Naming the Real

We all have chatter in our brains, and our brain is where so much of life's battle is: the mind can make us miserable, or it can set us free. In this episode, we explore scientifically-backed methods…

A brief update on some ideas and concepts to be explored in Season 3, as well as some news on what's been happening at Naming the Real. Talk soon!

Our society’s acquisitive drive for “more” can keep us from experiencing “enough.” Life can hurry by without being truly tasted, savored, or enjoyed, and then be over before you know it. In this epis…

How do we make sense of the ubiquity of violence and evil throughout human history? In this episode—part of The Barbaric Impulse series—we explore how racism, violence, and all manners of evil are co…

As humans, we tend towards automatic thinking and behavior that keeps us stuck. Over time, we end up not seeing possibilities for something new or different, even when they do exist. In this episode,…

Despite self-doubt and whatever shame and guilt we may carry, the drive to be good lies deep within our humanity. But how do we become good? In this episode—the final episode in the “Critique of Evan…

In a world of suffering, we all want answers and we all want certainty to soothe us, but at some point, being right and certain can get in the way of becoming good. In this episode, we explore how th…

Christianity began on the margins: from a Jewish man whose parents were refugees. What if this reality—that Jesus was a man “with his back against the wall”—is essential to understanding the Christia…

Christianity often ceases to be a lifestyle—a path towards transformation and goodness—and becomes obsessed with certainty and defending belief systems. In this episode, we explore how spirituality d…

Scripture is easily and often abused and manipulated to support agendas that run the gamut from silly to downright evil. In this episode, we explore some of the history of this abuse and what lies at…

American evangelicalism has tragically stripped key parts from Jesus’ life and teaching in order to focus on conversion while neglecting ongoing transformation—of us and of the world around us. This …

From its roots in the first half of the twentieth century, evangelicalism has become a powerful political force within American society. This new series—A Critique of Evangelical Christianity—explore…

Rigid thinking often makes deeply felt emotional needs and insecurities. In this episode, we explore why getting stuck in rigid stage 2 thinking—with its polarization and its toxicity—is so common (e…

Non-dualism (or non-dualistic thinking) is an idea that comes up often in world religions and in talk of spirituality in general. But what exactly is non-dual thinking or a non-dual mind? In this epi…

Christian Scripture, like most religious texts, has been abused by those seeking to use it for their own ends. But the meta-story of Scripture transcends these abuses and provides a road-map to a lif…

To make progress in our spiritual development, it’s incredibly helpful to understand the Jungian concepts of the ego (or "false self") and the shadow. In this episode, we explore how these ideas illu…

Part of living a flourishing, courageous life is learning to embrace our limits and limitations. A lesson I seem to re-learn often...and again this week!

Deconstruction is the process of taking apart a belief system in order to investigate its validity and truth, often in response to a crisis or a period of disorientation when our faith or beliefs no …