The Danger of Mindless Imitation

We live in a world of stagnation in both thought and emotional well-being. Mental stagnation is a state of being stuck, unmotivated and lacking growth, and it often morphs into emotional stagnation. With 24/7 access to hand-held computers, many people today have become reflectors, mirrors and speculators of the society that surrounds them. Even 100 years ago, Ellen G. White, inspired by the Spirit of God, articulated such dangers present in her day—dangers that are considerably amplified in our times.

The pervasive environment of the modern world lends itself to mental copycatting. Thoughts, creeds and convictions are highly marketed and distributed through multimedia and social media. We imitate and mimic without realizing it. Have you ever had a lunch appointment with a friend or acquaintance you haven’t seen in a while and found yourselves both sitting the same way, legs crossed, arms resting on the table in the same fashion, even laughing in unison? Is he or she copying you, or are you copying them? Most of the time, we don’t recognize when we are mimicking behavior. Somehow, this duplication seems to facilitate relationships.

The same principle applies to thought processes. Countless individuals mimic thoughts and creeds quite unaware of doing so, simply because it helps them fit in socially. Whether political positions, religious principles or social stances, people today often don’t think for themselves but instead embrace the more popular and favored thoughts of the day. Joshua 24:15 reminds us to “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.” And in the very next sentence, Joshua emphatically declares, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

At times, it appears that, as human beings, we possess some type of imitation impulse. When we continuously observe a behavior or hear a belief, our motor system goes to work, reproducing and solidifying thoughts and mannerisms. The only escape from these recurring, often unhealthy cycles is to follow the direction of Romans 12:2: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” If the mind of Christ truly resides in us mentally and emotionally, we will not be mere reflectors of the thoughts of the world around us.

In instance after instance in our daily lives, we face the choice to replicate fallible human thoughts or to turn to the Spirit of God and say, “Lord, Your thoughts are indeed always higher than our thoughts, holier than our thoughts, purer than our thoughts.”

The book How Do We Know Ourselves? includes this observation from David Meyers: “In automatic processing, we glide through life mostly on autopilot. Our information processing is primarily implicit, unconscious, behind the scenes. Though we would be hard-pressed to explain how we do it, we unconsciously know how to form the word ‘bad’ rather than ‘pad,’ or that a ‘big red barn’ sounds better than a ‘red big barn.’ When making instant judgments—friend or foe—we use fast and frugal heuristics, which are mental shortcuts.”

Thus, we cannot be too careful about the sources we allow to shape both our thought processes and our behavioral mannerisms. a

By Carlos J. Craig
President