religion & our locus of evaluation

Religion can impact our locus of evaluation. Here’s what this means:

According to Carl Rogers, there are two ways in which we evaluate ourselves & make judgments: internally or externally.

An internal locus of evaluation means that we assess the world & judge ourselves based on our own internal values & intuition. An external locus of evaluation means we look externally to determine what we think about ourselves.

We are taught through experience that looking externally feels safer: when we gauge our performance or make our decisions based on what others would do or what we are told is “right,” we have a greater chance of success, belonging & acceptance.

Since an internal locus of evaluation threatens that acceptance & belonging, we can easily lose sense of our intuition. We forget what we think is best & we forget how to listen to our gut when we are faced with a choice.

This is especially pertinent when religion is added to the mix. Religion is our moral compass or our deeply ingrained external locus of evaluation—we look to what we are taught by leaders, scriptures, & lessons to know how to act & what to be.

It feels simple & easy to go along with whatever we are told to do. But this not only keeps us from developing an internal locus of evaluation, it keeps us in an external perspective, always thinking of what others would do.

This external locus of evaluation can keep us in a state of comparison & a judgmental mindset. This might bring constant awareness that others are also looking to us with that same comparison & judgment (also known as hypervigilance).

*You can read more of these posts on my instagram page, @religious.trauma.with.emilee