Reflecting on Daniel T. Gilbert's Research, Part 2: The Pleasure of Uncertainty About Positive Events

"By making sense of events, people adapt emotionally to them... The event will come to be seen as more normal and inevitable then it actually was, and hence it will lose some of the emotional power that it had when it still seemed extraordinary... If making sense of positive events reduces the duration of the pleasure they cause, then inhibiting the sense-making process should prolong people's pleasure. (Wilson & Gilbert, 2005)"

One of the studies done by Gilbert had researchers unexpectedly give a dollar coin to random people studying in a library. Half of the participants were given an explanation why they received a dollar coin and the other half were given no explanation. The results showed that the participants that were not given an explanation were in a better mood 5 minutes after the random gift.

So I wonder, does this have applicable points to our interaction with God? If so, what does this mean in relationships with God? If this idea is applicable to a relationship with God then that would mean that people who have a more mystic view of God stay more content than people who believe that he is understandable. If a person does not fully understand why/how a perfect being could love and accept them, then their relationship with God would be more enjoyable, according to this research. And is the reverse then true? People who are highly educated in theology and have extensive theories on exactly who God is and why he does what he does-- these people are less content with their interaction with God.

So what can we take from this? Should we throw up our hands and say, "Ok, I choose to not try to understand God so that I will be happier with my relationship with Him?"

Well…no.

Maybe the goal should be to continue to seek to know God more intimately, yet still approach him with humility and awe with respect to how he works in a realm with more wisdom and knowledge than we will ever possess; to seek to understand Him personally and still be content to maintain the mystery of how he works. Maybe this would sound something like this:

"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen." (Romans 11:33-36)