The Ammon Venema Podcast

In this episode we discuss our thoughts on whether human beings are religious by nature or not. We discuss our perspectives on this question. We compare religion and ideology which is particularly rampant in our current culture and discuss the differences between these types of belief. As always please give us your feedback on how we can make improvements as well as what topics you would like to h...

In this episode we discuss our thoughts and takeaways on Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning". After reading this book both Garrett and I would say that it is in the top 10 books that everyone should read at some point. We discuss the Viktor's observations as a survivor of a concentration camp in one of the darkest periods of human history and how profound the impact of your attitude and app...

Today we sit down with our friend, Clayton Bradshaw, to discuss our views on a range of topics such as values, relationships, drugs and more. We discuss our own thoughts on these topics and how we disagree with some of our positions as there is a wide range of positions that people take with any of these ideas. This is ultimately a pure, unadulterated conversation amongst friends that helped each...

In today's episode Brooke joins us once again for what turned into an impromptu discussion on our thoughts surrounding feminism today and the feminist movement overall. We talk about our likes and dislikes. We talk about the good that has resulted from the original movement of feminism and where it may have gone to far as it has evolved throughout the following decades. We hope that you enjoy and...

In this episode we shake things up a bit and invite one of my best friends, Dustin Scott, on the podcast to discuss the ideas around the term "Dirty Civilian" and what it means exactly. We discuss the importance of community building and how we as individuals can play our individual role to bring our particular skills and abilities into play for the improvement of those around us. We all know that...

Why do we go through pain? Why should we go through pain? What is the suffering that we endure for? Perhaps most importantly, is our pain meaningless or is there a purpose behind it and how can we discover what it has to give us? We take a look at C.S. Lewis' "The Problem of Pain" and discuss our thoughts on his deep insights into these very questions and how we can comprehend these unavoidable an...

We are all a influenced by the culture and our environment. The information that we are constantly exposed to shapes our opinions, behaviors and beliefs. What is the impact in this digital age, this era of social media where it seems most people get there information? It seems that this has vastly reduced many people's capacity to think critically about issues and also seems to possess an incredib...

In this episode we make our introduction into Marcus Aurelius's "Meditations" which is the journal of one of Rome's emporers and a staple of those that follow the stoic philosophy. We take some of the thoughts written within the journal and break them down into a discussion of what they mean to us and how we can make use of the wise ideas found in this book in our own lives.   Email us your sugges...

In this episode we discuss our trip out to Seattle to attend a lecture by Jordan Peterson on his Beyond Order tour. We discuss our thoughts on what he talked about and on the experience overall which included my first official encounter with protestors that were outside protesting the event. It was a privilege to get to be able to go and we hope that you enjoy the discussion.   Send us your sugges...

Carrying on from our previous episode we bring back the original guest with whom we kicked the podcast off, the newly married Shane Jessop, and his wife Hannah. In this episode we discuss the book "What is a Woman?" which is named after a documentary of the same name by conservative political commentator Matt Walsh. We discuss the information that Matt brings to light and the jarring and sinister...

In today's episode we discuss one of the biggest problems and possibly the most polarizing idea that our society has ever seen. The transgender ideology is by far one of the most, if not the most, pervasive psychological epidemic that we have seen to date. We all find ourselves confronted now in our everyday lives with what seems to be an ideological agenda that seems to seek to undermine our soci...

In our discussion of the final chapter of "Beyond Order," our conversation turns to the topic of suffering and how we can find not only the strength to endure whatever pain life gives us but also how we can transcend that pain and even turn it's potential for destruction into a force that can fortify us further and even open opportunities for us to create something good. How is this outcome achiev...

In today's episode we discuss how resentment, deceit and arrogance are some of the most vile and destructive poisons in a person's life. When we engage in these behaviors we lose the ability to see what flaws in our character need to be addressed in order to put ourselves together more fully. By doing so we externalize our problems and give up all ability to change our circumstances and put oursel...

In today's episode we discuss the topic of romance. As our lives move forward we can find ourselves not prioritizing our romantic relationship with our spouse. Even if we don't mean to let it fall by the wayside, oftentimes other aspects of our lives get in the way and distract us. We talk about the importance of making the concious effort to priortize your romantic relationship as it is the relat...

Do you have memories that still bring pain, sadness, fear and grief? In this episode we discuss the reasons for memory and in particular memories that are associated with negative feelings and experiences. Memory can often be  a tricky thing and oftentimes becomes distorted. We discuss how old memories that don't seem to leave you alone and upset you are typically trying to tell you something. Whe...

In today's episode we discuss chapter eight of "Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life". We talk about the effects that beauty from art can have on us and why we are drawn to beauty as a means of honoring and connecting us with the transcendent. We discuss the different types such as paintings, drawings, music, movies and much more and just how integral art is to our everyday lives.

Working hard has always been a big part of achieving our goals in life. In this episode we discuss this simple yet effective rule and how by focusing our efforts towards a particular aim and giving it our full attention and effort can often yield results that we couldn't possibly imagine. Oftentimes when we start focusing our attention on successfully achieving a desired goal it tends to have a co...

There is no shortage of ideologies in our culture today. We disucuss the effect that ideological thinking can have on us as individuals and the effects that this type of thinking has had on our society at large and the importance to break out of the ideological control of those that promote certain ideas for their own personal gain. We discuss how we can try to think more critically how we can det...

Our discussion on this chapter deals with living in accordance with your values as best you can in all areas of your life. This can relate pariticularly to your job. Sometimes we can find ourselves in a job that we hate and that may even put us at odds with our personal values. In such a situation we can often keep ourselves there mainly due to the comfort of knowing the job and the environment ev...

In this episode we discuss the importance of responsibility and the important role that it plays in living a meaningful life. We also discuss the opportunities that present themselves to you to adopt more responsibility even if it is as a result of someone failing to live up to there's and the opportunities that brings. We also talk about situations that are all too common of hoping someone else w...

In this episode we discuss the third rule in "Beyond Order". We discuss how we avoid problems or specifying what we want out of certain situations or in life generally and the psychological reasons behind those decisions. If we keep our goals and desires vague and undefined then we can avoid setting the parameters for failure. This plays a huge role in our actions in our everyday life as well as o...

In this episode we wrap up our discussion on chapter 2 of "Beyond Order" and discuss the necessity of constraining the potential within us to pursue a proposed goal and why it is required for each of us to develop into something useful rather than to remain stuck in a world of endless possibilities but unable to move because movement in itself requires the restriction to a particular direction and...

What makes us who we are? What is the potential that we possess within us? What is our purpose? All of us have asked these or similar questions at some part in our lives. In part one of this discussion on rule #2 of Jordan Peterson's "Beyond Order," we discuss the idea surrounding the expanse of boundless potential within us and how that can in theory be taken any direction we choose and how once...

We discuss the first chapter of Jordan Peterson's next book "Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life". In this episode we talk about the importance of accepting the role of the fool when taking on new opportunities that our social institutions offer us and how by doing so allows us to learn and to grow. We also discuss the importance of creativity and novel ideas and how they serve to update and refr...

Why is there so much suffering in the world and in our everyday lives? What purpose does it serve and how can we justify moving forward? In this episode we discuss the necessity of limitation and how because of it we feel pain but also how to find the meaning of our lives in that limitation. Without limitation there can be nothing to achieve and nothing to overcome. While it can oftentimes bring f...