Last night my wife and I were discussing the problems of the Middle East and specifically the Muslim on Muslim attacks in Pakistan and Iraq. If the Islamic world would like to see the world turn completely to Islam, aren’t the Sunni/Shia conflicts a form of self-sabotage? A getting caught up in a smaller goal (supremacy of a sect or tribe)?
Then I thought of the boys I worked for in a juvenile jail. They would have only 3 months to serve but instead of toeing the line for the 90 days, they often fought and stayed for 2 years because they couldn’t give up paying another back for a misdeed.
This isn’t just a problem of the Middle East. We all settle for lesser things that actually work against our larger goals. We want to do well in school but we watch TV instead of studying. We want to lose weight but eat a bunch of cookies. We want to save for a house but buy lunch out and a Starbucks every day and wonder where our money goes. Of course, self sabotage is a part of every addiction.
Why do we fail to maintain our focus on the greater goals? We lose focus? We don’t really want the greater goal? The immediate goal gives us what we want now while the greater goal doesn’t pay in the now?
—–
Plum Island Beach today as we are with friends in the Newbury area of Massachusetts. Tomorrow we’ll be in Maine and I’ll have the kayak in the lake if the weather is good.
Musings on Faith and Psychology 