Gary Mintchell

Author Archive

War and Peace

October 11, 2023

Peace and Justice have formed the foundation of my outlook on life since adolescence. And I have no idea why. Maybe I really believed the words and actions of Jesus I was taught as a youth.

I had to be convinced that going to war was a defensible position. A colleague in the graduate assistant program in political philosophy shared with me his studies on “Just War” theory. I won’t support a war of aggression by anyone. But experience showed the necessity of defending oneself—personally and nationally—with force.

We already had one major war of aggression and terrorism in Eastern Europe. Now we have the breakout of another in Israel.

War breaks my heart. The terror, destruction, dehumanizing the enemy—all completely opposite of how we should be living.

We can pray for peace. We can pray for justice. What I as an individual can do, I have no idea. I wish I could.

Yet, here I am at another technology conference where I’m talking with people of many nationalities all working to solve problems of a better workplace, improved security against cyber attacks, decarbonizing our processes, creating a sustainable future.

There are bad things; there are good things. I guess that’s the way of the world.

Posted in Attitude, Justice, Peace | Leave a Comment »

Trying to Force Our Map on Reality

October 10, 2023

The Bed of Procrustes is a metaphor from an ancient Greek story about a man who wanted to fit his guests to his bed rather than having a bed that fit his guests.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his little book of aphorisms by that title talks of trying to change the wrong variable.

Drawing from that metaphor is another applicable to us. How often we try to fit the territory to the map we have in our minds, when we should change our map because the territory isn’t going to change.

We have an idea of the way things should be and are angry when reality impinges in a different way.

Then we try to force reality to fit into our mold. Then we find reality wants us to adapt to what is really going on.

Maybe we are positive that God wants us to be something or do something, when reality stares us in the face. We dream of becoming a rich, famous preacher saving millions, when, like Jesus told us

And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Matthew 25

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Cynicism and Optimism

October 9, 2023

She had me lying face down on the massage table. As her fingers drove deeply into my back, she says, “The world is going to Hell in a Handbasket.”

I did not want my massage therapist to get worked up enough to press even harder, so I used my calming voice to consider the truth of the opinion.

Of course truth or facts never get in the way of a good opinion.

The reality is where you decide or default to place your attention.

Turning off CNN or Fox (whichever poison you’ve chosen) is a great start. Then deciding not to continue to line the already bulging pockets of Mark Z or Elon M by letting them capture my attention continues the journey on this correct path.

I know there are events in the world. But I don’t dwell on them. I know there are morons in Congress. Nothing I can do about that.

I also know there are many people doing good work in the neighborhood, city, and world. I work with many smart and dedicated engineers and business people making the world a better place.

In many ways in most of the world, life is better than ever before. Yet, many people feel bad. Why? Expectations, I guess. Or where they place their attention.

At the end of the day pause and consider, “Where have I allowed my attention to drift today? Toward the good? Toward the bad?”

Posted in Attention, Awareness | Leave a Comment »

Positive Response In The Face of Negativity

October 6, 2023

Peter Diamandis writes a newsletter emphasizing developing an abundance mindset rather than a scarcity mindset. Sometimes he’s a little over the top for me, but he publishes much science-based information on health, longevity, and abundant living.

Recently he reviewed The Rational Optimist, by Matt Ridley. I have not read it, yet (too many books stacked up right now). But it sounds intriguing.

Diamandis says, “And lately, the behavior that has most caught his attention is humanity’s predilection for bad news. As Ridley puts it:

“It’s incredible, this moaning pessimism, this knee-jerk, things-are-going-downhill reaction from people living amid luxury and security that their ancestors would have died for. The tendency to see the emptiness of every glass is pervasive. It’s almost as if people cling to bad news like a comfort blanket.”

Diamandis continues, “In trying to make sense of this pessimism, Ridley, like the psychologist Daniel Kahneman, sees a combination of cognitive biases and evolutionary psychology as the core of the problem. He identifies the cognitive bias ‘loss aversion’—a tendency for people to regret a loss more than a similar gain—as the bias with the most impact on abundance. Loss aversion is often what keeps people stuck in ruts. It’s an unwillingness to change bad habits for fear that the change will leave them in a worse place than before.”

Ridley cites a number of cases where pessimists who were widely publicized were completely wrong. Sometimes, the alarm actually drove humans to change behavior in order to avert disaster. (Maybe the same may one day be said about climate change.)

I think we can learn something from this. Check out how often God (or Jesus) performed some sort of miracle, but almost always it entailed the human in the story to do something. God alerted them or helped a bit. The human was expected to step up and respond with action. Here’s a quick list just off the top of my mind as I write this:

Moses
Gideon
David
Nehemiah
Jeremiah
The rich young man
The lepers
The disciples

Where do we put ourselves? How should we be responding right now?

Posted in Attitude, Doing | Leave a Comment »

Avoiding Stupidity

October 5, 2023

“Avoiding stupidity is easier than seeking brilliance. 90% of success can be boiled down to consistently taking the simple and obvious action for an uncommonly long period of time without convincing yourself that you’re smarter than you are.”

Some days I am convinced that I cannot avoid stupidity. It just seems so natural.

This idea of consistent, simple, small and obvious actions is powerful. Every swim meet last year I encouraged my granddaughter with “that’s great, just a little better every day.” And this year she is having a great year as a freshman on a very good high school team.

I go to the gym. My routine with dumbbells varies a little, but not greatly. I am lifting five pounds more per set than at the beginning of 2023. Small victory, but victory nonetheless.

The same happened with mediation. A few minutes a day, day after day, until one day weeks later I noticed the change in personality and outlook.

I still perform occasional acts of stupidity. Fewer than before, maybe. But overall these small acts do add up.

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I See Men As Trees Walking

October 4, 2023

For several months of looking through my study window about 6 am at meditation time I saw green grass, trees, bushes, birds, people walking. Now in early October, it is dark out. I can see just the blurred dark swath of trees and bushes. Then dawn rises. I gradually make out individual trees and bushes.

That probably relates to the phrase found in so many stories—it suddenly dawned on him.

But this takes me back to a country gospel song I first heard from Johnny Cash based on Mark 8—I see men as trees walking. Jesus touched a blind man, and that was the man’s response. Then Jesus touched him a second time, and he could see clearly.

We often experience coming to understanding that same way. Patience and perseverance pay.

Several things I’ve read over the past couple of weeks have nudged me to put aside my anti-Aristotelian prejudice and read Thomas Aquinas again. Last night witnessed the beginning of this journey. Summa Theologica Part 1. (I self-identify as Augustinian rather than Thomist; Neo-Platonist rather than Aristotelian.)

I struggled through the first few questions and proofs. Then, just as the dawn’s light brought those trees into view, I got the rhythm and sense of direction of the writing.

It’s the same—reading the Bible or a teacher’s text or even learning some new math equations. With patience and persistence, meaning will come.

Posted in Awareness, discernment, Learning, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

May I Say I Don’t Know?

October 3, 2023

Has it ever happened to you? Someone asks a question. You don’t really know the answer. But we feel the urge to say something. Anything. Sometimes out of pride we make up an answer. Maybe something we heard on YouTube. Maybe something overheard on the street. It may or may not be accurate. But who cares? We needed to fill the silent void.

I was trained to write with certainty, to develop an argument, to be persuasive. And to speak that way. Even when I am throwing out an idea expecting pushback and discussion, people take it as definitive. End of discussion.

Sometimes we need to say “I don’t know. What do you think?” Sometimes just a simple I don’t know:

When someone asks how a virus spreads…

When someone asks how to interpret a difficult Greek text…

When someone asks about politics…

When someone asks, why God…

Posted in Humility, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

Body and Soul

October 2, 2023

The beginnings of Yoga according to tradition came from the desire to train the body to be able to sit in meditation for longer periods of time.

Have you an awareness of when your body tells you it just isn’t in peak form for thinking or undertaking a new task?

I had many good meetings last week in Folsom, California at the software conference. I was curious about many things. That led to many discoveries—about the software, about how people used it, and about problems they were all trying to solve.

There was one meeting that was quite unpleasant. The pain remains four days later. Rule 1 for exercising outside. Do not walk or run on a sidewalk. I was finishing. My inner brain guided me to the sidewalk outside the hotel. It was dark. There was one of those flaws you fear where one of the squares has raised. I couldn’t see it. My hands and knees met the sidewalk at full force.

The next three days revealed to me the barest glimmer of life with pain. Even with ample doses of Tylenol the brain struggled to focus on writing. I am much better today (Monday after the Thursday morning fall), but the feeling lingers.

Sometimes I make a poor food choice. Then I can feel it. I have trouble sitting and focusing on what I want to do. I know—I choose poorly.

This must be the reason the Apostle Paul used so many athletic metaphors and examples. The body is the temple, take care of it. He knew that to keep up the pace of meetings, speaking, traveling, writing, and his spiritual health, he had to maintain the physical body.

Yes, intentional physical activity and nutrition and sleep are key elements toward pursuing a rich spiritual life. Take care of yourself. And don’t walk on sidewalks, especially in unfamiliar places, in the dark!

Posted in Awareness, Physical, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

Build the Life You Want

September 29, 2023

Arthur C. Brooks teaches a happiness class at Harvard Business School. Students line up to take the class. Probably because the place is filled with people looking for happiness in all the wrong places (to paraphrase a song).

Oprah Winfrey read his bestseller, From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life, contacted him and invited to her home in California. They hit it off and agreed to collaborate on this book just out this month, Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier.

This book is readable and practical. Much of this I know and practice. Many will not have heard of this research and story. This will help you and/or someone you love.

Let’s begin with “Happiness is not the goal, and unhappiness is not the enemy.”

Philosophers from ancient times have known that happiness is a byproduct of living, not the goal of living. Yet, each generation must learn the lesson anew.

The first chapters discuss managing our emotions.

The four pillars are discussed in detail in the remainder of the book:

Family
Friends
Work
Faith (Find Your Amazing Grace)

I leave you with two takeaways.

Augustine of Hippo (St. Augustine) gave a student three pieces of advice.

The first part is humility; the second, humility; the third, humility; and this I would continue to repeat as often as you might ask direction.

Another takeaway.

We need to detach ourselves and become free of sticky cravings. We honestly examine our attachments. What are yours? Money, power, pleasure, prestige—the distractions we sought to be free of with greater emotional self-management? Dig deeper. Just maybe they are your opinions. The Buddha himself named this attachment and its terrible effects more than twenty-four hundred years ago when he is believed to have said, “This who grasp at perceptions and views go about butting their heads in the world.” More recently the Vietnamese Buddhist sage Thich Naht Hanh wrote in his book Being Peace, “Humankind suffers very much from attachment to views.”

Posted in Attitude, Awareness, emotions, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

Beating Fear of the Other

September 28, 2023

Fear of other humans—those outside our immediate tribe—may be a built-in human trait. Maybe we translate that fear into emotions such as anger or loathing or snobbery.

A great antidote is to get outside your tribal boundaries—geographical or social.

I think of this when I attend conferences. Even just being in California from the Midwest I learn that there are many nice Californians who are not all whacko.

But I have three new friends, better term than contacts I suppose, from Chennai in India. Engineers and business people. Friendly. Talking technical and business opportunities.

There are always interesting people to meet from many countries of South America and Europe. Talked with a couple of people from Australia.

But even the guys from Mexico who repaired my patio were interesting to talk with and learn how they live and where they are from.

I can look to Jesus for inspiration. He and his closest followers were Galilean. Whereas people from Judah, the southern desert, were more insular, Galileans were on the major trade route. They saw people of many races and tribes passing through. There was Jesus and the Samaritan woman. And Jesus and the Syro-Phoenecian woman. And others. And from a teacher who was supposed to (by tradition) remain aloof from any non-Jew.

People to be feared do exist. Exploring outside your comfort zone can open your eyes to good people of many cultures with whom deep conversations can happen. Experience enriches your life.

Posted in Compassion, Grace | Leave a Comment »

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