Seamless Garment of Life

23Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the [a]tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece.
24So they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be"; this was to fulfill the Scripture: "THEY DIVIDED MY OUTER GARMENTS AMONG THEM, AND FOR MY CLOTHING THEY CAST LOTS."

The late Joseph Bernardin spent his life fighting for a consistent ethic of life. He saw that all life was sacred, and he was against abortion, capital punishment, militarism, euthanasia, abuse, social injustice and economic injustice. It is called the Seamless Garment of Life. This is a challenge few followers of Christ are willing to fully accept. It is more than a list of rules or even ideas. The rules and ideas are really the result of a greater process. I believe it is when we learn to love life the way Christ did, it will have an unreasonable impact on our life. I am hoping this is a challenge I can enter into.

Mirrors in Therapy?

I read this fascinating article on mood altering ability of mirrors. It says "Subjects tested in a room with a mirror have been found to work harder, to be more helpful and to be less inclined to cheat, and less likely to judge others based on social stereotypes about, for example, sex, race or religion." Basically, they make people more self aware, and not just at a surface level. Physical self reflection encourages philosophical self reflection. People reflect more, are more aware of their effect on other people, and are more aware of other people's opinions when a mirror is in the room. What strikes me is these are all things that therapy encourages, yet I have never heard anything about mirrors in therapy, and I have never been in a therapy room with a mirror. I would imagine a mirror that the client is staring at while they are sitting could be very distracting, but an indirect mirror could subtly enhance what is already happening in the room.

Last Lecture

Can I get too good at psychology?

In the book, "Wisdom of Crowds" the author talks about the huge disadvantage of being surrounded by similar people who think just like you. It is much more effective to have many different types of people, coming from many different perspectives. This is especially poignant for me if I end up being a therapist because they usually pack together like timber wolves and high school cheerleaders. The book even makes the point that Psychologists are worse predictors of human behavior than the average person. I believe this is from all of us reading the same people, thinking in the same or similar themes, and eventually create self-fulfilling prophesies of how we see the world. I don't know how to deal with this, but I know it is a problem

How Not to Get Sued

I have read many places, including here, how medical doctor's getting sued has no correlation to how effective they are. It has to do with their people skills, specifically how long they sit with their patients and how quickly they apologize. I wonder if it is the same for counselors? Many of my professors have said that if you do become a full time therapist you will eventually get sued or at least deposed. But I am curious if the counselor's who aren't sued as often are the ones who treat their clients kinder? Counselors are supposed to be good at people skills, but I have met a few who are arrogant, unapproachable and harsh. I would love to see a study about this, because being sued does not sound fun to me