Context Matters

Here at The Pocket Contemplative, we do deep dives into some of the richest Christian wisdom one can find about getting close to God. But one revolutionary thinker suggested that, while that's all wonderful and we should learn all we can from such people, these great saints did live in a very different world with very different spiritual dynamics than we live in. Many were cloistered. The average person was born into the trade of their family, married someone from their village, and went to the local church like all their neighbors did. But by the 1850s that Soren Kierkegaard lived in, everyone was flooded with unprecedented choices about what to do for a living, who to marry and even what to believe--a flood that has only accelerated in our time. He argued that human psyches weren't set up to handle that kind of flood, which makes us all anxious. His road out strikes Dave Schmelzer as a drink of fresh water for a thirsty (modern) soul. Mentioned on this podcast:Existentialism and the Authentic Life, a Great Courses course by Skye C. Cleary