Protect Your Noggin

A discussion of the spirituality of art and whether we ought to pay attention to art created by narcissistic creeps. We discuss the differences between Dali; and Bosch, and between his possible nihilism and what we find wholesome about Taoist artistic depictions of nature. This discussion comes on the heels of our visit to a Dali exposition in Monterey, California.

Seek academic knowledge  and you can accumulate facts  day by day. Seek the wisdom of the Tao and you’ll release junk from your life, day by day.  Let go of more and more so you can surf the Tao. Surfing the Tao allows you to accomplish anything  without forcing everything. If you want to flourish in the world don’t try to control the world. Indeed, if you try to control the world you aren’t ready...

We introduce our theme which is about the spirituality, ethics, religious guilt, and joys of food and what we take into our bodies. We discuss our almost vegan diet experiment, with the definite exception of oysters. We preview some future topics which will include food cults, fasting, dietary regulations in religious texts, booze, and pharmaceuticals. This season will be about untangling healthy...

The last in our 12-part series takes us to the question of whether we can heal the world. If we can help heal the world—even as we can’t control it or remake it according to our own clever designs—then how is this to be accomplished by a Taosurfer? Turns out part of the plan of action for the Tao Te Ching is a form of anarchism. We’ll explain a bit about what that misunderstood meant for the ancie...

We sit down with filmmaker Joshua Salzberg and Rev. Matthew González of Lutherans for Racial Justice to talk about racism and the need for diversity and reconciliation in America in general and in the Lutheran world in particular. How ought Christians engage civic life, cultivate hospitality and work toward healing in our churches and the world at large. Salzberg is a Lutheran layperson who is fil...

You can know the world  without walking out your door.  You can glimpse the celestial Tao  without looking out your window. The further you run from yourself the less you will know. So the Sage gains insight  without needing to travel abroad,  knows what’s up  before the official story gets published, and wins without playing games.

Peace, joy, happiness & whether we’ve been so focused on bad guys in religious circles that we might be only hostile to institutional religion. After a brief discussion of a student question, we focus (starting min 40) on a poignant email exchange with Tim, who was kind enough to let us reply to his emails verbally, so we could give it the attention it deserves. His main question: aren't we taking...

When nations surf the Tao resources are used for human flourishing. When nations lose touch with the Tao resources are built up and set aside for war. No vice is more vicious than covetousness. No misery is worse than discontent.

Using Tao Te Ching chapters 19, 22, 35, and 57 we discuss wisdom for teaching the Tao, which it turns out is not done through dogmatism, polemics, coercion, virtue signaling, or legalism, but rather through example, embodiment, and romancing folks into a better flow.

The grand system seems defective. But, it will never malfunction. Grand abundance seems empty. But, it is inexhaustible. Grand justice seems crooked. Grand virtuosity seems unskilled. Grand eloquence seems unlearned. Motion warms us when it’s cold. Stillness cools us when it’s hot. Clarity and stillness bring the world into alignment.

We discuss the journey of Greg Eilers, which involves gender dysphoria growing up, successful work at a conservative Lutheran pastor, resignation from the pastoral office to pursue full transition, including a full range of surgeries and legal name change to Gina, and finally a detransition. This is not an exercise in trans denial. Rather it helps nuance the overall conversation by showing how ind...

Many of us know people who have been infected by blatant falsehood. Guest Sean Nowlan, a student at Jeff’s university, helps break down what’s going on with foreign powers using online technology to sow disinformation and divide their rival nation. We discussing the connection between American evangelical belief and receptivity to disinformation. We conclude with the best ways to help friends and...

Understanding and confronting sexual abuse in the church. Emily Joy was instrumental in starting the Twitter hashtag #CHURCHTOO & has written a book by that same name. We discuss her perspective on the various ways in which American evangelicalism’s way of thinking makes abusive relationships more likely, harder to address, and more painful for those who suffer from the abusive behaviors. Stacie s...

Learning to be content  avoids dishonor. Knowing when to stop  averts disaster. This is the key to longevity in life’s endeavors.

Jeff reads an abridgement of Isaac Frazee, Evolove: The Quest and Findings of an Efficiency Expert (1929). This book explores several themes related to the emphases of our podcast. Frazee’s work is largely unknown today but reflects interesting challenges to industrialism, unquestioned capitalism, and religiosity that gets in the way of the way of Jesus. There is a bit of Christian anarchy and Chr...

Anyone who’s come this far with the Tao Te Ching will surely be familiar with the central concept of this chapter. Flowing subtly past obstacles, like water around a boulder, is a natural illustration of a greater principle. Water shows up as a classic example of one of the “softest things” since our ancestors all knew the power of water when it came to life and death.

Our guest today is Jonathan Hoyt, who is a Kantor and organist in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and who also happens to be gay and celibate.  Learn how Jonathan has come to exist between two cultural worlds, how he reconciles his faith and sexuality, and why he calls himself gay rather than “same-sex attracted”.  This is an exercise in listening to the story and experiences of a new friend r...

A keynote lecture Jeff gave to the TriCampus Undergraduate Conference, a collaborative effort of Concordia U., Irvine, Fresno Pacific U., and Pepperdine U. It took place on Saturday, 2/27. Jeff explains how a college education, properly done, can be a helpful tool in pushing back against the crisis of truth and the global gaslighting the powers that be have been using against us all for ages. CW:...

I affirm what a wise man once said: “A violent man will meet an untimely death.” I consider this the foundation for all my teaching.

Following up on last' week’s interview with Steve Baughman, we use comments on Steve Baughman’s video about Ravi Zacharias’ scandalous behavior to illustrate ten informal fallacies. This is not a rehashing of the scandal itself but a closer look at the lack of critical thinking among religious supporters, which enables dangerous behaviors to go unchecked. We also read and discuss Kyle Howard’s twe...

When the wise learn of the Tao,  they surf it throughout their lives.  When most of us learn of the Tao, we sometimes surf it,  sometimes wipe out. When fools learn of the Tao, they laugh at it.  And of course they do! If they didn’t, it wouldn’t be the Tao.

Ravi Zacharias International Ministries Canada shut down this week, in the wake of startling public reports about the heinous deeds of their late founder Ravi Zacharias, world famous apologist (and owner of massage joints). We chat with immigration lawyer, and banjo master Steve Baughman who wrote  Coverup in the Kingdom: Phone Sex, Lies, and God’s Great Apologist Ravi Zacharias.  He's been on the...

Our guest is a recent alumnus from Concordia University and joins the conversation from Nigeria to discuss his insights about the ways in which people try to oppose hate, racism and injustice in the United States. Sometimes, he suggests, we tend to focus on hating injustice but don’t emphasize loving justice. This may have an effect on our emotional, spiritual, and mental wellbeing. Our starting p...

We explore coping with trauma and religion through comedy with the help of comedian, writer, actress, and liver-transplant survivor Alyssa Sabo. She shares some of her story and we enjoy reflecting on life in the 90s, purity culture in evangelical America, rollerblading, ghosting church, and the virtues of Costa Rican beaches. Despite being known on Tik Tok as Mike Pence's daughter, we confirmed v...

The Tao’s flow involves reversals. Its methods are flexible. The living things in this world are born from something. That something was born from nothing.