Welcome to spirituality in mental health, a program designed to improve your mental health by looking at physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of care. Whatever we learn whatever we discover about hope about any aspect that's needed for good mental health, it has to be put into action and we have to decide to do it. We need to use our will to do this. Everything depends on the right right action of our of our will. Now there's a huge debate about the will its science, some people believe that the will or conscious will is an illusion, it doesn't even exist. In fact, they would write things like this a belief in free will is akin to religious beliefs.

Indeed, they would argue that free will makes logical sense only as one has the luxury of the causal magic of reading Religion, neither religious belief nor belief in free will comply with the laws of the physical world. And so this ends up with a very deterministic worldview. Reading again, some of the thinking on well on the Will you your joys, your sorrows, your memories, your ambitions. Your sense of personal identity and freewill are in fact, no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules. Who you are is nothing but a pack of neurons. Although we appear to appear to have freewill.

In fact, our choices have already been pre determined for us and we can't change that. So having a happy day, having had a happy life, you have absolutely no choice you've been determined. Well, as you might imagine, if someone holds that belief, they're not going to do too well in the outpatient program, or any program because they're believing everything has been pre determined, but there are others in the scientific community such as Jeffrey M. Swartz, who wrote the book The mind the brain, neural plasticity and the power of mental mental force, or Henry Stapp, who wrote the book mindful universe, quantum mechanics and the participating observer will have a different view. They believe that you can in fact make choices you do have free choice. Well, what are the implications? Kathleen Bose and Jonathan schooler, a psychologist in British Columbia, did some research.

And they had a couple groups one group read deterministic statements prior to a test where they could take a math and money allocation test where they would either cheat or be truthful on the test. And these are the statements that they read before they took the test. A belief in free will contradicts science. The other positive or neutral statements concerning free will read to the other groups avoiding temptation requires the exit My Free Will I demonstrate my freewill every day when I make decisions? What happened? The people that were read the deterministic statements cheated time and time again.

And they they were not honest on the test. Whereas those that did not read the deterministic messages were honest. In fact, this is what the researchers wrote in their report, and I almost chuckled, but it really isn't funny when I read their report, if exposure to deterministic messages increases the likelihood of unethical actions. In other words, not doing the right thing. Then identifying approaches for insulating the public against this danger becomes imperative. What were they saying?

Look, science does not believe in free will. But don't tell anyone because if we told anyone, the world would fall apart. So everything does depend, I believe on the action of the will and in the Song book of the Bible, there's a song that a depressed and anxious patient gave me once that had offered them great hope and comfort, and help them to exercise their free will. And it's Psalm 77. And in that song, which you might want to read yourself and underline, we say, the cries we see, we see questions we see resolve and reasoning and results. So let's look at those.

What are the cries that we find in that song? You can read it with me on the screen, just read it aloud if you'd like. I cried out to God with my voice to God with my voice and he gave ear to me and the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My hand was stressed out in the night without ceasing. My soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God and was troubled, I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed.

So you can see here that the focus is it pretty pretty much on the self, I my mean? Me, me I, my, my I, and what is it saying I cried out, I reached out to God but, you know, my roof my soul then refused. That's a choice a choice of the will to be comforted. I remember God was troubled I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed. Maybe you are not satisfied or even open largely to spiritual resources and whatnot and this person in this song was the same way. I refuse to be comforted.

You verse for continuing you can read with me a lot if you'd like. You hold my eyelids open. I'm so troubled I cannot speak. I have considered the days of all the years of ancient times. I call to remembrance my song on the night I meditate within my heart and my spirit and make diligent search literally by myself alone. And so you can see the person is now blaming God is complaining as refusing to be confident All these are kind of stepped downward and notice what's notice the questions that come up as a result of this refusing to be confident.

Will the Lord cast off or push off forever? Will he be favorable no more has his mercy. Literally unfailing covenant love has his unfailing covenant love failed or ceased forever. Has his promise failed forever more? Has God forgotten now God has been accused of memory loss to be gracious to me and answer my prayers. Has he an anger in anger or rage shut up his tender mercies.

Now, this might seem like wow, maybe this is just all biblical babble What is it had to do with me? But I came across some research that just really got my attention after I read this one day. And you'll notice it here. The study called religious struggle as a predictor of mortality among medically ill, elderly patients. This is what they discovered in this Archives of Internal Medicine journal article when someone says has got abandoned me, Does God love me? I know that to begin questioning that these questions increase the risk of mortality by 22 and 28% respectively.

Once somebody asked those questions when they call a question whether there's a God who loves them, whether or not he's abandoned them, their risk of mortality goes up nearly to 30%. Just verbalizing that or thinking that notice the lowest point in this song, Psalm 77, verse 10, the first part and I said this is my anguish. Notice, I my me self focused no one understands but me I'm alone. Totally alone. Do you feel that way? Are you out there saying this is exactly describing me?

I'm totally alone. Have you been complaining? Have you been reading fusing Have you been doubting? Well, this is the lowest part of the Psalm. And you could say that the person is on the edge of the edge of the edge, as this picture illustrates. And it's at this time, in fact that every time but this time, especially that everything depends on the right action of the will.

So we've looked at the cries in Psalm 77. We've looked at the questions in Psalm 77. We've looked at the doubts there. I said, This is my anguish, and now comes the switch. But it says, in other words, even though I'm down to my lowest point, but now notice these statements, I'm going to ask you a question about them in a minute. I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.

I will remember the works of the Lord. I will remember your wonders of old. I will meditate on your work I will talk of your deeds. Did you see a or hear a two word phrase that was repeated again and again and again? Did you hear it? I will notice we're talking about the will today I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.

Would you like to be in touch with the most Hi. This is saying that there's someone above everything else. I remember I was talking to some kids one day, they were smoking dope in their house. They came in, and I knew they were smoking dope, I could smell it. And I said, you guys, you guys getting high? And they said, Yeah, I said, Would you like to get like most high?

And they said yes. I said, Well, I've got some good stuff. So they invited me in and I read this off to them, that they could get most high. So maybe you want to get most time maybe you're self medicating, maybe you're doing stuff and it's not working. So remembering the use of the right hand of the most time. When is it that God if he existed at all your existence helped You felt like some power from on high helped you?

I think you said make a list of that. Maybe you should do that. As you're going through, where did he help you or help someone else? I remember the works of the Lord. This is a great exercise. What kind of works did he do maybe in the Bible that you remember maybe the works of creation, maybe this or that, or maybe works in your own life, I will remember your wonders of all i have a lady that on her desk, or actually on her coffee table in her front room.

She has a bunch of rocks and on the rocks, she wrote down little words that will help remind her of the things that God did. She believed God did in her life. And she just sits down and when she gets discouraged, she goes through. And she looks at all those rocks. And she actually wrote a book about it, where she goes through and looks at those. I will meditate on your work.

In other words, it's not just remembering. But then again to meditate, think about it and then verbalize it. I will talk of your deeds. Your way oh god is in the sanctuary. Verse 13, says, Who is so great at God as our God, you are the guy who does wonders, you've declared your strength among the peoples. And you've redeemed Jacob and Joseph.

These are case studies where God helped all kinds of people. And we'll talk about them later. And then the Psalm says, sila. sila means actually think about it, or kick it up a notch, move it up to the next registry, and that's what we want to do. When we come back. We'll look at the science.

We looked at some scriptures, but now we're gonna look at the science that goes with the scriptures. When we come back