Page 8 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 12

“Tell the truth as these authors explores the intersection of brain

beautifully as you can.” function, mind, relationships, and spiritual
practices in a way that strives toward wholeness.
Interview with Jason Kanz (USA), the Outside of neuropsychology, I have intentio-
artist of this issue. nally pursued beauty and creativity. I have
done this through expressive writing, including
poetry, but also through painting, principally
First question: you are neuropsychologist, fa- with watercolors. I believe that if there is a si-
ther, husband, painter, poet, ... gnificant disconnect between our jobs, our fa-
What would you say to someone who is sitting mily lives, and our hobbies, we will continue to
next to you on the plane, for example, and live in a fragmented state. My hope is that each
asks what you are doing - in a few sentences? of these aspects of my identity–part of my voca-
tion–not only move me toward wholeness, but
When people ask what we do, our typical re- encourage others on their journeys as well.
sponse—as Americans anyway—is to talk about
our jobs, but that’s an incomplete answer, isn’t
it? Our vocations consist of more than our em-
ployment. When most of us hear the term voca-
tion, we think principally in terms of paid work.
However, the early reformers had a broader de-
finition of vocation. Vocation dealt with the va-
rious roles to which God has called us. So I am
not only a neuropsychologist, I am also a hus-
band, father, artist, and poet.
The idea of wholeness informs my understan-
ding of vocation. I believe God has called us
into wholeness, and it is my deepest desire to see
this play out not only in my work as a neuropsy-
chologist, but also within my relationships, my
sense of self, and my art. As the light of Christ
shines upon our wholeness, it creates a prism of
truth, goodness, and beauty. A whole life will be
one in which there is an honest search for what
is true and a commitment to live accordingly,
the practice of virtue, and learning to see the
beauty around us.
A question that I have been asking myself re-
cently, as a neuropsychologist, is “what does it
look like to help my patients moved toward a
deeper state of wholeness?” The historic prac- Second question: Are you trying to penetra-
tice of clinical neuropsychology has been about te all these aspects of your identity with the
measuring pathology. Essentially, we quantify Christian faith? How do you manage that?
disintegration. However, fields such as interper- What are your experiences with it?
sonal neurobiology (IPNB) have helped us to
see that we are not limited to detailing cerebral Yes, I do try to penetrate each of these aspects
pathology, but to help people live toward a more with my Christian faith. My Christian spiritua-
integrated state. I have been deeply influenced lity is not merely one aspect of who I am, but is
by the works of Chuck DeGroat (Wholehear- the ground of my being. My desire is that in uni-
tedness, Eerdmans, 2016) and Curt Thompson on with Christ, and as an ambassador of God’s
(Anatomy of the Soul, Tyndale, 2010). Each of

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