You Keep Using That Phrase. I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means.
You Keep Using That Word!
In the cult classic, The Princess Bride, Inigo Montoya finally corrects the villainous Vizzini’s malapropism: his tendency to use the word “inconceivable” for situations that do not seem to warrant it. After its umpteenth use, Inigo, in his delicious Spanish accent, utters the immortal riposte that has echoed down the halls of movie fandom ever since:
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
In naming our new mental health and human flourishing centre, Life To The Full, the same charge might be laid at the feet of our practitioners and directors. After all, that famous phrase –Jesus’ own words from John 10:10 – has in recent years been stretched to cover meanings and ideas that Jesus likely never intended. Overused by Christian organisations, even employed by some to say the opposite of what Jesus meant, it has been co-opted by many agendas. Where’s a good Inigo Montoya when you need one?
Yes, We Know What It Means
Happily, Life To The Full, has taken great care to understand the deep theological and spiritual context of Jesus’ words, before making the considered decision to write them on our shingle. Our range of faith-based specialists, the quality and depth of theological understanding among our staff and directors, along with the vision of human flourishing Life To The Full employs, is grounded in a gospel vision of what that statement means.
Let’s face it, we live in a Western world in which the vision of what it means to flourish as a human being has, - in the words of Yale Professor of Theology, Miroslav Volf -, “shrivelled”. Here’s what Volf says:
The idea of flourishing as a human being has shrivelled to meaning no more than leading an experientially satisfying life. The sources of satisfaction may vary: power, possessions, love, religion, sex, food, drugs – whatever. What matters the most is not the source of satisfaction, but the experience of it – my satisfaction. Our satisfied self is our best hope.
In other words, the modern West has narrowed down human flourishing – “life to the full “– to the unfettered desires of the atomised self, independent of any wider ecosystem of relationships and social cohesion. This is a “you do you” world after all. And if you can achieve personal fulfilment – within the bounds of consent of course – then you have arrived at self-actualisation.
At Life To The Full we believe that we are truly reflecting the meaning of Jesus’ words by committing ourselves not simply to the experience of satisfaction of our clients, but to the grounding of such satisfaction in what is true, right, and Godward focussed.
And while it is true that the self is important – “you do you” is not completely wrong because we are all created uniquely by God – it is not the sum total of what it means to flourish as a human.
Jesus cared deeply for individuals. So much so that he often called them away from their concepts of self-fulfilment as the ultimate goal of their lives. Some of his strongest words were directed towards those who sought their own good at the expense of others, and who justified their abuse of others in doing so.
We Understand Our Clients
What does this mean for us at Life To the Full? It does not mean that we deny the over-bearing realities placed upon the self in and by the modern world. It does mean, however, that we understand our clients.
Our practitioners are not there to theologise away the lived experiences of their clients, but rather to anchor them in a more certain reality, providing God-intended parameters for living. While our staff are clinical professionals in their fields, seeking to use evidence-based best practice, they also have a theological commitment to the iceberg under the tip of that famous phrase of Jesus.
We place the phrase into the context of the verse, into the context of the chapter, into the context of the life and ministry of Jesus, and finally into the context of God’s goal for human flourishing, which, according to the promises to Abraham in Genesis 12, is to bless the whole world through Abraham’s descendants.
Hence a biblical approach to counselling isn’t simply to chapter and verse, but to a broader vision of how God can bless and work through you even as you struggle with mental health.
A bigger approach to sexual therapy isn’t trying to reach the source of your sexual satisfaction by mere technique or reframing and restriction, but by grounding your vision and practice of your sexuality in God’s greater picture of intimacy and pleasure.
A grander focus for ministry teams and leadership within church organisations is not simply pragmatic growth or financial and education success, but a commitment to honouring staff, members and stakeholders in the manner that Jesus would.
And we are pleased to offer these services to the wider public, knowing that the truth that God offers for human flourishing and the common good, is for those of the Christian faith, as well as those who sit outside it.
We Understand Your Context
Yet here is what it also means: it means that we understand the context of those around us who may not be of the Christian faith, and we honour their agency in our practices. Our services are available for all. While we believe therapeutic offerings are best employed within a Christian worldview, we are also committed to professional frameworks that respect the boundaries of a client-informed process. We are as committed to your context as we are to ours.
In short, we at Life To The Full did employ that phrase knowing fully what it meant, and we intend to use it as frequently as Vizzini uttered “inconceivable, only in our case with the tacit approval of Inigo Montoya.
Over the next two blog posts we’ll explore two important contexts that Jesus was speaking of when he uttered that phrase: First, the immediate context (what does life to the full look like now), and the future context (what does life to the full look like then). Stay tuned.