The Curse of Superficiality

Superficiality is the curse of our age.  The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem.  The desperate need today is not for a great number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.  (Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline)

I have glossed over this introductory statement in Foster's book many times.  I am afraid that I have usually thought of it in superficial ways.  I have thought of it mostly individualistically, as a way to my own deeper growth.  I have looked at it with hurry, scanning over the ideas so I can get deeper quickly.  Ironic, isn't it?  I can be superficial about getting deeper.

The last couple of times I have found that first phrase rather poignant.  When I think of the blessings and curses pronounced in Deuteronomy 28, I see that this "curse of our age" seems to explain a lot of things.  Curses are the opposite of blessings.  When something is blessed, a lot of good comes from relatively little effort.  That's grace.  With a curse, very little good comes from inordinate amounts of effort.   That's the flesh at work.  Superficiality is a whole lot of work generating very little good.

The particular face of of our curse, according to Foster, is superficiality.  It is a resistance to the depths of life.  As another modern writer puts it,

It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. (C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory)

 The curse is that we find our desire too weak to carry us beyond the shallows of human existence.  We long for more than what we are given in life, but cannot obtain it, because the superficiality takes us to the wrong places in the wrong ways.

The Primary Doctrine

The primary teaching that supports the curse is one of "instant gratification."  The teaching is that instant gratification is the ideal circumstance, the best outcome, the only real goal. We want answers now.  We want things fixed yesterday.  The bigger, faster, more intense it can be, the better it must be.  Unfortunately the first part of the doctrine, "instant," flies in the face of one of the most basic rules in a deeper life: "Love is patient."  Love and the deeper life may be patient and only comes through patience, but we see impatience is the current road to "happiness and fulfillment."

Another problem with the current prevalent doctrine is that of gratification.  Life is gratification and nothing else in our current culture.  "What do you really feel like?  What do you really want?"  These questions are often the deepest ones asked when dealing with marriage, vocation, and even morality.  Unfortunately they happen to be the same questions asked at the front of a fast food line as well.  When life comes to a halt, we often find ourselves wondering, "What do I want now?" Questions from our depths are shunned because they require self-denial and perseverance.

Although some of us are willing to forgo the "instant" part of "instant gratification," we find gratification hard to ignore.  One of the primary reasons is not so much our hedonism, but our desperation.  It is pain that drives us more than pleasure.  It is emptiness that scares us more than just missing out on something fun.  Unfortunately gratification only puts off pain and emptiness and then intensifies them, only to make us go back to gratification once again.

The Real Need

Instant gratification reveals our fear of the depths.  We may flock to intelligent people and gifted people, hoping to find some way out of superficiality.  We want answers.  We want wonders.  These do not pull us out of our tailspin, however.  Intelligence without depth only justifies our empty superficiality.  Wonders without depth dazzle the eyes and ears, but do not touch the soul.  This is not a new problem:

Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  (1 Corinthians 1:22-24, ESV)

The depravity we face today is one of superficiality.  It is the sign of our inward decay, our corruption.  This is one mode of perishing.  "God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."  (John 3:16)  The life we are meant to live is a deep life, a life like God's.  The apostle Paul describes such life: "We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day."  (2 Corinthians 4:16)  Instead of inward decay and corruption, we can find continual inward renewal.

The Celebration of Discipline, then, is the celebration of a deeper life, one of continual renewal.  The disciplines described are the ways in which Jesus and his followers live a deeper life.  We may approach them wrongly and superficially, as I have, and find them wanting.  But we will not be able to approach a deeper life without them.  Disciplines go beyond deep thinking and deep feeling and "meaningful" action into deep living.  Deep people are people who live from the depths of themselves and of God.  Disciplines are the practice and enjoyment of that deeper life.

How Do I Study?

"How does one teach someone to study?'  A good question I saw on Facebook.  I would like to give some suggestions using quotes from Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline in the chapter The Discipline of Study.

Study is a specific kind of experience in which through careful attention to reality, the mind is enabled to move in a certain direction. Remember, the mind will always take on an order conforming to the order upon which it concentrates. Perhaps we observe a tree or read a book. We see it, feel it, understand it, draw conclusions from it. And as we do, our thought processes take on an order conforming to the order in the tree or book. When this is done with concentration, perception, and repetition, ingrained habits of thought are formed. (p. 63)

Study is then part of "renewing the mind" spoken of in Romans 12:2: "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."  In study, my mind is molded to the form of that which is studied.  This is important to know because it is more or less automatic, for better or worse.


There are four basic steps in study:  Repetition, Concentration, Comprehension, and Reflection.  In repetition, I observe the object of study openly and repeatedly, taking in as much as I can without analyzing it yet.  Concentration accompanies repetition as my attention is drawn to certain details or ideas or questions.  Taking notes and asking questioning frequently accompany concentration.  Comprehension comes as my concentration draws conclusions.  Usually, comprehension is seen in summarizing, defining, and consolidating material.  When I comprehend, I make charts, outlines, or explain the material in my own words to someone else.  Finally, reflection takes what I comprehend and finds the significance of it in my life and in this world in general.

It soon becomes obvious that study demands humility. Study simply cannot happen until we are willing to be subject to the subject matter. We must submit to the system. We must come as student, not teacher. Not only is study directly dependent upon humility, but it is conducive to it. Arrogance and a teachable spirit are mutually exclusive.(p. 66)

The steps of study require the right attitude to go anywhere.  Without humility study will not happen.  I find rationalization and self-justification come instead.

 Now in the study of books, the Bible in particular, study has three rules that apply to study in itself and three rules that aid study from the outside.  (Also known as intrinsic and extrinsic rules.)

The intrinsic rules may, in the beginning, necessitate three separate readings but in time can be done concurrently. The first reading involves understanding the book: what is the author saying? The second reading involves interpreting the book: what does the author mean? The third reading involves evaluating the book: is the author right or wrong? Most of us tend to do the third reading right away and often never do the first and second readings at all. We give a critical analysis of a book before we understand what it says. We judge a book to be right or wrong before we interpret its meaning. (p. 67)

I have found these rules very helpful in reading as well as in listening to other people.  I need to constantly remind myself to seek to understand first before interpreting.  Most arguments and bad advice come from a lack of understanding.  Understanding first takes a lot of humility because it involves not pretending to be smarter or better than I am, not presuming that I know what someone means, and not pushing to get to a certain conclusion that I want.  (Thanks, Dallas Willard for these three "p's".)  Studying the Bible certainly involves this kind of humility if I'm ever going to grow or change.

Interpreting must precede evaluation as well.  In working with other people, whether in books or in person, I often have to listen to what they mean and not so much what they say.  Misinterpreted statements from other people fuel all sorts of hurt feelings and rash statements.  Misinterpreted scriptures are the fuel of false teaching.  The meaning of the Bible is always governed by two basic things, God is loving and good and God is for us and not against us.  With this many misinterpretations disappear.

Finally, evaluation is appropriate.  It is right and good to discern after understanding and interpreting.  With the Bible, I find that I use the Bible to evaluate myself or other situations around me.  Also, after understanding and interpreting the Bible, I evaluate what other people say about God or the Bible from the passage.  Such evaluation deepens faith and usually brings mercy if I have handled the study with humility.

The intrinsic rules of study, however, are in themselves inadequate. To read successfully we need the extrinsic aids of experience, other books, and live discussion. (p.68)

We read a book on tragedy with different eyes when we have walked through the valley of the shadow ourselves. Experience that has been understood and reflected upon informs and enlightens our study. (p. 68) 

Other books can include dictionaries, commentaries, and other interpretative literature, but great books that precede or advance the issue being studied are more significant. Books often have meaning only when they are read in relation to other writings. People will find it exceedingly difficult to understand the New Testament books of Romans or Hebrews, for example, without a grounding in the literature of the Old Testament. (p.68) 

Live discussion refers to the ordinary interaction that occurs among human beings as they pursue a particular course of study. . . . We interact with the author, we interact with each other, and new creative ideas are born. (p.68)

Of course, there is more to be learned here.  Foster's book is a great discussion on not only this important exercise of study, but other exercises that can bring this transformation by the renewing of the mind.  All of them are subject to the Holy Spirit who teaches and leads each of us into knowledge with love, rather than just knowledge.  These steps and rules are not intended to minimize that work, but to describe how one submits himself as a student to the Teacher in humility and trust.

As Foster explains in this chapter, I must agree, nothing can quite replace study in its ability to transform our hearts.  I testify to this in my daily life and encourage it in everyone who will hear: study is a means of God's transforming grace.