The basic psychological problem is trying to be what we are not, and trying to carry what we cannot carry.  Most of all, the basic problem is not being willing to be the creatures we are before the Creator.  Let us imagine that you meet Atlas and he is carrying the world on his shoulder.  In classical mythology he has no problem in carrying the world on his shoulder, because he is Atlas!  You meet him walking somewhere on the shores of North Africa, where the Atlas Mountains are.  He sees you coming and says, ‘Here, you carry the world for a while.’  And you are squashed.  You are squashed because you cannot carry what you have been handed.  The psychological parallel is that man is trying to be the center of the universe and refuses to be the creature he is.  He is trying to carry the world on his shoulder and is crushed by the simple factor that it is too much for him to bear.  There is nothing complicated about it; he is squashed in trying to bear what no one except God himself can bear because only God is infinite.   

The squashing can come in various ways.  When you pump too much air into a weak tire, it will blow out.  The reason for this blowout is the excessive pressure, but the actual break comes at the point of the weakness in the tire.  Since the Fall, we all have points of weakness.  With some of us it tends to be physical; with some it tends to be psychological.  If we carry what we cannot, the blowout will come and it will come at the place of our inherent weakness.  The central, overwhelming pressure is that of needing to be the integration point of all things because we are not willing to be the creatures we are.  We refuse to acknowledge the existence of God, or—even though acknowledging his existence intellectually—in practice we refuse to bow before him in the midst of our moment-by-moment lives.   

Christian doctrine speaks first in rational answers, and then in practice, to the psychological results of man’s revolt since the fall.  In other words, it is not necessary to search for psychological healing outside the total structure of Christian doctrine.  The Christian gospel is the answer (to the questions related to existence and the problems associated with existence) not only theoretically but also in practice within the unity of the biblical teaching, and specifically within the unity of the creature-Creator relationship, and the redeemed-Redeemer relationship.  Within the structure of the unity of biblical teaching there is the possibility not only of theoretical psychology, but also of practical psychology.  (Stated more simply:  The answers to life and how life is best lived in order to achieve alignment with the highest purpose and intention for living life; the answers are found in the manufacturer’s handbook..it’s all about purpose, design, intention, and aligning with the author and designer of it all 🙂)  

Thoughts developed or used directly from the work of Schaeffer, Francis. True Spirituality . Tyndale House Publishers, Inc