Just as eating cow meat doesn’t turn you into a cow, studying philosophy doesn’t make you wiser.—Nassim Nicholas Taleb
We could say the same about those people who call themselves Christian, yet for all the Scripture they can quote they could not be identified by an outsider as a follower of Jesus.
Notice those who exhibit that delicate balance of knowing and doing. And others see them and think, “I’d like some of that.”
Poet and novelist Hermann Hesse on what we all can do: “To hold our tongues when everyone is gossiping, to smile without hostility at people and institutions, to compensate for the shortage of love in the world with more love in small, private matters; to be more faithful in our work, to show greater patience, to forgo the cheap revenge obtainable from mockery and criticism: all these are things we can do.”
Hermann Hesse’s writings have influenced some of my thinking. The early 20th Century German writer published several important books including Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The Glass Bead Game.
Here he summarizes several things we can all do:
Question asked of speeding driver by the traffic police person.
Lily Tomlin once said, “The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.”
From a 1950s era cartoon, “The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get.”
Are you a church-going person? Do you find yourself on eight committees plus working at a marketplace job plus caring for a family?
Have you found yourself volunteering for extra assignments at work thinking that will lead to promotions (and even more of that work)?
Need I ask anything more?
Is it time to practice saying “No”?
Buffalo Springfield sang at the beginning of For What It’s Worth, “It’s time to stop, children…”
Take a breath. Pause. Reflect.
What are the most important ways you can contribute to yourself, your family, your community, to those you meet along the way? Know that you can’t solve all the world’s problems, but you can help where you are.
Leave time for walks in nature. Conversations. Reading good books (rather than doom scrolling). When you work, work. When you are not, focus on the present.
Jesus seemed to be busy and swamped with people, yet he always stopped along the way to teach or heal or prevent an injustice. Try to be like him.
Finding good sources then returning to read them often allows you to go deeply into the material. The Bible. Shakespeare. Seneca. Thomas Merton. The Desert Fathers.
These, I return to.
I confess to being off my decades-long habit of reading the Book of Proverbs every January as a way to set a foundation for the year. The excuse was spending the first ten days of the month on a cruise to Australia and New Zealand without my usual Bible.
Poor excuse, I know.
Trying to pack light, I did bring along Anam Cara by John O’Donohue and Contemplative Prayer by Thomas Merton. I’m still slowly going through Contemplative Prayer.
Merton’s primary intended audience focuses on monks. He was a Trappist monk.
He discusses those who enter the contemplative life thinking they already know everything figuring there are spiritual shortcuts to enlightenment. He says, “The only trouble is that in the spiritual life there are no tricks and no short cuts.”
Continuing, he observes, “One cannot begin to face the real difficulties of the life of prayer and meditation unless one is first perfectly content to be a beginner and really experience himself as one who knows little or nothing, and has a desperate need to learn the bare rudiments.”
Cultivating beginner’s mind is also fundamental to Buddhist meditation practice.
But also, cultivating a beginner’s mind is foundational for developing curiosity.
As an example of my eclectic reading, this week’s MIT Sloan Management Review newsletter pointing to top articles linked to one on Essential Leadership Skills for this year. Not to hold you in suspense, they are fairness (how to treat people), curiosity (open to learning), and sense of humor (not as comedian, but as ability to laugh at yourself).
I can’t think of a better way to set a course for the year than the beginner’s mind. Being open to new experiences. Open to new ideas and information even if it causes you to rethink current positions. Open to God’s leading (rather than prayer as telling God what he ought to be doing).
We read and hear much noise about free speech these days in the US. Some people think they have a “right” to say whatever they feel like no matter the consequences or hurt caused.
The men who wrote the free speech amendment into the US Constitution were concerned not only with limiting the government’s ability to curtail speech. Reading their correspondence, we find that they were also concerned with responsible speech. They expected a discourse among people who had thought out ideas and spoke responsibly among the population.
OK, they were idealists of the “Age of Reason.”
However, this echoes what we find in the letter of James, the Apostle and brother of Jesus. He called the tongue “restless evil, full of deadly poison.”
While we exercise our right to free speech, we must be mindful of what we say lest we spread evil and deadly poison setting forests of emotions ablaze to no worthwhile end.
Not everything that is thought needs to be said.
The first time I was hired as a consultant I felt so unfulfilled afterward. My career was management and engineering. The manager of a local non-profit agency hired me to help sort out a problem. I did the research and wrote a report. Then, I walked away. What I did helped him. But I was an implementer by training.
Yes, I’ve had consulting gigs (paid and not-paid) since. I’ve learned the role of researching and providing advice. Sometimes the results are rewarding.
Seth Godin packs a lot of wisdom into his writing. He’s generous giving it away for free. His recent blog post on Good Advice suggests
The cult of consulting suggests that if you simply had better advice from someone who knew more than you, your problems could be solved. Generally, the advice isn’t really the hard part. There’s endless good advice just a click away. The art is in creating the conditions for people to choose to act on the advice. Good advice unheeded is a waste for everyone involved. That’s why expensive consultants can stay in business, and why committing to a process before you’re sure of all the details makes it far more likely that you’ll succeed.
We find in the Book of Proverbs that a wise leader seeks multiple sources of advice.
Advice is only half of the battle. Committing to the process of implementation finishes the work.
Among the subjects I study (and practice) are fitness and nutrition. From a newsletter I receive:
We’ve all seen diets come and go, but the truth about weight loss is simple: it’s not about finding the “perfect” plan; it’s about making small changes you can keep — and eating foods that keep you fuller for longer.
They found that increasing protein and fiber led to the most weight loss — and eating more of those foods ensured that you were shedding fat and maintaining more muscle.—Arnold Schwarzenegger
I find that if you shed social media gorging focusing on reading that provides the equivalent of protein and fiber, in other words, spiritual writing and wisdom literature that has stood the test of time, will reduce your spiritual, emotional, and mental fat maintaining or even growing your muscles in those areas.
I’m at an age of reflecting over a long career. Many writers in the variety of media prefer to consider how bad things have gotten. I reflect on the many improvements I’ve seen.
I’ve completed a few trips in the past month. Several things struck me.
Drinking—Maybe I’m just not invited, but I don’t see the amount of extravagant alcoholic consumption of most of my career. I saw a survey noting that the share of companies hosting the “traditional” alcoholic party declined from 90% to 64% 2007 to 2024.
Once my eyes were opened to nuances of human interaction, I began to notice the number of pick up dances. Not that I was hit on much—women instinctively know a geek when they see one. But for a time I traveled with a guy who looked a lot like Harrison Ford. I lost count of women who came up to me when he left for the restroom and asked if it was true…
On a recent trip I noticed a number of men and women at the hotel bar. Not a single attempt. Although at another trip I saw a guy who tried butting in to a girls’ night out group. He wasn’t getting anywhere.
These are but a few examples of change attitudes. I see others of people who have changed for the better over the years. Losing the edge and obnoxiousness of someone trying to achieve acceptance or notoriety; becoming more at ease in who they are.
Sure…I’m a long-term optimist. How could I be a Jesus-follower and be otherwise?
There is Understanding and Then There is Opinion
Try out some wisdom on yourself that is at least 3,000 years old. I guess people have been the same since the beginning of culture. From the book of Proverbs (18:2)
A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing personal opinion.
We experienced that often even before social media amplified it I seldom watch TV news, but what I have seen amplifies this with the appropriate (trained) facial expressions.
I catch myself—have I researched this appropriately or am I merely parroting some thought that originated in Russia or China?
Or, perhaps we violate this additional warning (18:13).
If one gives answer before hearing, it is folly and shame.
How often we impulsively blurt out an often stupid opinion on someone’s problem without ever fully listening and understanding.
I have that problem, too. Working on it…
Let’s begin the New Year with a proper state of mind and attitude.
How about 31 for 31?
January has 31 days. The book of Proverbs in the Old Testament has 31 chapters. One chapter of wisdom a day for the month of January. That should orient us for success this year.
As a special bonus for yourself, turn to the first book of the New Testament and read Matthew chapters 5-7 as a daily companion. Matthew is firmly in that Jewish wisdom tradition. Called the Sermon on the Mount, this is most likely Jesus’s standard teaching as he traveled the countryside preaching. Ground yourself this core teaching about how to live.
I retired from active soccer refereeing about seven years ago promptly gaining some weight. I started lifting weights which added muscle—and weight. Then Covid plus moving to a new state disrupted my routines not helping.
This year I made slight tweaks in workout and diet. Nothing drastic. Just eating less. Cutting out or reducing greatly foods that add weight (chips and sugary crap). Increasing aerobic intensity a little. Dedicating more effort to resistance training. 104 deg hot tub four days a week (great for metabolic health and longevity). I’ve dropped 21 pounds and more than an inch from my waist. Steel cut oats for more than half of my breakfasts helped drop cholesterol to the low side of good.
You don’t need drastic lifestyle changes unless you need to drop lots of weight. Small changes done consistently make all the difference (assuming no other overriding health issues).
Here are two tips for subtle changes with big impact. Ten fruits and ten foods added to your diet replacing ultra-processed and sugary foods.
Ten Fruits
Ten Foods
Gary Mintchell
Faith Venture 