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We explore the big picture of our humanity through medical knowledge, philosophical reasoning, and theological insights leading to a better understanding of human flourishing.
29 Episodes
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This episode looks at a Biblical view of flourishing through the Shema from Deuteronomy 6:4-5: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." The understanding of the heart according to Professor Scott Redd "refers to the general cognitive and volitional capacities of the person.” In other words, our thoughts, emotions, and desires or the psychologic aspect of our humanity.&nb...
This last of a five-part series on identity analyzes an identity in Christ. This identity answers the three fundamental questions: who is my God (spiritual dimension), who is my neighbor (social) and who am I (psychologic dimension). God is the trinitarian God proclaimed and embodied in Jesus Christ. Our primary duties and obligations lie in the first two questions through the two greatest commandments … love of God and love of neighbor. These loving relationship...
Critical theory is a way of looking at humanity through power imbalances that may have harmed a person’s human flourishing as currently defined by economic and/or sexual expression. Critical theory's Achilles heel is that it is unclear about the future institutions and values that the revolution is aiming towards. Thus, there is a faith in revolution for revolution sake. Power imbalances were initially defined as economic ones between bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Critic...
This is the 3rd of a five-part series on identity. We analyze the identities of a Mandalorian (Star Wars series), a physician, and a member of the profession of arms. We analyzed all three identities through our 5 questions. All three identities were or are being challenged. The first two (Mandalorian and physician) are challenged from within as to what are the core elements or what really defines the identity. The challenge to the profession of arms is different...
This is the 2nd of a five-part series on identity. We review our current identity trends by answering our 5 questions that help us answer how good an identity is. Our identities are currently psychologically driven. Within the psychologic dimension, our desires drive our identity while our emotions act as gatekeepers deciding whether another person’s words will be allowable or not. Our rational thought has a much lower priority. Here are our 5 questions and...
This is the first of a five-part series on identity. It is useful to examine identities throughout history and up to our modern day by asking one or more of three fundamental questions. Who is my God (spiritual dimension), who is my neighbor (social) and/or who am I (psychologic dimension). Historically up to the Enlightenment, a person’s identity was based upon the answers to the first two questions: who my God is and who my neighbor is. Duties and obligations then fl...
This episode concludes our examination of the spiritual dimension by analyzing common errors. Error #1: Mistaking the social for the spiritual. We think the religious service with its liturgy and building or obedience to social norms are the spiritual dimension. Religious service attendance and doing the good and avoiding the evil should be encouraged. However, to be complete, it needs to work towards the transcendent good, true, and beautiful along with a rela...
Second episode of two parts on the spiritual dimension. Humans appear designed to pursue knowledge and particularly knowledge of the sacred or transcendent. Defining the spiritual dimension as things that are transcendently good, true, and beautiful, and God Himself is robust for four reasons: 1) it distinguishes the spiritual dimensions from the other three dimensions, 2) these four areas all work harmoniously together, 3) it distinguishes humans from the rest of creation, ...
First episode of two parts on the spiritual dimension. Humans appear designed to pursue knowledge and particularly knowledge of the sacred or transcendent. Defining the spiritual dimension as things that are transcendently good, true, and beautiful, and God Himself is robust for four reasons: 1) it distinguishes the spiritual dimensions from the other three dimensions, 2) these four areas all work harmoniously together, 3) it distinguishes humans from the rest of creation, a...
This is the final lectures on the challenges of the digital revolution on our humanity where we discuss its impact on the spiritual dimension. All aspects of the spiritual dimension can be harmed by the digital revolution. The spiritual dimension includes the Good (the virtues), the True and the Beautiful while culminating in our relationship with God who is ultimately the summation of everything that is Good, True and Beautiful. The Good: as we saw in the prior episode, i...
This is the second of two lectures on the social harms by the digital revolution. In the pre-digital world, we desired and sought out relations with those that we had common beliefs and interests; however, the degree of homogeneity of those beliefs and interests was limited by the potential number of people we could interact with. We also had access to limited information which prevented many of our beliefs from going very deep. The breadth of values that we held to be vita...
This is the first of two lectures on the social harms by the digital revolution. The digital world has led to two main features: we ignore the people in front of us and bully those we don’t see. We will address the first of these two: ignoring the people in front of us and the harms it has on the basic goods of friendship and marriage. We are either distracted or addicted to our digital world because of the unnatural immediacy and quantity of novel information and/or emotional r...
3rd part on the digital revolution looking at biologic harms. Key brain aspects include networks, the neurotransmitter dopamine, and mirror neurons. 4 networks. 1) executive control network (ECN): decision making and self-regulation. 2) salience network (SN): filters external and internal stimuli. 3) default mode network (DMN): activated when not engaged in a task. Includes ideas of the self and others (aka social cognition or mentalizing). 4) task positive network: active in tasks. Neurotra...
3rd part on the digital revolution looking at biologic harms. Key brain aspects include networks, the neurotransmitter dopamine, and mirror neurons. 4 networks. 1) executive control network (ECN): decision making and self-regulation. 2) salience network (SN): filters external and internal stimuli. 3) default mode network (DMN): activated when not engaged in a task. Includes ideas of the self and others (aka social cognition or mentalizing). 4) task positive network: active in tasks. Neurotra...
2nd of 5-part series on the digital revolution. Today we look at the psychologic harms. Expressive individualism sets the background that already drives us more into the psychologic. This overemphasis on our thoughts, emotions, and desires leads to narcissism. This preoccupation with self-referential thinking or thinking about “me” leads to unhappiness. Silicon Valley exploits this turn to the psychologic by exploiting our mechanisms for producing positive emotions. Their ...
This is the first part of a five-episode series on the challenges that the digital revolution pose for our humanity. This episode will provide a general framework to analyze the effects of tools and specifically the digital revolution regarding our human flourishing. The analysis begins with assessing the depth and breadth of a tool’s impact on us. The digital revolution is widespread globally while at the same time we now spend a substantial portion of our lives interactin...
Join me in the last of a two-part conversation with college student Micah Allen. This episode continues our discussion of human flourishing from both philosophical and theological perspectives. We introduce three philosophers and theologians Soren Kierkegaard, Marcus Aurelius, and R.C. Sproul in addition to referencing previously mentioned authors Viktor Frankl and Albert Wolters. The conversation focuses on redeeming a proper understanding of the individual and also of an a...
Join me in the first of a two-part conversation with college student Micah Allen as we discuss human flourishing in the college experience and beyond. This wide ranging discussion covers issues within college from Micah's perspective as a resident assistance to general thinking of human flourishing from both theological and philosophical perspectives. E-mail for comments and questions at: Rootsofflourishing@gmail.com
The third of a four-episode series on redeeming work that introduces three areas of harm (money, bureaucracy, and ideology) and one area of positive enhancement (promoting engagement or flow) that the institution contributes to our work. The three harms degrade, dilute, and/or distort our work. The disordered love or prioritization of money can either be from an individual or institutional perspective. Paid work or employment is not a necessary condition of achieving the g...
The second of a four-episode series on redeeming work discusses the importance of loving people we work with and for while highlighting the fundamental key of the spiritual dimension. The social aspect of our jobs is arguably the most important as it leads directly to more of the fruits of flourishing (three--meaning, positive relationships, and positive emotions) than loving our jobs for their own sake does (a single fruit--accomplishment). The impact that our work has on ...
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