Date:  Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Day 56 of 180

Things have been slowing down lately, since school has started.  So I now have a lot of free time to travel around and see what Taipei is all about.  The best way that I can describe Taipei is that it's a marriage between western courtesy, Chinese chaotic traffic network, and Japanese neatness.  So it's quite an offspring, then.  That's not to say that living in Taipei is bad, far from it; however, I would venture to say that life here is interesting, in the best sense of the phrase.

In addition to this, one of the most reoccurring themes that I have been noticing during my time in Taiwan is the way in which western and eastern cultural traditions collide here with astonishing implications.  For example, last night I had an interesting conversation with a good friend of mine from my dorm.  He is studying to become a nutritionist and has an internship at a hospital in downtown Taipei.  One of the issues he has been dealing with is how do you distinguish between imbalances of the human body that cause mental disorders and the reality of spiritual warfare, with respect to the topic of the cause of hallucinations.  Namely, hallucinations can have any number of natural and hereditary causes; however, as Christians how do we incorporate our knowledge of the spiritual world, i.e. demon possession can also explain why such a person may be hallucinating.

The main problem with modern psychology is that it is too scientific.  Yes, there are aspects of the human mind that can be analyzed using the scientific method, but at the same time there are so many more aspects of the human mind that cannot be experimented on and reproduced in a test tube, dreams for example.  Despite all the advances in the ways in which we can map brain activity during sleep, we still don't know how and why we dream with any certainty.  That is not to say that there aren't theories available but none are conclusive nor are any of the reliable.  Furthermore, the areas of the brain and their respective jobs are also an area of question.  Why do we have so many lobes?  What are their jobs?  Why are they located where they are in the brain?  Many if these questions can be very basically answered by recent experiments that have mapped brain activity with bodily actions, but mysteries still exist.  And we are far from being competent I understanding the inner workings of the human mind.  Issues such as spatial recognition, involuntary actions (reflexes, breathing, etc.), and information processing are actions of the brain that still remain a mystery.

This said popular science quickly rejects the existence of a spiritual influence simply for the reason that such talk is too childish.  God, angels, and demons are not subjects that should concern modern science nor the western intellect, we are more evolved. Or something like that.  But if we remember modern science as we know it found its origins in the Christian Church.  Founding father such as, Galileo, Ptolemy, Copernicus, Newton,da Vinci, and Einstein all came from a Christian background.  In fact the great scientific minds of the 18th to 20th century all find their motivation for scientific advance from their faith, only within the last 2 decades has science been dominated by a strictly atheistic perspective.  I don't want to get into too much detail but perhaps science, and psychology in particular, has suffered from such a limited perspective.  Many could argue that scientific tradition finds its origins in social/cultural tradition.  What does this say about western sculpture in general?  Could our willingness to discard any discussion of spirituality as matters of immaturity and not respectable topics of discussion for adults a sign of cultural decline?

As Christians we must come to terms with this issue:  integration.  I know this a well worn Wheaton theme, but how well a Christian answers the "so what" questions of life determines how real his faith is.  If we are unwilling to struggle through and answer the tough questions of life, how, then, are we different?  As, Christians, we have a social and eternal responsibility to answer the "so what" questions of life with respect to other chosen professions.  Israel failed to do this and that's what led to their exile.  The warning is clear.  Where do you stand?  Is integration of faith and profession important to you?  Or is discussing matters of spirituality too awkward for you so you avoid it?  Interesting questions to consider.