Posts in this Series
I'll be adding links to individual posts as they become available:
- Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit: A Foundation for Living
- Blessed Are Those Who Mourn: Finding Comfort in Grief Across Traditions
- [Blessed Are the Meek]
- [Blessed Are Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness]
- [Blessed Are the Merciful]
- [Blessed Are the Pure in Heart]
- [Blessed Are the Peacemakers]
- [Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted for Righteousness' Sake]
Every year, I challenge myself to learn something completely new. Not a casual hobby, but an intentional, reflective, deep dive—the kind that changes how you see things.
Early on, these adventures were physical. I trained for and ran my first marathon, learned to scuba dive, picked up windsurfing, skied five countries in Europe. Later, they became more complex: a complete house remodel (which also taught me about patience), a deep dive into Buddhism that took me to Bhutan, writing and publishing a book, even learning to grow cannabis legally and well.
This year's project combines two fascinations: the Beatitudes from Matthew 5, and artificial intelligence. I've been using ChatGPT for conversation and initial exploration, Perplexity for deep research, and Claude for synthesis and writing. It's been fascinating to see how AI can augment human curiosity without replacing the essential work of thinking and meaning-making.
Questions That Won't Go Away
As I settle into early retirement, I keep returning to the same questions: What does it mean to live well when you're no longer climbing career ladders? How do you maintain integrity and purpose outside organizational structures? What kind of person do I want to become when nobody's watching my performance metrics?
These questions led me back to a passage I've always found compelling but never deeply explored: the Beatitudes. Eight short statements Jesus made at the beginning of his most famous sermon. Simple words that have somehow shaped Western civilization's understanding of virtue.
Blessed are the poor in spirit...
Blessed are those who mourn...
Blessed are the meek...
I'm curious: What if these aren't just religious platitudes but practical wisdom about human flourishing? What if they offer insights not just for personal meaning but for leadership itself?
What I'm Really Wondering About
The more I've read about servant leadership over the years, the more I notice how its core principles echo these ancient teachings. Leaders who listen more than they speak. Who build others up rather than themselves. Who find strength in acknowledging their limitations. Who lead through influence rather than authority.
But I'm also curious about something broader: How do these insights appear in other wisdom traditions? Buddhism certainly talks about ego and compassion. Islam emphasizes mercy and humility. Hinduism teaches about surrendering false pride. Indigenous traditions honor community over individual achievement.
Are the Beatitudes uniquely Christian, or do they articulate something universal about how humans thrive together?
An Unexpected Discovery
What I didn't expect was how often these teachings feel forgotten—not just within Christianity, but across religious traditions. We seem drawn to the prescriptive rules that can be easily politicized or conveniently ignored when they conflict with power or personal advantage. Meanwhile, the deeper teachings about compassion, humility, and service—the ones that actually transform how we treat each other—get pushed aside.
Christians quote the Ten Commandments more than the Beatitudes. Muslims debate law more than mercy. Buddhists can get caught up in doctrine while missing compassion. It's as if every tradition risks losing its own heart in favor of easier, more controllable external markers.
Meanwhile, our culture seems hungry for exactly what these teachings offer: authentic leadership, genuine community, ways of engaging conflict that don't destroy relationships, models of strength that don't require dominating others.
What I'm Learning (And Sharing)
Over the coming weeks, I'll share what I'm discovering—one Beatitude at a time. Each exploration will include:
- What the original languages actually convey (the English translations sometimes miss important nuances)
- The Jewish wisdom tradition that shaped these teachings
- How similar insights appear across world traditions—with honest attention to both parallels and differences
- What this might mean for leadership, retirement, relationships, and simply getting through our days with integrity
This isn't devotional writing, though you might find it meaningful. It's not academic theology, though it draws on serious scholarship. Think of it as one person's honest exploration of wisdom that might belong to all of us, even as it finds particular expression in Christian scripture.
A Different Kind of Learning
I'm approaching this the same way I've tackled previous projects: read widely, find good teachers, try things out, share what seems useful. But I'm also aware that these aren't just intellectual puzzles to solve. They're invitations to a way of being that challenges pretty much everything our culture teaches about success and influence.
The Beatitudes suggest that strength comes through acknowledging weakness, that leadership emerges from service, that security grows from letting go of control. They point toward a kind of radical humility that looks like weakness but might actually be wisdom.
An Invitation to Wonder
Whether you're wrestling with retirement transitions, leadership questions, or simply wondering if there might be better ways to be human together, I think you'll find something worthwhile in this exploration.
This isn't about converting anyone to anything. It's about wondering together: What if these ancient observations are true? What if there really are patterns to human flourishing that transcend religious boundaries?
Come along if you're curious. Come along if you're skeptical. The Beatitudes have been quietly shaping lives for two thousand years. Maybe there's something here worth rediscovering.
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