Some Pharisees and Herodians were sent to Jesus to catch him in his words. They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”
But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
When Jesus said “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.”
What Jesus said to me was a philosophical question to me as well as a Christian one. Jesus accepted people had to follow the laws of the Roman state but their spirit (mind) belonged to the kingdom of God.
Many identify the mind/spirit as one. Most farmed the land back in the past and believed in God. Today machines have mechanised agriculture. If you accept the service sector requires people to be personable by modifying emotional experience then they may be using their spirit.
The challenge is if someone like an autistic person cannot cope in the service sector and had other passions or special interests. Then they may take ‘medication’ for the mind (perhaps to stay free and maintain their claim on benefits) because ‘Caesar’ expects them to. This prevents the mind but is considered ethical by the state.
Appendum to this thread: Function of the spirit in renewing human nature. Hymn by Stephen Langton:
Wash what is dirty
Refresh what is dry
Heal what is wounded
Bend what is stubborn
Melt what is frozen
Direct what is wandering