We can’t produce them at will and mustn’t try.” C.S. Lewis

Dan: No one writes letters like that anymore.

GSC: Or allegorical fantasy, for that matter, either.

Dan: Word!

GSC: Indeed.

Dan: And I get what he’s saying, but what do we do with someone like neuroscientist Antonio Damasio? He’s found that, without emotions, we can’t make moral decisions. 

GSC: Theology and science intersecting and complementing. Nice segue, my friend.

Dan: You’ve taught me well. And, come to think of it, how about Jonathan Haidt? He notes that often we, with our rational deliberation, are simply the rider on the back of the elephant of emotions. 

GSC: Tru dat as well! But the point is that, through taming our emotions, learning how to engage our rationality, and living in a good community, we learn to direct the elephant. I think Haidt is onto something, but takes it too far.

Dan: So both emotions and reason need to work together, but it’s how we actually live that defines our happiness?  Yes?

GSC: Yes, well summarize you, young Padawan.

Dan: Dan.

GSC: Dan. Much learned have you learned today.