I Think Therefore I Am

Or…You Are What You Think

In my previous blog I stated that one of the most foundational gifts our Christian faith offers us is a picture of personhood, a narrative of something that is true about every human being.  This is a quest that has been going on for some time.  As early as Plato, philosophers and theologians have been trying to answer questions like: What are human beings?  What kind of creatures are we?  Based on what we are, how are we called to be in the world?

All of these questions seek to define a personal self or a personal identity.  At one level, this self is immaterial; it is not physical, but metaphysical.  This makes the self hard to define.  At another level, this self shapes the way we look at, interact with, and make a difference in the world.  From this personal identity comes our values and morals, our worldviews and our actions.  This makes the self very important.

This is not something that we think about every day.  Most mornings, we don’t get up and wonder, “Ok, who am I and how am I called to be in the world today?”  But it is important to set aside times when we consider these questions intentionally and deeply.  Why? 

One, because we answer these questions whether we consider them or not. 

We can’t not answer these questions.  We answer them with the choices we make and the way we move through every area of our lives: work, relationships, civic involvement, even play. 

Two, if we don’t consider these questions intentionally and deeply, who we think we are and want to be may not be who we really are and who we really want to be. 

Over time, philosophers and theologians have been trying to answer these questions, and these answers they have provided are very diverse.  Because of that diversity, they can take our lives in very different directions. 

Three, as I stated earlier, I believe that the Christian faith can answer these questions about personal identity in ways that enrich and give life and hope to the world.

Yes, there are a variety of “Christian answers” to these questions as well.  However, I believe that many of these answers are not uniquely Christian; instead, they take perspectives from other philosophies and adapt them into the Christian faith.  I want to look at some of these adaptations before we explore an understanding of self that I find both meaningful and resonant with my Christian faith.

We won’t go all the way back to Plato, but to look at one answer to these questions of self, we can go back to the 17^th century and Rene Descartes, whom many call the father of modern philosophy.  We pick up Descartes’ story at a time when he is struggling with an existential crisis.  He is doubting all the things he believed with a deep certainty.  If that can happen, then how you know anything with certainty?  And what is the source of that knowledge?

Descartes literally locks himself in a room for several days to seek an answer.  Because of their temporal nature, the senses and the body could not be trusted to give that certainty.  He even doubts mathematics as a source of truth because even it can hold some deception.  His moment of insight comes when he realizes that the one thing he can know for sure is that he is having these thoughts and ideas.  So, he defines himself as a “thinking thing.”  He defines personal identity as thinking, intellectual, and rational.  I think, therefore I am.  Or as James K. A. Smith states it, “You are what you think.”

This understanding of self is a pervasive one in the modern world, so it is important to reflect on it. 

What about this perspective do you find meaningful? What resonates with you? What are the limitations of this perspective?

Here are some of the ways I answer these questions.

The mind and our intellectual ability have contributed to the advancement of humankind in amazing ways.  It is no accident that when the modern world adopted this foundational belief in reason that the world of technology exploded, from the development of the scientific method to the Industrial Revolution to the explosion of the information age with computers and their many uses.  Our rational abilities allow us to hypothesize and experiment, to analyze, to figure out.  We can solve complex problems.  We can imagine complex problems and solve them before they happen.  Our reasoning abilities have put us at the top of the food chain.

But there are limitations to this “you are what you think” understanding of personal identity.  You can seem some of these limitations by looking at the world around you.  Along with all the amazing things that our reason and rationality have given us, in the last century we have experienced two world wars, and countless conflicts across the globe that include attempts at genocide.  Technology has created as many problems as it has solved, some of them very significant.

Any philosophy of the self should also offer a promising picture of human flourishing.  The “I think, therefore, I am” philosophy is primarily about ideas.  But often these ideas end up clashing in ways that do not make the world a better place. 

Interesting!!  If it is primarily about thinking and ideas, you would put those ideas out there, and our reasoning ability would eventually decide which ones are correct.  And yet, people have of an emotional investment in these ideas (hmm…notice the word “emotional”).  And this investment makes sense.  If this ability to reason is foundational to who we all are, when someone holds an idea or stance that seems irrational, they become other.

Finally, let’s remember what Smith says: Every approach to Christian formation and discipleship is based on what sort of creatures you think we are.  From the perspective of this “you are what you think” model, discipleship involves getting more information and insight about God, so you can reflect on it in ways that shape your actions.  This process is certainly a part of Christian formation.  And yet, I wonder if what God really wants from us is to think right and well and accurately of God.

I realize that these reflections can seem heady. A couple of reasons for that.  One, we are talking about thinking as the foundation for personal identity, so heady may go with the territory.  Two, these are questions and answers that are basic and foundational; and yet, we don’t often consider them with this intentionality.  So, I invite us to be with, consider, ponder, this first answer to the questions:  Who are we as human beings?  How are we to be in the world?   I look forward to your comments.