“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” — attributed to Lao Tzu
Years ago, I had just landed an airplane and was taxiing off the runway when another aircraft caught my eye. It was a small personal jet, sleek and beautiful, the kind of airplane that makes a pilot stop whatever she is doing and watch. It looked fast and fun and, frankly, very sexy.
The tower cleared it for takeoff. The pilot taxied onto the runway, lined up on the centerline, and advanced the throttles.
Almost immediately, I knew something was wrong.
The jet accelerated hard. As soon as the wings had enough lift, the nose jerked sharply upward. Instead of climbing steadily, it shot into the air. It got maybe three hundred feet up before it lost lift, stalled, and fell back toward the ground. It crashed into the field between the runways. Everyone aboard was killed.
Those of us who saw it just sat there in silence. I don’t remember anyone saying much. Sometimes your mind can’t keep up with what your eyes see, and watching a plane fall from the sky is one of those moments. Pilots train for emergencies because we know what can happen. That day, we saw the worst come true.
A few days later, I was back at the airport and asked what the investigators had learned about the accident. I was told that the owner had recently upgraded the engines and that the new engines produced substantially more power than the airplane’s original configuration had been designed to handle. This was reportedly its first flight with the new engines.
I have thought about that airplane many times since. Maybe it’s because so much of life right now feels overpowered.
I feel it in my own body. Some mornings, before I finish my first cup of coffee, I’ve already heard about a war, a political crisis, a climate disaster, three urgent emails, seventeen text messages, the latest AI breakthrough, and someone online warning that civilization will end by Thursday.
My nervous system was not built for this. Yours wasn’t either. And yet we keep adding bigger engines.
People have become incredibly good at creating power. We can send information around the world in seconds. We can fly across oceans in hours. We burn in a few generations the carbon the Earth took millions of years to store. We split atoms, change genes, automate thinking, move mountains, dam rivers, and light up whole continents at night. But we rarely ask if the systems getting all this power can actually handle it.
I’ve spent much of my life admiring people who get things done. I like big ideas and powerful airplanes. I’m not the type to do less. If there’s time for another project, I usually wonder why I haven’t filled it yet. So I understand the seduction. More thrust feels like possibility. Until it doesn’t.
The human body has limits that no productivity system can negotiate away. Attention has limits. Families have limits. Organizations have limits. Democracies have limits to how much disruption and mistrust they can absorb before something begins to fracture.
The Earth has limits too, although we have spent the better part of two centuries behaving as though acknowledging them would represent some terrible failure of imagination.
Soil takes time to regenerate. Aquifers refill at their own pace. Forests cannot be clear-cut indefinitely. The atmosphere can absorb only so much carbon without changing the climate. None of this is ideological. It is simply how living systems work.
I’ve started wondering whether one of the great mistakes of our age is confusing power with capacity. They aren’t the same thing. The engines can generate the thrust. That doesn’t mean the airframe can carry it. Technology can deliver unlimited information. That doesn’t mean a human mind can meaningfully absorb it. An economy can extract resources faster. That doesn’t mean an ecosystem can replenish them. An organization can demand more. That doesn’t mean the people inside it can continue giving more without consequence. AI can accelerate enormous amounts of human activity. That doesn’t mean we have developed the ethical, social, political or psychological capacity to live wisely with that acceleration.
Somewhere in the middle of all this, I keep returning to Sabbath. Sometimes I hear people speak of Sabbath as another wellness technique we should adopt because studies show rested people are 14 percent more productive on Monday. God save us from making Sabbath productive. That is not the kind of Sabbath I am speaking of.
I mean the older, stranger idea. The idea that we stop. For one day, we don’t improve anything. Don’t produce. Don’t harvest. Don’t prove your worth. Let the field sit there. Let your neighbor sit there. Let the animal sit there. Let yourself sit there. The world will continue without your assistance.
That is a fairly radical theological claim. Sabbath places a limit inside the structure of life and calls the limit holy.
Maybe that’s what we’ve forgotten. We often see limits as insults. When we hit a boundary, we quickly start inventing ways to get past it. Sometimes, that drive leads to medicine, art, exploration, and amazing progress. Sometimes it produces an airplane with engines too powerful for its frame. Wisdom lies somewhere in knowing the difference.
A good pilot doesn’t resent the limitations of an airplane. She learns them intimately. Every aircraft has what pilots call a flight envelope: the range of speed, altitude, weight, load and maneuver within which that particular airplane can safely fly. Knowing the envelope doesn’t diminish the freedom of flight. It makes flight possible.
I wonder what our flight envelope is, not only as a species, although we urgently need to ask that question. I mean yours.
What can your body actually carry?
How much information can your mind absorb before knowing more stops making you wiser?
How many people can you care for well?
How much grief can you metabolize before you need rest?
How much work is enough?
How much money is enough?
How fast do you actually want your life to go?
I don’t know the answers to those questions. I’m not sure there is one answer that applies to everyone. But I have become increasingly suspicious of any culture that answers all of them with more.
More isn’t inherently wrong. Neither is power. Neither is ambition. Thrust is what gets an airplane into the sky.
But the point was never to climb as fast as possible.
The point was to fly.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
Where in your life are you currently asking more of yourself than your body, mind, or spirit can sustainably carry?
Where have you confused greater power, speed, or productivity with greater capacity?
What would “enough” look like in one part of your life right now, and what might become possible if you honored that limit?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer To Teach Us the Wisdom of Enough
Holy Mystery, We have become very good at acceleration. We know how to make things faster, bigger, more powerful and more productive. We are less practiced at knowing when enough is enough. Teach us to honor the wisdom written into living things. The body that needs sleep. The soil that needs rest. The forest that needs time to regenerate. The heart that needs silence. The community that needs trust. The grieving person who cannot be hurried toward healing. Help us recognize limits not as failures, but as part of the sacred architecture of life. Give us courage to pull back the throttle when everything around us demands more. Give us wisdom equal to our power. Give us patience equal to our ambition. And when we forget that we are creatures living within a world we did not create and cannot control, return us gently to the rhythms that have sustained life for billions of years. May we learn the difference between what we can do and what we should do. May we know when to climb, when to level off, and when simply to fly. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Find Your Flight Envelope
Pilots don’t discover an aircraft’s limits by pushing it until something breaks. We learn the flight envelope before we fly.
Try offering yourself the same care. Sometime today, take a blank piece of paper and draw a large circle. Think of the circle as your current flight envelope—not your theoretical capacity on your very best day, but the actual life you are inhabiting right now.
Inside the circle, write down what genuinely sustains you. Include the amount of sleep your body needs, the people you want enough time to love well, the work that feels meaningful, movement, prayer or contemplation, time outdoors, play, solitude, creativity, and whatever else helps you feel like yourself.
Then notice what is crowding the edges. What are you carrying that leaves you chronically depleted? Where have you increased the thrust without strengthening the frame? Is there too much work, news, responsibility, consumption, screen time, caregiving, outrage, travel, noise, or simply too many expectations competing for the same finite human life?
Don’t immediately make a plan to optimize all of this. That would be wonderfully on-brand for the culture we’re examining. Just notice.
Then choose one place to reduce the thrust.
Turn off the news for an evening. Cancel something that does not need to happen. Leave an hour unscheduled. Go to bed earlier. Say no without constructing a legal defense for your decision. Take a walk without turning it into exercise. Sit somewhere beautiful without photographing it.
Pay attention to what happens when you create a little margin.
The practice is not about making your life smaller. An airplane operating safely within its flight envelope can cross oceans.
The practice is learning the conditions under which you can actually fly.
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.
August 25 - September 1, 2026, 12:30-1:30pmET - Book Club in The Commons - FREE - We are reading our next book, “I Eat The Stars” by Sarah Wilson. 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, 12:30 - 1:30pm ET, ONLINE EVENT with NY Times Best-Selling author and journalist, Sarah Wilson!!! Sarah has just published her latest book I Eat The Stars: How to Live Fully and Beautifully in a Collapsing World. Join us for this one hour conversation where we will talk with Sarah about how we face collapse, how we find beauty and who we can become in these challenging times. Scholarships are available. REGISTER 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.
September 14, 7-8:30pm ET ONLINE EVENT - I’m delighted to share that Dr. Margaret Wheatley is releasing a newly updated edition of her beloved book Perseverance: A Companion for the Journey this October. Written for those committed to serving the world with compassion in difficult times, the book offers daily wisdom and practical guidance for navigating grief, anger, exhaustion, and uncertainty while remaining rooted in love, courage, and presence. Meg and I will be in conversation to explore what perseverance looks like in this moment of history and how we can sustain ourselves for the long work ahead. I hope you’ll join us for what promises to be a deeply meaningful conversation. REGISTER HERE.
September 17, 2026, 7-8:45pm ET - I will be joining Jackie Sussman for an online session on practicing eidetics as a part of our “Reclaiming the Power of Imagination” monthly series. Eidetic Imagery is a powerful tool for pastors, denominational leaders, coaches, and spiritual directors working with others, and for individuals seeking deeper integration and healing in their own lives. Jackie is a psychotherapist, author, and leading expert in Eidetic Image Psychology, and 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.
October 6, 2026 - 7-8:30pm ET, ONLINE EVENT - Matthew Fox and I are teaming up again to launch a series called Journeying with the Mystics. The mystics have always emerged in times of uncertainty. They appear when old certainties are crumbling, when institutions no longer provide easy answers, and when people find themselves longing for a deeper experience of the Sacred. Join us for an 18-session exploration of the teachings of St. John of the Cross, Thomas Merton, Hildegard of Bingen, Kabir and Rumi, Meister Eckhart and more. This is more than a lecture series. It is an invitation into a living spiritual journey. REGISTER for the first session 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.
November 10, 7-8:30pm ET - I’ll be joined by theologian, writer, and professor Dr. Debra Rienstra for a special ONLINE conversation on Refugia Faith. In ecology, refugia are small places where life survives amid disruption, pockets of resilience from which life can eventually regenerate and spread. Debra invites us to consider what this might mean spiritually in an age of climate instability, political turmoil, institutional decline, and profound uncertainty. What if our congregations, communities, relationships, and even our own lives could become refugia, places where courage, compassion, beauty, wisdom, and possibility are protected and cultivated for whatever comes next? I hope you’ll join us for this timely and deeply hopeful conversation. REGISTRATION COMING SOON!
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.
My dear friend, Rev. Shawna Bowman has just launched a new podcast with musician Jennifer Knapp called “My Wise Friend Podcast.” They talk about it this way: “You might know Jennifer from her years as a touring musician and songwriter, weaving stories and songs together across the country. You might know Shawna from their work as an artist, speaker, and community leader exploring the intersection of spirituality, justice, and creativity. While our daily work looks different, we share a deep love for real talk, deep questions, and finding wisdom in unexpected places.” I am so excited about this! I hope you will check it out and support them. https://www.patreon.com/cw/mywisefriendpodcast
I’m delighted to celebrate the upcoming release of Wisdom Church: Abundant Life for Aging Congregations by my colleague, Rev. Dr. Anna Hall. Rather than seeing aging congregations as communities in decline, Anna invites us to recognize them as communities rich with wisdom, purpose, and possibility. Her book offers a hopeful vision for moving beyond anxiety about the future and embracing the unique gifts of older adults as beloved children of God. If your congregation is navigating these questions, this is a resource well worth reading. You can preorder the Kindle edition now, with delivery on August 17: https://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Church-Abundant-Aging-Congregations-ebook/dp/B0HBXGYTWC
Starting again on September 7 for every Monday, 12pm ET - ONLINE WRITING GROUP - My dear friend, Meryl Marshall-Daniels, is leading a writing group open to all. This is a simple and spacious writing circle for people who want time to listen inwardly and put words on the page without overthinking, performing, or polishing. Meryl offers a prompt designed to invite reflection, imagination, and attunement to what is already alive within you. The practice honors writing as a way of listening, of letting images, memories, questions, and insights surface in their own time. Learn more here.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
Cameron, what a marvelous weaving of your amazing experience at the airfield and the impact of the myth on limitless "thrust" in all its forms. I was reminded of one the 64 patterns of life described in the I Ching, #60 Limitation.There is much wisdom in the entire reading. Here's a one sentence taste: "The individual attains significance as a free spirit only by surrounding himself with these limitations and by determining for himself what his duty is."
Cameron dear, you are a great aircraft pilot, and even a better one of assisting us to pilot life in the Wisdom of Sabbath... Thanks for that.