how to go beyond “how to”.

10Jul
by Jon Swanson

It’s easy to write “how to.” You can start with “here’s how I did.” Or you can start with “8 ways to write ‘how to’” and just make a list.

We all want to know “how to.” My first teaching area was “how to.” I taught public speaking. In fact, my academic training is in communication, all about “how to.”

Recently, I’ve begun wondering about doing more “what it means” writing. Explaining what something means is much harder, at least for me. Explaining requires research. Explaining requires confidence. Explaining requires footnotes.

Let me give you an example:

It is easy to say, “Here’s how to be healed. A woman touched Jesus’ cloak. She was healed. So to be healed you have to touch his cloak.” This is from a story in Matthew 9.

If your “how to” doesn’t work, you can always blame the user: “You didn’t do it right.” “You didn’t have enough faith.” “You touched his belt.”

It is much harder to explain this story. If you are concerned with understanding, you need to read Matthew’s version of the story. And then Mark’s. And then Luke’s. You would probably read the healing story that this is in the middle of. You may want to look at other places where people touched Jesus’ cloak to understand that this woman wasn’t the only person who tried. You may want to reflect on what it meant that a ceremonially unclean person touched a rabbi. You could consider the series of stories in Matthew 9 around this story, looking for a pattern in the kinds of people who had faith and the kinds of people who didn’t.

So why would anyone take the time to understand and explain when it’s so much easier (and more viral) to just make a recipe? I’ll let you know.

4 thoughts on “how to go beyond “how to”.”

  1. Cheryl's avatar

    cjhinx

    Being a very pragmatic person, I get frustrated with people who say all you have to do is x and y will happen. But when I try doing x, I never seem to get the y. Understanding takes a lot more time in study, reflection, prayer and just plain time to simmer within our thoughts. But the end result is much more gratifying, And I would be apt to tell someone to reach for understanding. It works!

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  2. Frank Reed's avatar

    Frank Reed

    Jon – This has been bothering me not only in my personal life but even more so in my professional life. Coming from the digital marketing industry there are countless “How To’s” etc etc. They are thrown off some high mountain for the commoners to look at, ponder and then wonder “What in the world do I do with this?”

    Instead, I have wanted to talk about the application of the idea. An idea, be it a list or whatever by itself, is completely useless on its own. In this healing story the idea of touching Jesus’ robe is completely unavailable to us in the way it was to the bleeding woman. In our New Testament understanding of sin which is overwhelmed and defeated by God’s grace and mercy of Christ on the cross, we have a totally different perspective than even this woman did. As a result it is, dare I say, required of us to get past the how or what we can do ‘in three easy steps’ and explore some of the why. Why do I need His healing? Where are the areas of my life that are bleeding out? Was this woman seeking more than just relief from her physical ailments? The questions fly out of us that would never if we simply tried to replicate the HOW or WHAT of some completely impractical but well intended ‘advice’.

    I am rambling I know but I know I want to read explanations. I don’t want lists. They don’t work. They are the intellectual and spiritual equivalent of empty calories. Sure they fill us up and satisfy us for a short while but in the end there was no real value and we end up right where we started and even a few pounds heavier. It’s a bad recipe.

    The right approach is to understand and explain. It’s where the nutrition is. It’s the heart of the matter. I want that. Please keep moving in this direction. I know I will go along for the ride.

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