Our Daily Bread
Human beings have needs, wants, and desires. We are programmed to seek out the things we need, and we are conditioned to seek out the things we want and desire (and we shall explore the difference between want and desire later). One of the biggest problems we make for ourselves is our inability (or reluctance) to differentiate between need and the other two conditions. We decide, consciously or not, that the things we want (or desire) are needs.
Whether or not we accept Sigmund Freud's ideas about the human psyche (and he has greatly fallen out of favor in psychology circles), his basic ideas still resonate with some kind of truth. According to Freud's theory of the psyche, we each have three parts of our mind: the conscious part, called the ego, which is the rational part, the part that makes decisions; the id, the subconscious, innate part that communicates our needs to the ego; and the superego, the subconscious part that communicates with the ego about issues of right and wrong (this part, according to the theory, is learned, as opposed to the id, which is standard equipment on most models). The needs the id conveys to the ego are those things necessary for survival; Abraham Maslow, a later generation psychologist, identified these in his hierarchy of needs, with food, water, shelter, and sleep as the most basic needs for our survival as individuals (with sex included as a necessary thing for our survival as a species--individually, we can go our whole lives without it, but if everyone were to abstain, the human race would cease to exist).
The thing I like about this idea (aside from certain applications in literary analysis--the theory works really well in analyzing Lord of the Flies), is that is helps us identify the basics we need for survival; although Maslow would disagree with me about this, I am going to say that everything beyond that, then, becomes a want or a desire. Needs, for our purposes then, are those things we have to have in order to continue to exist: water, food, sleep, and shelter (protection from the elements). Wants and desires are those things beyond the needs.
The difference between want and desire is a matter of degree. Both suggest that we have a motivation toward acquiring a thing, tangible or intangible, but desire suggests a stronger motivation, either because of the level of the want or because of the nature of the want. To understand the former: we might want a snack (whether we or not we actually need to eat), but we might desire chocolate--the want is much more intense. To understand the latter: we might want to talk to that little red-haired girl (if we are Charlie Brown), but we might desire Jessica Rabbit (I will let each of you figure it out for yourself)--sexual attraction is usually a stronger motivation than many other feelings (for better and for worse). Upon reflection, desire seems to be a hybrid of need and want--desire applies to those things related to basic survival needs (like food), but not truly necessary for our existence (e.g., chocolate and sex--as we discussed earlier). Of course, all of this is merely semantics, but most of us do discern a difference between want and desire, and for our purposes we need (or perhaps want or desire would be more appropriate) to establish this difference.
We are instructed to ask for our daily bread. We might interpret this as the Bread of Life: we are to ask for Christ to be in our lives daily, and we can achieve this connection through prayer, through reading the Bible, through living as Christ would. This reading of the text makes much sense and furthers our understanding of how we can apply the Prayer to our daily lives. However, we can also read the text literally, that we are to ask for our daily bread, the food we need to survive. I wish to explore that reading of the text for a bit.
Bread is the staff of life; that is, bread is a staple, a most elemental of necessities. With it, we can exist. Without it, we must find something to take its place so that we can continue to exist. Prisoners, at least the cartoon variety, are relegated to a diet of bread and water, the bare minimum for sustenance. We talk about our money in terms of the stuff--bread and dough. But we seem wired to respond to bread in more than visceral ways; perhaps this is a learned response, but most of us havc very strong feelings about bread. Most of us cannot withstand the aroma of fresh-baked bread. Being Southern, I have a thing about biscuits (with or without gravy); my wife, a Yankee and three-fourths German, has a similar thing about rye bread. We all, for the most part, love bread. However, most of us would probably not wish to be placed in the cartoon prisoner's situation of having nothing else besides the bread, even though that is all we might need. And that is the point.
We need the bread to survive. We ask God to provide our daily bread, meaning we ask God to give us that which we need to continue to exist. The prayer does not say give us our daily tuna steak or our daily asparagus or our daily flan; we are to ask for the basics--we should be content and thankful for those basics. But we, all too often, get confused about things, we mix up need with want or desire, and we feel slighted, deprived, if we do not receive our wants and desires. There is nothing wrong with having wants or desires (within the parameters of our beliefs--we are not to want a thing that is someone else's and we are not to desire sex outside our marriage), but we have to see these things for what they are, that they are beyond our needs. We have to move beyond our sense of entitlement, the idea that God owes us.
Most of us in our society are blessed abundantly. We have a home, we have food, we have potable water, we have clothing. These are the necessities. These are the things we need to exist. Most of us have so much beyond this: we have cars, we have electronics, we have furniture, we have toys, we have books, we have tools. Most of us have jobs and places to worship and places to play. And most of us take all this for granted. We are so acclimated to this way of living that we cannot see how it might be different. It is difficult for us to imagine not having our luxuries; it is nearly impossible for us to imagine not having our necessities.
I read stories as a part of my job, and a good deal of literature allows us to encounter characters who find themselves having to make do with bare essentials. Holocaust literature, such as Elie Wiesel's Night and Art Spiegelman's Maus, describes the horrors of life without the necessities; my students and I read the words, and we can identify the concept of doing without food or shelter or sleep, but we cannot begin to comprehend in any kind of real way what the authors are communicating. Our culture is truly blessed in so many ways. Even those in our country who have the least among us have opportunities for the necessities that others in other countries do not have. I am not trivializing the situation of anyone in America who is homeless or who has little; I am merely stating the fact that even those who have nothing have avenues of opportunity for meeting their basic needs.
Most of us need to realize what it is we need and what it is we want or desire, and I use the word need intentionally--we find ourselves in a place that requires we identify those things that we have to have and those things that are extras. I am not suggesting that God does not want us to have anything beyond the necessities, but I believe He would want us to know the difference. We need a place to shelter us from the elements, but we can want a place that has certain amenities--a certain number of bathrooms, a certain kitchen layout, a bedroom for each child, a place for a garden. We need clothes to protect us from the elements, but we can want a certain brand of shoe, a certain style of dress, a particular color of shirt. With all needs, we can want for certain things, but we must realize that having the needs met is a huge blessing in itself, whether we get the flavor or the style we want or not.
Whether or not we accept Sigmund Freud's ideas about the human psyche (and he has greatly fallen out of favor in psychology circles), his basic ideas still resonate with some kind of truth. According to Freud's theory of the psyche, we each have three parts of our mind: the conscious part, called the ego, which is the rational part, the part that makes decisions; the id, the subconscious, innate part that communicates our needs to the ego; and the superego, the subconscious part that communicates with the ego about issues of right and wrong (this part, according to the theory, is learned, as opposed to the id, which is standard equipment on most models). The needs the id conveys to the ego are those things necessary for survival; Abraham Maslow, a later generation psychologist, identified these in his hierarchy of needs, with food, water, shelter, and sleep as the most basic needs for our survival as individuals (with sex included as a necessary thing for our survival as a species--individually, we can go our whole lives without it, but if everyone were to abstain, the human race would cease to exist).
The thing I like about this idea (aside from certain applications in literary analysis--the theory works really well in analyzing Lord of the Flies), is that is helps us identify the basics we need for survival; although Maslow would disagree with me about this, I am going to say that everything beyond that, then, becomes a want or a desire. Needs, for our purposes then, are those things we have to have in order to continue to exist: water, food, sleep, and shelter (protection from the elements). Wants and desires are those things beyond the needs.
The difference between want and desire is a matter of degree. Both suggest that we have a motivation toward acquiring a thing, tangible or intangible, but desire suggests a stronger motivation, either because of the level of the want or because of the nature of the want. To understand the former: we might want a snack (whether we or not we actually need to eat), but we might desire chocolate--the want is much more intense. To understand the latter: we might want to talk to that little red-haired girl (if we are Charlie Brown), but we might desire Jessica Rabbit (I will let each of you figure it out for yourself)--sexual attraction is usually a stronger motivation than many other feelings (for better and for worse). Upon reflection, desire seems to be a hybrid of need and want--desire applies to those things related to basic survival needs (like food), but not truly necessary for our existence (e.g., chocolate and sex--as we discussed earlier). Of course, all of this is merely semantics, but most of us do discern a difference between want and desire, and for our purposes we need (or perhaps want or desire would be more appropriate) to establish this difference.
We are instructed to ask for our daily bread. We might interpret this as the Bread of Life: we are to ask for Christ to be in our lives daily, and we can achieve this connection through prayer, through reading the Bible, through living as Christ would. This reading of the text makes much sense and furthers our understanding of how we can apply the Prayer to our daily lives. However, we can also read the text literally, that we are to ask for our daily bread, the food we need to survive. I wish to explore that reading of the text for a bit.
Bread is the staff of life; that is, bread is a staple, a most elemental of necessities. With it, we can exist. Without it, we must find something to take its place so that we can continue to exist. Prisoners, at least the cartoon variety, are relegated to a diet of bread and water, the bare minimum for sustenance. We talk about our money in terms of the stuff--bread and dough. But we seem wired to respond to bread in more than visceral ways; perhaps this is a learned response, but most of us havc very strong feelings about bread. Most of us cannot withstand the aroma of fresh-baked bread. Being Southern, I have a thing about biscuits (with or without gravy); my wife, a Yankee and three-fourths German, has a similar thing about rye bread. We all, for the most part, love bread. However, most of us would probably not wish to be placed in the cartoon prisoner's situation of having nothing else besides the bread, even though that is all we might need. And that is the point.
We need the bread to survive. We ask God to provide our daily bread, meaning we ask God to give us that which we need to continue to exist. The prayer does not say give us our daily tuna steak or our daily asparagus or our daily flan; we are to ask for the basics--we should be content and thankful for those basics. But we, all too often, get confused about things, we mix up need with want or desire, and we feel slighted, deprived, if we do not receive our wants and desires. There is nothing wrong with having wants or desires (within the parameters of our beliefs--we are not to want a thing that is someone else's and we are not to desire sex outside our marriage), but we have to see these things for what they are, that they are beyond our needs. We have to move beyond our sense of entitlement, the idea that God owes us.
Most of us in our society are blessed abundantly. We have a home, we have food, we have potable water, we have clothing. These are the necessities. These are the things we need to exist. Most of us have so much beyond this: we have cars, we have electronics, we have furniture, we have toys, we have books, we have tools. Most of us have jobs and places to worship and places to play. And most of us take all this for granted. We are so acclimated to this way of living that we cannot see how it might be different. It is difficult for us to imagine not having our luxuries; it is nearly impossible for us to imagine not having our necessities.
I read stories as a part of my job, and a good deal of literature allows us to encounter characters who find themselves having to make do with bare essentials. Holocaust literature, such as Elie Wiesel's Night and Art Spiegelman's Maus, describes the horrors of life without the necessities; my students and I read the words, and we can identify the concept of doing without food or shelter or sleep, but we cannot begin to comprehend in any kind of real way what the authors are communicating. Our culture is truly blessed in so many ways. Even those in our country who have the least among us have opportunities for the necessities that others in other countries do not have. I am not trivializing the situation of anyone in America who is homeless or who has little; I am merely stating the fact that even those who have nothing have avenues of opportunity for meeting their basic needs.
Most of us need to realize what it is we need and what it is we want or desire, and I use the word need intentionally--we find ourselves in a place that requires we identify those things that we have to have and those things that are extras. I am not suggesting that God does not want us to have anything beyond the necessities, but I believe He would want us to know the difference. We need a place to shelter us from the elements, but we can want a place that has certain amenities--a certain number of bathrooms, a certain kitchen layout, a bedroom for each child, a place for a garden. We need clothes to protect us from the elements, but we can want a certain brand of shoe, a certain style of dress, a particular color of shirt. With all needs, we can want for certain things, but we must realize that having the needs met is a huge blessing in itself, whether we get the flavor or the style we want or not.
posted by Rodney Rhodus | 9:19 AM
1 Comments:
WOW. Great read. Thanks for posting such good stuff.
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