Ideas change everything (part 1)

Ideas change everything. Or, rather, the ideas we believe in change everything.

The logic here is simple: what we really believe to be true, we act on.

And, I know, in advance, some of these ideas will generate angry emails (because they’ve generated angry conversations). But, well, that’s sort of what the first one below is about:

A | We should care about others’ wellbeing, but not their opinions. Or mostly so. If we’re divvying up attention, I put the ratio somewhere around 10:1. It’s not that opinions are bad. Or even unimportant. But they’re subjective. And because there are too many variables to account for, it’s usually not helpful dwelling on the unknown.

B | We should try really hard on the work we love…and then just enough to get by on everything else. To some, this is a terrible work ethic. But this doesn’t mean waiting until we find something we love before working hard, it means leaning into what we’re really supposed to be doing. When we find that, everything else is just a stepping stone.

C | If you’re a Christian, you’re a disciple of Jesus. And if you’re a disciple of Jesus, then you’re called to ministry. I see a lot of people confusing a vocation (getting a paycheck from a church, which can come and go, depending on the economy) with the spiritual call of God to do the work of his kingdom (which is a constant for all times). The first isn’t bad. Not at all. But it’s also very much not equal to the second.

D | Everything is spiritual. Not as in, everything is a god (pantheism) or God is in everything (panentheism). But rather, everything we do and think is influenced by (and has a real impact on) the spiritual part of us. And that matters for all eternity. This is basically why Paul kept writing letters.

There’s more tomorrow. Not to tease you, I’m not a tease.

It’s because—another idea I’ve been learning—is I have to choose between deep and wide: the first does a better job of compensating for the latter than does the latter for the former.