The Hinterlands

This is the second part of my conversation with Matt Leavenworth. On his suggestion, we recorded a conversation on trying to tease out the truth about God, the Bible, and mythology. How should we understand these ancient human fixtures in light of changing standards of truth? What we intended as a guest-hosted interview to help me sort through my changing views on these topics turned out to be more of a heart-to-heart between two earnest seekers. Story mentioned on parenting: https://link.medium.com/j7CWjl1fCmbMatt's climbing group meets at SteepWorld on the 3rd Saturday of every month at 5:30PM. Cost: $10.00 for climbing, $5.00 for pizza. Reduced admission is available upon request. Pay what you can! The focus is on setting goals and building a compassionate community around mentorship and the shared experience of climbing. Ages 8-18+. Members pay for pizza only. Families welcome.SteepWorld: (406) 696-25001230 S 31st St W, 59102Support the show

Matt Leavenworth is a new friend of mine. On his suggestion, we recorded a conversation on trying to tease out the truth about God, the Bible, and mythology. How should we understand these ancient human fixtures in light of changing standards of truth? What we intended as a guest-hosted interview to help me sort through my changing views on these topics turned out to be more of a heart-to-heart between two earnest seekers. Support the show

The way we handle our knowledge of good and evil divides the world, philosophically, into two camps. On the one side are those who implicitly rely on their grasp of good and evil to inform and justify their attempts to control the world. On the other are those who hold loosely or doubt or reject their own ability to parse good and evil. The first type ends up doing things like making laws to condemn particular behaviors and beliefs. The second type sees the futility of condemnation as a solution—not out of a denial of moral values, but because the one who condemns the world must try to control it, and because those changed by condemnation will extend that condemnation to others. The Hinterlands publication on Medium: https://medium.com/the-hinterlandsTranscript of episode (with images): https://medium.com/the-hinterlands/a-farewell-confessional-dca7a0cedd04Support the show

Given the scope of the topic, this discussion is bound to be both insufficient and controversial. Be that as it may, I'm grateful to have such an experienced voice on the podcast. Steve Scansen shares some of his background in the faith and suggests three categories of biblical difficulties--similarity to other ancient texts, internal discrepancies, and OT citations in the NT--while I press him with my hopelessly anachronistic expectations of the text. Am I a child of the Enlightenment? Guilty as charged. Books referenced and recommended by Steve:The Enuma ElishThe Epic of GilgameshThe Code of HammurabiThe Bible Tells Me So, Peter EnnsCross Vision, Gregory BoydSupport the show

In the process of discussing Rule 9 on the topic of listening to the person you're talking to, Seth and I stumble into religion and politics, personhood, self-examination, advice-giving, the divide between love and truth, intellectual blindspots, and coping with the discomfort of disagreement, among other amusing conversational pitfalls. Email comments to: [email protected] the show

Have you ever thought of yourself as a character in your own story--the story you tell yourself to make sense of the world? Do you feel the stress of needing others to be different so that you can be okay? How does emotional maturity arise?Henry and I continue our discussion of these questions and others, including the nature of a God who doesn't protect us from the pain and discomfort of our lives. Support the show

How do you deal with the things you can't change? What stories do you tell yourself to make sense of your experiences? How do we relate to truth and reality when they seem to be bent on taking us apart?In this two-part interview, Henry Kennah and I discuss these and related questions through the lens of Byron Katie's book, Loving What Is, and Henry's experience with addiction and sobriety. Support the show

A cordial conversation of differing perspectives on the fallibility of the Bible, the cultural relevance of Christianity, roles in relationships, spiritual leadership, and how agriculture whetted man's appetite for controlling the world around him. Support the show

I bring you Randy Pennington's GUT: (Grand) Unified Theory of human behavior. We discuss self-interest, incentives, choosing beliefs, and how we receive love. Randy is an old friend. This is his first time on the podcast. I hope it will not be his last. Support the show

Wondering if pubic school is still an acceptable place to send your kids for the day? In light of the current political/biological climate, I'm reposting this discussion on education in the hope that it may be of use to those considering alternatives to the masks and mayhem. Support the show

This is a special episode. The woman I’m talking with picked up my son and me while we were hitchhiking through Wyoming. Her story is fairly graphic at points, but it is also hopeful. I think some of you will find it encouraging in the midst of your own hardships. At one point in the conversation, I actually say to her, “How are you even still here?” But she is, and with quite a story to tell!Support the show

Good chat with an old friend, Steve Brown. We chop up one of the finer chapters of 12 Rules for Life, on the connection between Oedipal mothers and the nanny state. Other creatures glimpsed along the way include Homer Simpsonian man-children, Ariel the little mermaid, Big Brother, and the Swedish Nazi scientist from Captain America. Tyranny In A Nutshell Support the show

Do little lies lead to bigger ones? Does deceit affect our souls? What becomes of a State built on lies, and what truth-responsibility do citizens have?I share a couple personal stories about breakthroughs in honesty while discussing Rule 8 (from Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life) with the one and only Garth Howley. Support the show

Do your friends stand by you even when you don't do what they want? How can we stop making excuses for the takers in our lives, and how can we find and keep people who are real and true? These questions are complicated by the lukewarm gruel of half-hearted social media "friends" and full-hearted fakery. Peterson, again, brings some great insights to these questions, as does my guest and friend, Jaxi Howes. Support the show

Why is the need to be right so strong? Why is it so hard to admit our faults? In the course of discussing the book Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me), Dr. Sarah Townley and I discuss many of the issues surrounding the cracks in our nature. The book addresses issues at the fascinating nexus of philosophy, psychology, and the hard facts of daily life. Our discussion touches on cognitive dissonance, determinism, marriage, parenting, professional misconduct, and the secret of conflict. If you’d like to learn more about Sarah's coaching practice, check out her website: https://www.afuturebydesign.comSupport the show

Here's a look at just one of the ways these strange times are playing out in the world of money. Our economic system allows for the accumulation of wealth--in terms of buying power, at least. That same system also advertises itself to us as somehow inherent or inevitable, probably because we were born into it and it's all we've every known. The hand that feeds, in this case, is also the hand that steals. For this episode, I spoke with a friend about this article from zerohedge.com. The content will be a bit thorny for the uninitiated, but this crap is worth trying to understand. Not because understanding will let you get in on the action, but because the action is robbery, and that robbery is facilitated by a system that persists because its members fall almost entirely into two camps: those who benefit from it, and those who don't understand it. Support the show

Wondering if you should look into gold (or silver) lately? In this episode, I discuss the perennial metal with Erin Moffett of 7k Metals. We move from basic terminology, such as bullion, troy ounce, and numismatic, to more involved issues, such as the nature of money and that one time owning gold became a crime. Erin's contact info: www.7kmetals.com/[email protected] the show

Another discussion of a chapter of Peterson's book, 12 Rules for Life. Andrew Akerstrom and I dive into the inside of envy, effort, humility, transformation, and the counterproductive addiction of serving appearances. Standards are necessary to ensure desirable outcomes. Values inevitably arise from these standards. These standards then become our gauges of comparison, to take stock of how we stack up in the game of life. Comparison is a slippery slope that invites you to fail the other person for being better and to fail yourself for being worse. Even if we win at the comparison game, we're still vulnerable to the specter of self-righteousness, not to mention loneliness. In this way, we're tempted into playing a game that isn’t worth winning.“We can spend our whole lives climbing this ladder, only to find that it’s leaning against the wrong wall.” Richard Rohr Support the show

Phil and I dive into it again on the topics of Marxism, the place of government, self-sufficiency, and responsibility. We stumble our way through the neuroses of billionaires, the illegitimacy of property, how we're all on the team of the serfs, and how capitalism is in the air we breathe. How do we get our bearings in the winds of commercialism if we don't have another source of existential meaning?Abram's review of The Communist ManifestoSupport the show

For those who don't know, polyamory (the practice of having multiple romantic partners, often called an "open relationship") has recently seen a resurgence in popularity. Phil Griffin and I sat down to discuss his experience in this practice. In the course of our discussion, we touch on childhood impressions about marriage and divorce, cultural norms, the problems involved in pressuring one's partner to change, divergent strategies for responding to natural desires, and taking relationships to the breaking point and beyond. Support the show