PZ's Podcast

Realism is exactly correct in our observation of life as it is, and especially of human nature as it is. So-called "film noirs", produced right after World War Two, were right to present life, and human nature, as it really is -- which is "noir" (i.e., dark), confused, self-serving and ultimately futile, both in detail and in the big picture. But reality can be saved! Reality can turn bright. It can turn hopeful. So much of supposedly "realistic" art and narrative is itself ... a narrative. It imposes a resolution of hopelessness and depression on the outcome. (And incidentally, if you watch the many "film noirs" that were made in the 1940s and '50s, the vast majority of them have hopeful endings. The vast majority.) It is the narrative of nihilistic critics that presupposes desperate endings. (Like Chinatown", from 1974, which embodies a manufactured narrative. It is a well made movie but note: it was made by a nihilist in a nihilistic time. Like The Fearless Vampire Killers, from 1967, or Easy Rider, from 1968. All carry artificial, contrived endings -- a narrative from passionately suicidal artists.) Anyway, PZ believes in miracles, like Hot Chocolate in 1975 (sort of). Which is to say, things often turn out better than we expect. Or more truly stated, sincere prayers are almost always answered. God is waiting for us to confide in Him, meaning: to confide in Him our worst predictions and presages. Happy endings have ended up happening in your and my life. And not just rarely or exceptionally. Not always, to be sure, but often. I'll refer at one point to Rod Serlings' Twilight Zone episode entitled, "The Big Tall Wish", from 1961. The problem there was one of belief. One little boy's genuine faith was not enough to overcome this world's thick blanket of gray depression. But to the extent it could, the little boy's faith worked! I believe in happy endings. Honest, I do. And my Christian faith causes that. Oh, and P.S.: This podcast is dedicated to Will McDavid.

PZ sets considerable store on the difference between "Either-Or" and "Both-And". 'The world' likes to interpret reality in terms of "Both-And" -- fatal adjectives like "complicated" and "nuanced" abound! The Reality of Life, however, is different. The Reality of Life is "Either-Or Resulting in Both-And'. The reason I say that is because Only Love Creates (Lasting) Reality; and all else -- aloneness, hostility, rejection, and every single failure of love to reach its object -- results in dissatisfaction, discontent, and the ultimate devaluation wrought by death itself. As Gene Pitney once sang with purest veracity (1962): "Only love can break a heart/Only love can mend it again." So won't you agree that your heart is more important than your head? For the alternative, which is pure agnostic resignation to futility, listen to Journey's single from 1978: "Wheel in the Sky". That song says it all. Or rather, the opposite of It All. Recently I revisited the lives of three of my "Five Women of the English Reformation" (Eerdmans, 2001). It struck one, the phrase theologische Existenz" -- which means what it sounds like: the truth of life is theological. Its whole substance -- the substance of life, I mean -- is God and us, or rather, God and you/me! Does He love me, or does He not? Am I loved, or am I not? Everything hinges on that. Otherwise -- i.e., if I am not loved, i.e., if I am rejected and disliked -- my existence is "sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal" (I Corinthians 13). Paucity of belovedness results in... suicidal empathy. My Five-Women faves were more than that, they felt more than that, and their belovedness (from God) enabled their ultimate Sacrifice. OK, so now listen to a few bars of one's favorite German-language Disco tune, from 1983: "Nur Wir Zwei". Sound familiar? LUV U.

An interesting new book from Germany has just been translated into English and a review of it in the Times Literary Supplement (August 21, 2026) concludes with a most consequential sentence. The book is entitled Soul Magic: A Century of Psychotherapy, and the author is Steve Ayan. The consequential sentence at the end of the review, which was written by Jack Goulder, is this: "Ayan finishes with some reflections on the notion that the various different forms of psychotherapy all seem to work as well as each other, and that most of this is due to the placebo effect of there being a kindly listener in the room". Now there are at least two big ideas here, with strong practical effects: The first is that in practice almost all forms of psychotherapy work the same. (But hey, what about John and Yoko, and Carl Jung, and Brian Wilson, and ... PZ... and you? The author levels the playing field!) Moreover, he credits "kindly listening" to their shared (albeit flattened) success. That is a huge conclusion, with enormous possible consequences. But second, Ayan believes that "kindly listening" is a placebo. That is to say, kindly listening is sort of a cover for nourishing peace of mind, but it is not a cure! So "psychotherapy", its 'success' rooted in simply the possibility of a troubled soul's being listened to, is not really about healing. It is sort of a cover, for a secondary effect rather than a primary one. This podcast considers Ayan's rather stunning conclusion -- both its relativizing impact, and its diminishing of what actually goes on within a sufferer by means of "kindly listening". PZ disagrees with the latter point. Based on a near lifetime of practical experience, he disagrees with the latter point. He'll wish to quote a classic song here: Roxy Music's "More Than This" (1982). You'll see. (Oh, and didn't The Clash do a song once entitled "Kindly Listener" -- or was it Dave Mason? Or Talk Talk maybe?) LUV U.

'Love is the Answer' to almost all human problems; but more accurately stated, 'Belovedness' is the Answer. Love springs from belovedness, and almost every rock song that has ever been sung echoes this. It's an important distinction, tho', between love and belovedness, because love is almost always a response to belovedness In other words, belovedness comes prior to love. You cannot tell someone to love. But if they feel they are loved, then their love comes naturally. "All I Gotta Do Is/Act Naturally" (The Beatles, 1965). Love always comes from outside yourself. That is not an overstatement. For love to "work", it has to come from outside yourself. You didn't make it happen. Love fell into your lap. Just look at your own experience: "(That's When) I Saw Her Standing There" (once again, The Beatles, 1963). One more thing, tho', and it's important. You can pray for it to happen. Belovedness is not strictly quixotic. If there is not human belovedness in your life, ask God to send you some. I mean that. We know He loves each of us from the bottom of His Heart. I write that with "sure and certain hope" -- and based on long experience. It's a good and almost necessary thing to pray for belovedness to happen. As in Psalm 116: I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because He hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell had hold of me: I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the Lord.... Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears... Ask God to send you some (human) love -- or even more of what you already have. LUV U.

A special cross-posting of PZ's appearance on Directed by God, a podcast and YouTube show produced by and 'starring' Reagan Wells and Seth Farmer. PZ was served as guest host for their episode on The Searchers, the 1956 film directed by John Ford. The episode was filmed in Cathedral Church of the Advent. Watch on YouTube here. Reagan Wells is chief videographer for The Center in Birmingham, which majors in reaching out to men, of all ages, for the Christian Faith.