Why this and not that!

By Donald Phillipps in All Sorts

how are choices made in belief that affect our lives?

WHY THIS AND NOT THAT!
When you go shopping at the supermarket do you keep strictly to the list you drew up before you left home? Or is your eye caught by a
product on the shelves you've not seen before - or an advertising gimmick? These are often designed and placed carefully and deliberately so as to catch your attention.
Why is it that it is only when you get there that you remember that something that you simply must have, that's not on your list? Is the very process of 'going shopping' an expression of your free will, or is something deeper at work. Don't for one moment think that those who are in the business of selling aren't also in the business of understanding human psychology.
I came across an article entitled 'customer insight', and because I am puzzled by what that word 'insight' really means I read on. The author emphasises four components of this definition: First, such insight is "non- obvious" - it doesn't normally come from just one source of information, but rather from many factors. Second, true insight needs to be "action- able" - you must want to so smoething about it immediately. Third, insight should be powerful enough that customers change their behaviour. Fourth, the goal of the insight is to keep the trust of your customers - acting in their best interests is always to the advantage of the business itself.
Would you, for example, say out loud that your preferred supermarket has earned your trust? Possibly not, but if you think about it, these processes do go on within each one of us when we are faced with making choices between the known and the unknown - when a new brand of potato chips appears on the shelves.
At some point, maybe every day, we have to face the possibility of deciding for the unknown, and that can put us in a very vulnerable situation - somewhere we don't normally like to be.
For me, the most intriguing, and challenging, story from among all those of the Resurrection is the 'Walk to Emmaus.' It's from the day itself, and it tells of a couple of the disciples who are walking away from Jerusalem to what is presumably their home village, seven miles distance from the city. They are talking about what has happened over the last few days, and it's clear their whole world had been thrown into turmoil. It's very possible that they were even part of the Jesus' extended family. Long tradition links Cleopas with Joseph, Jesus' father. Whether that's so or not, they were part of the inner circle of disciples, and knew what was going on.
But now they didn't. The man on whom they had pinned such hopes had been executed. They had thought, hoped, even believed, that Jesus was the promised Messiah who would set their people free. If they hadn't actually been to the tomb, they had known that the dead body of their friend had been laid in it a couple of day before. There was a rumour that the tomb was empty and that Jesus was alive, but it wasn't any longer safe for them to remain in the city. Best to get home to Emmaus, and away from the authorities who would doubtless be searching for the disciples of their defeated enemy.
What followed, in the story, doesn't need to be retold. The stranger who caught up with them on the way spoke with them about the meaning of all that had happened. But they didn't know who he was, and they clearly didn't understand what he was saying. No amount of words could change their mind-set.
If you'll excuse the business analogy, what did change their minds, in a flash - what did become for them the moment of insight - was when Jesus revealed his trademark, his brand. He broke bread with them. That was his special, his unique, his entirely personal signature and sign. No-one else did that in the way Jesus did. Around that one symbolic act, everything else fell into place.
Trust was restored. Hope reborn. There was only one thing for them to do now, and that was to rush back into the dangers of Jerusalem to share with their friends their life changing experience.
The moment of insight - all the result of of one simple, familiar, homely act. Does it still happen? Why shouldn't it!
Donald Phillipps