Notes on Wisdom W/John Walt

Josh LeRoy is the author of Deeper Than Your Pain, a short book about his healing journey through depression. He is the lead pastor of Emmaus Church in Greensboro, NC, and a former prison Chaplain for 10 years. When I was given his book and told it was about depression, I honestly didn’t think I would get much out of it, but I was wrong. The wisdom he shares is applicable to all of our healing journeys. In this interview, Josh shares his story and how God used contemplative prayer to help him find freedom from depression and anxiety. Josh has so much to share. I hope this conversation blesses and challenges you.Emmaus-church.comBook link: Deeper Than Your Pain

I have been thinking about one sentence a lot lately. I believe that it holds a key to understanding how we each should expect to feel in response to Jesus. I would like to share it with you and invite you to join me in pondering these powerful words. JohnWalt.com

Heather and John Walt discuss self-transcendence and how we can make it a practical in daily life. Heather and I have been having deep conversations since we met. So much of our daily life is filled with discussions about transformation, God’s leading, discipleship, and what we are learning from the books we are reading. This is the first time I get to share one of those conversations with you. Heather loves to make complex things simple and applicable for daily life. She often asks in the middle of a philosophical conversation, “How do we teach this to our kids?” She invites me out of the theoretical and into the applicable. When we met, I didn’t care much about being a father someday; I saw it as something that could steal from the adventurous life I wanted to live. Now raising and shaping our kids is the most important part of my life. As my wife and friend, Heather has lovingly walked with me as I have journeyed out of my own self-obsession and more and more into who I am created to be. She is one of the most impactful mentors I have had, and I am thrilled to share this conversation with you. JohnWalt.com

I recently sat down to record a conversation with my brother-in-law, Greg Spencer, about my book, Every Man's Journey. Usually, I am interviewing other people, so this was a fun opportunity to turn the mics around and answer questions about the book. Greg was the first person to encourage me to start sharing my writing, so it was an honor to look back on the culmination of that work so far. Whether you have read the book or not, I think you will really appreciate this conversation.Johnwalt.com

I met Ken Churchill three years ago in San Diego. I was taken with how he thinks and the projects he is working on. After 30 years at Morgan Stanley in Silicon Valley, Ken now works on innovating pathways to societal health. In this interview, he shares his story and the projects he is working on, including healthcare ethics, preventing mass murder, and addressing forgiveness as a public health good. Ken shares some incredible nuggets of wisdom from summarizing the history of philosophical thought and defining truth, to strategic thinking and innovation. a2bventures.orgThe Healing Habit PodcastThe Hippocratic Society

The more I have been blessed to spend time with people of wisdom, the more I see how they consistently return to seemingly simple truths. Many things in our world we view as linear progressions; we start with less, and we work towards more. The more you learn, the more you know. The more you make, the more you have. It is inherent to assume that people of wisdom have lots of it, that’s true, but it’s the wrong way to look at wisdom. Wisdom isn’t something you amass or even acquire; it is something you discover, and then it becomes a part of you. It has become clear to me that most people have the wrong perspective on what wisdom is. JohnWalt.com

This episode is the second chapter of the audiobook for Every Man's Journey, which is currently in production. The print version of the book is now available on Amazon (Here is the link). Chapter 2 is titled "The Monomyth," it explores the connection between the greatest stories of all time and the journey every man was born to walk in life. There is a deeper story hidden in our favorite myths, books, and movies. it turns out that this timeless story mirrors the same journey that rites of passage and initiation have been pointing to throughout human history. If you would like to request early access to the audiobook, please send me an email. 

One of the effects of industrialization and globalization has been a cultural obsession with scale. We can sell a product to millions of people on multiple continents and in many different countries. A message can be shared simultaneously with people around the world. Now, through technology, every person has the potential to take something to scale. From startups to manufacturing, packaged goods, media, influencers, and content producers, the goal in most industries is to reach as many people as possible. The key to success has increasingly become scale. Every part of our brave new world is an ongoing experiment with scaling anything and everything in the name of success. When we distill most current cultural measures of success down to their most fundamental level, we find two metrics driving everything: how many and how much. This has created a big problem for us all. We weren’t made for scale. 

These prayers are inspired by some of A.W. Tozer’s prayers in his book Knowledge of the Holy. Please join me in praying these powerful prayers as we seek God’s face together.

Recently, I have been studying Bonhoeffer and reading more of his work. I have been struck by the way Bonhoeffer observed Jesus and His Gospel being removed from the Nazi German church. During this same time in America, the humanist movement did the same thing. Two very different situations in almost every way, but both are removing Jesus and the Gospel from Christianity. At first pass, it seems impossible, but upon deeper inspection, what we see is a pattern that repeats itself over and over throughout history...

It is impossible to underestimate the role that storytelling has played in shaping communities, cultures, and civilizations throughout history. Before we had written languages, ancestral tribes relied on oral traditions, built around stories that passed down their collective wisdom and history. Our minds are created to learn through story, not just the passing along of information. Some people can become very good at remembering information, but simply transferring knowledge doesn't lead people to discovery. It's through discovery that we really learn. Story gives meaning to information and allows us to internalize truth and wisdom in a way that is impossible in a textbook. Stories stick with us and allow us to remember things that we would likely never remember if they weren't shared within a larger story. There's a reason that Jesus taught using parables. Great teachers throughout all of history have relied on story as the primary tool for guiding and instilling wisdom in the people they lead.Something tragic has happened to story in the modern world. It has become a commodity to be used and manipulated for profit. Story is no longer the domain of the wiseman; it has become entertainment.

I had the privilege of interviewing Eric Swithin, a former combat Marine and businessman who God called into a wild adventure. His journey has taken him from initiating young men in the Rocky Mountains to producing films and ministering in countries around the world.In this conversation, Eric discusses his transformative journey from a troubled childhood to discipling young men and addressing the fatherlessness epidemic in America. We talk about the importance of understanding God as a loving Father, the role of spiritual practices in our journey of transformation, and the adventure of following Jesus.I had the privilege of spending a full day with Eric, and I think we talked for close to 14 hours. His journey to know God and live as a disciple is powerful and left me with so much to think and pray about. I hope this discussion impacts you as much as it did me.showmeyourglory.comabbaheart.orgoutdooradventures.org

If you don’t trust the surgeon, you probably won’t show up for the surgery” - Scott DohnerThe original lie satan used in the Garden of Eden as his first attack on humanity was to cause Eve to doubt whether God was trustworthy. Ever since then, the deceiver has continued to use the same attack on all of us. What Eve did when she ate the forbidden fruit was her attempt at taking control of her own life back from God. Often, when we are presented with the lie that God can’t be trusted, we do what Eve did, we agree with the deceiver and find ourselves trying to take control instead of surrendering it. The central question for all of us is, are we trying to sit on the throne of our lives, or are we surrendering it to God? When we believe that God isn’t trustworthy, we inevitably begin grasping for control and find ourselves sitting in God's seat on the throne of our lives. 

In this episode, I read to you the introduction and first chapter of my book Every Man’s Journey. To request a pre-release copy, visit johnwalt.com/books. 

Brian Schroller is a master at creating transformational experiences. He left an impressive career in banking to pour into leaders and help them build better businesses. Today, he leads SummitTrek with Paul Nadeau, and their work has expanded around the world, impacting thousands of business leaders on several continents. I have had the privilege of learning from Brian, attending SummitTreks events, and interviewing people whose lives have been changed through their work. In this Interview, Brian shares part of his personal story, the transformation he experienced, and some of the wisdom that drives his life. I encourage you to listen until the end. Several of the truths Brian shared have been on my mind since we recorded this conversation. I hope it blesses you as much as it did me. 

Larry Mills started in the parts department of Holt Caterpillar when it was one of the smallest dealerships in the country. He later became Executive Vice President as the company grew into the nation's largest dealership. Larry worked with Ken Blanchard to launch Values-Based Leadership at Holt as it grew rapidly, eventually becoming a highly successful, multi-billion-dollar company built entirely around core ethical values. Through his work with Holt and the success of Values-Based Leadership, Larry became a key leader with the San Antonio Spurs, helping shape the franchise's culture and its impact on San Antonio. For the last three decades, Larry has consulted with and advised hundreds of companies on strategy, leadership, and culture. I've had the privilege of being mentored by Larry for the last two years, and it has impacted my life, my family, and my work. In this episode, I sit down with Larry to hear his story and capture some of his wisdom. 

Humility gets a bad wrap. Often, the way it is taught to us is a form of self-deprecation. Years ago, a friend of mine from Australia told me about “tall poppy syndrome.” It’s where some people criticize and undermine others who have accomplished something great or who are unusually talented. The idea is that they need to be “brought down to size.” Obviously, this isn’t healthy, and no one wants to be part of a community where people actively undermine those who start to stand out. However, much of our understanding of humility causes us to do this to ourselves. Often, our flawed understanding of humility causes us to shame and undermine ourselves in an effort to avoid sin and pride. Unknowingly, in the process, we cut ourselves off from the only path to true humility. 

I heard the term "Dark Night of the Soul" for many years before I really began to understand what it was and the critical role it plays in our spiritual journey. During a challenging season, I felt led to read The Dark Night of the Soul by Saint John of the Cross. But it wasn’t until years later, after going through a very long dark night of the soul, that I learned why this often misunderstood season is so critical. 

Fraser Scott is the Executive Director of Bright Hope World, a New Zealand based ministry that works in 30 countries around the world. They focus on serving and ministering to the poorest of the poor. I recently had the privilege of hearing Fraser present and was very impressed with the wisdom he shared and how Bright Hope World approaches global missions and poverty alleviation. I asked Fraser to sit down with me to record a discussion. In this interview, we discuss the identity/dependency spiral, the cause of poverty, the problem with scale, persecution, major moves of God around the world, and why you can’t address poverty without the Gospel. I hope this conversation impacts you as much as it did me. [email protected]

God’s order for creation. “Good is that which all things seek after.” - Thomas AquinasThere is a growing trend in our information-saturated world to act like right and wrong are whatever we feel like they are. Truth has increasingly become a personal choice, like which sports team to cheer for. We have so much information and scientific understanding of the world that we think we are more enlightened than history's past civilizations. In reality, we are just walking a well-worn path that creates social disorder and leads to societal collapse. A culture that embraces Individualized truth contradicts everything we have come to know about what causes nations, communities, and individuals to thrive

We weren’t made for the world we live in.We weren’t made for a Box-and-Line (Note 8) world. Yet we have to look around us and accept that the entire world is increasingly box-and-line. We weren’t made for job titles, careers in corporations, certifications, accreditation, employee handbooks, roles in organizations or political parties, to name a few. Somehow, we have bought into the lie we have been sold, that our lives should fit into a massive network of systems we call the modern world. It is built around a way of thinking that is antithetical to the way of life we were created for. We can still live in this modern world, but we need to learn to live from a different way of thinking. We were made to live daily from the reality of who God is and who He created us to be. From that place, we can be in any system without being fully a part of it, without adopting its way of thinking. 

Man’s greatest battle has always been the battle to overcome himself. This simple truth has been all but forgotten in modern society. Before we dive into man’s greatest battle, let’s look at how we forgot one of the most important themes of human life and societal health. Scientific thinking has led to incredible advancements in tools, technology, and medicine that have completely transformed the quality of human life. It is best defined as a systematic, evidence-based way of figuring out how the world works. It has been the key to overcoming cognitive bias and its effects on our understanding of ourselves and the natural world. The unfortunate side effect of scientific thinking, however, is that we have disregarded and forgotten about wisdom that cannot be measured and empirically proven. Most truly important questions are beyond the reach of quantitative research. If we took the qualitative approach, then it would be overwhelmingly clear that God exists and the experiential spiritual life is real. Unfortunately, the scientific community has a hard time accepting qualitative testimony-based research. We have reduced truth to the numbers and data of hard science. JohnWalt.com

Often, what's most important in life is not something new, but the things we have forgotten and must remember. We are all surrounded every day by endless new information in the form of podcasts, articles, videos, books, news, and AI. It is astounding how much information there is out there, and now it is more accessible than ever. Influencers are constantly selling us their opinions on how we should eat, dress, exercise, work, and live. The abundance of knowledge we are surrounded by every day has made us all information addicts. We read a book or listen to a podcast and hear something interesting or wise, and think it will change our lives. Fast forward a month or two, and most of us can’t remember what we heard that was so profound. You can sign up for Notes on Wisdom at JohnWalt.com

Peace is completely misunderstood and undervalued in the modern world. Everywhere you look, people are stuck in stress, fear, and anxiety. Few people actually seem to live in real peace. The world is frantically chasing peace by other names all the time, and they don’t even know it. If you distill down the promises of most spiritual teachers, business gurus, social media influencers, and politicians, you find that what they are offering is really just a false version of peace. They are promising relief to our fears and insecurities. The spiritual leaders promise meaning and fulfillment. The business gurus promise wealth and success. Influencers promise a way to realize your dreams. Politicians promise national security, economic stability, and personal safety. All of these are just false attempts to gain what we really want, peace. 

Scott Dohner has been a mentor of mine for years and has had a profound impact on my life. We sat down and recorded a conversation recently that I would like to share with you. In this episode, Scott shares some of his story and what shaped him and his business journey. Click below to listen to this conversation on Apple Podcast or Spotify. 

Have you ever found yourself wrestling with things that you feel like you should do or ways you think you should act or look? We all have battled the “shoulds” of life in some way, shape or form. Often, this struggle is daily or perhaps constant. We are all unconsciously given sets of expectations for work, sports, community, faith, school, and every other area of our lives. We are told how to fit into the groups we are a part of and how to be successful. Families have their own "shoulds," and they differ widely from family to family. For some, it’s a way you are expected to dress and behave, the sports you should play, or where you’re expected to live. For other families, it’s academic and career achievement, social status, and lifestyle. Most of us don’t even recognize the "shoulds" anymore because they are baked into us by every group we are part of. There is a big problem with the "shoulds" that needs to be talked about; most of them are not real.

Encountering God is a challenging topic to write on. The last few months, it has become clear to me that it’s something we don’t talk enough about. In Note 12, I wrote on the separation of the sacred and the secular. We tend to see sacred things as different from the rest of life, and so they get relegated to church, retreats, and quiet times. We often struggle to see the spiritual overlaying every part of our lives, even the most mundane things. We are spirit and flesh. Without acknowledging and living from that awareness, we trap ourselves in dualistic thinking. When we embrace that we are spiritual and that God is with us in all things, then we must ask what does that mean and how might it look? 

Right before I turned 25, I was in Malawi, and the terrorist group Boko Haram had just taken 300 girls from a school in Nigeria. I was so mad about what had happened that I decided I was going to go there and find a way to help. I went on a run one day, to try and blow off some steam. A few miles in, something hit me. God spoke to me; it wasn’t an audible booming voice, but it might as well have been a megaphone the way it resonated in my mind and heart.

I have always loved stories and have studied storytelling for years. As a kid, I read about men who lived incredible adventures and longed to discover the adventure that I would live. I wanted to be one of those great men who stood up to injustice, dared to explore the unknown, challenged the impossible, built an empire, or discovered some secret wisdom. As I got older, I sometimes feared there would be no great adventure for me. I refused, however, to accept ordinary. I didn’t want the white picket fence house, a nice car, and a normal job. The last thing I wanted was ordinary, uneventful. I wanted my life to be a great story. 

I have never been good at doing what I am supposed to do. Because of that, I have caught a lot of flak over the years from the “keepers of order.” It seems that most people want a clear outline of how they are expected to behave, the more detail the better. If you give me a list of things to do I will struggle, but if you give me an objective to achieve, I come alive. In my early 20’s I found myself face-to-face with one of the most confusing concepts surrounding spiritual life. 

The greatest battle each of us must face is the battle to defeat ourselves. The world we have been baked in our entire lives tells us that we deserve to have what we want when we want it. The average person is hit with 5-10K marketing messages a day. Most of them we don’t even notice because of how many are coming at us, we have developed selective attention. So marketers work harder and harder to make us notice theirs amidst the sea of ads floating past our subconscious every day. And yet many of them do work, and most of them are telling us what we want to hear. Some version of the same old lie that we have been drawn to for all of human history. “You deserve to have what you want when you want it.”

As people who live in the information age, we are used to being able to find answers to almost any questions we have. Finding these answers has gotten infinitely easier over just the last 50 years. My parents had libraries and encyclopedias when they were in high school, and now we have AI in our pockets searching the far reaches of human knowledge and providing us with almost instant answers in a format of our choosing. Rewind the clock of human civilization a couple of hundred years, and access to books and libraries was unthinkable for most people. In a relatively short period of time, we have experienced an overwhelming surge in our access to information. We want clear answers to every question we have, and we want it right now. The problem with this expectation is that it predisposes us to be unable to find the answers to the most important questions in our lives.

Larry Mills is a mentor of mine and a master at asking challenging questions that lead to deep thinking and changed lives. When people come to him with their frustrations and challenges, he often asks, “Is this situation life-threatening or ego-threatening?” It turns out most challenges we face in life are not life-threatening. Usually, when we are frustrated, disappointed, angry, or let down, it is because our ego is threatened. This simple but profound question has led me to see that most of what I see as suffering is really just the suffering and discomfort of my pride and ego. 

A year and a half ago, I began studying male initiation because I wanted to understand how I could be intentional about raising my boys. Since then, I have read lots of books, talked to lots of people, and begun writing what I have learned into a simple and applicable model to guide how I raise my boys. Here is an overview of what I learned and some of the most important principles. 

Every person experiences wounding, some have the courage to heal. Part of the myth of the strong man is the belief that a man is not weak, and therefore, he doesn’t need to heal spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. I believe that everyone needs healing because everyone has been hurt. Some are small wounds, like things said to you that led you to feel shame and insecurity. Others are massive wounds that come from what other people have done to you and how it made you view yourself. Whether our wounds are large or small, they perpetuate lies in our minds that keep us from who we were created to be and the relationship with God we were made for. 

Sixteen years ago, I began praying some courageous prayers. At the time, I didn’t really have an idea where they would take me or what they would require of me. Looking back, I can see how God has answered those prayers, even if His answers and mine looked very different. I think we all need to be willing to pray prayers that make us very uncomfortable. 

Every society is built on stories that tell people who they are, where they come from, and what to expect from life. Most of the stories our modern culture is built on are lies. Some are fictional works of art, and others are true stories that have been retold through our modern worldview and lost their deeper meaning. Kids and young adults now grow up on a diet of almost all fictional stories that celebrate the superhero, the genius, the explorer, and the warrior. Most of our modern cultural stories center around a main character, a hero who must overcome all odds to defeat some evil and protect something good. In this note I explore the narrative structure that has captivated human hearts and minds for all of recorded history, the monomyth. 

In this note I talk about how mentors have shaped my life and why everyone needs these critical relationships. 

We have a dangerously flawed view of what work is and the role it has in our lives. There is no question that most of us have to work to make a living and provide for our families. Unfortunately, what we do for a living has become an integral part of most people's identities. 

Too much comfort is a barrier to our journey of growth. Are we defining success as wealth, stuff, recognition and influence or are we operating out of a higher definition of success?

Are our actions and decisions driven by rules or identity? In this note I share about a tool one of my mentors shared with me called The Rule Line. 

In this note I look at the cultural division we have between sacred things and the rest of our lives. This division is unique to modern cultures and makes it hard for us to recognize the spiritual in all aspects of live. 

In this note we unpack how our current paradigms about God and our relationship with him have been shaped by our modern world. Then I discuss how we can rebuild our paradigms to align with the path of discipleship that Jesus invited us into. 

In this note I dive into how we can often lose touch with truth and be our own worst enemy. 

In this note I explore our tendency to think that successful people in all areas of life "know what they are doing." In reality most of the time nobody knows what they are doing whether in business, family or faith. 

In this note I explore how organizational thinking limits our lives and relationships. 

In this Note I dive into what it means to die to our false self. 

Identity is a very important concept, but what does it actually mean? In this Note we discuss what Identity is and how it drives our lives. 

In this note I talk about what it means to renew our minds and how to do it. 

In this note I share about my experience wrestling with what I really wanted and hearing God for the first time.