Faith Venture

Thinking About Thinking About Prayer

October 16, 2023

I remember in my youth when Janis Joplin sang, “Oh, Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz.”

Are our prayers a variation on that theme? Asking for something from the big vending machine in the sky?

Maybe it’s more meaningful than getting a luxury vehicle. Maybe it’s for health, ours or someone we know. Or maybe impossible things like peace in the Middle East. Or just to pass the next Algebra test. (That may seem impossible to some.)

Some of these things we ask for just are not going to happen, no matter how much we believe in miracles.

Funny thing about God is the expectation that we have some responsibility for many of the objects of our prayers. After years or even decades of abusing our bodies, we pray for health. After years of bad decisions from not listening to the wisdom of scriptures, we pray for a miracle to get us out of trouble.

So some (many?) prayers go unanswered. But Jesus said if we ask for it we’ll get it. How to reconcile? We didn’t believe enough? Most likely there was an answer that we either didn’t recognize or don’t want to follow through.

Maybe we just have things backwards. How often have we been advised, “Just shut up and listen.”

Sometimes we just need to get things out of our mind and pile them on someone else. If a neighbor isn’t handy, then God will do. I suggest that before we seriously dump on God that we settle into the spirit. Then listen for God. Gaining perspective, we can converse, speaking and listening. Devote a little time to it. We will probably be surprised at the answers.

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Gratitude

October 13, 2023

The world became even crazier this week. The war in Ukraine appears to be reaching a stalemate situation where they just keep senselessly killing people and destroying property. Then Hamas invades Israel. I’ll not get into why this and why that. It’s a tension that builds and necessarily reaches a pressure point occasionally and explodes.

Yet, here I am. Safe from those atrocities. Home again from another technology conference where I met with old friends and new friends and discussed software and technology that solves problems to make the world a better place.

I, and millions (billions?) of people like me, have much for which to be grateful.

We must not only accept our situation as such, but express thanks to God and those around us for our being in this favorable situation.

Do not take it for granted. Things can change tomorrow. Be grateful today.

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Tension Builds Until

October 12, 2023

Two sides. Two people. Two groups.

Tension builds between them. Maybe it is mutual animosity. Or mutual fear. Or differing desires.

In my case, it is a game. Two teams are playing soccer. The referee approaches one of the coaches to inform her of a problem with a player. Maybe instead of making the encounter as brief as possible, the referee wants to explain more. The coach wants to tell the referee that she missed a foul. One word leads to the next word. Suddenly it’s an argument. The referee ejects the coach.

A simple encounter that could have been brief. It escalates because no one can take a breath and calm.

Two groups of people live in an atmosphere of mutual distrust and even fear. The tension never leaves. Then there is an incident. Someone cannot take the tension any longer and strikes. Maybe with a weapon. The situation escalates.

We face these situations, small or large, often.

How do we react? Can we be the adult in the room? The one who draws the deep breath, calms, defuses the brewing confrontation?

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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.

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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?”

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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?

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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.

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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…

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