Author | Sophie Luo

本系列第一篇连载中介绍了接纳与承诺疗法 (ACT) 总结的心理僵化六大核心心理过程，第二篇介绍了 ACT 针对心理僵化六大核心过程所提出的心理灵活性模型的六大核心步骤，本篇将从圣经角度分析 ACT 的积极面和消极面，介绍如何从圣经的角度看待 ACT 所主张的用于解决人生问题的六大核心步骤，以及圣经所教导的如何理解人生苦难和解决问题的真理。

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) acknowledges the fact that we do suffer – suffering is a normal part of life; we cannot and should not deny or try to avoid it. ACT emphasizes our attitude and response to suffering experiences in life, and acknowledges that the real problem is not that we suffer, but how we suffer. It sees that we play an active role in our suffering, in our attitude and responses to it, which could cause us to inflict more suffering (e.g., anxiety, depression, addiction, etc.) upon suffering (i.e., the original unpleasant experiences) through language (how we interpret our experiences and how we believe what our mind is saying about these experiences and who we are, etc.). This view on suffering partially fits the biblical worldview, as we know that we will have trouble and suffer in this life (John 16:33). However, how we understand and handle suffering, and what goal we want to achieve is very different from a biblical perspective. I will try to engage ACT from a biblical perspective through each of its three response styles with the six core processes:

ACT 承认我们都会经历苦难这一事实，即认为经历苦难是生活常态；我们无法也不应否认或试图回避它。ACT 强调我们对生活中的苦难经历的态度和反应，并且承认真正的问题不在于我们会受苦，而在于我们如何面对苦难。ACT 认为我们在苦难中扮演着积极的角色，即我们对待苦难的态度和反应——这会让我们通过语言（如我们如何诠释自己的经历，以及我们如何看待我们的思想对这些经历和我们身份的理解等），在痛苦（即最开始的不愉快经历）上加增痛苦（如焦虑、抑郁和成瘾等）。这种观点在一定程度上符合圣经的世界观，因为我们知道我们在世上一定会有患难（约 16:33）。但是，从圣经的角度上，我们如何理解和对待苦难，以及我们想要达到的目标却是与 ACT 有很大不同的。接下来的部分会从圣经的角度来分析 ACT 所主张的由六大核心步骤构成的三大反应方式：

1) Open Response Style (Defusion & Acceptance): ACT sees clearly how we often believe what our thoughts and feelings say how things really are and what we need to do to solve the “problem”. Although we don’t usually use the word fusion to describe such a state/process, its description captures our life experience well. And as no one likes negative or unpleasant thoughts and feelings, we constantly struggle with them, trying everything we could to avoid them. The problem is that these thoughts and feelings won’t go away just because we try to avoid them, and they often start to affect all areas of our lives over time. Although we understand people’s desires to be rid of these experiences by avoiding them, it’s useless effort and these processes lead to a closed response style and we become stuck in a dark world with our own thoughts and feelings and our struggles to break free relying on our own wisdom and strength, which only lead to more problems/symptoms (e.g., anxiety, depression, etc.). ACT has a keen observation on our experience in this area, and offers a useful tool to help people defuse from their mind, accept their thoughts and feelings as a normal part of life experience, so as to embrace an open style of living. The Bible also teaches that we cannot trust our hearts/minds, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) We feel and think of all sorts of things but they are not necessarily true.

1) “开放式”反应方式（认知解离和接纳）：ACT 清楚地观察到我们经常会相信我们的思想和感受对事物“真相”，以及对我们需要做什么来解决“问题”的理解。虽然我们一般不会用“融合”这个词来描述这种状态或过程，但是其描述很好地概括了我们的生活经历。而且，因为没有人喜欢消极或不愉快的思想和感受，所以我们会不断地与它们作斗争，尽我们最大的努力去回避它们。问题在于这些思想和感受不会因为我们试图回避它们就消失，而且随着时间的流逝，它们常常会开始影响到我们生活的方方面面。虽然我们理解人们想通过回避它们来摆脱这种不愉快经历的愿望，但这却是无用功，并会导致“封闭式”的反应方式，让我们陷入自己的思想和感受，以及挣扎着通过自己的智慧和能力来获得解脱的这种黑暗世界中，这只会带来更多的问题或“症状”（如焦虑和抑郁等）。ACT 对我们在这方面的经历有很敏锐的观察，并提供了一个有用的工具来帮助人们从自己的思想中解离出来、接纳自己的思想和感受是正常生活经历的一部分，从而欣然接受一种“开放式”的反应方式。圣经也教导我们不能相信自己的心或思想，因为“人心比什么都诡诈，无可救药，谁能识透呢？”（耶 17:9）我们会有各种各样的想法和感受，但是它们不一定反映事实。

The issue is why we suffer this way in the first place. ACT states that the cause is language, and uses the Genesis story in the Bible to prove their point of view. Genesis 3:5 says, “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” And ACT argues that, “the Genesis story suggests that having this kind of evaluative knowledge (i.e., “knowing good and evil” – inserted by me) also represents the epitome of something else, namely, the loss of human innocence and the beginning of human suffering.” And it uses how children lose their “innocence and vitality” as they acquire language as an example. This is taking the Scripture out of context, manipulating it to prove their viewpoint. Nowhere in the Bible says that “knowing good and evil” or acquiring language/knowledge is the fundamental reason why people suffer. Rather, it’s clear throughout the whole Bible that the origin of human suffering is the disobedience of Adam and Eve to God. They tried to declare their independence from God by eating from the tree (which God had commanded them not to), so sin entered the world, and human life was cursed as a result. We are all born in sin because we are offspring of Adam (Romans 5:12), so all our thoughts, feelings, and actions – our whole being – is tainted by sin. No children are 100% innocent. Just observe the children around you for a short period of time, and you will see all sorts of sinful motivations in their manipulating and sinful behaviors; they are born in sin, and don’t need anyone to teach them how to act badly through “language”, although because the world is now fallen and broken, with Satan always working in the background to destroy us, children and adults alike are under multiple influences (i.e., the flesh/sin nature, the world, and the devil) for evil. If ACT submitted to the Bible, then it would see things this way examining the whole Bible, not just one passage; if it didn’t submit to the Bible, then their reasoning with the Genesis story to prove their viewpoint wouldn’t stand at all in the first place. And think about it: if it’s true that language was the fundamental reason why we suffered, then why did people suffer before language came into the picture?       

问题是我们归根结底为何会经历苦难。ACT 认为源头是语言，而 Hayes 在其经典 ACT 书籍 (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy – The Process and Practice of Mindful Change) 中还引用圣经创世纪中的故事来证明此观点。创世纪 3:5 说：“因为神知道，你们吃的日子眼睛就明亮了，你们便如神能知道善恶。”ACT 主张：“创世纪的故事表明，有了这种评估性的知识（即‘知道善恶’）也象征着人类纯真的丧失和人类苦难的开始”，并使用孩童在学习语言的过程中丧失了其“纯真和活力”来作为例证。这是断章取义地引用圣经，并操纵圣经来证明其观点。圣经中没有一处说“知道善恶”或学习语言/知识是人们经历苦难的根本原因。整部圣经都指出：人类苦难的源头是亚当和夏娃对神的不顺服——他们试图通过吃那棵分别善恶树的果子（神明白吩咐他们不可做的事）来宣告他们脱离神而独立，因此，罪便进入了世界，将神的咒诅带入了人的生命。我们生来就都是罪人，因为我们都是亚当的后裔（罗 5:12；诗篇 51:5）；因此，我们的所有思想、感受和行动——我们整个人的方方面面都被罪污染了。没有一个孩童是百分百纯真的。我们只需要花很短的时间去观察自己周围的孩童，就能从他们的各种企图操控人的罪行中看到他们的各种罪恶的动机——他们生来就是罪人，不需要任何人通过“语言”（ACT 所认为的苦难根源）来教他们如何做出不好的行为，虽然由于这个世界也在罪中被破坏和堕落了，而且撒旦也一直在背后努力摧毁我们，所以孩童和成人都活在多重罪恶的影响力之下（即人的肉体/罪性、世界和撒旦）。如果 ACT 承认圣经是解释万物的最高准则，那么它就会通过仔细检验整部圣经来从圣经的角度看问题，而不是仅仅引用一句经文来证明其观点；如果 ACT 不承认圣经是解释万物的最高准则，那么它使用创世纪的故事来论证其观点从一开始就站不住脚。我们不妨思考一下：如果“语言”真的是我们经历苦难的源头，那么人为什么会在语言进入生活之前就已经在经历苦难了呢？

2) Centered Response Style (Flexible Attention to the Present Moment & Self-as-Context): ACT observes and describes well how inflexible attention to the present moment and attachment to the conceptualized self would often be the natural development of Cognitive Fusion and Experiential Avoidance. And it’s true that we can’t live in or change what happened in the past, neither can we know or control what would happen in the future, but we are living real life in the here and now, which should be our main focus. This is a state/process that many people struggle with without realizing it, so how ACT helps people to see these things and seek change would be helpful to them, but I suspect that the help would be very limited because it doesn’t address the real issue of the heart and sin, even in the first Open response style.

2) “集中式”反应方式（灵活关注当下时刻和以自我为背景）：ACT 很好地观察和描述了“认知融合”和“经验回避”常常会导致“不灵活关注当下时刻”和“对概念化自我的依恋”。的确，我们无法活在过去或改变过去发生的事，也无法知道或控制未来会发生的事，但是我们是真实地活在当下的生活里，而这应该是我们需要关注的。许多人都与这种状态或心理过程作斗争却不自知，因此，ACT 帮助人们看见这些事实并寻求改变的方式会对他们有益，但是这种帮助是非常有局限性的，因为它没有解决核心问题（即人心与罪），即使是在第一步的“开放式”反应方式中也是如此。

We can think of Fusion and Avoidance as a fight or quarrel: we have certain thoughts and feelings but we don’t like or want them, so we keep fighting to get rid of them by avoiding them. This fits the image in James 4:1-2a, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.” The Bible teaches that we are worshippers in nature – we are either worshipping God or something else. In this “mental fight” (in Fusion and Avoidance), we want some thing(s) that we love and worship more than anything else at the moment, which could be happiness, self-esteem, wealth, health, comfort, and so on, all of which place me as the center. 

When our thoughts and feelings (e.g., “I feel like a loser so I am a loser”) are saying the opposite (e.g., “I want to be successful”) about our identity or life, we want to destroy it by avoiding it (e.g., avoiding the thought/feeling of “I feel like a loser”). However, if this heart’s worshipping issue (e.g., seeing success more valuable/important than anything else in life, and putting “me” at the center of life to replace the place that belongs to the Lord) is not addressed, it will always remain underneath all things we think and do, even if we could learn to defuse our minds (e.g., not allowing “I feel like a loser” to define me as a loser), accept the experience (e.g., accepting that it is normal to sometimes think/feel that “I feel like a loser”), pay attention to the present moment, and seeing our self as context (e.g., seeing “me” and “I feel like a loser” as two different entities, and viewing the entity of “I feel like a loser” from the entity of “me”, rather than having the two fused as one entity). We would end up trying very hard to rely on our own strength (rather than on relying on God) to fight a battle we can’t win without God. It’s not the way we are created to live; we are not made to live a self-centered life, but a God-centered life.

我们可以尝试将“认知融合”和“经验回避”看成是一场争斗或作战：我们有了一些思想和感受，但是我们不喜欢或不想要它们，所以我们不断地与它们斗争，试图通过回避来消除它们。这符合雅各书 4:1-2a 中所描述的一种形象：“你们中间的冲突是从哪里来的？争执是从哪里来的？难道不是从你们身体各部分中交战的私欲而来的吗？你们渴望而不能拥有，就杀人；你们嫉妒而不能获得，就争斗、作战。”圣经指出我们在本性上都是敬拜者——我们要不就是在敬拜神，要不就是在敬拜其它事物。在这种“精神争斗”（即“认知融合”和“经验回避”）中，我们是想得到我们爱和敬拜的某种或某些事物胜于任何其它事物，这可能是快乐、自尊、财富、健康和舒适等，而且对该事物的这种爱/敬拜是将“我”看作生命的中心。

当我们的思想和感受对我们身份或生活的理解（如“我觉得自己很失败，所以我真的是一个失败者”）与我们想要的事物（如“我想要成功”）相对立时，我们就想要通过回避这种思想和感受（如回避“我觉得自己很失败”的这种想法/感受）来毁灭它。但是，如果我们没有解决这种人心的偶像敬拜（如把成功看得高于一切，把自己看成生活的中心来取代本属于神的位置）问题，它就会一直驱动我们思想和行动，即使我们能学会解离我们的认知（如即使觉得“我很失败”，也不让这种想法/感受来定义自己是一个失败者）、接纳我们的经历（如接纳自己有时候有这种“我很失败”的想法/感受是很正常的）、关注当下时刻和以自我为背景（如把“我”和“我觉得自己很失败”看成两个不同的个体，站在“我”这个个体里去看待“我觉得自己很失败”这个个体，而不是两者相融合）；结果是我们只会无比努力地想要靠自己的力量（而不是靠神）去打一场没有神就不能胜利的斗争。这不是神创造我们想要我们生活的方式——神创造我们不是为了让我们过以自我为中心的生活，而是过以神为中心的生活。 

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” Our works/self-reliant efforts would not get us very far; they would not save us. When we slow down and examine our lives, we would notice that our self-reliant efforts might seem to have been helpful to solve some of life’s problems, but it’s only drifting from one thought/feeling to another, from one struggle to another, and ending up with many problems piling up to form a heavy burden that feels like it could crush us with just one more “straw” on a “rainy day” and cause a “mental breakdown”.

以弗所书 2:8-9 说：“你们得救确实是藉着恩典、藉着信，这不是出于你们自己，而是神的恩赐；也不是本于行为，免得有人自夸。”我们靠自己的力量所作的努力或行动不会让我们走得太远，也无法拯救我们。慢下脚步来审视自己的生活，我们会发现我们靠自己的力量所作的努力虽然看起来似乎有助于解决生活里的一些问题，但却只是让我们从一种思想/感受进入到另一种思想/感受，从一种挣扎进入到另一种挣扎里，而最终问题会越积越多，成为一种沉重的负担，似乎在哪个不顺心的日子里再多发生一件很小的事就能压垮我们，让我们崩溃。

The fundamental reason is not what problem we face, how we think of the situation or ourselves, how we handle the experience, or how we switch the processes. These are all very important, but the fundamental issue is what we love and worship and how that directs and empowers our life. We are made in the image of God to love and worship Him alone. That’s why Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) He is the source of true wisdom, strength, and power, and it is only through Him that we can do all things (Philippians 4:13) – things that are submitted to His will, including the kind of life that He wants us to live.

归根结底，问题的源头不在于我们面对什么问题、我们如何认知这些情况或我们自己、我们如何处理这些经历，或者我们如何改变自己的心理过程。这些都很重要，但是最根本的问题在于我们爱和敬拜的是什么，以及这如何指引我们生活的方向和给予我们处理问题的能力。我们是神按照祂的形象所造的（创 1:26），目的是爱和敬拜祂胜于一切。因此，耶稣说：“我就是葡萄树，你们是枝条。那住在我里面、我也在他里面的，他才结出很多果子，因为没有我，你们什么也不能做。”（约 15:5）耶稣基督是真智慧、力量和能力的源头；只有藉着他，我们才能做成一切事（腓  4:13）——一切顺服他旨意的事，包括他想让我们过的生活。

3) Engaged Response Style (Values & Committed Actions): With the above examination, we now see that the most important thing is our values (i.e., what we live for, what we love and worship) as they are the engine that drives our life. ACT sees the importance of values and how all other parts/processes of life are possible to achieve with the establishment of values that we freely choose. God’s mercy and grace has given us freedom to choose which direction we want to go in life – to Jesus Christ, the eternal and abundant life, or to the world ruled (until Christ comes again) by the devil who comes only to steal and kill and destroy (John 10:10). To ACT, there is no literal truth, what’s true is what “works” for our life. We want many things in this life, health, happiness, wealth, comfort, sex, etc., which could all be good things, but if we choose any of these things to be the center of our value, and choose any of these creations to be more valuable than God who is our Creator, and let that direct our path and decide what we do next, we are only heading destructions because there is no life apart from God. The Bible tells us that there is absolute Truth – the Truth of the gospel and God’s Word. Jesus Christ, the incarnate God, lived a perfectly obedient life (that we can never do) on our behalf, and died for our sins on the cross, bearing the wrath of God for us,  to give us this Truth and call us back to God, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26) And He has promised us, “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33) 

God will give us the best blessings in this life, even though they might not be what we think would be the best blessings. We know that God who creates the world and everything in it does not make mistakes, and He only gives good things to His children (Luke 11:9-13), even things in suffering, so even our sufferings have eternal meaning and glory in Christ – we do not suffer in vain, because Jesus has overcome the world (John 16:33) 

3) “参与式”反应方式（价值观和行动承诺）：经过上面的分析，我们可以看到最重要的是我们的价值观（即我们生活的目的，我们所爱和敬拜的），因为这是驱动我们生活的“引擎”。ACT 看到了价值观的重要性，以及在我们确定了自由选择的价值观之后，生活中的所有其它部分/过程都有可能实现。在神的怜悯和恩典中，祂给予了我们选择生活方向的自由——是选择走向耶稣基督，永生和丰盛的生命；还是走向撒旦统治（直到基督再来）的世界，即那来偷窃、宰杀和毁灭的魔鬼（约 10:10）。ACT 认为世上没有绝对的真理，只要（对我们生活）有益的就是真理。在生活中，我们会想要很多东西，例如健康、快乐、财富、舒适和性等等，这些事物本身可能都是好的，但是如果我们选择任何这些事物来作为我们的价值观核心，将任何这些神的创造物看得比造物主还重要，并让它们引导我们的人生之路和决定我们接下来的行动，我们就只会是走向灭亡，因为离开神是没有生命的。圣经说这个世上有绝对的真理——福音的真理和神的话语。耶稣基督道成肉身，为我们成就了我们无法做到的对神的完美顺服，并为我们的罪死在十字架上，为我们承担了神的忿怒，以将这真理传给我们，并呼召我们回到神的面前：“于是，耶稣对他的门徒们说：’如果有人想要来跟从我，他就当舍弃自己，背起自己的十字架，然后跟从我。因为凡想要保全自己生命的，将失去生命；凡为我的缘故失去自己生命的，将寻得生命。一个人就是赚得了全世界，却赔上了自己的生命，到底有什么益处呢？人还能拿什么来换回自己的生命呢？’”（太 16:24-26）而且，他还承诺我们：“所以你们应当先寻求神的国和神的义，这一切都将加给你们了。”（太 6:33）

神会在生活里给我们最好的祝福，虽然它们可能不是我们自己所认为的最好的祝福。我们知道，创造了世界及世界中所有一切的神不会犯错，而且祂只会把好的东西给祂的孩子（约 11:9-13），甚至是苦难本身，所以在基督里，即使我们的苦难也是有着永恒的意义和荣耀的——我们不会白白受苦，因为基督已经胜过了这世界（约 16:33）。

So the question is: What will you value, and commit your life to? I invite you to choose Jesus Christ, and experience the fullness of life’s joy, peace and love in true freedom, and leave your life of hopeless struggles, tiring and endless self-reliant efforts, heavy burden and emptiness behind. “You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” (Psalm 16:11)

所以，问题是：你会看重什么并将生命交托于其中？我诚邀你选择耶稣基督作为你生命的中心，然后体验真智慧中充满喜乐、平安和爱的生命，并离弃那充满无望挣扎、充满永无止境的依靠自己能力的疲惫生活、重担和空虚，将它们抛诸身后。“你把生命之路指示我，你右手有永远的福乐，我在你面前充满喜乐。”（诗篇 16:11）

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