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The Practice

December 13, 2023

I sit back in my chair in my office. I often like to sit back with my feet resting on the desk and laptop in my, well, lap. Staring at my bookshelves, I see one of the several books I’ve turned facing out. This reminds me of a book I wish to remember.

There at the top is Seth Godin’s The Practice: Shipping Creative Work. I highly recommend this one.

I have been thinking about style versus substance. Let’s say, for example, at church. The example works also for personal development seminars and even technology presentations. But, let’s stick with church.

There are churches that specialize on experience. You go, as if to a rock concert. You expect to be entertained. You’ll get some lively music. Perhaps a few words about the work of the organization. Then a teacher will try for the final 30 minutes to get you motivated. Then you leave.

And life goes on.

I’ve been involved with people whose focus is on decision. The focus is on getting another person to decide to believe in Jesus.

I’ve always been haunted by the question—then what?

I might like the entertainment, the style, for a brief moment. Maybe I say Hi to a few people I see each week. And that is it.

But where is the mentor relationship? The depth? Beginning the practice of following Jesus?

Yesterday I fast-walked about 3 miles followed by resistance weight training followed by 20 minutes in the hot tub. Today, Yoga replaced the resistance work. It’s my daily practice. Just like a daily practice of writing. And meditation. Well, also of eating nutritionally dense meals (thanks to my wife).

The challenge—how do we help people begin and maintain the practice of following Jesus? I think that is a lot of what Paul and James tried to do in their letters. Get us out of our comfort zone and both practice and help others practice.

Posted in Disciplines, Habits | Leave a Comment »

Dawning of the Age

December 12, 2023

When the moon is in the Seventh House

And Jupiter aligns with Mars

Then peace will guide the planets

And love will steer the stars

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius

The Age of Aquarius

Aquarius! Aquarius!

Harmony and understanding

Sympathy and trust abounding

No more falsehoods or derisions

Golden living dreams of visions

Mystic crystal revelation

And the minds true liberation
5th Dimension

It is dark outside my office window in the early morning at this time of year. I thought perhaps I was staring at Mars in the western sky. It was probably an airplane. We are on a flight path to Chicago’s O’Hare airport.

Thinking of Mars reminded me of that 5^th Dimension song from the psychedelic 60s. Dawning of the Age of Aquarius. Fifty-five years later we don’t seem to have harmony and understanding and sympathy and trust abounding.

There were predictions (hopes?) like that, even greater in fact, 2026 years ago (give or take a few months). The coming of the Prince of Peace and Lord of Lords. Yes, those were the titles taken by Caesar Augustus and then co-opted and used to describe the Jewish Messiah called Jesus.

Those words—harmony, understanding, sympathy, trust, no falsehoods, no derisions—can also be used to describe the type of person who follows Jesus. Yet, oftentimes during this ensuing 2,000 years his followers have exhibited the opposite. Look around even today and see the actions of some people claiming to be followers. Of course, many do.

There is a Christian theology that Jesus must come back to finish the work he started. That’s not a theology that has impacted me all that much. I live in the present, not in the future. And I think that Jesus thought we should be living lives like he taught us beginning now and not waiting to live sometime in the future.

We can start (continue) to live those values right now. Don’t wait for a New Year’s Resolution. The best time is now.

Posted in advent, Disciplines, Waiting | Leave a Comment »

Can’t Sit Still?

December 7, 2023

Blaise Pascal, 17^th century French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic writer, said, “Many of our major problems derive from our inability to sit still in a room.”

Pioneering Swiss psychologist Carl Jung told of a patient who exhibited anxiety and restlessness. Jung prescribed for him to go home, go to his office, close the door, and sit for a few hours every day.

The patient returned for his next appointment stating that he didn’t feel any better. Jung asked about his day. He said, well, I sat in my chair. Then I got a book and went through a few pages. Then I got out my violin and played for a short while. Then I tried another book.

Jung reprimanded him, “I told you to sit quietly. Just be with yourself. Just sit.”

Modern psychology? Pascal prescribed that 300 years earlier.

If you cannot stand to be alone with yourself for even an hour or even a half-hour a day, is it any wonder that others cannot stand to be with you, either?

The story concerns an elementary schoolroom from many years ago, but it could be yesterday. The teacher noticed that while she was explaining something a little boy sat staring out of the window. “What are you doing, little boy?” asked the teacher. “Thinking,” replied the boy. “Don’t you know you’re not supposed to think in class?” responded the teacher before realizing the irony.

The boy was on the right track. Finding time to sit and think is a good thing. Try it.

Posted in Disciplines, Meditation, Thinking | Leave a Comment »

Blessing for Work

December 6, 2023

I was greatly blessed at work. For most of the positions I held, I was the first person to hold the position. I had the opportunity to forge new paths and ways of doing things. Yes, I had several terrible bosses that cost my health for a bit. But many more were the bosses who taught and provided opportunities for growth. Most of the time I did not feel like a functionary simply filling in my time—like the protagonist in Franz Kafka’s eerie story of the man who turned into a cockroach over night.

Given an Irish and Welsh ancestry and vast eclectic reading habits, I don’t know how I missed John O’Donohue. Jerry Colonna introduced us in his book Reunion: Leadership and the Longing to Belong.

O’Donohue seems (although I haven’t found the document to study) to be the closest to my interpretation to the German philosopher GWFHegel, The Phenomenology of Spirit. That enough was enough of an enticement. But it his capture of the Celtic spirit that captivated me.

In the fourth chapter of Anam Cara (soul friend), he discusses work. And how modern work can be soulless robbing us of imagination and creativity. (He also references an early essay of Karl Marx about the alienation of the worker in modern industrial work. One of my favorites.)

With that long introduction, I will leave you with O’Donohue’s blessing for work.

May the light of your soul guide you.

May the light of your soul bless the work you do with the secret love and warmth of your heart.

May you see in what you do the beauty of your own soul.

May the sacredness of your work bring healing, light, and renewal to those who work with you and to those who see and receive your work.
John O’Donohue

Posted in Disciplines, Grace, Work | Leave a Comment »

Perceived but False Problems

November 30, 2023

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that ain’t so.” — Josh Billings

Peter Diamandis, engineer, doctor, entrepreneur, calls this an example of “Category 3 Problems.” These are perceived, but false problems. Problems that are either based on false data, outdated trends, cognitive biases, or a scarcity mindset. Most importantly (and perniciously), they prevent us from recognizing all the progress we’ve made and blind us to the opportunities in front of us for innovation and creating a world of abundance.

Diamandis preaches “abundance” thinking as opposed to “scarcity” thinking. Some people only see the negatives. Even when things are objectively better (like right now) people probably driven by a media propagating constant negativity and bad news feel as if they are living in scarcity.

I hear echoes of Jesus calling us to live in the abundance of the Spirit within the Kingdom of Heaven. I hear the apostle Paul describing the Fruit of the Spirit or life beyond the Law.

We can grab that life and learn to dispel those things we know for sure that just ain’t so.

Posted in Attitude, Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

Study Groups

November 29, 2023

Did you ever wonder why the Hebrew scriptures are appended to the stories about Jesus and the early church along with advice to the first followers?

Let’s take a look at a story from the Christian scriptures called the Road to Emmaus found in Luke’s history. Two of Jesus’s followers were walking to a village called Emmaus shortly after the death and resurrection of Jesus. They were trying to get their minds around these sudden turns of events.

A man joined them along the way. He explained to them from the Hebrew scriptures the meaning of Jesus’s coming, ministry, death, and resurrection. They sort of went, “Wow, that makes sense.” They reached a house and had something to eat. The stranger took a loaf of bread, blessed it, and broke it. The two guys went something like, “Hey, wait a minute, you’re Jesus, aren’t you?” And the man disappeared.

The first Jesus-followers took that story to heart and searched through those ancient texts looking for every mention that could point to Jesus. And that is why the first council of bishops back in the 4^th Century appended the section we call the Old Testament to the Christian scriptures called the New Testament when then compiled the first Bible. (Yes, there was no Bible for 300 years.)

Now let me take you to a different time and place. I attended freshman chemistry with 699 of my closest friends. Well, actually, I probably knew 10. Grading was done on a strict normal curve. A small percentage received As, a larger group received Bs, a massive group got Cs, a group larger than the Bs got Ds, and a group larger than the As received Fs.

I was getting Cs. Then somehow I was invited to form a small chemistry study group. We went over the texts and notes before the tests (there were two tests that combined formed your grade). After being in the study group, my grade went to B.

Yes, I’m suggesting that small study groups form a tool that would be of great help in pursuing your spiritual discipline of study.

I suggest a few ground rules.

Agree that everyone is willing to learn new things
Keep an open mind
Don’t let someone with fixed opinions on everything to dominate the discussion—a good leader/moderator gets everyone involved
Keep discussion open and civil
Agree to disagree (agreement is nigh on to impossible at times)
Psychologist Adam Grant says that we all tend to either be prosecutors, preachers, or politicians meaning that we have the right answer and seek to impart it; rather be a scientist who puts forth a hypothesis and then invites disagreement in order to prove or disprove it.

Footnote: I have read a few Jewish Rabbis who have rebutted the claims of those early Christians about John as a prophet and Jesus as a Messiah. They “prove” from text and tradition that neither meet the criteria. That is the intellectual reason that in general Jews do not accept the entire Christian story.

Posted in Disciplines, Study | Leave a Comment »

Put Christ Back in Christian

November 27, 2023

I had a few minutes to browse on Facebook the other day and saw a cartoon.

The older couple sit side-by-side on a couch. He says, “We need to put CHRIST back in CHRISTmas.” She replies, “I’d settle for putting CHRIST back in CHRISTian.”

I showed it to my wife. She just said, “Well, that’s so you.”

Perhaps the description is annoyed. Or disappointed. Or even despair. That’s what I feel when people grab media headlines portraying themselves as christian when simultaneously exhibiting no signs of the spirit of Jesus.

That has become so pervasive (not among a majority of people, but among a majority of headline seekers) that I prefer not to refer to myself as Christian identifying with them. I prefer to describe myself as what I try to be—a follower of Jesus.

Ignatius of Loyola developed a spiritual practice of The Examen. I don’t practice it exactly every night, but most nights I ask myself how have I been a good follower and where have I missed an opportunity and fallen short. And I always fall short somewhere. Which gives me room to be better the next day.

This is a good practice for those of us who profess to be followers to perform. Doing it honestly with self-awareness keeps us humble and striving to be better at following. And if enough people do that, maybe it could be a movement. And maybe we could put Christ back in Christian.

Posted in Awareness, Disciplines, Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

You’ve Got To Know When To Hold’em Know When To Fold’em

November 8, 2023

Apologies to Kenny Rogers, but I’ve just finished two books packed with research and advice on growing in our interpersonal relationships. As a socially challenged geek, I need all the help I can get.

One book STFU: The Power of Keeping Your Mouth Shut, Dan Lyons tells us how is overpowering urge to talk almost cost him a relationship with his family when he found himself alone in an apartment. He reflected on a life filled with chatter. He worked on learning to maintain quiet. This is a superpower I wish I had. I can be quiet. If someone brings up a subject with which I’m conversant, I will, er, converse….

I used to tape a little label on my phone case: STFU. It was a reminder that I sometimes heeded.

Of course a good essay needs a compare and contrast (one of my political science professor’s favorite test question). NY Times and The Atlantic columnist and author David Brooks explored how to have significant conversations in order to learn How To Know A Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen.

Shall we stop and reflect on our interactions with others? Do we find ourselves talking at someone or talking with someone? Talking with requires that we actually hear the other person. And not only the words that vibrate our hearing system. What are they saying between the lines? What expressions do they hold? What was left out? Posture? Gaze?

I think a teacher of personal growth could take this book and turn it into a meaningful short-term class.

A particularly moving chapter tells the story of the depression and eventual suicide of Brooks’ lifetime friend. How he didn’t even realize the depth of depression. How he didn’t see the suicide coming. His lesson came later as he realized that not being a professional there was nothing he could have done to heal his friend. But he reflected on the many times he could have heard, deeply heard, his friend. That would have been helpful, if not healing.

Compare and contrast? Sometimes you have to be quiet and really listen to the person you’re with.

Posted in Disciplines, Listening, Relationship | Leave a Comment »

Jesus Was a Hard “A”

November 7, 2023

This professor randomly “cold calls” on students during class. Students must attend class and stay awake. They must all be prepared and ready to speak to the topic at any moment on any of the topics covered.

Is this scary? Do students dread the class? On the contrary. Students love it. The class is oversubscribed. Everyone in the class is involved and committed to the class and to learning. There is no waste.

The professor in my freshman chemistry class should have been so cool. Of course, 350 students in a large lecture hall renders such intimacy impossible. I had mistakenly pledged a fraternity that year. (If you haven’t figured out from my writing that my lack of social awareness should have precluded any such idea, well, then I have not revealed enough of myself.) We were encouraged to hang out with “pledge brothers” wherever we were. One of the guys was a ringleader type who invented a crude religion during the lectures instead of paying attention and being invested in the course. I got better grades when I left the fraternity and actually studied with a small group.

Thinking of these teaching and learning styles, I realized that Jesus was a hard A. He also asked hard questions seemingly at random. Even when you were positive of the right answer, say quoting from Scripture, he’d prove you wrong. He took a harder stance, often turning the answer upside down from cultural knowledge.

It pays to be awake when we study the words and actions of Jesus—as well as the words of Paul and James and John—for those times when they upset our preconceived ideas and teach us a new way of seeing the world and others.

We need to be prepared. That means reading and reflecting and observing.

Posted in Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

Brother Lawrence Shows His Relationship With God

November 2, 2023

What you are speaks so loudly it drowns out what you say.

Psychologists who study these things tell us that our children learn more from what we do and how we act than what we tell them.

We get passed aggressively while driving. The car gets around us. We notice a couple of bumperstickers proclaiming “Jesus Saves” and “Follow Me to Church.” We think, “If that’s Christian, I don’t want any part of it.”

I’m reading an early 18^th century book on the life of Brother Lawrence. He was a monk in the late 17^th century renowned for his walk with God. The book is Practice of the Presence of God.

As Brother Lawrence had found such an advantage in walking in the presence of God, it was natural for him to recommend it earnestly to others; but his example was a stronger inducement than any arguments he could propose. His very countenance was edifying, such a sweet and calm devotion appearing in it as could not but effect the beholders.

Reflecting upon such spiritual examples convicts me of my social shortcomings. When did I say something unkind? When did I fail to ask and then listen? When did I grab something at the buffet before someone else could get it? When did I ignore someone when I could have said a kind word?

Posted in Disciplines, Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

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