Code To Joy

The post title above comes from a book title that is sub-titled, 'The Four-Step Solution to Unlocking Your Natural State of Happiness'.

What's your first reactions when you read this sort of stuff? Probably it's the same as mine I'm guessing. A little on the wary and cautious side?

Yes I know I can be sceptical about books promising all sorts of wonderful results and I think scepticism is warranted in cases when promises of 'unlocking your natural state of happiness' are given.

'Your Natural State of Happiness'

From where does this term, 'your natural state of happiness' derive? The belief is found in New Age belief and in Eastern forms of religion too. The position holds that we all have this 'natural state of happiness' within us NOW and that hence, it could be permanent or at very least, predominate.¹ (However, see my further comment about this important matter under 'critique' below.)

Code To Joy incorporates the general philosophy of the 'energy' group of therapies (i.e., acupuncture and acupressure). Just as these healing systems picture human physical disturbance as a function of energy disturbance along the 'meridian' pathways in the physical body, so some have taken this basic idea and applied it to mental-emotional disturbance.

Faulty Beliefs

Pratt and Lambrou have associated with disordered beliefs with disordered mental-emotional disturbances believing the former cause the latter. Hence, in this respect, their outlook is cognitive but it gets patients to tap on various parts of the body, fingers and hands, face, upper chest while they are concentrating on the disordered thought.

Hence, we have a cognitive-type therapy without efforts being made to correct the maladaptive beliefs directly through argument or experiment. Rather, through the tapping procedure, the aim is to right the energy flows connected with relevant beliefs.

Neuropsychotherapy

One of the relatively new directions in psychotherapy is the 'discovery of the brain' or better, the realisation that new discoveries about brain functioning are helpful for doing therapy.

A well-known 'discovery' is that the brain appears to be divided laterally into two halves which feature in different types of human activity.

The right-side of the brain seems to be more active when person is involved in artistic endeavour and appreciation. The left-side more active in logic, language, maths, and 'science'.

The methods used by these authors draw on this left brain-right brain dichotomy exists and utilise this difference by having the patient/client perform tasks that are more strongly 'left brain' or 'right brain'.²

Critique

For Christians at least, although man did enjoy an original state of fellowship with the Creator in Eden which engendered a deep sense of contentment and well-being, we cannot now by some technique create that type of state permanently.

With regard to the 'natural state of happiness' according to one of the authors at least, the idea of a permanent state of happiness is not to be expected. In this contention, the book is to be commended. Happiness as a feeling is perhaps enjoyed by all from time to time as a response to various events. 

However, the Christian Scriptures do speak of joy, 'inexpressible joy' (1 Pet 1.8-9) which is eloquently preached upon here by Rev. John Piper in an inspiring message.

1. That's why, for instance, 'the present moment' is centrally important for these types of spiritualities.
2. It should be emphasised at this point that human activity uses both sides of the brain. It is not the case that so-called 'creative' people are the right-brained ones and mathematicians are left-brained entirely. Each person is 'creative' in some way and each person is left-brained in some ways too. It's a mistake to categorise people as either just left-brained or right-brained. Humans are not that simple and can not be defined in terms of their supposed brain activity alone.