A Biblical Perspective On How To Cultivate Wise Mind

For anyone who has gone through any amount of therapy, the chances that you will most likely hear the terms "Wise Mind", "Emotion Mind", and "Rational Mind" are highly likely. These terms stem from the type of therapy called Dialectal Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and they are backed up by substantial evidence. But, what exactly do these terms even mean and how do they relate to the Christian life? In this blog, I will explain what each of these terms means from a therapeutic standpoint and then I will give the biblical explanation for how you can cultivate the Wise Mind. It is important to know the difference between the "Emotion Mind" and the "Rational Mind" so that you can better know how to use your "Wise Mind". It is also important to know that neither the "Emotion Mind" nor the "Rational Mind" is completely good or bad. Both sides have their good aspects and their bad aspects. I will discuss the pros and cons of both of these in this blog. Do not get discouraged if you find that you do not yet fully encapsulate the "Wise Mind" because it literally takes an entire lifetime to fully understand. Everyone seems to vacillate between these three phases all of their lives so it is perfectly normal for you to not be where you need to be always. 

Emotion Mind: 

The Emotion Mind is when we make decisions based solely off of emotional reasoning. This means that we tend to make our decisions very rashly and impulsively. We do not take the time to properly investigate or think clearly about any given situation. Everything seems to be highly dramatic because we tend to be in "panic mode" and we feel that if we do not act quickly then everything will go wrong/ An example of this is when I found out my mother was homeless, I decided to act impulsively by giving up my home to go out to another state to find her and bring her back to my state. I acted on impulse because I was afraid that if I waited a day longer then something terrible would happen to my mom. Obviously, there are pros and cons to this mindset. One pro to this mindset is that when you are in accord with your emotions, you tend to be more sympathetic to the plight of others. A con about this mindset is that if you are always acting on impulse then you will destroy either your own life or someone else's life or possibly both of your lives. 

Rational Mind: 

Rational Mind is when we tend to think solely about the facts and nothing about the facts. If you imagine Dr. Spock from Star Trek and how he was always thinking purely rationally and showed absolutely no emotion then you have a perfect idea of what this looks like. When we think with our Rational Mind, we tend to not be impulsive and we tend to only make decisions after we have thoroughly thought about every detail exhaustively. Obviously, there are some pros and cons to this mindset as well. One pro is that when we think with our Rational Minds, we will not be quick to make harmful decisions. However, a con about making decisions based on the Rational Mind is that we will not take into consideration how our decisions will affect the emotional well-being of others. We will be so cold and calculative that emotion will never even register in our minds. An example of someone using the Wise Mind is when a husband decides that he will work overtime at the office because he feels his family needs more money, but he neglects to tell his wife who is expecting him home by a certain time for a special anniversary dinner. He may be thinking rationally about what he needs to do to support his family, but he is not considering how his decision will affect his relationship with his wife. 

Wise Mind: 

When we make decisions based off of our Wise Mind, we are taking the best from both our Emotion Mind and our Rational Mind and putting them together. Wise Mind will help us think rationally about any given decision we are about to make without neglecting the emotional effects it will have on other people. This is the preferable mode that we should all strive to make our decisions from. Returning to the example of the husband considering working overtime, if he were thinking with his Wise Mind, he would consider the fact that his wife is preparing a special anniversary dinner for him and so she will be hurt if he does not come home when she is expecting him. He will then think to himself that it probably would not be wise for him to work overtime that night but he could always work overtime the next night instead. Wise Mind would dictate that he should spend his anniversary night with his wife over working late at the office. His income will not suffer if he skips one night of overtime but his relationship may suffer if he misses his anniversary with his wife. 

How The Bible Helps Us Cultivate Wise Mind? 

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction" -Proverbs 1:7 

The word of God tells us that true wisdom begins with the fear of God. When we live our lives in reverence for God, then we will take extra caution to make sure that our lives do not displease Him. This does not mean that we will do this perfectly because we will always struggle with sin. However, this does mean that as the Holy Spirit is sanctifying us, we will strive to live a life that is honoring to our King. We will not want to do anything to bring Him dishonor because our desire is to always please Him. 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." -Proverbs 3:5-6 

I love this simple, yet profound verse. When we are trusting in God with our whole heart, we will acknowledge that only He has infinite wisdom in every situation. This means that we do not have a full understanding over the situations in our lives and thus we cannot ever make an informed decision without consulting with God first. Whenever we are faced with any decision, no matter how big or small they seem to be, we should always take it to God before acting. In everything we are to acknowledge Him always by understanding that His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. We should always bring our anxieties to the Lord as 1 Peter 5:7 tells us, but we should also know that God is currently working out every situation ultimately for our good (Romans 8:28). God alone is sovereign over everything in all creation and so we can trust Him completely. 

I hope that this blog helps you better understand how you can cultivate Wise Mind in your life instead of making decisions based on Emotion Mind or Rational Mind. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and I hope you found this edifying to you and glorifying to God. May the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all! 

-David Lee Chu Sarchet 
Christian Mental Health Advocate 

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