Ok. So I know a two and a half hour History of Psychology class sounds painfully boring, but it's not when you're taking it from a master-genius-guru-sensei hybrid. AKA Dr. Jeff Reber. Today we were talking about the ideas of Free Will vs Determinism and so he decided to bring in his own idea of Contextual Agency. Now, everyone's supposed to be able to choose which theory to believe...but I'm just going to go ahead and tell you which one to believe. Contextual Agency. Allow me to tell you all about it.
We have our agency, but we also have surroundings that affect the decisions we are capable of making. These surroundings provide both constraints and possibilities. For example, we have a body. Everyone's body is different and allows each of us to do different things. A person that is 6'8" will probably be able to dunk a basketball, while someone who is 5' probably will not be able to.
Now, moving on to a more broad idea. We are surrounded by a certain physical environment. Say we are in a room and we want to get out. Merleu-Ponty has presented this idea of specially favored modes of resolution. In this situation the door is specially favored because it was designed to help us exit a room. The wall, however, is not specially favored. As much as we might want it to happen, we cannot choose to walk through the wall. If the doors become barricaded, then the air ducts become specially favored. Do you see the point?
Finally, we come to the limitations placed on us through the social environment. We are restricted by social norms. For example, when you are walking around in a grocery store, you simply do not grab things out of another person's cart. It is just not socially acceptable.
So what's my point? Everyone is restricted by physical and social limitations. They are different for everyone and we cannot judge others righteously without considering their own personal restraints. What we tend to do is apply our own constraints on other people. If we were able to get past a certain situation why can't they? Why do they dress so immodestly if I was able to go throughout all my life dressing modestly? The truth is that we do not know what they are going through. We do not know all of their physical surroundings or their social surroundings. We do not know the trials that they have been through. And most of all, we will be judged, and as Matthew 7:1-2 says, "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." We cannot force our constraints on other people. They have their own constraints that shape who they are today. How would we feel if on our judgement day, our trials were taken out of the context of our life's situation? Nothing that happened to shape our lives would matter and we would receive a much harsher judgement.
Of course, we will be judged righteously and fairly in the final judgement day, but hopefully this helps us to put ourselves in other people's shoes. We cannot forget our imperfections. As the hymn says, "Who am I to judge another when I walk imperfectly." This all ties back to having Christ-like attributes. We must see through His eyes when we look at other people. Another favorite scripture of mine is 1 Samuel 16:7 which says, "...Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature...for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."
So I leave you with this. Before making a judgement, consider all the possibilities. Is there a reason behind this person's actions? Look at their heart, not on their appearance. You never know how much suffering someone goes through on a daily basis. This is something I definitely need to work on. It will be hard to do, and it is not an immediate change we can make, but if we can at least catch ourselves doing it and become aware of it, that's a step in the right direction.
