Devotions Archive Archive: 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 Search Archive Print This Article Over-determination Thursday, February 28, 2002 Jeremiah 17:9-10 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind. One of the most useful terms I've learned lately was coined by M. Scott Peck, author of The Road Less Traveled. Everything we do is "overdetermined," he says.* By that he means that we never do anything for just one reason. Most importantly, we never do anything for only selfish or only selfless reasons. We cannot avoid either, ever. To settle on one does not do justice to the way I think or the way I live. If I decide I'm being selfish I feel ashamed; if I think I'm being selfless I become proud. In either case I'm quickly caught in a web of destructive, paralyzing self-doubt. I'd like to share with you the words for today in Living Faith, a daily devotional circulated widely in the Catholic church. This passage is an excerpt from Authenticity: A Biblical Theology of Discernment, by Thomas Dubay: All of us are much affected by unconscious motivation. We may be able to articulate some of the reasons we do what we do, but there are assuredly other motivations of which we are unaware. I like to flatter myself into believing that my positions in matters political and moral are the result of clear, cool thought processes. They may be to some extent, hopefully, but they are also the results of my early experiences, my tastes, my free choices and my lifestyle. Even aside from the influence of the Holy Spirit, we can be subject to no little amount of illusion as to the real mainsprings of our inspirations, actions and statements. People who speak facilely of listening to the Spirit (often) have (too) little comprehension of human nature, let alone passively received experiences of God. Lord, may the conflicting emotions of my heart keep me humble and focused on you. *Peck writes about this in his autobiographical travelogue, In Search of Stones. "; Add      Edit    Delete