Avoiding the Default Mindset

By John Smith

A society will be dysfunctional in a situation where there is a civil government exercising authority over citizens, but no solidarity among those citizens. In the long term there will be either chaos or excessive state control. Civil authority and religion should always be separate, but there is inter-dependence because love precedes solidarity and love can't be legislated. We won't have love among citizens without God because people won't put all their effort into supporting a plan if they doubt the abilities and intentions of the author of that plan. Love is God's plan, and God is the source of love. If love isn't the plan of God, then it's the plan of people, and people are imperfect. Citizens may support a plan devised by people, but they won't apply extreme persistence if they don't believe the plan has taken all of the variables into account. Faith therefore encourages the highest level of persistence in applying the mindset of love. Faith also serves as a counterweight to civil authority since the laws set forth by imperfect leaders are being measured against perfect divine guidelines. However, this balance can be upset if we take a bureaucratic approach toward religion. Under a bureaucratic mindset, we make decisions out of fear and we prioritize compliance with rules over the accomplishment of our actual purpose. The fear of consequence causes us to prioritize obedience over thinking. Over time, we can become mentally lax and even forget our original purpose. The bureaucratic mindset is nearly the opposite of the mindset of love. When we maintain a mindset of love then we feel a sense of ownership of the tasks we're performing. Our fear of falling short in accomplishing our purpose exceeds any fear of consequence for lack of compliance with specific rules. Our purpose is to make the current kingdom more like the next kingdom, and in order to do that we'll need to constantly think and expend effort. Under a bureaucratic mindset, it's possible to have religion without love, and this will cause the majority of people to doubt the value of religion. When religion manifests love, then even skeptical leaders will tolerate religion because it provides a sense of unity that the civil authorities can't provide.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Smith
• Release date: Mar 16, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224519682

John Smith

John was born in Norwich, Norfolk from a merchant family. He made his first dives among the wrecks on the east coast of the North Sea. For few years he worked on British oil rigs and then moved to Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt where he worked as an underwater guide. After he moved to Thailand and then to the Philippines. He now lives in Florida where he is a diver and writes novels. His articles on diving and marine biology have been published in many magazines

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