24 June 2009 Dear Dr Rowan Williams

I felt compelled to contact you after watching a video discussion on “youtube” between yourself and Richard Dawkins. Mr Dawkins asks some very challenging questions. I feel very strongly that it is important for the church to be able to answer such questions if it is to have any credibility. I have thought a lot about this. I wonder if I can share some of this thinking with you?

I am a scientist by training. I am a mathematician and management scientist with a desire to know the truth. For over 25 years I have been a specialist in business performance management advising the boards of some of the largest organisations in the world.

Through my work I learnt about a toolkit called Systems Thinking. This provides us with tools to enhance our learning effectiveness by improving our knowledge of the complex cause and effect systems in which we all operate. There are four key components to the systems toolkit:

1. Observation: improving awareness of what is (and has been) happening;
2. Thinking: deepening our understanding of the complex cause and effect relationships driving what we have observed to understand why it is happening;
3. Choosing: understanding what I can do differently (what I can influence within the system and the likely consequences of an intervention so that I can make informed choices); and
4. Acting: making it happen (taking action and monitoring the results).

I used this toolkit to improve business performance. Ironically I never thought to use it on my own performance until I suffered a nervous breakdown.

I have thought a lot about what I am. I used to think that I was my brain but now I realise that the body is important and if we don’t look after it the brain is useless. I have also realised that I can control my brain – my thought patterns - and change them for the better. I can also control the amount of thought that is going on. I can calm my brain right down – not all the time but I am learning. This leaves me in a quandary: If I can control my body and my mind what am I? I guess this is what we choose to call “the soul”? I am a system of lots of complicated cause and effect relationships working together to a common objective. When all my components work in harmony I can achieve far more than the sum of my parts.

Extending this thinking to the universe – the universe is also a complex system capable of more than the sum of its parts. I think that this “more than”, the power of the universal system is what we choose to call God. So I don’t think that God is a human. God is everything. God is all around us and we are part of it (thereby avoiding gender!) God emerges when the system is working in harmony. Therefore we can help to create God just as God creates us! God only exists when systems are performing in union in complete harmony. God’s ability to perform when we are disconnected and without harmony is much diminished.

Richard Dawkins does have a point. True faith is not blind. It comes from a depth of understanding. If we can’t explain God simply we shouldn’t expect people to believe. The most important thing for people to believe in is themselves and their own power to do good deeds on this earth. Not because that is what they get paid for, or adored for, or because they fear God’s wrath if they don’t, but because that is what makes us humans feel good inside. And it is what creates God.

The bible is very misleading. We have to remember that it is a book. As an author myself I understand the poetic license in such books. Others who choose to read the bible more literally, like Richard Dawkins, will use the bible to “prove” the non existence of God.

Let me try to explain what I have come to believe about the bible. I don’t believe that Jesus was any more or less a son of God than you or I. We were all created within the system so technically we are all “sons and daughters” of God. To begin with we are the product of our parents’ choices. What we do after that is our own choice. I believe that Jesus used his mind very well and that he knew he had a choice and he made that choice. He also knew the weaker side of human behaviour himself and so it is not surprising that he predicted the behaviours he did in his followers. The story of water and wine is an interesting one. I don’t think he actually physically turned water into wine. I think he achieved something more powerful than that: He convinced the humans that water was better than wine (which indeed it is!) I find it fascinating that Jesus chose to “recruit” ordinary people for his disciples (not those in power or with strong networks). I find this fascinating because I too have a mission and have struggled to gain traction with those in power within the existing system.

The conundrum is always the same. If a system is not fair and we see we are a “winner” within it do we choose to change it? The best recent example of that is the politicians’ expenses issue. Being a leader is about behaviour and changing the “rules” where they make no sense not exploiting them. How can we trust leaders who exploit?

I’ve never been particularly religious but I do believe in the existence of God as I’ve come to understand it as the power of the biggest system of all. I have studied the bible and used systems thinking to capture the key messages of Jesus. I believe that Jesus was an early systems thinker but without the tools we now have at our disposal to understand the systems in which we function. I believe that we need systems thinking to understand God. And surely this is what the church is all about… understanding God?

Systems seek balance and equilibrium. If they get too much out of kilter they will push back. These are the laws of cause and effect. Whenever we work against the system rather than with it we may profit in the short term but we will always suffer in the longer term. Those who think themselves “clever” ensure that this payback is made by others or so late down the line that it won’t affect them. Our problems now are the results of such choices made by myself and by others in the past. We all bear the responsibility and we can all choose to be part of the problem or part of the solution.

Only by understanding the system can we make the right choices for the future. But we must recognise that our mission to understand the system (to understand God) will never end – the depth and width is incomprehensible. So we are all learners, we will never be 100% right, we can only make the best choice with our current level of understanding. And continuously seek to deepen and broaden that understanding. Every choice needs to be seen as an experiment to be monitored and learnt from. Did it work? What happened? Why? What should I do now? In this way we become perpetual learners and life becomes exciting.

Why do people close their minds to learning? I think that letting learning in leads us to God. Only by learning can we seek to understand and work with God. I think that this starts with the children. I think that the two biggest gifts we can give our children are freedom to make choices and skills to analyse (to understand cause and effect) and therefore to make the best choices. What of language? I think that the choices we make communicate our intentions and our values far more than our words! Words can mislead. Behaviours are clear. My horses never lie and are never inconsistent because they have no words.

We are all responsible for God and for the sustainability of the system that is the universe. Sustainability is what it must be about. Rather than focussing on who has what (who has the biggest share/slice of whatever action is going) I think that it is better to co-operate together to grow “the whole”. For me this is what “holiness” means – someone who seeks the good of the whole – someone who works with the system – someone who works with God. God loves us but God loves all the other components in the system too. If we continue to be greedy the system will push back and the payback will be made by our children or our children’s children.

I think that the church has become disconnected from young people and that is a great pity. The church needs to move with the times. To embrace the universe (and therefore God) as it is now. I find that a lot of churches are bright and beautiful on the outside but cold and dark on the inside. It is hard to find God in such places. I recently visited Westminster Abbey between meetings and was not allowed in without paying. I reflected on what Jesus would have done in such circumstances. My thoughts were not pleasant. I visited again during a service but left early cold and frustrated. God needs us to learn but how can we learn when there is no two way dialogue in a “typical” church service?

Which leads me on to my mission…I wish that I had been taught the systems toolkit at school (instead of how to pass exams!) My objective is to get this toolkit taught to children. Over the past few years I have struggled to get traction in the UK schools system. I am now looking to find other ways of reaching children outside schools. Perhaps the church could be one such possibility?

I believe that... • we are all the sum of our previous choices (and the choices of our parents before us); • that I can only directly influence my own choices and behaviours; • that we demonstrate our choices and our intelligence through our behaviour; • that a better choice creates more choice in future; • that to make a better choice I must strive to understand the systems in which I operate; • that systems thinking is an important skill to acquire to be able to do this; • that the single most important thing that could happen in the world today would be for people to learn how to make better choices; • that if we all made better choices ourselves then the system in which we operate would be more sustainable. I would love to discuss some of these things with you and to see whether we can help each other.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards