Sunday Service: Thinking Critically

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things from Philippians. What does that even mean. How does it apply to your life? If it even does, that is what we will explore today. Welcome to the Sunday service. Do you find that your brain is always on? Is it always running? Are you always thinking? Are there thoughts running around like crazy? Is it noisy in between your ears? Or do you need to turn it on? Is your brain very quiet and very still and less activated? Do you know where the switch is to turn it on, or do you know where the switch is to turn it off? Do you have to plug it in? Do you have to unplug it? Does it require a restart every so often. How often are you generating new ideas? Do you find that ideas are constantly popping into your head, or do you have to force them? Do you get your ideas from quiet contemplation, from listening to podcasts, watching videos, being on walks. Where does it happen? Where do you ideate? How do you how do you do that best? Do you think that that’s a good thing? How often do you think about that? Do you think about new ideas? Do you think about what you’re thinking about? Have you ever thought about what you’re thinking about? Do you think that there’s value? Do you think that it’s good to be thinking about what it is that you are thinking about? I don’t know. I think that it is, I think that that’s nothing but a good thing. All that being said, I don’t know that I was creating a lot of original ideas for a good chunk of my adult life. I think that all of us are artists and all of us are creatives, and we’re constantly coming up with new ideas and using our imaginations. When we’re kids, when we’re little, the universe is open to us. The world is our oyster. It’s, it’s, if you can dream it or you can achieve it, and whatever you kind of get the idea and then work, bills, obligations, schedules, busy, busy, busy, busy. That has a tendency to dull or even deactivate or turn off the part of our brain. That is that idea creating machine? Is that creative artist kind of a person? I think that’s not a good thing. I think that that is a bad thing. And then you mix in the world that we’re living in today, where we’re just constantly inundated by information. We’re constantly inundated by other people’s thoughts. Think about just wasn’t that long ago when there were, you know, four channels on my TV. I had ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS. We didn’t have cable when I was growing up. Eventually, we did, I think, but didn’t have it, and I wasn’t reading the newspaper. So new information. It was coming from Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, those are the two that kind of come to mind. I forget who was on one of the other. There was just a handful of people who were the arbiters of truth, who read the news. And if you were somebody who listened to am radio, which I was not, and I’m not, still you were getting some other ideas scheduled. If you subscribe to magazines, you were getting ideas, but it was just way less. Obviously, I know I’m not breaking it into ground here, but I just submit that today, more than ever, we have this constant influx of other people’s thoughts and other people’s ideas, and they might be pure and honest, or they might be trying to influence us. They might be trying to influence you to come around to their way of thinking, or to get you to buy something or not buy something, or protest this, or protest that, or click here and subscribe there, and you kind of get it. So I don’t think there’s ever been a time where it’s more important to be activating our our brains, to be turning on our thinking, to be using our brains for what they’re really designed to do, just to think, to process. Do you train? Do you work out? Do you exercise? Why? Why do you do that? Maybe you want to feel good, maybe you want to look good, maybe you want more energy. These are all really compelling reasons. And the primary reasons you want health span, you want lifespan. Me, I do it because I for all those reasons. I want to look good, I want to feel good. I want to be able to chase my kids around for as long as they’re interested in having me chase them around. I want to be able to play pickleball for as long as I want to and everything else. I want to be able to get up and sit down without immense pain. I want to be able to do all these things. So therefore, I train my body. I do cardiovascular exercise. I wait to train I lift heavy things, I stretch and I try and put good food into my body. So you do those things, which you ought to. I think that those are a requirement. Why wouldn’t be? Why wouldn’t we also be training our brains? I wouldn’t be thinking about, how can I do a better job supporting my brain, because without that, then I guess the rest of it doesn’t necessarily matter. But if you’re not using it right now, then it might not matter at all. So I think that there’s a lot out there. I know that there’s a lot out there. I know that it is wise, prudent to put to work the gifts that we have been given, and to not be tapping into our greatest source of power as human beings, aside from our opposable thumbs, it’s our ability to reason, it’s our ability to plan and to think through things and make good decisions. So with that being said, Have you ever tried meditation? Have you ever thought about meditation? The idea is, how do I get better at controlling the direction of my mind? Because our brains are all the same. We’re always getting new ideas, and they’re bouncing around and bouncing around, and there’s shiny new things popping up. The idea behind meditation is simply that we quiet the mind and we control where it goes. Doesn’t mean that I stop it, or I can totally stop it from moving around to new things that I’m not focused on. But what it does do is it trains you to recognize when that happens. Let’s say I’m focusing on writing a focusing a new chapter for a book, and I’m sitting there my favorite coffee shop. I’m writing, I’m writing. I’m writing. But then I catch myself wondering about the baseball game from last night and thinking about the amazing plays that I saw, or thinking about just what I need to do this afternoon, or what my wife asked me to do, or how I need to do a better job with someone like whatever it might be. You catch yourself doing that, and you bring yourself back to the task that you were you were focused on. That’s really the value there so quiet the mind, to control the direction of your mind. And I know that every time that I encourage somebody to meditate, it’s probably super obnoxious. It need not be. Meditation is not a woo, woo thing. It’s simply, again, it’s, it’s training your brain to be more effective at that important thing, which is thinking. So anyway, so anybody who says which is all the time, my brain’s just too busy for that, I’d say, Well, that’s the biggest reason that you ought to consider meditating. Is to slow it down, to grab control of it. Otherwise it’s the tail wagging the dog versus the dog wagging the tail. And I want to be the dog that wags the tail in this example, I want to be the human being that controls the direction of my thinking. You certainly get it. And if you’re a person who says, well, where in the world, how in the world am I ever going to make time or find time to do that. There’s this great quote from Russell Simmons that I’m not going to be able to actually quote him, but the whole idea was that if you can’t find 20 minutes to meditate, then you need it more than anybody else. So that’s just evidence that you’re not necessarily in control of your mind. You’re not able to organize and prioritize things in a way that’s going to get you what it is that you want. So it’s the ability to think. What if you could get better at thinking? What if you could increase the quality of your thinking by 10% would that translate into an improvement in the quality of your life by 10% I think that it would What about 20% Could your life be 20% better? Would you like that? I can’t imagine anybody would say that. I do not want my life to be 20% better. Yet. Yet, here we are. Just because I intellectually know that something is good for me certainly does not mean that I do it. But remember that movie Limitless with Bradley Cooper? Anybody to call him Brad Cooper? That’s a cool name, too. Bradley Cooper. Brad Cooper, anyway, took this drug that helped him to really focus and to increase his ability to his cognitive ability exponentially, and that’s what we’re talking about, really, is, how can I improve my cognitive ability? How do I improve my thinking, so that there’s a lot of wisdom on this topic that shows up in pretty much every major world religion, certainly in the Bible, just. Just read,

read the verse. And I think that that is number one, a beautiful verse, but just giving evidence, let’s focus on the things that matter. If we can do that, the better off that we’re going to be in terms of philosophy, Michi, his philosophy, he’s got, he’s obviously an absolutely brilliant thinker, brilliant human being, brilliant philosopher. He has a concept called will to power, and he considers that to be the driving force behind life and human existence. And it’s not, it’s not a desire for dominance over others. What it is, it’s it is the impulse. And he considers it to be a profound impulse to create, to transform and to assert oneself in the world. So he considers that to be rule number one, or thing number one, again, impulse to create, transform and assert oneself in the world. I like to think and talk a lot about locus of control, and I want to have as much internal control, internal locus of control, as I possibly can. The opposite is external, obviously, and that just means that you don’t feel like you have a lot of control over your life when you think that you are constantly being acted upon by outside forces that are beyond your control. Internal Locus of Control says that I have control over many things in my life, or at least I have perceived control over many things in my life, and I certainly understand and appreciate that I have very little control over many of the circumstances in my life, but I have absolute, total control over how I think, feel and respond to those circumstances. And what Nietzsche is talking about is, again, not trying to dominate or or get over on anybody, or manipulate or harm anyone. It is my desire to use my abilities, my brain, my thinking, to create, transform and again, assert myself in the world. And I definitely have that. I definitely want that I’m not here just to go through the motions. Steve Jobs talked about how we’re here to put a debt in the universe. If not that, then what else are we here to do? So I’m trying to advance humanity. I’m trying to move the conversation forward in the way that I know how, and I believe I know that the better I can do with thinking, and the more pure my thoughts, the more thoughtful I am about my thinking and thoughts, the better that I’m going to be at that. So there’s a lot of ways to do it. I think that thinking is probably the most reasonable and practical way to do that. And in order to do that, we’ve got to turn our brains on to engage in independent thinking. I talked about how I think that it’s like everything in life. Whenever there’s new things, it’s a double edged sword. There’s going to be a lot of noise and garbage out there when everybody has the ability to essentially be their own news channel or their own distributor or publicist, because now we are we’ve got, I guess, probably on limited number of platforms to do it on, either through blogs or podcasts or Instagram or Tiktok or YouTube or whatever there’s you pick. You take your choice. Make a choice, take your pick. So I think it’s healthy, but it’s healthy to to be paying attention, to be people that you believe, to be clear thinkers, to people that you believe are accurate, honest actors out in the marketplace. So I think that it’s great to take in on any other ideas. There’s a lot of brilliant people out there prognosticating on nearly every topic. But I also want you to be making up your own mind. I want you to be to thinking your own thoughts about that. We’re all standing on the shoulders of giants, so just generations of people that have come before us. We’re talking about the Bible today, and so that is an ancient text, and it’s an ancient text that literally countless people have benefited from and have taken the ideas and built on them. So nothing new under the sun. But of course, there are. You can put your own spin and your own, your own take on ideas that other people for millennia have been doing. So I think that it’s nothing but a really, really, really positive thing, and the spirit of that from Romans 12, verse two do not conform to the pattern of this. World, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is. So don’t just go with the flow. Don’t just do what everybody else is doing, transformed by the renewing of your mind, from Fauci and Thessalonians. Test everything. Hold fast. What is good? Test everything. Hold fast. What is good. Try it all. Take it for a spin. Discard the things that don’t serve you. Hold on the things that are serving you. From Buddhism, the Kalama SUTA. Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing or upon another’s seeming ability. When you yourselves know these things are good, these things are blameless, then accept them and live accordingly. So, very, very, very similar, just because you hear the same thing over and over again doesn’t mean it true. Just like doing the same thing over and over again is the definition of insanity, just because you hear something over and over again repeated by the same kind of people, doesn’t make it true. Figure out what is true. Figure out what is true. Hinduism teaches from the Bhagavad Gita Krishna advises Arjuna to seek wisdom and make his own decisions based on inner conviction. Saying, deliberate on this fully, and then do as you wish. So think deeply on whatever topic that you are interested in, thinking deeply on or if you’re trying to make a decision about something or you’re not sure the way forward, think about it and then make up your mind, make a decision. Do as you wish. Judy has been encourages questioning and debate through the study of Torah and the Talmud, where different interpretations are explored. Rabbi Hillel famously said, If I am not for myself, who will be for me, and when I am only for myself, what am I? So this is telling us to pursue a balance of self reliance and ethical consideration, thinking about responsibility and self determination, if I am not for myself, who will be for me, and when I am only for myself, what am I so find that middle ground powerful so across most major religions, ancient philosophies, all of these, there’s a recurring theme, valuing inner reflection, personal responsibility and making informed decisions. Some traditions emphasize learning from scripture, teachers divine wisdom, but they all encourage followers to think critically, to pursue knowledge, to make choices, then that reflect the understanding of that and what your values are. Take in a bunch of information, think about it, make up your own mind and then act accordingly. So getting back to the idea, or the question of, is your brain always on? Is it constantly running, or is it just quiet? How do you turn it on when it is time to activate the brain, when you’ve when you’ve allocated time for thinking, which I think is really important thing. But there’s not a right or wrong time to do it. Maybe you have a commute every day, and instead of just zoning out listening to the radio saying, Okay, this is what I’m going to do some introspection. This is a topic that I’ve been thinking a lot about, and I need to do more thinking on it and come to a conclusion to think about it. Maybe it’s first thing in the morning, maybe it’s at the end of the day, maybe it’s over a cup of coffee, maybe it’s after exercise, maybe it’s during exercise. Maybe you get wonderful thoughts when you’re on the treadmill or up for a walk or lifting, whatever it might be. We need to figure out how to turn our brains on. We need to be better stewards of our attention and our thinking. Need to be super mindful of what we’re letting into our heads and considering the source and then applying our values to it and making informed and correct decisions based on what it is that we believe to be correct and true. And then to take a page out of Nietzsche’s book and start creating, put your ideas out there, start having an impact. We’re all capable of doing it. We all need to make up our own minds. Now more than ever, we have these God given. Ability

to create in ways that no other living creatures on earth, maybe anywhere, have the ability to do. And that’s a super profound and powerful thing, but it’s also a shame when we don’t put it to work and we waste it. So that’s the last thing that I want. Don’t waste your brains. Turn on, put on your thinking cap. Turn the brain on. It started thinking, making up your own mind, thinking critically as always. Do your part by doing your best. You.

george grombacher 16:00
So if I want my iPhone, and my Tesla and my Bitcoin to work, we need to get the metal out of the ground.

Pierre Leveille 16:07
Absolutely. Without it, we cannot do it.

george grombacher 16:13
Why? Why is there a Why has production been going down.

Pierre Leveille 16:21
Because the large mines that are producing most of the copper in the world, the grades are going down slowly they’re going there, they’re arriving near the end of life. So and of life of mines in general means less production. And in the past, at least 15 years, the exploration expenditure for copper were pretty low, because the price of copper was low. And when the price is low, companies are tending to not invest more so much in exploration, which is what we see today. It’s it’s, it’s not the way to look at it. Because nobody 15 years ago was able to predict that there would be a so massive shortage, or it’s so massive demand coming. But in the past five years, or let’s say since the since 10 years, we have seen that more and more coming. And then the by the time you react start exploring and there’s more money than then ever that is putting in put it in expression at the moment for copper at least. And what we see is that the it takes time, it could take up to 2025 years between the time you find a deposit that it gets in production. So but but the year the time is counted. So it’s it’s very important to so you will see company reopening old mines, what it will push also, which is not bad, it will force to two, it will force to find a it will force to find ways of recalibrating customer, you know the metals, that will be more and more important.

george grombacher 18:07
So finding, okay, so for lack of a better term recycling metals that are just sitting around somewhere extremely important. Yeah. And then going and going back to historic minds that maybe for lack of technology, or just lack of will or reasons, but maybe now because there’s such a demand, there’s an appetite to go back to those.

Pierre Leveille 18:33
Yes, but there will be a lot of failures into that for many reasons. But the ones that will be in that will resume mining it’s just going to be a short term temporary solution. No it’s it’s not going to be you need to find deposit that will that will operate 50 years you know at least it’s 25 to 50 years at least and an old mind that you do in production in general it’s less than 10 years.

george grombacher 19:03
Got it. Oh there we go. Up here. People are ready for your difference making tip What do you have for them

Pierre Leveille 19:14
You mean an investment or

george grombacher 19:17
whatever you’re into, you’ve got so much life experience with raising a family and doing business all over the world and having your kids go to school in Africa so a tip on copper or whatever you’re into.

Pierre Leveille 19:34
But there’s two things I like to see and I was telling my children many times and I always said you know don’t focus on what will bring you specifically money don’t think of Getting Rich. Think of doing what you what you like, what you feel your your your your your, you know you have been born to do so use your most you skills, do what you like, do what you wet well, and good things will happen to you. And I can see them grow in their life. And I can tell you that this is what happens. And sometimes you have setback like I had recently. But if we do things properly, if we do things that we like, and we liked that project, we were very passionate about that project, not only me, all my team, and if we do things properly, if we do things correctly, good things will happen. And we will probably get the project back had to go forward or we will find another big project that will be the launch of a new era. So that’s my most important tip in life. Do what you like, do it with your best scale and do it well and good things will happen.

george grombacher 20:49
Pierre Leveille 21:03
Thank you. I was happy to be with you to today.

george grombacher 21:06
Damn, tell us the websites and where where people can connect and find you.

Pierre Leveille 21:13
The it’s Deep South resources.com. So pretty simple.

george grombacher 21:18
Perfect. Well, if you enjoyed this as much as I did show up here your appreciation and share today’s show with a friend who also appreciate good ideas, go to deep south resources, calm and learn all about what they’re working on and track their progress.

Pierre Leveille 21:32
Thanks. Thanks, have a nice day.

george grombacher 21:36
And until next time, keep fighting the good fight. We’re all in this together.