(Not so veiled attempt at anchoring my grade)[1]<\/a><\/p>\n This week\u2019s reading of Daniel Kahneman comes at a great time as I reflect on a meeting last week. In my meeting I had a quick System 1 reaction, followed by slowly processing it with System 2 thinking.[2]<\/a> Though Kahneman\u2019s book covers multiple different psychological processes and decision-making skills, such as behavioral economics and the two-self, I will reflect primarily on his definition of System 1 and System 2.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As I shared a few weeks ago, I was a firefighter for ten years. My intuition is very high and think that I would agree more with Gary Klein\u2019s position. In his book on developing insight, Klein writes, \u201cFirefighters build up patterns that they apply in making rapid decisions in emergencies. Intuition is the use of patterns they\u2019ve already learned, whereas insight is the discovery of new patterns.\u201d[3]<\/a> I have experience with the entire range of people in our society. Our 911 system is used by both the ultra-rich as well as the ultra-poor. When I moved to Kenya, I feel that my intuition was sharpened even more. I knew when trouble was near and when we needed to adjust plans. Though Kahneman suggests people place too much confidence in their intuitions I have come to rely heavily on mine.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Last week I had a meeting with a young man in his early 30\u2019s. (I\u2019ll call him John). He had gone through the process with our organization to be a volunteer to work with refugees. So, I met him to help discern the best place to get him connected. When I met John, there was just something off about him. Like meeting him missed the spark that I normally expect when meeting with other volunteers. Something was off but I couldn\u2019t figure out what. I got my coffee and sat down. Due to the coffee shop changing hours, we only had 30 minutes to meet (I silently thanked God for this.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n With less time than normal, I began my spiel. Yet, as I was talking about the work we do, everything felt off. His eyes were staring at me, his demeanor impatient. My heart rate increased enough for me to notice it, my breathing increased, and I felt uneasy. Kahneman writes, “As cognitive scientists have emphasized in recent years, cognition is embodied; you think with your body, not only with your brain.”[5]<\/a> It was at this point that I felt the Holy Spirit speak to me. Essentially, he said, \u201cStop talking about your work. Ask John why he doesn\u2019t have a church home. This man needs to be discipled. He is not going to volunteer right now.\u201d I switched gears and stopped talking about the work going on with refugees but instead began to ask him questions and really listen to his responses.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n John tiptoed around the idea of a church home and said things that raised a lot of red flags for me. He asked if he \u201chad to\u201d be a part of a church to volunteer. Reflecting on what Eve Poole writes in her book about hostile questions, I stepped into the question.[6]<\/a> I explained our policy but then I turned the question back on him and tried to disciple him back into the church. Every question he was asking about refugees, I was turning back towards his attitude towards the church.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The short meeting finally ended without me committing to connecting him but rather telling him I would pray about what to do. I did some System 2 processing with my wife on a long walk and relayed all the red flags that came up. Was I exaggerating this? Or as Kahneman would put it, “System 1 is designed to jump to conclusions from little evidence – and it is not designed to know the size of its jumps.”[7]<\/a> How could I come to a conclusion about John in so little time? I realized that this was not the norm for me. It is not normal to feel the need to stop explaining the work we do and instead begin to disciple. The Spirit inside me and my body were telling me this was a \u201cRare event\u201d which “produces an impulse for protective action.”[8]<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n After some prayer, I decided that the best move forward with this potential volunteer was to encourage him back into a church body and to be discipled by an older man for a period of six months. Then, after six months to reapply and we can reassess what to do at that point. I sat on the email for a few days, not wanting to send it but finally told John that I would not allow him to volunteer at this point because I am concerned for the anger and\/or hurt he seemed to have regarding the church body. I encouraged him to find a church, any church, and I was happy to recommend a few if he wanted. Shortly after the email he called me and was very frustrated and angry at me. He accused me of making assumptions about his faith after only a thirty-minute conversation and repeatedly asked me to change my mind. Again, I stepped into the question and held my ground.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Was he right? Did I allow a System 1 judgement to simply make the easy decision and overrule the deeper System 2 thinking? I debriefed the whole event with my boss. She asked for John\u2019s name and relooked at his background check and his information which I never had access to. She gasped as she said John\u2019s background had slipped through the cracks and he never should have passed. She couldn\u2019t believe it was missed and was very thankful for the discernment of the Holy Spirit speaking to me and my intuition that something was simply not right.<\/p>\n ___________________________________________________<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/em>, 1st ed (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011), 119.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Kahneman, 20\u201321.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Gary Klein, Seeing What Others Don\u2019t: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights<\/em> (New York: Public Affairs, 2013), 27.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Kahneman, 45.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Kahneman, 51.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Eve Poole, Leadersmithing: Revealing the Trade Secrets of Leadership<\/em> (London Oxford New York, NY: Bloomsbury Business, 2017), 141.<\/p>\n