PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND SIN.
Being human is a daily battle with ourselves because the Devil is always against us. Always. He is the greatest influencer of your self-destructive tendencies and you are a fool for letting him get to you. Even without your knowledge. You will need to work hard not to listen to your inner desires. Especially, those that will make you feel good and requires little effort to do.
What are desires?
Desires are strong needs found within ourselves that stem either from God or our innate selfishness, that the devil knows how to use against us. Why? Because selfishness is one step closer to sin.
So why are our sins intertwined with our desires?
It has been recorded several times that God can control or manipulate our thoughts and emotions, the devil can only influence you into making a decision, therefore he cannot control your emotions, meaning that ultimately, the choice to sin or not is ours.
Sin comes from selfishness. And the consequence of getting out of Eden is that our souls will be consistently under spiritual attack. It is obvious to see that the devil couldn’t attack Adam and Eve Spiritually in Eden, hence the need to manifest physically. Take in mind that Adam and Eve were newly created individuals that didn’t know squat except for what God told them about themselves and their duties. They were adults with a child mind. Their minds were blank canvases. You can’t force a desire on a blank canvas. You can’t manipulate a man or woman with no needs or desires to sin. This argument explains two things.
1.)The need for the devil to plant a desire into us if we have none, to bring forth our inner selfishness and need to satisfy that desire. As was the case with Eve, to gain knowledge like God.
2.)The need to package the desire and relay it in a way that is unique to us. Hence why he turned into the snake. Alluring to Eve. And because it was physically and not spiritually communicated, Eve could easily believe it. Nowadays because of the large population and the devil growing in intelligence, there is no need to physically manifest except for when he needs to evoke fear in us. Many are mindless pawns that are influenced enough by him to do all that he wants; such that all he needs to do is suggest an idea, usually with a temporary reward, blinding you to the effects of its long-term detriment to your future, and letting you choose the wrong way as usual. The idea, the temptation, is always closely linked to your unique selfishness.
What do you mean by unique selfishness?
If you were to be created a new today. Fresh from the soil you have been put on this earth. With no knowledge of how this world used to be.No buildings, no cars, no society. Just green earth and a garden that you can eat from always. Living with animals that cannot harm you. Being free in your nudity.
What innate desires will be in you in such a situation?
None.
You will not need to desire things you do not know of, since everything you need, you already have.
That could explain why Adam did not need to disobey God because he knew nothing except what God told Him and what God provided for Him (which was all of his wants and needs as a human), therefore, Adam wanted for nothing, and thus had no place for selfishness.
So what created selfishness?
Knowledge.
Most importantly, the prize of receiving that knowledge.
I picture it this way…Eve was perfectly fine in her innocence since she like Adam had all she needed. Therefore, had nothing she wanted and had no intention of changing her current behavior.
The incentive for sin? Always comes with a reward.
Why is sin attractive to us?
Because it never comes empty-handed. It always comes with some kind of reward.
The creation of “This for that”, opens the mind, creating a foresight of possibilities that produce a chemical reaction in the brain (dopamine flush). This “feel good” chemical reaction is what gives us the anticipation for something good coming, even when we need to do something bad. It is what gives us the motivation to exert effort in the deed. But it feels good if we put a value on it. Otherwise, it won’t matter that much to us at all.
If this is so, does this mean that selfishness is linked to our innate need for what we value?
Not only is this so, but it is the answer to how to beat sin using psychology. I mean, every little bit helps, so long as the destination (heaven) is what you place your value on.
PSYCHOLOGY OF VALUE AND WHAT IT MEANS TO YOUR LIFE ON EARTH AND YOUR SOUL AFTER.
When you talk of value systems, what are you talking about?
These are things that you should be aware of yourself before getting into a relationship with someone; so that you cannot be distracting influences as opposed to being synergistic influences towards each other. These are things you should be aware of to carve your path in this life.
They are what you place your value on. This is a pretty important decision to make as it will influence everything in your life, including your strengths and most importantly in this discussion, your weaknesses. They determine your character and character determines your destiny.
If what you value is of such importance, then how is the devil using that against you?
I try not to listen to secular music, but in my University years, I used to listen to this band, “The Script”, one of their songs, “Fall for anything” resonated with something I was watching my friend go through at the time. The message in the song was clear and simple “You gotta stand for something or you’ll fall for anything. Coz girl they’ll bring you down, down, down.”
My friend, unlike most people I know, was in a way brought up in the Garden of Eden. She never lacked anything, always had food, shelter, very good clothing, and lots of pocket change. She had no physical need so she let her guard down and started looking at her emotional needs. Suffice it to say, she strayed from there on out.
This is but one example of many, including myself, where our taking for-granted blessings already bestowed upon us, developing feelings of boredom or inadequacy, prompting us to want to do more, especially things that feel good. A breakdown of the characteristics of desires and their path to sin is as below.
1.)They are unique to every individual.
A hungry man’s immediate need is to satisfy his hunger. While a rich man’s need might be to secure his wealth. They are never the same per individual.
2.)They are relatable and can easily be influenced by other like-minded individuals.
Women for example have always been suffocated under patriarchal systems since time immemorial. These are all different needs and wants and life goals but can relate to this one thing, their desire for independence. Even when their physical and emotional nature is created for codependence. Spreading this to other women isn’t that hard since the dopamine flush always comes when anything taboo is suggested. It was taboo to talk about these a millennium ago. The many years of psychological repression, fear of men, envy in the fact that men can get away with certain lifelong consequences while they cannot, disrespect for certain groups of men, and generalized resentment towards men all came down to one act of rebellion that was a breath of fresh air to most women. Feminism. Is it a sin? Well, is it?
The same concept works around the worship of money or the love of getting high.
3.)They have an immediate reward, blinding you to a consequent loss of something greater in the future. The thing about dopamine is that it is a feel-good hormone. The fact that it feels good to have it running around your system when you do something, will make it easier for you to love doing that particular something that always results in its release. Whatever that thing is, once you achieve it, the dopamine flush will occur and you’ll be looking forward to doing it again and again and again. That’s the immediate reward. Getting stuck in this race for a long time, the result? Either severe darkness or blinding light. It’s a slow fade, a definite ending hidden in an indeterminate time of consequent dopamine rushes. Say, for example, a man that releases dopamine every time he gets money through theft. The reward of the money after the act will release enough dopamine in the brain, giving a great physiological reaction of “feeling good”, basically not only rewarding the behavior but also encouraging it.
4.)They are ever-changing as the person develops.
Your eyes open ever so slightly the older you get. Doesn’t matter if you read or not but perspective always changes with time. As young children, our desires are wrapped in selfish wants and needs for attention, material things that we outgrow, and moments we can’t forget. As we get older, we think about the security of our future, and our desires are wrapped around that. As we become geriatric, we think about the life we are to encounter after this life and our desires are wrapped around that. Because we are always changing, our value for certain things is changing with us. Consequently, our desires are changing with us as well. They are never fixed. Meaning, they are malleable. They can always be changed.
5.)There is always a juicy catch.
On top of the dopamine flush, there is also another added benefit to doing something for desire’s sake. For some is the ease of effort eg, the preference to masturbate as opposed to actively looking for a wife for sexual satisfaction. It is easier, faster, less debate involved has no competition, and in this harsh economy, inexpensive. For others it’s an ego boost eg the need to feel powerful over others one might result to stealing to accumulate faster, using those resources to win followers that scratch his ego.
CRACKING THE CODE TO SIN.
Let’s use the above findings to discuss with you. The reader who is lucky enough to read this article ( I wish I read something like this at a much younger age).
The fact that you are alive means that you were at least carried in a womb or developed in a lab for at least 7 to 9 months. You were then born into a circumstance outside your control and unique to you. That was day one of your life. You were somehow fed and clothed and somehow got educated enough to be literate enough to read this. You have been developing slowly. And guess who watching you as you went through all this? God and the devil. Both of them are in a race for your soul. Both of them offer different deals. With God, choose a life of earthly suffering for an eternity of peace. With the devil, choose an amazing life on earth, short as it may be, for eternal suffering in the end.
We know all this, so what does this have to do with us? Everything.
The devil has been studying you all through your life. Studying what influences you and what doesn’t. Studying your triggers, your level of knowledge, your dark desires, your strengths, and your weaknesses. He has an entire game plan with your name on the cover page, one that he updates with the level of your development over time, your change in circumstances, and the person you become. He uses this map of you to know exactly how to get you. And we as humans let him because we don’t know the most fundamental of things we need to truly understand about ourselves if we are to be immune to his influences. What we value. For it is in what we value that our motivation to action roots from. Sin is just wrong action. So to change our wrong actions to right actions, what we need to change is what we value.
Cracking your code to sin.
So back to the initial discussion of the characteristics of desires (stemming from what we value).
1.)They are unique to every individual.
We all have different circumstances. By circumstances, I mean, the situation you found yourself in life outside of your control. A rich kid is born into a rich family and the same goes for a needy child. Both are children, unaware of their surroundings but unique in their circumstances. This is a very good map for the devil to use against you since each circumstance creates a need or lack thereof in every uniquely created child that is either met or ignored. The early traumas and emotional rejections are great triggers for the devil to use in your later-year relationships with others and with yourself.
2.) They are relatable and can easily be influenced by others of like-mindedness. Emphasis is on the term like-mindedness. This means that we are all subject to influence into sin because of our generalized similarities in lifestyle, circumstances, and culture. Say, for example, the poor. They can easily hate the rich because they all are living life in strife together, despite their unique conditions. This hate that is seething only needs to be triggered enough to evoke a reaction towards the rich on a large scale. Consequently, revolutions result. I don’t approve or disapprove of such, simply stating a case of cause and effect.
3.)They have an immediate reward, blinding you to a consequent loss of something greater in the future.
Let’s get back to your childhood for a second. Say you grew up lacking love and affection from both parents. You end up being a father and mother yourself mentally. Outwardly you’ll appear strong and independent. Inwards, you will crave love and attention. As you grow older, sex becomes an open option, you find it and have it and feel a temporary bond between you and your lover even if you know it won’t last that long. And if you can’t find it in others, you find ways to satisfy yourself since you “love yourself”.Classic case of your need being used against you. The immediate effect is the dopamine release once you orgasm. The motivation behind sexual finding behaviors is this dopamine flush. This is the immediate reward. What is also a reward is the most dangerous thing about this habit. The confusion between love and the orgasm felt. They are not the same thing but our emotions and feelings speak louder than our minds do in such matters and confusion develops. The repeated habituation of this sexualized behavior, despite it making us feel worse about ourselves, develops from the intended need to seek a dopamine rush and the value we give to the confused version of an unmet love during that vulnerable period of our life (where only your feelings ran amock and your child mind was as silent as a blank canvas).
4.)They are ever-changing as the person develops.
So here you are reading this at an older age and are not the child you once were. Your canvas of the mind is no longer blank, in it is a set of skills and life lessons you have gathered, reading is one of them, and that’s why you can indulge in this article. The more you know, the more you discover. The more you discover, the more your options open to what you should value and what you shouldn’t. Whatever you value will require your effort, time, and presence, which you will be happy to give despite it not being comfortable for you. Say an alcoholic in his mid 30’s. Unless he was born of a chronically alcoholic mother who was ever drunk during pregnancy, the infant had no way of knowing what alcohol was and did not need it since he had no value for it. All he probably wanted during that time was a toy in hand, milk, and a safe bosom to sleep under. Fast forward 33 years or so and he is a mean drunk. Wakes up thinking of alcohol and sleeps at night after a couple of bottles. At that age, a toy and milk are not on the list of priorities of this middle-aged man
These are two different life stages of the same person, both with different needs given the value of the items given at these life stages.
The key point here is that desire is adaptable. It can change whenever we need it to change. And this is our saving grace if you intend to put in the effort in quitting sin.
5.) There is always a juicy catch.
A bonus to doing what you do.
Let’s say you are used to cigarettes and you know you should quit. It is harmful to you despite being aware that if you keep this habit up you will have to endure long-term health consequences for the rest of your life. But even with this knowledge, you cannot stop. Because your body is not communicating logically, but emotionally. Feelings speak the loudest in every human and the most strenuous of situations just as much as it does in addictions. Feelings ruin reason. They always contradict each other. In the case of the smoker, the immediate stimulated feeling is worth the price of health in old age you aren’t assured of or aren’t currently living in. You are blinded to the future by habit. The catch? A small price to pay for a cigarette and the act of breathing in the smoke is much easier to do than a 30-minute cardio workout that’s enough to release the same level of dopamine the cigarette will in two puffs.
The extra catch is to reel you in slowly. It solidifies the confusion that your body is communicating. Telling you that you rather operate with something that makes you feel good instead of doing what’s good. The same works for everything, sex, love, attention, drugs, alcohol, you name it. There’s always an extra catch that your body feels makes more sense than an actual reason.
So with the knowledge of all these now, how can we fight sins in ourselves using psychology?
The secret to physically fighting against your innate sins is to recognize what your innate values are.
Let me repeat this, what we place value on, will determine what our body will place emotional importance on (desire). Emotional involvement will create motivation which will provide the energy to the action that will result in obtaining what we value. Obtaining this will lead to a flush of dopamine release resulting in a “good feeling” in our body. This creates a body memory of this sensation making us want to repeat this over and over again so this feeling can be felt over and over again. The root cause of all this is ….what we place our value on.
That is the seed of your desire. And the point of turning your entire life runs on identifying what exactly you value in this life.
Using this back story, let’s see how we can use this to get you off track from sin and back on track with God. We shall be dissecting the characteristics of desires again this time focusing on sin control.
1.)They are unique to every individual
Our desires are unique to all of us, our weak spots mostly targeting our years of complete vulnerability. The most usual case is in childhood. Whatever we lack in our childhood greatly affects our actions in adulthood. Look at your life right now. What sin is holding you captive? Does it stem from a need to be loved? To be given attention? To be left alone (for those that were smothered too much)? To be free and Independent? To feel free and independent (Not the same thing as the former)?
Whatever it is, you need to identify what you subconsciously value, so you can consciously change it. But to do this, you have to value decision over feeling. You should opt to do good as opposed to feel good.
Once you identify what you innately value, change it (if it is leasing you to sin). For example, do you want to feel love or experience love? Because these are not the same thing. Feeling love is being confused with an orgasm. Experiencing love is showing selfless kindness to others even to a point that you feel a slight pinch to it (not being taken advantage of, there’s also a difference). Love is selfless and kind. Identify what genuine love feels like and choose to experience it instead. Over time, the need for lust will disappear as dopamine gets released from a healthy display of affection. The kind you were probably lacking as a child that resulted in all the mongering.
2.) They are relatable and can easily be influenced by others of like-mindedness.
What things do you feel attract you to seeking social justice? Abortion rights? Gay marriage? Weed legalization? Female empowerment? Whatever you feel you are strongly driven to fight for, that shows the state of the people who are in a similar circumstance to you. And thus, are the people that can most influence you.
If you want to avoid this mass pooling to hell, you need to observe yourself as an individual and not as a group.
Look at the cause you are supposedly fighting for and dissect it according to your values. Why are you feeling so strongly about say weed legalization? Do you feel the need to live with it because you are scared to face the world without it? Because you can’t confront the feelings of stress that life gives and you’d rather stay high? Why do you feel so? Will it remind you of all you haven’t achieved if you stay sober? These things you haven’t achieved, why are they valuable to you? If there is no reason for the why, will its value even matter? If these reasons that make you want to stay high were non-existent, would you need to smoke them?
It’s not enough to look at the cause alone but the people fighting this cause. Look at them generally. Where are they in life? Are they happy to be where they are in life? Without this cause giving their life meaning, would they be happy or will they still look for something else to fight for? Do you want to be the old version of them one day? Will this cause lead you to heaven (arguably the most important question to ever ask yourself before doing anything)?
Do not be easily swayed by mass angst. It’s easy to feel those strong feelings of justice and injustice but before being seduced by them ask yourself, do they align with my genuine values?
3.)They have an immediate reward, blinding you to a consequent loss of something greater in the future.
Think about it for a second, past the dopamine rush, will all the other effort be worth it? Let’s use random sex as an example. You want an orgasm so you go look for it. Shower, dress up, go out, hunt for prey, get the prey, get home, feed (have sex), then plan on how to chase this person from your house the day after. So much effort and time for a few minutes of a quick “blissful” moment before you come back down crashing to reality. The same goes for all kinds of addictions that come as quick rushes, ending in hard comedowns and awkward moments. Is it worth it?
Is what you value so cheap that you can reduce it to small things like these?
Or do you have the courage to place value on a higher purpose, maintaining uninterrupted focus on it, putting constant and consistent effort towards it, building something that will last a lifetime over something that lasts a couple of seconds? The choice is yours to make.
4.)They are ever-changing as the person develops.
Who do you want to be in 5-10 years from now? How do you see yourself retiring? What kind of value do you want to bring to society and God?
The good thing about quitting certain sins is that it’s easier to gain motivation when you look at things long-term.
Certain addictions have no place in one’s ideal future, so you already have an idea of what you need to cut down on in your present to make your future a reality. Most guys that end up stuck in a certain sin never think about their futures as often. Which is something that you should develop in yourself right now. I always think about my life after death and pivot what I value in this life to that. That way every action will be tailored to an end goal in mind. And if the end goal is in mind, rarely will sin, either as a habit or distraction, come peering its tiny little head.
5.) There is always a juicy catch.
PMO takes less effort and time than actual sex. Fornicating has fewer attachments than marriage. Alternative options are great to satisfy selfish needs. But they will never lead you to heaven. Quitting them will.
The trick to this is having a black-or-white vision. It’s good to be aware of the options but they don’t have to be YOUR options. You are an individual with a unique mindset and a unique purpose designed specifically for your life. Having a strong set of values and reinforcing them daily will always force you to see things as black or white. Good or Evil. Light or Darkness. There will be no sorta good, kinda bad situation. No mitigation to sin when you see it. It will be what it will be. But getting here requires effort.
Conclusion.
Your value system (what you stand for) and what you value (what you think is important in your life), will be the blueprint of how you face your life and how you deal with the temptations of sin.
The stronger your value system, the smarter things you choose to value, the more powerful your character will build, and the easier it will be to effortlessly fulfill your purpose through life.
My take, take a day off to figure this out.
Write them down and look at the long-term. Only then will the focus and drive to stay on the path manifest. And sin will be too trivial a matter to consider doing.
“Smart people ignore.” They say, well, that’s the objective of this article, to help smart people stay focused and ignore the temptations that will lead to sin.
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