Why did God create evil?  This answer got me thinking ...

A professor at a university asked his students the following question:

"Everything that exists was created by God? Yes?"

One student bravely answered:

"Yes, created by God".

"Did God create everything?" - the professor re-phrased.

“Yes, sir,” replied the student.

The professor asked :

"Well, if God created everything, then God created evil, since it exists.  And according to the principle that our deeds define ourselves, then God is evil."

The student became silent after hearing such an answer.  The professor was very pleased with himself.  He boasted to students for proving once again that faith in God is a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said:

"May I ask you a question, Professor?"

"Of course," replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked: "Professor, is cold a thing?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course cold is a thing. Have you ever been cold?"

The students laughed at the young man's question. The young man answered:

"Actually, sir, cold doesn't exist.  According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is actually the absence of heat. A person or object can be studied on whether it has, or transmits, energy.

Absolute zero (-460 degrees Fahrenheit) is a complete absence of heat.  All matter becomes inert and unable to react at this temperature.  Cold does not exist.  We created this word to describe what we feel in the absence of heat."

The student continued:

"Professor, does darkness exist?"

"Of course it exists." replied the Professor.

"You're wrong again, sir.  Darkness also does not exist.  Darkness is actually the absence of light.  We can study the light but not the darkness.  We can use Newton's prism to spread white light across multiple colours and explore the different wavelengths of each colour.  You can't measure darkness.  A simple ray of light can break into the world of darkness and illuminate it.  How can you tell how dark a certain space is?  You measure how much light is presented.  Isn't it so?  Darkness is a term man uses to describe what happens in the absence of light."

In the end, the young man asked the professor:

"Sir, does evil exist?"

This time the professor was a little uncertain when he answered:

"As I said before. We see evil every day. Cruelty, numerous crimes and violence throughout the world. These examples are nothing but a manifestation of evil."

To this, the student answered:

"Evil does not exist, sir, or at least it does not exist as a created element.  Evil is the absence of God's love.  It is like darkness and cold — a word to describe the absence of love.  God did not create evil.  God created free-will.  We all have free-will.  Evil is not like faith or love, which exist like light and warmth.  Evil is the absence of divine love in the human heart. It’s the kind of cold that comes when there is no heat, or the kind of darkness that comes when there’s no light."

The student's name was Albert Einstein.

Modern culture promotes happiness as the central goal in life.

Mature pyschology tells us that personal growth and growth in personal responsibility are the central tenets to a 'succesful' life.

Pure Christianity holds that entering into a personal relationship with Jesus and letting the Holy Spirit lead you into a deeper understanding of his love, is the central purpose of life. 

Somewhere in that continuum is a frame of reference that we need to take responsibility  for ... we are personally responsible for our growth, contentment, happiness AND eternal destiny. 

Contentment and happiness are a function of our thinking and brain chemistry.

In brain chemistry terms, happiness comes from higher levels of dopamine. Pursuing dopamine creates a escalating addiction behaviour.  Whereas contentment comes from sustainable serotonin levels.

We currently live in a dopamine overload era ... instant gratification, high carbohydrate foods, sugar, sugary drinks, alcohol, mobile phone addiction, computers and pornography have raised dopamine well above healthy levels and tipped us into an era of anxiety, depression, anger and relationship breakdown.

Watching the news, listening to sensationalised stories full of hyperbole and catastrophisation adds to our fear of CoVID, climate change, cost of living, interest rates and the WEF. We are living in our amygdala - the fear centre of our brain - raising cortisol levels into dangerous levels that induces visceral fat deposition and serious metabolic ill-health.  Like every drug of addiction, dopamine addiction has a destructive end-point.

Our goal is to reduce dopamine production and increase healthy serotonin levels.

Dr Robert Lustig (books = Fat Chance, Metabolical, Hacking the American Mind) is very critical of modern diets full of highly processed sugars, corn syrup, flour and other carbohydrate fillers that raise insulin, cortisol and dopamine

Dr George Ede, PhD - Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind - states very clearly that we need to get off the dopamine roller-coaster and gently build sustainable serotonin levels.  She convincingly advocates to get off refined carbohyrdates (sugar, flour alcohol et.al.) and shift to a ketogenic/paleo/carniovore diet.  Yes, it costs a little more up front but is cheaper in the medium term.

Here's 5 C's to reduce dopamine and increase serotonin:

1.   Connect with people ... real people, in real time ... not electronic people on social media or 

2.   Contribute with purpose to other people.  Get involved in a bigger cause.

3.   Cope better ... increase quality sleep, increase mindfulness, increase exercise, spend time in nature ... and reduce cortisol.

4.   Cook simple whole foods
     -  eliminate sugar, flour and supermarket processed foods
     -  eat eggs, chicken, turkey and fish to increase tryptophane
     -  increase your consumption of omega 3 fatty acids - eggs and fish

5.   Christ - invest in quality time with God through His Holy Spirit and let him lead you into deeper purpose. 

Shifting from dopamine overload to sustainable serotonin levels will take 2-3 months.  Adopting a ketogenic or carnivore diet will hasten the initial transition.

"Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy that aims to reduce symptoms of various mental health conditions, primarily depression, PTSD and anxiety disorders.  Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on challenging and changing cognitive distortions (such as thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes) and their associated behaviors to improve emotional regulation and develop personal coping strategies that target solving current problems"  Wikipedia

CBT holds that “mental disorders are thinking disorders; how we think shapes our moods".  We teach men to evaluate and restructure their thinking and their moods will improve.

"Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) has been described as CBT for Navy SEALs.  It's the serious tough-love stuff.  

"DBT is an evidence-based psychotherapy that began with efforts to treat personality disorders and interpersonal conflicts.  Evidence suggests that DBT can be useful in treating mood disorders and suicidal ideation as well as for changing behavioral patterns such as self-harm and substance abuse."  Wikipedia

Professor Marsha Linehan developed DBT with her younger self in mind.  In 1993 she compiled a set of tools to address the "skills deficit" she needed to survive life.

This article provides a journalist's summary of DBT:   The Drift

There is a place for both CBT and DBT.   

DBT is tougher and some people push back against it ... they want to hang onto their story and milk it as long as possible.

DBT looks pain in the face and concludes dialectically ... "the pain may not be my fault BUT it is my responsibility.  What do I need to do to fix it?"

A dialectic is the dynamic space between two ideas that seemingly cannot both be true — an antithetical position that offers some flash of insight when you hold them together.  DBT is designed to hold two notions together ... you are a good person AND you need to change

Marsha Linehan concludes "Happiness is determined by your ability to handle your circumstances skilfully".

Here are some tools:

STOP =  Stop.  Take a step back.  Observe.  Proceed mindfully.
(much like Mel Robbin's 5 Second Rule)

TIP  =  Temperature.  Intense Exercise.  Paced Breathing

ABC  =  Accumulate positive emotions.  Build mastery.  Cope ahead.

PLEASE = treat Physical iLlness, balance your Eating, avoid mood Altering substances, get good Sleep and get exercise.

ACCEPTS  =  Activities. Contributing. Comparisons. Emotions. Postponing. Thoughts. Sensations.

IMPROVE  =  Imagery. Meaning. Prayer. Relax. Change One thing. Vacation. Encouragement.

This one is gold.

Mel Robbins speaks to the 5 second rule in her videos below ... no, it's not the food-on-the-floor rule.

If you're facing an anxiety attack or about to blow your stack ...
    breath in twice through your nose and hold
    then exhale through your mouth counting backwards from 5 down to 1
    and then ask yourself ... "what outcome do I really want here?"

Later, when you're in a reflective mood, ask yourself "what was I really afraid of in the that confrontation?"

Watch Mel's 15m explanation.