Social work is all about power, I figure. Clients come to you, assuming that you have 'expert' power. You do have the power to help them change, but only to the extent that the client wants to change. More importantly, you have to give the power of change to clients, by giving them information about the options they have, and the choices they can make.
In other words, stand beside them at the crossroads but don't point out which road to take.
Or rather, employ ventriloquist techniques and whisper in their ear until they know which road best to take, but still believe it's their own decision. (Hopefully they don't think they're getting schizophrenic)
In other words, it's a bit like playing God.
Some people, in their most desperate or despondent moments, religion notwithstanding, might find themselves appealing to God/a god, known or unknown, in the hope that if God is as powerful as He makes himself out to be, He can provide some sort of answer to their problems. Expert Power. And God does have the power to make things different, make them feel/cope better (as iffy as it sounds), even if their problems remain. But there is that one step of faith that the person has to take first - to acknowledge that he has a problem and wants to be freed from his old, not-fully-functional life.
And then there are others who feel that it is difficult to stomach the knowledge that God is the master chess player and we are all pawns in his plan for the world. But inherent in that statement is the assumption that we are all obedient mindless blobs, which couldn't be farther from the truth, which resembles something like all the pawn pieces turning on their own team and checkmating their king.
Well. I suppose we do have a choice as to how to lead our life, even if God already knows what is going to happen. Pre knowledge doesn't interfere with choice (let's leave predestination aside for the moment.) For those who do believe in God, the quiet voice that prompts us at the crossroads we don't see as interfering with choice, but sparing us from taking the long (and probably tedious) way around.
So I suppose it all comes down to perspective. What exactly is choice? The ability to make wise, informed decisions about the future, or the ability to do what we want and engage in gratitious self destruction (which sometimes seems an attractive option)?
I'm not trying to elevate the social work profession, just trying to reconcile its values with Christianity, despite the rather tenuous link.
And, quartet conversations are getting intensely thought-provoking. I like.
