In the book “The Tipping Point” Malcom Gladwell tells the story of a Princeton University study in which the psychologists wanted to learn about religion and how it relates to compassion or helping people. Rather interestingly, they were inspired by Jesus’s story of the Good Samaritan. Of course, we know in this story a Jewish Leader (sometimes translated lawyer) asks Jesus a series of questions ultimately leading to the biblical maxim of “love your neighbor as yourself. (Luke Chapter 10). The lawyer asks a follow up question, “Who is my neighbor.” The subtext is obvious. Who do I really have to love as myself and who can I treat poorly?
Jesus responds with the story of the Good Samaritan which tells of a Samaritan man (who Jewish people at the time would have thought of as a lesser class of person) who goes out of his way to help a robbed and beaten man while supposedly religious people walked on by.
In the Princeton Study, the psychologists assigned a group of seminary students a biblical theme to write a short sermon on and then told them to go give that sermon at a building across campus. They then told 1 group of future pastors that they didn’t have much time and needed to hurry, a second group that they had a moderate amount of time, and a third group that they had plenty of time and could take their time to get the second building.
In the path of these hurrying seminarians, they put a man who appeared to have been beaten a robbed. And they watched what happened. The majority of the participants just walked by, and did so regardless of the topic which they were given to teach, even if the topic was on the Good Samaritan. In fact, the most reliable predictor as to whether an individual would stop to help wasn’t their background belief, denomination, or subject matter, but instead was which time constraint they were given. All participants were more likely to help if they were told they had plenty of time. Very few participants, only about 10%, stopped to help if they were told they were in a hurry.
When talking about this chapter of “The Tipping Point” with my brother Matt he was most interested in what was it about the 10% of the hurried potential pastors that made them stop and help? How can we be like them?
My theory is that mindfulness can be a tremendous aid to moral behavior and may well be what allowed the unhurried students to stop (they were give the space to be more mindful) as well as why the 10% stopped. Because if you are being mindful then you have opportunity to not only be aware of your surroundings, but also to make a deliberate choice about your response.
Mindfulness is defined as “a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations.” In short, mindfulness is awareness. Awareness of your own condition as well as awareness of what is around you.
Mindfulness, like anything else, is also a discipline. You have to train yourself to be aware. I believe if you give it the proper training, such mindfulness can aid your life in all sorts of ways, but also can increase your very ability to behave in a moral and upright way.
Being mindful can give to the space that allows you to choose to love your neighbor. There is always something to hurry off to. There is always something in the future, or in the past that can dominate your thoughts so that you miss what is right in front of you.
I would implore you to seek out the discipline of mindfulness through prayer and meditation. I also use it as an opportunity to seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance on my day. Here is a prayer of mindfulness I wrote and sometimes recite to myself:
“Lord, allow me to accept my current circumstances good or bad. Allow me to be present in my body. Help me to be mindful of what is right here with me and to be mindful of your presence. Fill me with gratitude. Show me what I can do right now instead of being focused on the past or living for something in the future. Create your Kingdom in me, in this day, in this time and in this place. Amen.”
Kids, I am aware that in this day and age, our technology and phones rip away our mindfulness. There is always something that can take our attention and awareness away from us. I am also aware that you kids have seen me be often “unmindful” of you and your needs as you grow and instead sucked into my phone. And for that, I am truly sorry. But I am working on it, and I invite you too to be mindful and present and aware of the life God has put in front of you.
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