A page on human behaviour with mention of theology

As someone who is long in love with mathematics I rejoice in having several different notations that express the same truth.

Here is one of the best examples.

The rules of sanity

Years ago at a Christian conference for University undergraduates (I was one then) I heard a clinical psychologist say that there was only one rule of mental health:

Never take responsibility for what you cannot control.

At the time I was impressed. I already had some experience trying to help people with genuine depression, and while it didn't yet give me any easy answers it seemed to me to identify part of the problem very well. And even that is progress! But years later I realised that there is a second rule that is equally important:

Always take responsibility for what you can control.

The serenity prayer

Used by many addiction recovery programs and loved by many others.

Lord give me the strength to change what I can change

The serenity to accept what I cannot change

And the wisdom to know the difference

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer for some background to this.

Management and accountability

Julius Caesar famously said (or is supposed to have said):

Without authority, there is no responsibility

And it's a good principle. But again there should be another half to it.

Without responsibility, there should be no authority. 

When this rule is broken, the result is bureaucracy,

The point being

These are three ways of expressing exactly the same truth. Aren't they?

See also so-called Universities for one failure to apply these rules, and management by objectives for another. Do these failures explain a lot?

The equivalences

Warning... this crosses into theology

The past is what I cannot change. In that sense, I am no longer responsible for it. This is expressed in the Christian phrase your sins are forgiven. I trust my past to the Cross of Jesus.

The present is about the wisdom to know the difference. When I need to sort out the past and future. I rely on the Holy Spirit for the wisdom and insight to do this.

The future is about the things I can change. I am that sense responsible for it. But I trust God the Father to provide for me.

And not quite on topic

Another prayer I find helpful is Lord, I trust you with my past, and my future, and my present time.

My past is of course what I cannot change, my future is things I can change, and my present time is about deciding which is which.

It's not quite the same thing, but it illustrates an application of the Serenity Prayer, and I find it useful. I pray it might bless you too.