Americans are generally living an “as if life”. I live life in an “as if self.” This is the “make believe” part of our brain that we all have and were created with. This is in the simulator (observer) location closer to Prefrontal Cortex which is on the left side of my brain. As young children we all spend a lot of time playing make believe. This area of our maturity is vital to our ability to make good decisions in life as we continue to mature relationally.
The way the progression is designed to take place is that the next level of my brain after “make believe” is where options are looked at as my “real self” in the real life situations that I am in. What is the good and bad of what I would really be and do if my “as if self” and my “real self” kept working together, and stayed working together. My make believe self gives vision with possibilities while my real self practically looks at the circumstances and conditions of my actual life.
However this step is a step in relational maturity that requires me to move into the adult level of relational maturity. And the vast majority of our society is stuck in “child level” RM. So, I continue to live as a child in make believe land. Or in “as if land” in my “as if self.” The affluence of our society makes this possible. I can be a 40year old child playing video games day and night as a virtual person. I can live in “cool land” with the “cool factor” where there is the continuous striving for the latest “cool”; Lifestyle, hairstyle, nose ring, tattoo, ride, pad, prestige, accomplishment, status symbol …….
The “as if Life” stops the desire to have belonging because real life and the real me is “bad and shameful”. I don’t measure up to, to, to what? Soo, let’s stop this crazy train of living a fake life which is nothing but a dead end. Who am I really? What is my real identity? I desire to be real and genuine. I want to know and love the real you!
In order to be real and genuine, I must be connected to Jesus. He is the ONLY One who gives me “real life” and helps me mature into the adult, parent, and elder, God has designed me to be! I was not designed to be a child stuck in make believe land.
Note: This is a huge topic and will be expanded in the teaching section of this website.