| Jigsaw Puzzle of Human Behaviour
Correcting Imbalances Through
Psychology and Theology
pdf download of manuscript
Table of Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Introduction: Jigsaw Puzzle of Human Behaviour . . 6
Naming Imbalances in our Lives . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Into the Woods to Find our Identity . . . . . . . . . . . 27
American Beauty of Conflicted Personalities . . . . . 37
Eaton’s Store as Metaphor of Desire . . . . . . . . . . 41
Theological Insights into Religious Transformation . 64
Remorse: Intransigence of Tom Riddle . . . . . . . . . 68
Conversion: Conrad Brunk Revival Meeting . . . . . . 75
Absolution: Lutheran Response to Evangelicalism . .85
Imago Dei: Affirmation of Catholic Catechism . . . . 89
Restoration: Possibilities of a Second Naivete . . . . 98
Beatific Vision: Intimacy with God . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Surrender: Rising and Being Raised . . . . . . . . . . 104
Part I: Love: Example of Jean Valjean . . . . . . . . 110
Part: II: Eros and Agape: Godly Nature of Desire. 118
Discipleship: Saint Francis Visited . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Honesty: Jean Valjean Revisited . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Punishment: The Prodigal Son . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Appendix, Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous 140
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Preface
This book offers psychological and theological reflections on imbalances in our lives. It is based in large part on the work that I did for thirty-five years as a prison chaplain.[1] Psychological insights were needed for inmates to move on with their lives. Theological resources represented a counter balance to the emotional and personal turmoil of their incarceration. Repentance, confession, and forgiveness offered freedom, acceptance, belonging, and integrity.
I am assuming that we all have imbalances in our lives that need correction. I am also assuming that faith and belief provide a way forward for coping and thriving in the midst of these realities of the human experience.
The book is organized accordingly. The introduction gives several examples of imbalanced people. These illustrations give way in the first chapter to identifying ten imbalances that may be part of our lives:
impulsive behaviours
unconscious desires
oedipal complexes
insecure identities
conflicted personalities
codependent relationships
saviour figures
delusional thinking
manufactured innocence
post-modern identity
The second chapter explores these themes through an analysis of James Lupine’s play, musical, and movie, Into the Woods.[2] The woods represent a liminal place into which fairy tale characters such as Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk go to discover their true desires. Needless to say, they get lost and disoriented while striving for fulfillment of their dreams. Modern successes of independence, marriage, and children are achieved in the First Act. Divorce, disillusionment, death, and dissembling of identities occur in the Second Act. Disappointment of fairy tale endings gives way to a second naivete of innocence in which maturity, responsibility, and contentment emerge.
The third chapter continues this exploration of imbalances through an analysis of the movie, American Beauty.[3] The husband and wife resort to infantile behaviours because they cannot cope with the disaster that is their marriage. The emo young man turns to voyeurism for pleasure while his girlfriend becomes infatuated with the delusion of stardom. The cheerleader is mesmerized by the idea of love while the military commander represents repression writ large. Denouement occurs when the characters, like those in Into the Woods, come to terms with the resourcefulness of their lives in the midst of diminished expectations, or not.
The fourth chapter relives nineteenth century ideals of marriage, children, and a happy life ever after. The Eaton’s store, now defunct, embodies metaphors of desires called material objects. These objects have been placed strategically on seven floors within a cauldron of ambiance and luxury to entice and satisfy. The womb of maternal care is placed on the fourth floor, at the heart of the exhibits. The delight of eating and dining are featured on the fifth floor. Infatuations of love along with invitations to commit flow into responsibilities of house ownership along with the joy of making a home.
The second half of the book contrasts this psychological analysis with a theological response. True contentment comes with an interiority, as the Catholic Catechism likes to say,[4] that requires inward assessment and commitment in order to achieve the richness of life alluded to above.
This single fact was brought home to me as a prison chaplain. Chapel services were full of men seeking ways out of the crime and punishment in which they found themselves. Crises precipitated by offences drove them to seek more durable solutions. Countless interviews convinced me of the need for a spiritual, religious, and theological response to the situation.
Dwelling on taboos creates a deontological emptiness into which the teleological themes of hope, love, and faith flow and flourish. Most inmates know what they did was horribly wrong. Most inmates accept, and feel that they deserve, the punishment that they received.
Lacking from these experiences is a sense of hope for the future. What can get them out of this morass? How will they be able to cope, years from now? What sustains them in the midst of loss, remorse, grief, regret, self-loathing, and dread?
The book answers these questions by considering eleven theological themes representing different stages of the transformation process:
- remorse
- conversion
- absolution
- creation
- restoration
- beatific vision
- surrender
- love
- discipleship
- honesty
- punishment
Each chapter analyses these steps through the use of novels, stories, movies, drama, and personal experiences. We are complex beings, in need of healthy psychological and theological resources to sustain us.
Donald Stoesz
Bowden, Alberta
January 2023
[1] Donald Stoesz, Chaplaincy Journey, Donald Stoesz, site-based prison chaplain and published author Retrieved 2 January 2023; Donald Stoesz, Glimpses of Grace: Reflections of a Prison Chaplain (Victoria: Friesen Press, 2010).
[2] James Lapine, Into the Woods (New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1987); Into the Woods, DVD (Walt Disney Studios, 2015).
[3] American Beauty, DVD, director Sam Mendes (Warner Brothers, 2013).
[4] Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition (Liberia Editrice Vaticana, 2019), 1779.
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