Who am I?  How am I going to be in this world? 

The first question is about human identity.  The answer to the question offers a picture of personhood, a narrative of something that is basic and true for every human being.

The second question is about human flourishing.  We don’t just go around being, whatever we decide “being” means.  We go about making meaning.  We make a place for ourselves in the world; we make a place for the people who matter to us.

There are lots of places we can look for answers to these foundational questions. In subtle but powerful ways, the society and culture around us offer answers. No, there are no moments when someone sits you down and says this is what it means to be human.  Instead, almost by osmosis, we absorb a picture of being human that we live out in mostly subconscious ways.

Over the years, various schools of philosophy and theology have come up with their own answers. In my last post, we considered one answer that has been dominant for hundreds of years.  I think, therefore, I am.  You are what you think.

It is our thinking and reasoning ability that is foundational to who we are.  It is our thinking and reasoning ability that gives us the tools we need to flourish.  This understanding of humanity is primarily about ideas and reason.  And while our reasoning and ideas have made astounding contributions to the world, they have their limitations.

Someone once said that “Life is just one damn thing after another.”  From the perspective of “you are what you think”, you could say life is just one damn thought after another.  And yet, some part of us knows that this isn’t really the essence of identity.  While all these thoughts and ideas are there, people choose some of them over the others.  Some have more emotional energy for us that others.  We have a preference for and a resonance with some over others.  So, identity and meaning do not come from knowing and understanding and organizing ideas and letting these ideas inform our decisions and the directions we give to life.

Before we are thinkers, we are believers.

Before we can offer our rational explanations of the world, we have already assumed a whole set of beliefs—a worldview—that governs and conditions our perceptions of the world.  It is not just about the ideas we assent to, but the commitments and trusts we make and feel. These orient us in the world.  I believe, therefore, I am.  Or you are what you believe.

If we are honest, we don’t really think that reasons and ideas tell us how the world should be, so I need to figure out how to live according to them.  Instead, there seems to be this felt sense that tells us which ideas are the ones that can really give us meaning.  In ordering our lives, it is not just about what is true, but what is compelling.  It is not about having a sense of agreement and assent, but loyalty.

I believe, therefore I am.  One of the struggles we experience with this stance is the change that has happened in our understanding of belief.  The original meanings of the word are “to hold dear, to esteem, to trust.”  Belief was not a word used primarily about ideas; it was about loyalty to a person to whom one is bound in promise or duty.  The knowing that was expressed by “belief” had a personal and emotional quality to it.

From the late seventeenth century on, however, as our concept of knowledge became more theoretical, the word “belief” started to be used to describe an intellectual assent to propositions and ideas.  Instead of being about commitments and trust and felt sense of what is compelling, belief is about doctrine and teaching.  You could say that “You are what you believe” was subsumed into “You are what you think.”  

With this shift, we can see some of the limitations of this “I believe therefore I am” perspective, especially for those of us who are Christians.  For example, discipleship becomes clarifying our beliefs about and commitments to God, so they can shape our actions.  But I wonder if this perspective resonates with our own experience as disciples of Christ.

For example, think about how a person becomes, how you became a Christian and continue to embrace your identity as disciples.  How many people do you know committed to being a Christian by carefully and rationally examining beliefs, comparing it to other beliefs, and coming to the conclusion, “Okay, yes, after considering all the possibilities, I want to be a Christian.”  Instead, beyond ideas and beliefs, there is something compelling that is not explained fully by beliefs and reason.  This is not about evidence that calls for a verdict; instead, we talk about how “this touches me…this speaks to me…this resonates with me.”

We can also wonder just how compelling beliefs are when it comes to giving meaning and direction to our lives.  

Let’s take one specific doctrine: the Trinity.  This doctrine is at the very center of the Christian faith; it is a doctrine that is unique to Christianity.  And yet, how deeply do we believe it?  How does it inform our living and change our consciousness?  Catholic theologian Karl Rahner once said that we could drop the doctrine of the Trinity tomorrow, and it would have little or no practical effect on the lives of most Christians. While that may be a dramatic overstatement, his words are an invitation to consider how important beliefs really in shaping our lives.

And yet, if you said that I am wondering about or questioning the doctrine of the Trinity because it doesn’t seem to inform or animate my life, there are many who would be concerned about you or upset with you.  Here is another problem with beliefs.  It is easy for a person with different beliefs or with different ideas about a particular belief to become other.  They become other because they are a threat to beliefs; after all, these beliefs matter, since they define who we are.  The clash of ideas in the “I think therefore I am” stance becomes a clash of beliefs.  But it is still a clash.

So what do you think?  What is the place of belief in your life?  What role does belief play in answering the questions of human identity and human flourishing?  How do beliefs inform your identity as a disciple of Christ?