The Soul of Choices

By Brian Forbes

I have been perplexed for years about the connection between body and soul. I’ve asked philosophers, psychiatrists, and theologians as well as doing my own study and thinking. It seemed to me that there isn’t a simple solution to the mind-body problem, at least not one that is popular enough to be known by people I’ve talked to. I was fond of Cartesian dualism (some may need to consult a dictionary here), and I thought the argument that you can’t have a non-physical cause for a physical event was stupid. Why should we put limits on things which we know almost nothing about? I did, however, have a problem with whether the body controls the soul, or the soul controls the body. There have been a lot of anecdotal examples since Descartes that show problems with his view. I toyed with the idea that we are only our bodies, and the part that lives on after death would just be the extract of whatever our bodies became before our life concluded. This problem has been the focus of many hours of study from time to time throughout my adulthood. As I discussed it with a friend at lunch today, I believe I had a breakthrough.

In the last few days, I have watched lectures concerning brain scans and brain injuries. They give examples of trauma to one part of the brain resulting in a particular kind of character change. They compare the brains of people to that of other animals and conclude that we are what we are because of our genes. This girl had half of her brain removed. Well, if you’ve read anything I’ve written, you probably know I don’t believe in molecules to man evolution. Still, they make a very good point. If a brain injury can change someone’s character, why couldn’t we just be completely physical? It wouldn’t take away from the genius of God if we had no spirit while we lived. It would give us some problems for theology, though, because spirit is a word that is used over and over in scripture. Paul talks about someone possibly being out of the body (2 Cor. 12:2). It also gives us problems if we decide we believe the testimonies of those who have had near death experiences (NDE’s, see Luke 16). There is also the problem of determinism (that we only have the illusion of choices), which I’m determined not to accept as true.

It’s clear to me, if I’m going to accept both views, I have a problem. My body affects my behavior. My will affects my behavior. Is my will just a different part of my chemical brain? In discussions on the brain, the scientist will constantly say, if x part of the brain is affected, the subject will begin to do behavior y. If this is true, the chemistry of my brain isn’t letting me believe it. I know that I can be subject to my body. I, as you, have had to deal with addiction in my life. We’ve all been hungry. We’ve all scratched an itch. There’s no question that some people rely heavily on their physical impulses; other people practice denying their body. I refuse to accept that this is all physical – that one part of my brain is being made subject to another. If there is no soul that survives my body, all I do is meaningless! I am not comfortable with this contradiction. Who is responsible for my actions?!

Luke 3:35 says, “Jesus cut him short. "Be silent!" he told the demon. "Come out of the man!" The demon threw the man to the floor as the crowd watched; then it left him without hurting him further.” The demon first talked using the man’s mouth and then threw the guy on the floor. It obviously had control of the body of the man. Was that man responsible for throwing himself on the ground? If this guy was around today, and he was being treated by a psychiatrist, would the pharmaceuticals make him sane? How do you reconcile modern medicine with commanding demons? How does the demon control the man?

My wife had a time of clinical depression. She made the really wise decision of trusting me during her depressed times. My wife has a bipolar friend. She uses the fact that she's bipolar as a personal excuse for her actions. I have no doubt that she is more inclined to do crazy things when her brain is in a bipolar state. I have moments when I'm tired and I lash out in anger. The difference between my wife and her friend is that my wife didn’t wholly rely on her own body. The difference between me and my wife’s friend is that I condemn the evil I do in those states. I also make a distinction between things I do and that happen which I have no control over. I have no guilt when someone falls down. I feel sorry for them, but I know it's not my fault. Someone was animatedly talking and he brought his hand down on top of my head. I didn't feel any anger toward him (feeling), I saw no reason to be angry with him (thinking), and I chose not to be angry with him (volition). He didn't choose to hurt me. Just how much of what we do are we responsible for?

As I read my scriptures, it doesn’t take long for me to realize that all sin is a choice. If someone says, “You shall not…” the obvious is that you can decide to do or do not, but if you want a good consequence, you’ll do not. It’s a choice. As I hear about crime in the modern world, it’s often framed in terms of upbringing, parenting, environment, chemical imbalances, and things that happen to us to influence our choices. We bully because we were bullied. We have addiction because someone else caused us to be. “Baby, I was born this way.” They talk about being biologically prone to booze or other addictions. How much of this is my choice? How much of this was that I’m bound to it? We’re responsible for all of it!

This is the point. Some people have lots of smarts with lots of knowledge, and they make bad choices. Some people are dumb as a rock and have nearly no knowledge, and they make good choices. Some are more inclined to yell. Some are more inclined to cheat on their wives. Some are impulsive, and some give tons of thought to a problem and still find it difficult to decide. We are not all the same. In all that we are prone to do; the final arbiter of what we actually end up doing comes down to choice. This is who we are. Our souls are nothing less than what we’ve decided to make out of what we were given. There is no physical place we can point at to show where our soul is. Our soul is the sum total of the choices we have made to this point in life. Of course our soul can change our brain chemistry. Of course our souls can become addicted or free of addiction by the choices we make. We pick our spiritual kingdoms. Choice is the great equalizer. God doesn’t want our great intelligence. He can think for Himself. He doesn’t want our superior ability for empathy. It isn’t a contest. He doesn’t need our money. Luke 18:22-23 “[Jesus] said to him, ‘You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth.” He wants our decision. God wants to be chosen! It’s the one thing God can’t give himself. Can you imagine? “Don’t worry about it, I already have someone who thinks I’m cool.” You can never have enough love. You cannot love God too much.

I’m not going to claim that there is no longer any mystery in the soul body interaction. I’m not going to act like I know if we are our decisions vs. who we are has a primarily decision making function. Why do we forget things with Alzheimer’s, and yet remember things in our NDE’s? There are things worth studying here. There will probably always be mysteries surrounding the non-physical. Are we physical? Of course! We were formed of dirt. Are we spiritual? Of course! The breath of God animates us. To me, the soul of the matter is that we are our choices. We are not changed with a missing hand or a mutilated face. We are not even made new by a spike in our skulls. We are changed by the substantial decisions we make. Our choices even show up in brain scans.

Some will protest that I don’t know how difficult it is to make choices consistent with goodness. I would answer that all people have had to deal with the nature of sin and addiction. If that answer isn’t good enough, I’d say that I’m not the one requiring goodness of them. I don’t make the rules, I just report them. Lastly, I would really urge them to look deeply at their situation. If it’s true that it’s impossible not to choose the good, why are they blaming themselves? Why are they blaming the messengers? Why don’t they just treat it like the guy who accidentally brought his hand down on my head? If it’s really not your fault, quit blaming yourself. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Phil. 2) Why is he commanding us to feel humble? Is this done only when I have a warm and fuzzy sensation in my limbs? Only when you have the urge to? Is this only done when it makes logical sense? Obedience is a choice.

Am I the first to discover that the soul of the body is in the choice? I think not. At the end of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the hero of the story, whose name I can’t remember, is feeling down about having similarities with the antagonist. The other hero responds, “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” I believe this is among the most profound statements in all of fiction. Likewise, in the sci-fi book Dune, we get this dialogue.

From the folds of her gown, she lifted a green metal cube about fifteen centimeters on a side. She turned it and Paul saw that one side was open - black and oddly frightening. Paul slowly put his hand into the box. He first felt a sense of cold as the blackness closed around his hand, then slick metal against his fingers and a prickling as though his hand were asleep...

"What's in the box?"

"Pain." He felt increased tingling in his hand, pressed his lips tightly together. How could this be a test? he wondered. The tingling became an itch... The itch became the faintest burning... It mounted slowly: heat upon heat upon heat... . The burning! The burning! He thought he could feel skin curling black on that agonized hand, the flesh crisping and dropping away until only charred bones remained.

It stopped! As though a switch had been turned off, the pain stopped... "Take your hand from the box, young human, and look at it." He fought down an aching shiver, stared at the lightless void where his hand seemed to remain of its own volition. Memory of pain inhibited every movement. Reason told him he would withdraw a blackened stump from that box. "Do it!" she snapped. He jerked his hand from the box, stared at it astonished. Not a mark. No sign of agony on the flesh. He held up the hand, turned it, flexed the fingers. "Pain by nerve induction," she said. "Can't go around maiming potential humans. There're those who'd give a pretty for the secret of this box, though."

Have you ever had someone apologize with an, “I’m sorry that you…”? We may know by logic that this isn’t an apology; or we may know in how we feel about it. Most people, even if they accept that apology, only do it because they think that there is some kind of repentance involved. The “I’m sad” implies some kind of empathy. Most people don’t want to hurt people, right? How can you be truly sorry if you had no control over your actions? Why would God need to forgive you for something you didn’t really do, that it was a result of your brain state? I think, deep down, we know that we are not naturally or supernaturally independent of our actions. We know that we are made through our choices. It’s so simple. It’s so elegant. It explains everything.

I’ll leave you with one last thought that shows that my understanding is nothing new. It has been around for a very long time. I was just too dumb (or blind) to see it before now.

“Love will last forever, but prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will all disappear. There are three things that will endure -- faith, hope, and love -- and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor. 13:8,13)

Some of our choices will last forever. Make them good ones.

Further reading: What Makes us Human, and Why It Is Not the Brain: A Creationist Defense of the Soul by Callie Joubert, Dec. 14, 2011

Further listening: http://www.radiolab.org/story/317421-blame/ Criminal brains, shame, and forgiveness