“The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention.” — Thich Nhat Hanh
No matter how you feel about him, Bill Gates understands technological change. He played a key role in the personal-computer revolution that changed almost every part of our lives. Now, he thinks we are facing another big shift, and this one could be even more disruptive. This past week he published an article that lays out his thinking.1
He isn’t saying that artificial intelligence is a bad thing. In fact, Gates thinks AI could make a huge difference in medicine, education, farming, scientific research, and access to expert advice. For example, a rural hospital could use AI to spot a stroke when there’s no specialist around. Farmers in poorer countries might get advanced advice about weather, soil, and disease. Scientists could find new treatments because AI can see patterns that people might miss.
But this same technology could also wipe out millions of jobs, give more wealth and power to a few, make fraud and surveillance easier, and affect how children grow up. It could even replace some of the tough human relationships that help us learn and grow. Gates thinks this change could happen in just a decade, not over generations like past revolutions. Things are moving fast.
Gates says we need to start thinking about where we should not let technology go. He has an idea he calls Human Reserved, inspired by nature reserves. Just as we sometimes choose not to build on forests, drain wetlands, or mine mountains, we can decide that just because we can use something doesn’t mean we should. We set boundaries and say: This is valuable because we leave it untouched.
Gates asks if we should set similar boundaries in parts of our lives. He shares a story about his father, who had Alzheimer’s disease late in life. At some point, Bill Gates Sr. couldn’t always tell his caregivers when he was hungry, but they still knew. They had spent enough time with him to notice the small signs in his body and mood. One day, a smart robot might be able to do the same thing. Gates says it shouldn’t.
For most of the technological era, we’ve asked: Can we do it? Can we make it faster? Can we automate it? Can we make it bigger? Can we remove human work? Can we make it cheaper?
But with artificial intelligence, we need to ask a different question: Should we? That’s the spiritual question.
For thousands of years, our traditions have protected things that aren’t efficient. The Sabbath keeps one day free from work. Buddhist meditation keeps silence safe from being used for something. Indigenous traditions protect the bond with land from being just about ownership or use. Monastic communities keep prayer as a regular break from work.
Time after time, people have set limits around things we think are too important to give up for the sake of efficiency. Love isn’t efficient. Neither is friendship, raising children, grieving, sitting with someone who is dying, or listening patiently to a story you’ve already heard many times.
A computer program might sum up the story, but love listens again. This is why I think our conversation about AI needs to go beyond just technology.
Of course, we need engineers and computer scientists. We also need economists to think carefully about what happens when machines can do so much of our work. Governments should make policies before people lose their jobs, not after. Gates says we’ll need new institutions, better social safety nets, changes in taxes, international teamwork, and for the public to have a say in decisions that are now mostly made by tech companies.
But we also need poets, parents, and teachers. We need nurses, caregivers, artists, philosophers, spiritual teachers, and children. We need people who know what humans need to thrive, not just what machines can do. These conversations should start now.
Convenience is powerful. Once we get used to machines doing things for us, it can be much harder to take those tasks back ourselves.
I use AI every day and I’m amazed by it. It helps me research, imagine, organize, and notice connections I might have missed. I think it can really help people thrive.
But I don’t want AI to live my life for me. I don’t want a companion so agreeable that I forget how to handle tough friendships. I don’t want kids to miss out on the hard work that turns learning into wisdom. I don’t want machines making choices about people without anyone being responsible for what happens. I don’t want efficiency to be the only reason we decide what should stay human.
Maybe each of us needs a Human Reserve, a part of life where we consciously say: No. I’ll do this myself.
The future of AI will need big public decisions about money, rules, safety, and power. But another part of the future is shaped every day in our homes and relationships.
So maybe this week we start with one question:
What in your life is so precious that you would never want to automate it?
That might be where we start to protect what makes us human.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
What part of your life would you place inside a “Human Reserve,” something you want to remain fundamentally human even if technology could perform it more efficiently?
Where has technology genuinely enlarged your life, and where might convenience be quietly diminishing a human capacity you value?
What do you hope human beings will still know how to do for one another fifty years from now?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer For Human Wisdom
Spirit of Love, We are creating powers our ancestors could scarcely have imagined. Give us wisdom equal to our ingenuity. May the tools we build heal rather than diminish, widen possibility rather than deepen inequality, and give human beings more freedom to love rather than less reason to need one another. Protect in us what should never be optimized away. Our capacity to wonder. Our willingness to struggle. Our need for friendship. Our tenderness toward children and elders. Our ability to sit beside suffering without trying to make it disappear. Teach us when to welcome the machine and when to turn it off. Give courage to those building these technologies, wisdom to those regulating them, protection to those whose livelihoods will be disrupted, and a meaningful voice to those who rarely get invited into rooms where the future is being designed. May we create a future worthy of the astonishing gift of being human. Amen.
Spiritual Practice: Create Your Human Reserve
Sometime today, make a list of five things you do not want to outsource entirely to a machine. Don’t make this theoretical. Look at your actual life.
Maybe you want to write birthday cards yourself. Perhaps you want to keep reading books that require concentration rather than asking for summaries. Maybe you want to call people instead of allowing software to maintain relationships for you. Perhaps prayer, art, therapy, teaching, caregiving, cooking, discernment or writing belongs on your list.
Choose one. Then practice it this week without technological assistance. If you choose writing, begin with the blank page and stay there awhile. If you choose relationship, call someone without first asking AI what to say. If you choose learning, wrestle with the question before reaching for an answer. If you choose creativity, tolerate the awkwardness of making something mediocre. Notice what happens.
The frustration may be part of the practice. Human beings learn through resistance. We develop patience because other people don’t always understand us. We develop imagination because creation begins with uncertainty. We develop compassion because relationships ask us to encounter lives that cannot be optimized around our preferences.
AI may eventually become extraordinarily good at removing friction. Be careful about giving all of it away. Some friction is where the soul gets its grip.
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.
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.
Years ago I read of the distinction between intellect and intelligence. Intellect only asks "how". Intelligence asks "why". This distinction is akin to Iain MacGhilrist's description of the differing functions of the left and right hemispheres of the brain. The Large Language Model concatenations labelled AI is not and cannot be intelligent. It is a massive amplification and acceleration of our left brain, of our intellect. My prayer is that its sudden, even violent insertion into our lives will highlight what is uniquely ours to do: to love, pray, care and be present, in a way an AI agent or robot can never be, and have humans embrace our unique capabilities and use them to constrain this technology and the massive forces that are insinuating it into world without caution.
I feel so strongly that crafting sermons and pastoral reflections is the stuff of poetry and soul, not AI. To surrender that work to the great electronic collective while canibalizing the unpaid work of other poets and theologians feels like both the creator of the work and the recipient of the work are being shortchanged.