George Herbert Mead and the Generalized Other

George Herbert Mead was an American psychologist, sociologist, and philosopher who practiced in the beginning of the 20^th century. He was mainly affiliated with the University of Chicago, where he worked until he passed away in 1931. Mead’s studies involve what has come to be known as the ‘generalized other.’ His work says that during childhood, we must experiment with role-playing. This, according to Mead, helps us form a mature sense of self. By putting ourselves in another person’s shoes, we can begin to understand their perspective. From there we may “eventually be able to visualize the intentions and expectations of others and see [ourselves] from not just another’s point of view but from groups of others” (Wikipedia). This is where our perception of the ‘generalized other’ comes from. We act according to what we feel the common standpoint of this imaginative ‘generalized other’ would approve of. Often we find ourselves trying to impress or project a certain image to this ‘generalized other’ in order to find self worth. According to Mead, the ‘generalized other’ is the “vehicle by which we are linked to society” (Ibid).

As we grow older, we begin to worry about what this ‘generalized other’ thinks of us. The problem is that we do not know exactly who ‘they’ are; therefore it is extremely difficult to know what they are thinking. Mead studied this topic and many others concerning the human mind and social activity in depth.

In class we discussed how we should not find our self worth in what others say about us or by what they think of us. We should find our worth in God alone, who values us very high. He does not value any one person higher than another. He values us equally. Therefore the only “other’s” opinion and view of us we should head is the Lord’s.

Luke 16:15

He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight.

Thomas R. Kelly

In this story of Thomas Kelly, he had been going through a hard time when he went blank when presenting an oral for his Ph.D. He simply went forgot everything and didn’t know what to do. He was humiliated and quite distressed. But, as his son recalls, Kelly went through a changing time in that his soul was changed from the bottom up and he was basically a new person. In this time, he saw and accepted God’s love – that is what changed him. He decided that if he really wanted to get this Ph.D. and be a leader of his community that he would have to solely rely on God and His powerful love to do the job for him. There was no other way.

I am myself going through a similar, yet less intense situation. I am currently teaching guitar at IGA, and this somehow gives me the official name of a leader to my students. They look up to me and respect me when they are not misbehaving. However, if I want to be a good leader and be a good example to them I must rely on Gods love to guide me through. Without this love, my students will most likely become rebellious and not truly learn the beauty of the guitar. But, as Thomas Kelly, did, so I will trust in God to provide the strength I need for leadership.

“In the days that followed, friends offered what help they could but nothing seemed to avail. His son continues the story: "There is no exact record of what happened in the following weeks, but it is certain that sometime during the months of November or December, 1937, a change was wrought within the very foundation of his soul. He described it as being'shaken by the experience of Presence -- something that I did not seek, but that sought me ....' Stripped of his defenses and human selfjustification, he found, for the first time, a readiness to accept the outright gift of God's Love, and he responded with unlimited commitment to that leading.(5) His teaching colleague Douglas Steere, who spent uncounted hours walking Kelly through his grief, later wrote of his healing: "He moved toward adequacy. A fissure in him seemed to close, cliffs caved in and filled up a chasm, and what was divided grew together within him. Science, scholarship, method remained good, but in a new setting" (TD 18). "...out of it seemed to come a whole new life orientation. What took place no one will ever know; but old walls caved in, the fierce academic ambition receded, and a new abandoned kind of fulfillment made its appearance."(6)”

Flora, Jerry R. "Searching for an Adequate Life: the Devotional Theology of Thomas R. Kelly." SPIRITUALITY TODAY. Mar.-Apr. 1990. 26 Mar. 2007 .

Casting Crowns

Since 2003, Casting Crowns has been impacting lives through their music. One of the group’s most popular songs is called “What If His People Prayed.” This song reminds Christians about the forgotten power of prayer.

This song brings up the fact that people in today’s society look for answers to their problems in the wrong places. Instead of praying to God for guidance and answers to life’s questions, they turn to other things for help. “What If His People Prayed” reminds us as Christians that if “humbly seek [God’s] face”, “He’ll answer loud and clear”. All we need to do is ask Him in humble prayer.

Throughout the song, a reference is made to 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” From this verse we can learn that not only do we need to pray and seek God’s face, but also our actions have to match our words of humility and reverence. We must “turn from [our] wicked ways” and follow Jesus’ example.

Just imagine what we could accomplish if we brought all of our worries and questions to God. God would be able to work through us to do His will. As the song says, the armies of the Lord would pick up and dust off their swords to fight for Him. Kids taught to pray about everything would grow up to be Godly adults who can lead the society in the ways of the Lord.

Søren Kierkegaard

"Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it."
-Søren Kierkegaard

You walk past the water fountain on the way to work. You walk past all of the children’s parks, not stopping for a moment to glance at the beauty and the intrigue that are inside these children. However, you do stop to look at all of the other men (or women) that are on the same ladder as you. They are all racing toward one single goal, but in reality, no one person will achieve it. Kierkegaard believes that if you do not slow down when pursuing what you want, there will be no joy in finding it, and you might not even get what you are looking for. By moving so fast that you cannot see what is passing you by, you will miss all of the scenery that is the main part of the trip. Sure the main attraction is at the end, but without the determination and perseverance in the middle, nothing will be learned and you will end up in worse shape than you started up in. As John Ortberg says is his book, hurry is the sickness of our world. If we continue to hurry past things and not see the beauty in what is important, we will have lived a boring life! We will have not lived as God wants us to! God wants us to have joy in our lives, but with hurry there is no joy. When you go after the pleasure that you truly want, and that is right, do so without going at it so fast that you stroll right past it.

Frodo and struggling with sin

As Richard J. Foster said in his book, sin is something that is with us all the time and we have lived with it during all the days of our lives. It is like doing a normal and daily work while we’re doing it.

In the movie The Lord of The Rings we know that Frodo is a very good and faithful boy, but at the end of the story when he wants to throw the ring in the fire he doesn’t, and wants to keep it for himself. Then Golum comes and actually save him by biting his finger. After destroying the ring Frodo understands what he’d done.

This goes back to the part that Foster says sin is always with us and it never leaves us, and we do it each day without even thinking about it. Even though we are very good and faithful people we still are capable of sinning. The only way that we can stand against temptation is by god’s grace.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, a very famous poet, once wrote,
“Earth's crammed with heaven,And every common bush afire with God:But only he who sees, takes off his shoes.”

Spiritual discipline requires one to be able to turn aside at any moment and focus your attention on God. Every moment of your life is an opprotunity to draw closer to God. Spiritual disipline in some ways is like viewing the world through the eyes of Jesus. It requires us to lay down our complaints and small mindedness. It requires us to turn aside from our daily preoccupations. Browing was saying in her poem that the world is full of good things. It is us that fail to see all the good things. We are too busy complaining about our circumstnces to turn aside. Our eyes are blinded and we refuse to take off the blinders because we are more comfortable with complaining, which seems wacko to me because complaining just gets on every one elses nerves and makes the person complaining moody and iritable. Why do we complain anyway? Let us endevor to see the extraordinary in the ordinary things. Let us see circumstances through Heavens eyes. Let us find time to turn aside.

Question of the Month

This semester, our class is doing a study on spiritual disciplines. We want to get some feedback, to know what other people think about what we talk about in class. Each month we will post a new question that relates to what we are discussing in class. Here's the first one: What are some instances in your life where spiritual disciplines have helped with your relationship with God or with any other aspect of your life?
click on comments to let us know what you think