[1]: http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=166
[2]: http://powerlineblog.com/archives/013028.php
[3]: http://www.maclaurin.org/
[4]: http://www.prspktv.org/

In [this article][1] discussing *To Kill a Mockingbird* via [PowerLine][2], I found this paragraph interesting:

> There is a gauzy and middlebrow sentimentality in the book [To Kill a Mockingbird], and a naïveté about human nature, luxuries we perhaps feel we can no longer afford. We are all too aware of how the righteous hatred of hatred can degenerate into an even more poisonous and manipulable form of hate, precisely because it is insulated from self-examination by its own sense of righteousness.

The comment on self-examination is what struck me. Self-examination in the light of Scripture is something I’m familiar with, but the concept of self-examination solidified in a different way when I heard it discussed from a different perspective at a local conference some time ago.

Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz is a leading scientist in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder who spoke passionately on the effect self-examination can have on the actual matter of the brain. He was speaking to an audience interested in the severe challenges posed to sheer materialism by the hard, repeatable data he produces (since mind was being a cause, not an effect).

Leaving the metaphysical impact aside for this post, what is interesting is that self-examination and conscious effort toward the desired behavior works in amazing ways. It can actually change the makeup of one’s brain. The oversimplified idea being that if you continually recognize when you are tending toward a bad behavior, but you willfully choose a different direction, you will not only do the right thing in that moment, but you will be, through repetition, changing your brain, making it ever more likely you will naturally choose the desired behavior in the future.

I really recommend listening to the lecture if you can*, so you don’t need to be limited to my poor portrayal of the concept, but the idea is that it’s self-examination that’s at the root – allowing that “inner spectator” to assess you and make demands of you.

Of course, your “inner spectator” and mine are insufficient alone. We also need to be informed concerning right and wrong. Which is why God worked so hard to see that His laws could be written on our hearts instead of on tablets of stone. But once we know the good thing, we need to have, by God’s grace, the self-control or self-mastery to perform it (self-control is an explicit fruit of the Spirit). Without an informed and active inner spectator, even what seems good, such as “the righteous hatred of hatred” can turn on itself and become “an even more poisonous and manipulable form of hate”.

> Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. The things which ye both learned and received and heard and saw in me, these things do: and the God of peace shall be with you. (Philippians 4:8, ASV)

*Note: I thought the lecture was available as MP3 from [The MacLaurin Institute][3], but apparently not. I know they have it on VHS. Maybe their AV folks at the [Minnesota Summit Project][4] have it. I’ll post again if I track down an audio file.