All these shout-outs to medieval peasants brought the end of Psalm 46 to mind, or how God puts Job 'in his place.' Concepts totally antagonistic to the self-referential paganism of today.
This is also why I am baptizing my children before they can choose a life of faith. I hope the unearned, and adopting family of God is an antidote to the muscle man's absence of community in my kids' lives.
Thanks for this, and I will certainly be picking up this novel asap. As someone who worked as a lowly Teaching Fellow in the UK up until July, I found this discussion especially interesting. You're definitely up at the 'higher' levels of cultural and social echelons in that kind of role and are relatively comfortable financially, but always exist precariously. I've lost my job due to budget cuts, and I'm now supply teaching at secondary schools to try and scrape a living. To say I am embittered right now would not be wrong. I certainly feel a longing for my old role, despite hating the overwork, the largely disinterested student body, and the AI-generated work that dominated it. I also feel a particular hatred for my own existence and find it difficult to look in the mirror at the moment.
The question of marriage is certainly one related to choice, as described in the podcast. It reminds me to some extent of the film 'Everything, Everywhere, All at Once' which locates the role of choice, self-acceptance, and self-loathing in relation to love. I do wonder, given the proliferation of shows about marriage, it is seen as yet another 'life task' in which to tick off. Something which, just like our jobs, holidays, and friendships, becomes something to judge against others- replicated on social media as the definition of 'victory' in life.
This is why life can be so difficult if you dare to peek behind the curtain and interrogate it. Happiness, or at least how I have experienced happiness, is a feeling of weightlessness. You forget about things and are simply existing there and then. But life with all its mundanity, all its strife, all its fear and social demands, combines into situating you concretely, almost all the time. Inherently this makes us doubt ourselves, question our relationships, and wonder what is happening... I don't think liberalism and technology have created this problem, I am sure it has to an extent always been there, perhaps though these tools and a lack of metaphysical direction have allowed them to flourish in all their most pernicious forms.
The Kierkegaardian riffs at the end of this episode were fascinating. We need that essay, Jordan
Easily a top 10 episode.
All these shout-outs to medieval peasants brought the end of Psalm 46 to mind, or how God puts Job 'in his place.' Concepts totally antagonistic to the self-referential paganism of today.
This is also why I am baptizing my children before they can choose a life of faith. I hope the unearned, and adopting family of God is an antidote to the muscle man's absence of community in my kids' lives.
Thanks for this, and I will certainly be picking up this novel asap. As someone who worked as a lowly Teaching Fellow in the UK up until July, I found this discussion especially interesting. You're definitely up at the 'higher' levels of cultural and social echelons in that kind of role and are relatively comfortable financially, but always exist precariously. I've lost my job due to budget cuts, and I'm now supply teaching at secondary schools to try and scrape a living. To say I am embittered right now would not be wrong. I certainly feel a longing for my old role, despite hating the overwork, the largely disinterested student body, and the AI-generated work that dominated it. I also feel a particular hatred for my own existence and find it difficult to look in the mirror at the moment.
The question of marriage is certainly one related to choice, as described in the podcast. It reminds me to some extent of the film 'Everything, Everywhere, All at Once' which locates the role of choice, self-acceptance, and self-loathing in relation to love. I do wonder, given the proliferation of shows about marriage, it is seen as yet another 'life task' in which to tick off. Something which, just like our jobs, holidays, and friendships, becomes something to judge against others- replicated on social media as the definition of 'victory' in life.
This is why life can be so difficult if you dare to peek behind the curtain and interrogate it. Happiness, or at least how I have experienced happiness, is a feeling of weightlessness. You forget about things and are simply existing there and then. But life with all its mundanity, all its strife, all its fear and social demands, combines into situating you concretely, almost all the time. Inherently this makes us doubt ourselves, question our relationships, and wonder what is happening... I don't think liberalism and technology have created this problem, I am sure it has to an extent always been there, perhaps though these tools and a lack of metaphysical direction have allowed them to flourish in all their most pernicious forms.