I Hear Dead People

Ever hear voices in your head that won’t go away? Or maybe it’s the other extreme and it is deathly silent without a peep from your whispering conscience. Or possibly you wished there was a bit more of an audible prompt telling you which direction to go next so the forthcoming decision isn’t so daunting or terrifying.

Forget the angel on your right shoulder duking it out with a little red devil on the left. That’s nonsense and just for cartoons or comics. But I do believe we battle with our minds as we look out on the horizon wondering what’s out there and if there’s a different or better road to take. It’s easy to second guess the first step or even worse just stand still paralyzed because our doubts keep us from doing anything or going anywhere.

On the flip side, I’m convinced our culture is so darn noisy and moving so fast that it’s nearly impossible to see or hear anything unless we simply turn it off. I’m too easily sucked in when it gets uncomfortably quiet that I quickly shout out to Alexa to play me some Springsteen. Ahh, there’s nothing like loud music or ridiculous reality TV so I can’t hear my wife or kids or the deep dark parts of my soul. Sounds stupid but that’s what most of us actually do. We plug in our ear buds pretending nothing can penetrate our shiny Instagram armor.

But what if we actually chose to power off our phones for a spell and cut the cord from everything that drowns out the stuff that actually matters and adds value? How about walking or biking to our destination rather than speeding around corners based on the fastest route as dictated into our bluetooth speakers by lady Google? Might we start seeing and hearing things that pass by us every day because we’re just too distracted?

I’m beyond thankful that I get to swim in the deep end of my own thoughts at the moment. The luxury of time is so rare these days that I’m purposefully not in a hurry to let it slip away. But I’m also increasingly leery of me, myself, and I. If I just played back the recording of my own ideas and aspirations, I fear I’ll quickly begin to buy into our culture’s propaganda of me. And then I might just think I deserve something or that I can claim ownership of everything within reach. My voice would quickly turn into the birds in Finding Nemo chanting, “mine, mine, mine, mine.”

So what’s the cure to thinking beyond myself or seeing the bigger picture? I’m learning that one of the most powerful contributors to hearing constructive voices is by reading at least an hour every day. For me, I’ve been taught that the most consistent and relevant voice comes straight out of the Bible, which is living and active if you’ve spent much time reading and studying the entire redemption narrative. And certainly there are many authors who pen inspirational books supporting or clarifying or instructing us based on scripture. Historically, that’s all I used to drink in when it came to downloading wisdom and guidance.

More recently, I’ve also been diving deeper into strategic and thoughtful business books, podcasts, and leadership events to help round out additional content that has surprised me in its relevance for my life. Not because these insights make me sharper on my toes for my next business venture or leadership credentials. But because universal truths are universally true. Meaning there are so many parallel discoveries and ultimately applications from business to life, and vice versa from life to business.

And by life I don’t just mean core principles and values. I’m talking about the deep substance of meaning and purpose. I believe if we’re doing it right, these aren’t separate tracks that are parallel at all but they actually converge into one track and one story. Also known as just life. We have one life to live, and it doesn’t make much sense to me that we end up separating a work life, a family life, a social life, and a spiritual life all apart from each other.

So I press on to read as much as I can for as long as I can. Being a student and perpetual learner means something totally different to me today than when I was actually in school or early in my career. One of the podcast statements that really stuck out to me this summer is that our current culture is really passionate but really misinformed. And the combination of being outraged and ignorant is wildly dangerous.

But knowing isn’t enough either. Knowledge without application isn’t worth much, which is actually repeated a number of times in the Bible. My favorite analogy on this comes from James who says hearing without doing is like looking at ourselves in the mirror and then immediately forgetting what we look like. It’s like we disappear from relevance when we aimlessly walk around without taking action or stick our fingers in our ears so we can ignore the voices.

Not sure about you, but I’d rather listen to those who came before me. And not just the older and wiser authors who can write about their expertise and latest experiences. One of my mentors just sent me a list of his top 10 dead people to read, from A.W. Tozer to Watchman Nee. It’s a challenge that I’m eager to embrace as there’s so much to learn yet so little time. Well, maybe I have a little more time than most that will open the door to “brand new” ideas that just need to be recycled a bit. After all, there’s nothing new under the sun.

But at least I’ll be able to say that I hear dead people.