Unconscious unreality

If you're like my wife you're probably asking what is "unconscious unreality?" It's a phrase I picked up while reading Oswald Chambers, one of my favorite authors.

Chambers made the statement that, "The deadliest Pharasaism today is not hypocrisy but unconscious Unreality. What he was getting at is our ability to (without even being conscious of it) commit sin and then justify it to ourselves. Let me give you an example:

If you've ever been guilty of being angry with someone and then justified it by saying to yourself, "I have every right to be angry with them." You have been guilty of unconscious unreality.

Remember, Jesus said in Matthew 5:21 and 22, "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment."

So often in counseling I find that all too often we justify our anger through a process of rationalization, which often can border on something akin to mind reading. For example we might say something like, 'He did that to hurt me.' When we say something like that we are assuming a motive. In this present day I hear people attacking politicians, accusing them of lying or any number of assumed motives. Such charges not only lack grace but also make assumptions and assign motives.

2 Corinthians 5:10 reminds us: "...we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ." James too, reminds us we are to be 'slow to anger' and slow to judge. James goes on to remind us, "For there is but one lawgiver and one judge."

So let us not be like the Pharisees who cloaked their sins in self-righteousness. Let us not be guilty of 'unconscious unreality' but rather be filled with grace, a closer self-examination and a greater self-awareness.