Lockdown Day 11: THE DOPAMINE ROLLER COASTER

So, what was your expectation when you decided to follow Jesus?

We are currently exploring the article by Jonathan Merritt: THE GIFT OF DISILLUSIONMENT – How the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry on Palm Sunday helps us trade in false hopes for a truer picture of God. Today we look at THE DOPAMINE ROLLER COASTER.

On November 9, 2016, New York magazine published an article on the science of disappointment. The article opened by stating the obvious, which is that “the feeling of being let down is actually one of life’s toughest emotional experiences.”

Here’s how it works: Your brain generates expectations about the future. Often these expectations are based on what you want. Something you perceive as good has happened in the past, so you begin to expect it will happen in the future. Before it even happens, your dopamine levels (the brain’s “pleasure” chemical, released during positive life experiences) begin to rise in the rush of anticipation. The dopamine systems in your brain don’t just react to what you experience; they attempt to predict what you want or need. Then, when that good thing actually occurs, you get a double shot of dopamine.

Here’s the rub: Life doesn’t always give us what we expect. People often lay us on the altars of their own selfishness. When you don’t get the desired result (researchers call this a “reward-prediction error”), not only do your dopamine levels fall, they plummet from the heightened level generated by your expectations. Now, instead of receiving a double shot of dopamine, you receive none. You crash doubly hard: “Not only do you not get what you wanted,” the article states, “but you also feel the displeasure of having been wrong.” The point? “Losing hurts even worse … when it’s not what you were expecting.”

Spare a thought for the disciples. They were not in lockdown but a shutdown. Not only did they witness the brutal crucifixion of their Master, but their expectation and their dreams died with Jesus on the cross. The whole Christian community suffered a ‘reward-prediction error’. Until the resurrection, that is

Start contemplating Merritt’s conclusion: “No longer do I ground my sense of worth in accomplishments and accolades. Or pretend that God will keep me healthy or heal my every ache and pain. I have traded these lies for a truth: that in times of difficulty, God offers us his presence, not a parachute. This exchange has transformed my disappointment into disillusionment. And disillusion turned out to be a horrible, wonderful gift.