“Now judge I had debts no honest man could pay

The bank was holdin’ my mortgage and they were gonna take my house away

Now I ain’t sayin’ that makes me an innocent man

But it was more `n all this that put that gun in my hand”

-Bruce Springsteen, Johnny 99

Why are so many people in America obese, depressed, addicted to drugs and pornography? From our mechanistic perspective we begin our explanation with, “Well, that’s because…” Be-CAUSE, or as the Middle English folks may have said, “by cause that.” Such statements tend to match a single phenomenon to a single cause. A poor diet causes obesity, for example. I’m a big fan of Jamie Oliver’s work to reduce childhood obesity and would be a fool not to recognize that a poor diet contributes to this national epidemic. But we need to openly consider other complexities that may exacerbate the problem per individual child. Human behavior is not mechanistic and is therefore not subject to the same laws of causality that govern the physical world. In light of this truth we need to take to heart the following:

1. People are not machines. We’re infinitely more capable and complicated. The adversity that caused Johnny 99 to go on a shooting spree could drive another person to start a software company.

2. Postulating causes for human behavior is natural. But postulating and attributing are two very different things. It is natural to form an educated guess. It is limiting to relationships to assume we know the source of another’s behavior.

3. Even if we could know with confidence why someone does something, this does not mean we now know what to do about it.

4. When human behavior persists despite an onslaught of effort and resources we may, in our disheartened state, concede that the problem surpasses our ability. Were we to be more inquisitive and less hasty to claim with conviction that we know the cause, I believe our efforts would prevail.

Best that we engage with people, behold and study them, serve their core needs to be seen, known, and empowered. Being authentically interested is the charge we must accept. Over time, with keen insight we may come to better understand be-cause.