Go back

Process-Oriented-Thinking

Process oriented thinking (POT) means that a person values the process over the result. Thus, what matters most is that things are done correctly, not what the result may be. (This opposes Result Oriented Thinking, ROT).

Claim: Process oriented thinking is more important than result oriented thinking.

For example, a student with the POT mindset cares more about learning the subject and studying hard, than he cares for the grade he gets from the exam. The grade is not insignificant, but ultimately it is not what brings meaning. Thus the student will not cheat on his exam to achieve a better grade, because the process of studying and learning is more important that the grade.

This can be applied to evil. When evil takes place, POT tells us that the evil in question is the moral crime. ROT tells us that the evil in question is the suffering of the victim. One could argue that the criminal is always the victim.

The contrast can be described as follows: POT loves the Creator, ROT loves the Creation.

Christians mostly believe in POT aswell, as they believe that having faith in God is the most important thing. One can try and make good results in their lifetime, but all of that is fundamentally irrelevant if they deny God. This also helps explain how poor, sick and incapable people can still go to Heaven, despite the fact that they might literally be incapable of "doing good deeds", aka. making good results. Fundamentally it's faith in God that matters most.

Similarly, even the most horrendous criminals can have a change of heart, put their faith in God and have their sins forgiven, despite the fact that they caused a lot of suffering (bad results) in their lives.

Evil has already taken place before the murderer's knife touches his victim's throat.