Welcome to the MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my twelfth episode. Tonight we are going to talk about slowing down. For the past year, I’ve put the pedal to the floor in my pursuit of truth. The learning experience has been nothing short of mesmerizing – and I’ve loved every minute of it. As I sit here writing this episode, I’ve come to understand that you can learn a lot from the process of learning as well as the topic you are learning about. I said in my first episode that one of the best ways to learn about something is to talk about it. Producing these episodes and preaching sermons from the pulpit has taught me something valuable. I’ve learned that it is extraordinarily easy to get moving way too fast and with far too much force. Think of a snowball rolling down a hill. At first you have to give it a push or it won’t even move. Once the snowball builds momentum it begins to move faster and accumulate more snow – increasing it’s mass and weight and causing it to move even faster. The speed builds and so does the force behind it.
A person’s focus while in the process of learning something can have a similar development. At first, the focus is necessary or else the process will never begin. As the process begins to bear fruit, the person’s focus increases also. Across time, the person becomes increasingly efficient at learning and assimilating new information. The problem arises when the person’s focus becomes so formidable that he or she begins to lose sight of everything that exists on the periphery. The person has become so efficient at listening and learning from relevant sources that he begins to filter out which sources he pays attention to. This filtration is a good thing when it is under the control of the learning person. However, because the focus has sharpened by orders of magnitude the person begins to unintentionally filter sources. Source filtration becomes automated and otherwise useful information gets ignored before the person is even aware they ignored it.
The most detrimental effect of automated filtration occurs when the person is no longer conscious of the events happening in his body. The person’s body can display outward signs of stress – loud, emphatic speaking, sweating, racing thoughts, restlessness. Typically, these events would be pronounced and the person would know that he or she needs to relax. The hyper-focused person can get into a state where all of these events are present and he never notices them. But the body does notice and they are very unhealthy for the body. And so I’m testing a new method in this particular episode. I’m actively trying to remain slow, calm, stable, and articulate in my speech. The temperature of my thought is much cooler – like a lake on an autumn evening. Where before, my thoughts were like a torrent released from a broken dam. It’s nearly impossible to listen to the body when thoughts are racing like that. Ironically, I decided to listen to a few episodes of Sam Harris’s podcast and he was discussing meditation. I admire Sam’s relaxed tone in his podcast – his slow, deliberate speaking.
In addition to impairment of the ability to listen to the body, being hyper-focused also makes it incredibly difficult to listen to God. My efforts become my will instead of God’s will – ensuring their failure. I have a proclivity to feel like I need to get things done by my own timing. This is a mistake, as the Bible teaches us God’s timing is perfect and he will execute his plans accordingly. When I used to think about that, I couldn’t reconcile the idea of making any sort of meaningful progress if we are all just sitting around waiting on God to do it. My error was in thinking that either I had to be flooring it with my efforts or doing nothing at all while listening for God. A more accurate description of the right way to do things is this:
In all that you do, move slowly and deliberately. Commit your whole self to your goals, but be satisfied with incremental progress. Incremental progress is much better than huge leaps and bounds anyway. Imagine a pyramid – a pyramid is laid down in course by course of cut and measured stones – not thrust into the atmosphere by two or three giant slabs of rock leaning upon each other. The two or three giant slabs of rock are far less stable than the incremental pyramid. They are more like a house of cards, waiting to be blown over by the first gust of wind.
There is a verse of Scripture found in the book of Ecclesiastes that speaks nicely to what we’re thinking about. It is chapter 3 verse 11 and it reads:
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. In its time. I really like that.
Here is an interesting question for you: do you think it is the meaning of words that has the power to make the most impact on a listener or the tone of voice? I’m not asking if tone matters, because I know it does. I also believe listeners gain information from tone. But if the speaker chooses the right words and the context of his message paints a beautiful picture for the listener, is that enough? I know when I first began doing this I felt a strong affinity for choosing the right words. I still do. I feel most effective when I’m only thinking about the words and painting a masterpiece with them – as if they are each a stroke of the brush. When trying to convey ideas, does anything else really matter? Do you even need visuals if you can speak a visual into the mind’s eye of your listener? One of the reasons I use a calm, relaxed logo as the backdrop for my audio is so that you can focus on my voice.
While you’re thinking about those questions, let’s move on to the topic of productivity. There’s evidence to maintain that productivity increases when a worker rests adequately. This is one method clinical psychiatrists will use with people who suffer from workaholism. Many workaholics are obsessed with productivity. It’s like the productivity creates a dopamine loop in their brain and they become addicted to it. So a workaholic will go into the psychiatrist’s office with an 80 – 90 hour work week. The psychiatrist will begin by measuring the productivity of the worker across the span of a few weeks. Then the psychiatrist will ask the worker to rest one whole day per week, and they will measure the productivity again for a few more weeks. The psychiatrist will then compare the productivity levels and the worker can see that his or her productivity increased when rest was incorporated.
And then there’s this to consider. 1 Timothy 2:1-4, which reads:
I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.
I remember when I first came to Christ the feeling of peace and quiet that came over me. I loved it. You just want to be in that peace forever. I think as a worker, if you lose that peace, you also lose your effectiveness. You can’t do much good if you’re constantly bouncing off the walls here and there trying to achieve this and that. But what you can do is derail your peace. My love and excitement for philosophy causes me to think in overdrive about all of the different levels of rationality in the biblical truths. Peaceful reflection beats over-driven thinking every time. In effectiveness and desirability. Peace of mind is one of Christ’s greatest gifts to us in this life. One of my greatest weaknesses is in thinking that I have to do all of the work for him. He’s God – He’s already done the work. The best thing we can do is relax, be at peace, and live in peace with those around us. The effect of that is greater than any amount of good work you can do.
Now, don’t get me wrong – good work is necessary to advance the Kingdom of God on earth. But if you’re not exuding peace in the process – you’re basically spinning your wheels for nothing. There’s a Mark Wahlberg movie called Shooter where Wahlberg says: slow is smooth and smooth is fast. That could not be more true. When you move slowly – whether you’re trying to lose weight, trying to learn something, or writing a book – you can actually begin to enjoy the process of doing it. When you expect immediate results in any work there only two possibilities: One, you don’t get immediate results so you become frustrated and quit. Two, you work so hard for so long that the work becomes more important to you than the results and you end in burnout. Studying the things of God is the first and only venture I’ve ever done where I haven’t hit burnout. Not even close. It’s like when I start building up to an unhealthy speed I get this overwhelming pull to slow down and listen. The result is that my energy and desire feels unlimited. It’s like it recycles itself. I’ve never experienced anything like it.
So that’s the rationale behind the topic of this episode. I’m going to continue to listen to my atheist friend Sam Harris’s podcast – his teachings on meditation and relaxation are going to be very valuable to my work in the Kingdom of God. Ironic I know – but God is the God of all people and he endows the most unlikely persons with the greatest wisdom sometimes. I hope you find utility in this discussion. It’s far less structured than my standard work. Just me writing out my thoughts and feelings and what I’m finding useful for myself. That’s something else I’ve learned – never assume that you’re the only one struggling with what you’re struggling with. If you find a good solution to a problem – tell people. Be a participant in the free market of ideas because you never know when you’ll say something someone else needs to hear. You could unleash a positive ripple effect that survives well beyond your natural lifetime – simply by sharing your ideas.
If you find this content valuable, feel free to share it and to use it in your own studies. If you’d like to support this podcast, you can do so at http://www.patreon.com/michaelhbaun. There is a link in the description. Your generosity goes a long way to promoting the growth of this enterprise and the cause of free speech. Thank you all for joining me this evening, and I will see you in the next episode.
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