The Light in Every Thing

In the latest episode of our “Identity and Idolatry” series, Patrick and Jonah look at the soul activity commonly referred to as worship and how it relates to identity formation. Worship can broadly be described as seeking something greater than ourselves and becoming immersed in it to such a degree that it fundamentally transforms us. We live in a time when we are free as never before to choose w...

Patrick and Jonah conclude the ”Identity and Idolatry” series by looking at two contrasting pictures of fulfilled identity, the Wounded Lamb (Rev 5)   and the Wounded Beast (Rev 13) . Human beings have each of these potentialities within us. Our wounds lead us towards the lamb path or the beast path. Moment to moment we can choose who we align ourselves with—who we serve. It is a continual process...

In this sixth episode of our series, Jonah and Patrick explore the interplay between icons and idols, working together in the formation of identity. We, developing human beings, are free to choose what we love and strive to become. Idols are necessary for our freedom and the schooling of a mature love, one that has been tested. This is where Christ comes in and how he approaches us—as a true icon....

In this episode, Jonah and Patrick contemplate Love's part in the mystery of identity and how this is revealed in Christ's path to the cross. The very human desire for love is with us from the beginning but it is a long journey to find the rightful home and fulfillment of that desire. The mystery of the cross reveals to us one of the great secrets of love—“I have come to suffer with you....

The fourth episode of our series on identity and idolatry leads further into Rudolf Steiner’s search for the eternal human self. Jonah and Patrick describe how Steiner searched intensively for many years to directly experience this ‘ego’ or self. This led to a deep spiritual crisis. But it was in this place of emptiness and utter powerlessness that the True Self found him—a dynamic mystery, at onc...

The third episode of our series begins with the question of identity considered through the lens of cultural anthropology and postmodernism. These disciplines consider how human beings construct identity, but conclude that it is impossible to come to know absolute truth. We can only know the images that we ourselves or others generate.  This perspective agrees in many ways with what Patrick and Jo...

In this second episode of our series, Patrick and Jonah begin to look at the dynamic relationship that exists between who Christ Jesus is as a being - his identity - and the mystery around human identity, as it is laid out in the gospels. Christ’s identity is both itself and a revelation of another being, the Father. He creates for us  the possibility of our true identity being restored in direct...

We begin our new series with a reminder of the thread weaving throughout the podcast this year: What are the forces that divide human beings and their communities? And where does the possibility of overcoming that division live? In many ways, our sense of identity is at the core of what divides us. In this first conversation, Jonah and Patrick explore the nature of identity formation and begin to...

In this final episode of our series on the nature of Christ’s  second coming, Jonah and Patrick look at the deep longing that burns in the souls of human beings for the arrival of a rescuer—one who will rid the world of all evil and darkness, establishing goodness once and for all. But they make the distinction between the great Day of Decision at the end of time when a New Heaven and a New Earth...

In the sixth episode of our series on the new revelation of Christ in our times, Jonah and Patrick delve into the mystery of judgment. Christianity is strongly associated with the most intense judgment imaginable—words and actions that condemn, destroy, or deeply wound. This generates a “winter” experience we are all capable of, one that kills the fruit on the vine. But is this the judgment Christ...

In this fifth episode of our series on the nature of the so-called second coming, Jonah and Patrick take up the question ’How do we know?’ How can we be sure that we are not in error and devoting ourselves to an Other that is false? Can we trust the new organs of perception that appear to be sprouting in and around us? How do we integrate this new dawn firmly into the ground of our beings? Ask us...

The fourth episode of our series on the ‘second coming’ shifts our attention to the increasingly common experience of the unseen realm, the one that exists beyond the grasp of our physical eyes. We are living in a time when many of the old paths of spirituality have returned for our consideration. It is a time of unprecedented freedom of thought, coupled with the deep longing to find a path that l...

In the third episode of our series, Jonah and Patrick explore the description of Christ’s coming to us “like a thief in the night” (Matthew 24: 42-44) . The picture implies that Christ’s return is a phenomenon that could be missed, that could be slept through. How do we awaken from this sleep, this blindness? Can we begin to recognize Christ breaking into our lives today—through a person, through...

How is the Light of Christ breaking into our own lives right now, if only we had the eyes to see? In this second episode of our new series on the nature of Christ’s “second coming,” we take up the story of Saul becoming Paul, who never knew Christ Jesus in His incarnated form. Nonetheless, Paul was so transformed through his conversion that he went from persecuting followers of The Way to pouring...

With this new series we take up the subject of the nature of Christ’s ”second coming.” Since the earliest days of Christianity, there was an orientation towards a time of Christ‘s return. Today, many of us feel a deep sense that the world needs to, or is, ending soon. Alongside it, we feel the hope or longing for something new to come. In this first episode, Patrick and Jonah begin to describe the...

What begins to unfold and unfurl when we explore the presence and meaning of horror in art, in life and in the story of Christmas and Epiphany? We hope you will join us for this nearly two hour conversation between Patrick and Conner Habib . Its a wide-ranging conversation that takes us down many paths, including the call to christen Paganism and the wild nature spirits in our time, all while Conn...

This final episode of the series reviews the first six activities that are foundation stones for the development of critical human capacities for the student of the spirit (as described by Rudolf Steiner in Chapter 5, “How to Know Higher Worlds” ). It also introduces the seventh, which calls us to “always understand life as these conditions demand.” In doing so, we create the possibility for our l...

Apologies for the poor audio, we had microphone issues - This episode continues our exploration of the relationship between gratitude and love as a path to true knowledge, as described by Rudolf Steiner in Chapter 5 of ”How to Know Higher Worlds.” Steiner points us towards the fulfillment of the human heart, one that flows actively and dynamically between gratitude and love while connected to the...

In this episode, we begin to explore the relationship between gratitude, knowledge and love. Rudolf Steiner recommends that “we develop of gratitude for all that we receive” so that a higher capacity for love can also develop (see Chapter 5, “How to Know Higher Worlds” ). Jonah and Patrick take us through the thought processes that can lead us to feelings of gratitude, starting with the obvious bl...

In this episode, we discuss the next activity recommended by Rudolf Steiner as a counterbalance to that which divides us (see Chapter 5, “How to Know Higher Worlds” ). Now we enter into the realm of the human will in relation to the world around us. First, can we become individuals capable of setting resolutions and following through on them? Next, what are our deeper motivations as we hope for su...

In this episode, we return to contemplating the activities of self that are needed in stemming the constant tendency towards division, as recommended by Rudolf Steiner in Chapter 5 of his book, ”How to Know Higher Worlds.” Previously, we spoke about breaking through to the truth that the inner world of our thoughts and feelings is just as real and significant as our deeds. The fourth activity desc...

A student of the spirit needs to breakthrough to the reality and impact of our thoughts and feelings, to tend and care for them as if they were deeds in the world as real as the deeds of our hands. This third practice taken up by Jonah and Patrick takes up the world-significance of our inner lives, moving into the realm of the soul, the heart of who we are.  Ask us a question here! Support the sho...

In this episode of our series, we look at the next tool Rudolf Steiner offers to help us deal properly with the dividing forces so prevalent in the world today (see Chapter 5 of How to Know Higher Worlds ). The second condition suggests we learn how to “feel ourselves to be a part of the whole of life.” Patrick and Jonah discuss the ways we so easily separate ourselves from others through judgment...

In this episode, we begin our exploration of Rudolf Steiner’s thoughts on the necessary conditions for becoming a student of the hidden aspects of reality (Chapter 5 of How to Know Higher Worlds by Rudolf Steiner). Jonah and Patrick share these ‘tools of the royal, kingly self‘ and how helpful they are on the path of discipleship and priesthood. The first crown to be gained is a right relationship...

We begin our next series by exploring the question “Why is Rudolf Steiner important for Christianity?” Patrick and Jonah first share their personal stories of how Rudolf Steiner’s work expanded their understanding of who Christ is and how, in our time, we are invited to relate to Him. Rudolf Steiner lays out a path that while cultivating human selfhood, also reveals the possibility of communion wi...