Sunday Superposition

Edition #10: Myths and lies

I’m opening up Sunday Superposition to all subscribers this week.

Myths

This week’s spiritual theme is myths, specifically three myths I’ve rejected about Christianity.

1. I can do it all myself. This was an especially difficult one, because I had been raised with Stoic and Objectivist philosophies, and it was virtually a “sin” to admit that I couldn’t do some things myself. When I became Christian, it still felt like a sin to be anything other than ruthlessly independent. I thought being a good Christian meant doing it all myself in order to please God. While you can and should take responsibility for how you choose to live your life, he’ll quickly show you that you can’t get by in this world without his help. It was hard, but I finally admitted I needed God in every part of my life. This included letting the people God put in my life help me.

2. I should feel guilty for all bad thoughts. Someone once told me, thoughts are like birds: if one lands on your head, it’s not your fault; if you allow it to build a nest, then it’s your fault. Not every thought that comes into your mind originates with you. Even if you dismiss supernatural influence, it’s obvious that you don’t consciously originate every thought that comes into your mind. You therefore bear no responsibility for fleeting thoughts. If it’s a thought you don’t want, push it away and don’t feel guilty about it. If a troubling thought persists, tell the enemy to go away, recite some relevant scripture, and pray for God’s intervention.

3. I can’t be happy. How did I get it in my head that God doesn’t want us to be happy? I think it was likely anti-Christian propaganda I’d absorbed about the rejection of sin. The Freudian idea of Christianity as repressive is pernicious and it’s everywhere. I thought anything that was enjoyable was sinful, and that to be a good Christian I had to be in a constant state of mortification at my own sinfulness, practically to the point of self-flagellation (thank you, The DaVinci Code). But there’s nothing in scripture to support this. There should certainly be an awareness of our propensity to sin, but once we’re covered in the blood of the Lamb, we’re washed clean. There’s no need to wallow. We’re allowed—and encouraged—to be happy, as long as we don’t make an idol of it and it isn’t derived from things that are in opposition to God’s will.

The biggest lies about diet, exercise, sleep, and cancer

Speaking of myths, this is an absolutely eye-opening discussion with Harvard professor David Lieberman about diet, exercise, sleep, and cancer.

Dr. Lieberman learned a lot of what he talks about by spending time with hunter-gatherer societies and discovering that many of the assumptions we make about how we’re supposed to live are incorrect. For instance, most people think eight hours of sleep per night is ideal. A lot of us don’t get that, supposedly because of artificial light. But Lieberman discovered that people in hunter-gatherer societies, who don’t have artificial light, get only about 6-7 hours of sleep per night, and they tend to do rather well with that.

The greatest takeaway from this interview: you can prevent 75% of the diseases that kill modern people by cutting out sugar and exercising properly. Most of us know we should eat right and exercise, but we don’t know how much of a difference this makes. We also don’t know what it means to eat right and exercise, because our modern medical system is almost entirely geared towards treatment rather than prevention. The great thing is, there’s a world of information like this at your fingertips, and it can help you take responsibility for your own health.