“We do not so much think about the world as we intuitively relate to it.” - Carl Trueman
One of the most shaping and memorable conversations that I have ever had occurred in the half basement, half office of one of my dearest friends and mentors. He asked me a question that I (wrongly) assumed was straightforward and binary. “Matt,” he poked, “are you a thinker or a feeler.” It seemed a bit off-topic and ethereal, but I was a college student who was up to my ears in personality and temperament tests so it seemed like an opportunity for me to pretend I knew more than I did. The answer was obvious: I am a prototypical thinker according to the surveys that I had filled out in seemingly all of my Gen-Ed courses.
I thought I nailed it.
He disagreed, however, and proceeded to kindly denigrate my self-assurance and assert his anthropological theory that seemed to have already been squatting in his mind: every person is a feeler.
Without apology, I have to admit that my friend could not have been more correct. Hand me any assessment you can find and I will be typecast as a black and white, logic-heavy analyzer that is destined to tell you about my day by explaining what I have learned rather than what I have experienced or felt. However, just like you and everyone you have ever met, I am a feeler.
Each of us has created intuitive pathways and responses to the world around us. You may deliberately use cognitive processes to choose your route to work, your breakfast, or even your closest friendships, but something else exists below the surface that pushes you.
Perhaps your commute is sped up because a parent unintentionally taught you that speed limits are suggestions, not rules. Maybe you select a mug to pour your morning coffee into out of the sentimentality attached to it, rather than the amount of liquid that fits inside. You may have learned to select friends based on common interests or their influence upon you, but that does not mean that you have thoroughly vetted your best friend or charted your reasoning for your shared attraction. More realistically, you just like your friend and how he or she makes you feel.
Our theories and assumptions regarding how life works may help inform how we live, but it is foolish to believe all our decisions flow from our independent thought. The world outside presses against us and informs our thought. Our intuitive worldview within determines how we interact with others and how others interact with us, whether it lines up with our stated beliefs or not. And even more abstractly, the theories and assumptions of others that led to our theories and assumptions are not things that we regularly take into account… or are even capable of taking into account.
The Bible makes some pretty poignant distinctions between how we should think and live in comparison to how we inherently do so. Through the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah, God states that “the heart of man is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick,” asking, “who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Paul explains that the “old self,” an explanation of natural, unredeemed man, is “being corrupted by its deceitful desires.” (Ephesians 4:22) We are creatures that operate by feelings and are continually led (and corrupted further) by our own intuitive bias.
In one of Paul’s most challenging statements, he tells the believers in Rome: “…do not be conformed to this world.” He is calling re-born Christians to not assimilate themselves to the ways that the world around them naturally operates. Does this not sound similar to the Carl Trueman quote that we began with? We intuitively relate to the world! It is significant to recognize that our intuitive natural response to the world is not necessarily to “swallow the meat and spit out the bones” either. Nor is it to redeem the world to God’s ideals. Our most basic response is conformity. We take what we see, and react to it accordingly. In other words, we are not as good at critical thinking as we believe.
In 1989, after 20 years of Cold War drilling, Soviet Union scientists had to pull back and abandon the deepest man-made hole ever dug. The Arctic Circle had a gaping 7.67 miles tunneled directly through the earth’s crust toward its core. What a crazy feat! The most sobering piece of this achievement is that they were still 3,951.13 miles from the center of our planet! They still had 99.8% of the distance to cover.
Even for those who go far beyond what I do when it comes to thoughtfully approaching the world, it cannot be enough to outweigh our intuitive response. It can never be enough because we are unable to continually follow logic and historical thought to its genesis. Our systems of thought are much like the Earth’s crust: layers upon layers of generational bias and perspective, which make the core of reality completely opaque. We cannot dig past the innumerable impeding layers of sediment. Our faculties are not competent enough tools to scale that type of task.
At a certain point, just like Geological mapping, even the most thorough thinkers are required to rely upon feelings (or secondary knowledge). 99.8% of our knowledge of Earth’s layers is based upon secondhand work rather than firsthand sight. I have to think that our ability to relate to the world through our finite cognition has to be equally discouraging.
The response for Paul in Romans 12 is fairly straightforward though. Instead of being conformed to the world’s theories, assumptions, and feelings, Paul tells us to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds.” (Rom. 12:2) In other words, have your mind illuminated and your heart changed by the source of all existence. Have your framework formed and continually reformed by the real, true Truth. Even though this Truth may not always match up entirely with what we can understand (remember that abysmal depth of 0.2% achieved in Geological digging), we need to let it form our minds and hearts. Let that Truth, which supersedes and transcends your limits be your Rosetta Stone that interprets all of life… and yes, feelings.
So, why are we all feelers? In part, because that is the primary tool we have to interpret a wildly confusing world that often doesn’t add up. But more so, I have to think that we are feelers because our minds have yet to be transformed and renewed by the full comprehension of Truth itself. We are continually at the mercy of what our fallen nature will comprehend about the infinite, unending God and His vast creation.
We must have our minds renewed by Him and His Word to begin to truly comprehend the Truth in how we think and how we feel. Continue being transformed by the One who knows and created it all, so that you can better align your thoughts and feelings to God’s transcendent reality!