Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Unmotivation

Unmotivation. It's not really the same as demotivation. Demotivation implies, at least to me, that something has taken away your motivation. Unmotivation, on the other hand, is simply a lack - or disappearance for no real reason - of motivation. For example, I am, for no reason I can discern, unmotivated to do anything at home after I get off work, even if I leave work on time for a change. Why not? When I actually leave work, I think "Hey, I'll get home and do this and that and the other thing". But when I get home, I just don't wanna any more. Why not? Unmotivation. I am unmotivated.

Where does unmotivation come from? Is it the same source as motivation? If so, why does unmotivation come out rather than motivation? What is is that moves us ("motive" = "moving") - and, conversely, does not move us? Certainly external motivation has been proven to be far less effective than internal motivation. Is this the same with unmotivation? How, then, would unmotivation be external? How and why is it internal?

Certainly those things I am unmotivated to do (not do?) are often not the exciting and glamorous ones, but the necessary ones. But that's not always true. I'm often unmotivated to do even fun and exciting things. Why? Sometimes I'm motivated to do mundane things - internally motivated to. Why? And why not at other times?

I suspect this bears on our lives as believers. Just as we may be unmotivated to, say, wash the dishes, we may also be unmotivated to read the Bible. Or just as we are sometimes unmotivated to, for instance, go to Disneyland, we are unmotivated to go to church or a small group and be with other believers. Why is this? Shouldn't we be excited to be in communion with the God of the universe? Shouldn't we be ecstatic to spend time hearing what our Creator has to say? Shouldn't we be overjoyed to hang out with other members of God's family while doing these things? Sure. Of course. Absolutely. And yet... and yet we aren't. We are unmotivated.

What is our motivation for following God? For learning more about him? For spending time with other God-lovers? Likewise, what is our unmotivation for not doing those things? Perhaps these are questions we ought to be prayerfully seeking answers to. Answering these questions might well help us solve our unmotivation problem in other areas of our lives. Maybe that's a good enough motive right there...

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