Staying Human in an Age of Acceleration
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” — Annie Dillard
One of the first things pilots learn during turbulence is not to overcorrect the aircraft.
When the air gets rough, new pilots often react to every bump and sudden movement. They hold the controls too tightly and make quick corrections. But the more they fight the turbulence, the less stable the plane becomes.
Experienced pilots handle things differently. They make small, steady adjustments. They trust their instruments, stay focused, and do not let fear take over.
This part of my aviation training came to mind this week while I was in Maine, working with a group of leaders who were trying to figure out how to lead well right now. Our conversations kept coming back to the same point: the biggest challenge we face is not just about strategy. It is also spiritual, psychological, and relational.
How do we remain steady in a world engineered to keep us reactive?
How do we stay human in an age of acceleration?
Modern life rarely rewards taking time to reflect. Instead, it values speed, instant results, productivity, being seen, outrage, and always being available. The faster we go, the more valuable we seem. Even our attention is bought and sold by systems that benefit from keeping us overstimulated and off balance.
Today, many of us take in more information in one day than people used to see in weeks or months. Our minds and bodies were not made for this. We live at a speed that scatters our attention, makes it hard to reflect, and slowly pulls us away from our inner lives.
The desert mothers and fathers knew something we are just starting to remember. Almost seventeen hundred years ago, they left behind the fast pace and ambition of the Roman Empire, not because they hated the world, but because they feared losing themselves in it. They saw that constant noise makes it almost impossible to find clarity.
Thomas Merton once wrote, “The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence.”1 I think he was right.
Violence is not always physical. Sometimes it shows up as feeling scattered, worn out, constantly distracted, unable to rest, or missing silence. Over time, we can lose our ability to feel beauty, grief, compassion, or wonder.
That is why taking time for reflection is so important right now. It is not about escaping or putting on a show of being spiritual. It is about resisting the pressure to become like machines ourselves.
While we were together in Maine, we talked openly about how we need to change our lives. We need to bring back regular habits of prayer, meditation, study, meaningful work, friendship, play, and rest. We need to stop seeing exhaustion as a sign of importance and remember that wisdom rarely comes from a frantic mind.
As I get older, I am more and more sure that these habits are not just nice extras. They are ways to survive.
The Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh often warned that without mindfulness we become carried away by our fears, anger, and despair.2 Howard Thurman similarly wrote that we must learn to center down because there is “something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself.”3 That line has stayed with me for years. The sound of the genuine.
Under all the noise of the world, under the constant push to react, and beneath the swirl of headlines, technology, and worry, there is still a deeper wisdom inside us that wants to be heard. But we cannot hear it unless we get quiet enough to listen.
Maybe this is part of what we are being called to do now, not just decide what we believe, but change how we live so that wisdom has space to grow in us.
We do not have to react right away to every moment. Not every rough patch needs a big correction.
Sometimes our job is simply to stay steady, to breathe, to pray, to rest, and to move slowly enough to notice the beauty in the world that God has given us.
Maybe that is a kind of courage, too.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
What rhythms in your life help you remain grounded and internally ordered?
Where has acceleration, exhaustion, or overstimulation begun to shape your spirit?
What would it look like to re-pattern your days in a way that helps you stay fully human?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer For Living in Turbulent Times
God of still waters and steady skies, Teach us how to live with wisdom in turbulent times. When fear tempts us to overcorrect, when exhaustion clouds our judgment, when noise drowns out the deeper voice within us, help us return to what is real and life-giving. Give us the courage to slow down enough to notice beauty, to rest without guilt, to pray without performance, to listen beneath the noise of the world. Help us remain human. Help us remain tender. Help us remain awake to one another and to You. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Slow Your Roll
Today, choose one hour to step out of acceleration.
Turn off notifications. Put away the news. Take a slow walk, sit in silence, read something nourishing, pray, garden, cook, breathe, or share an unhurried conversation with someone you love.
Notice what begins to return to you when the noise quiets.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
My team and I launched a new experiment we are calling “The Commons.” It’s an online space centered around communities of practice: groups of people who share a common concern, set of problems, or passion for a topic, and deepen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on an ongoing basis. Join the community here.
May 27, 2026, 12pm ET - FREE WEBINAR - I will be hosting an online experience titled “Reclaiming the Power of Imagination: A live experiential webinar with Jackie Sussman." Jackie, a psychotherapist, author, and leading expert in Eidetic Image Psychology, has spent over forty years helping leaders and individuals unlock creativity, uncover hidden strengths, and move through limiting patterns. During this session, she will lead a live Eidetic process shaped by mythic imagery, offering a direct experience of the work. REGISTER HERE.
June 2, 2026, 12:30-1:30pmET - Book Club in The Commons - FREE - We are starting our next book, The Glorians by Terry Tempest Williams. We will meet each Tuesday for 6 weeks. It’s such great fun. I hope you will be a part. All are welcome! RSVP HERE.
September 8, 2026, 7-9pm ET, ONLINE EVENT - I’ll be hosting a powerful online gathering on The Black Madonna: Sacred Wisdom for a World in Crisis with Matthew Fox, Alessandra Belloni, and Christena Cleveland. We will explore the Black Madonna as a symbol of resilience, liberation, sacred feminine wisdom, and healing in a fractured world through conversation, story, music, and spiritual reflection. If you feel drawn toward a deeper encounter with the Divine Feminine and the ancient traditions that continue to nourish movements for justice and wholeness, I hope you’ll join us. Learn more and REGISTER HERE.
October 18-21, 2026 - PREACH! 2026 Conference- I’ll be co-hosting PREACH in Minneapolis with Church Anew, a new gathering for preachers, storytellers, worship leaders, and spiritual communicators navigating what it means to speak with clarity, compassion, and courage in a changing world. If you’ve sensed that the preaching moment has changed and are longing for thoughtful community and renewed imagination for this work, I hope you’ll join us.
I drafted a Strategic Framework for Congregations as we move into the coming years of increased authoritarianism around the world. If interested, you can download it here.
Fun Things My Friends Are Up To…
I get to work with such amazing, creative people. This section is my way of celebrating them—no paid promotions, just joy in what they’re creating.
There are moments when a spiritual path calls not only to the mind, but to the body, the voice, and the ancient memory carried deep within us. This summer, internationally acclaimed folk artist and teacher Alessandra Belloni is leading a pilgrimage along the Amalfi Coast centered on the Black Madonna, sacred chant, ritual drumming, and devotional dance rooted in centuries-old traditions of Southern Italy. Participants will visit ancient sacred sites, learn healing rhythms and chants passed down through generations of women, and explore the wisdom of the Divine Feminine through music, movement, and ritual. If this stirs something within you, you can learn more at Alessandra Belloni’s official website.
My colleague, Dr. Tim Eberhart, is offering a summer course that I wish I could take! Regenerative Mission & Ministry: Ecological Practices for Land Repair is a 7-week course for those seeking to integrate eco-theological reflection, earth-based spiritual wisdoms, and regenerative design principles for land repair. Participants will journey as a community of learners through a cultivated curriculum that incorporates selected readings, video instruction, ecological practices, and more aimed at healing social and ecological relations for the sake of mutual flourishing. It starts on June 3, so sign up soon if you’re interested!
The University of Victoria (UVic) offers an online course, A Meta-Relational Approach to AI. The course is designed for participants who are interested in thinking about AI in ways that challenge modernity’s extractive programming patterns in both humans and machines. The next cohort starts in NEXT WEEK. Registrations are open.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (New York: Doubleday, 1966), 86.
Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life (New York: Bantam Books, 1991).
Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart (Boston: Beacon Press, 1953), 27.
As a former Monastic, this meditation speaks very deeply to me. Thank you Cameron for the Hope and Wisdom you share with us.
This message and practices like your suggestions for practice are essential these days!