The Heart and the Head
The Heart and the Head is a podcast about changing our lives through taking up a philosophical life of seeking after truth. This is considered by examining the lives and teachings of great philosophers and thinkers throughout history.
This is a show about how to change everything. It is for those of us who no longer find themselves reflected in the cultural narrative of seeking happiness through pursuit of wealth, achievement, or self-expression.
In Republic, Plato tells a parable, imploring each of us to “turn around” from the darkness of a life lived in the ignorance of a metaphorical cave to the light of a life outside that cave. In the cave's darkness, we identify external things such as success or pleasure as most real and as the way to happiness. When we turn around and begin to exit the cave, we begin to realize that the most real things are rather internal, spiritual things, things which Plato associates with a higher power which he refers to as the Divine.
Plato’s parable speaks just as much to us today as to the ancient Greeks. To take up the philosophical life means changing our whole way of living, changing what we desire and value, and committing to that change with our whole selves. This is a podcast devoted to helping us better understand how to live such a philosophical life.
https://brentongsmith.com/podcast/
The Heart and the Head
Reflecting on Scripture 1 - Ephesians 4:14 - Identity Politics and the Charlie Kirk Shooting
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In this episode, I reflect on the following passage from Ephesians 4:14 in the Bible:
"Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."
I discuss how this passage describes aptly, in its "blown here and there by every wind of teaching", the qualities of some of those who have committed recent violent atrocities in the name of some political identity they hold. I discuss how the only true solution to the problem of identity is the one Paul gives in Ephesians: giving ourselves and our ideologies up to the creator God, embodied in Jesus Christ.
I also discuss how Christians themselves must embody these qualities in their discourse. If we attach our identities to our politics, we need to either repent, or to question whether we are really Christians at all.
If you have questions or comments about content from this episode, please send feedback to theheartandtheheadpodcast@gmail.com
