Scripture: Proverbs 9:3b-4a: “…she calls from the highest places in the town, “You who are simple, turn in here!” (NRSVue)
My son is heading off to college in the fall, and though he is not going to be a psychology major, I was thinking about some of the things you can do with such an education. The first is to be some sort of clinician. One of my “wave a magic wand” wishes is for there to be more psychologists and psychiatrists. So many people need counseling, and it seems there are not enough professionals to go around. I know that if someone is desperate and spiraling, it does not help if they cry for help only to find there is an eight-month waiting list.
Another perhaps more profitable career you can use psychology in is advertising. There has always been a psychological component to advertising, since it is not just a posting of a potential product or service, but rather an enticement to get something you do not need or did not think you wanted. As the saying goes, a fool and his money are soon parted, and advertising can make us all fools. The more time progresses, the more sophisticated the psychology of advertising gets until you often do not even notice it is there or how difficult it comes to resist it.
A lot of the things that we see in ads are not just foolish, but downright dangerous. If you have ever seen the old television series Mad Men, you know that a major plot point deals with how the advertising firm in the show depends on revenue from cigarette companies to stay afloat, even as they know they are peddling poison. Nowadays, advertising for beer, soda, snacks, and fast food dominates the airwaves. While food is necessary for life, these foods are not particularly healthy, and the constant barrage of advertising makes it difficult to resist the cola by the checkout aisle or the burger drive-through right across the street.
But what if we used the psychology of advertising to appeal to our better natures? What if we were called not to unhealthy behaviors and quick solutions but to a better way of life? In many ways, the biblical Book of Proverbs is a giant advertisement for wisdom, for living the good life. Divine Wisdom (called Sophia in the Greek translation) is personified as a woman who stands at the street corner and barks for people to come to her. In one section, she talks about a feast she is preparing. Her pitch is this: “You who are simple, turn in here! … Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Lay aside immaturity and live, and walk in the way of insight.”
Would we not want to find the food of life, the way that leads to fulfillment and not misery, to love of God and others and not wallowing in our own fears and desires? But even the Book of Proverbs recognizes how hard this is and that humans are trained almost from birth to ignore what is good for what feels good. Wisdom often despairs that so many pass her by and ignore her.
When you have your next meal, pause for a second. Ask yourself, “is this actually good for me or am I just grabbing what is most convenient or tastes good?” Then ask yourself, “is the way I seek out my food and my leisure activities actually good for me, or does it just seem to make me happy?” Pray on this, and remember the feast of wisdom, or Sophie’s Diner if you will, is always open and free of charge.
Prayer: God, help me to seek your Wisdom in all I do, even when the world tries to convince me otherwise. Amen.
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