The Heart and the Head
The Heart and the Head is a podcast about changing our lives through taking up a philosophical life of seeking after truth. This is considered by examining the lives and teachings of great philosophers and thinkers throughout history. This is a show about how to change everything. It is for those of us who no longer find themselves reflected in the cultural narrative of seeking happiness through pursuit of wealth, achievement, or self-expression. In Republic, Plato tells a parable, imploring each of us to “turn around” from the darkness of a life lived in the ignorance of a metaphorical cave to the light of a life outside that cave. In the cave's darkness, we identify external things such as success or pleasure as most real and as the way to happiness. When we turn around and begin to exit the cave, we begin to realize that the most real things are rather internal, spiritual things, things which Plato associates with a higher power which he refers to as the Divine. Plato’s parable speaks just as much to us today as to the ancient Greeks. To take up the philosophical life means changing our whole way of living, changing what we desire and value, and committing to that change with our whole selves. This is a podcast devoted to helping us better understand how to live such a philosophical life. https://brentongsmith.com/podcast/
Episodes
In this episode, I look at Psalm 23 - "The Lord is my Shepherd..." and examine it from the lens of what it tells us about faith. Is faith useful and practical for human beings?
If you have questions or comments about content from this episode, please send feedback to theheartandtheheadpodcast@gmail.com
In this podcast, I look at Jesus's conversation with Pontius Pilate. Pilate asks Jesus, "what is truth?" revealing a deeply cynical outlook on the world. I examine that question as a temptation to a philosophy which all of us must reckon with. Will we choose Pilate's philosophy or find another one to call our own?
If you have questions or comments about content from this episode, please send feedb...
On this podcast, I look at Mark 3:1-6, where we read about Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath, and how that affects a group of Pharisees.
In this second part of the two-part series, I look at Jesus's emotional response to the Pharisees' hard hearts. I argue that this tells us something about our emotions on a Biblical view, as well as about what it means for Jesus to be Emmanuel -- "God with us".
I...
On this podcast, I look at Mark 3:1-6, where we read about Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath, and how that affects a group of Pharisees.
I argue that Jesus attempts to use philosophy to reason with these Pharisees, which shows us the blessedness of philosophy, but that the reaction of the Pharisees reveals the limits of philosophy.
I mention my dissertation (published by ProQuest, 2024) in this podcast. Here's a link to it for ...
In this episode, I continue my discussion of common characteristics in direct experiences with God through examining the account of Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus, and a letter the philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote referencing an experience he had.
This is the second half of the discussion, you can find the first half by looking in the podcast history.
This show contains an impassioned reflection at the beginning of it ...
In this episode, I discuss common characteristics in direct experiences with God through examining the account of Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus, and a letter the philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote referencing an experience he had.
This is only Part I of the discussion, more will be released in the future.
Here is the text of the note Pascal wrote to himself:
The year of grace 1654,
Monday, 23 November, feast of St. C...
In this episode, I examine Isaiah, Chapter 11: 6-9 and compare it's depiction of a future paradise to the depiction the Greek philosopher Plato gives in Republic.
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If you have questions or comments about content from this episode, please send feedback to theheartandtheheadpodcast@gmail.com
In this episode, I focus my own reflections today on a portion of this well-known passage from Isaiah which often doesn’t get much attention. This is the portion at the beginning of the passage, from verses 2-3, where we learn that this messianic figure, who turns out to be Jesus was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain,a man whom people hide their faces from, who was despised and held in low ...
In this episode, I look at the account of what is sometimes referred to as "Jacob's Ladder". I argue that this is a depiction of an opposite way of life to what we examined last show, with the tower of Babel.
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If you have questions or comments about content from this episode, please send feedback to theheartandtheheadpodcast@gmail.com
The passage I’ll look at for the next show will be Isaiah's account...
In this episode, I look at the story of the tower of Babel found in the Bible's book of Genesis. I argue that the picture of "building monuments" represents an existential act we human beings take to try to try to make meaning for our own lives. I also argue that this is a clear depiction of the nature of sin.
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If you have questions or comments about content from this episode, please send feedback to theh...
In this episode I look at Jesus's response to the Pharisees and Herodians question about paying taxes to Rome. Jesus replies, "Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”
I argue that Jesus is urging us to shift our point of view entirely about worldly authority, and recognize instead the authority of a loving God.
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If you have questions or comments about content from this episode, please se...
In this episode, I look at Jesus's arrest and his words to Peter, "all who draw the sword will die by the sword," in the context of a culture which increasingly condones the use of force, and sometimes violence to attain one's ends.
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If you have questions or comments about content from this episode, please send feedback to theheartandtheheadpodcast@gmail.com
The passage I’ll look at for the next show ...
In this episode, I explain the new format I'll be using for the Heart and the Head going forward. New episodes of the Heart and the Head subsequently will be released with the title "The Heart and the Head - Reflecting on Scripture", and will feature Bible passages as springboards to reflection. I discuss why I am making this change and justify it in this podcast.
If you have questions or comments abo...
In this episode, I reflect on the following passage from Ephesians 4:14 in the Bible:
"Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the wh...
In this show, I'll discuss the problem of polarization and identity politics. I will discuss the phenomenon of polarization: what it is, and why it happens. By first figuring out the answers this show to what polarization is and why it occurs, next show, we will move to examine how to solve it.
Topics discussed are as follows:
-What is Polarization? In order to discuss this topic, I will look at French Philosopher...
In these three episodes, I look at different ways we might respond and choose to experience suffering we encounter in our lives.
This episode looks at how we might begin to find meaning in our suffering. There are a few guiding texts which I reference during this discussion: Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, Huxley's Brave New World, and the Bible's Book of Job.
If you have questions or ...
In these three episodes, I look at different ways we might respond and choose to experience suffering we encounter in our lives.
This episode looks at an option before us when we suffer: to see our suffering as meaningless. There are a few guiding texts which I reference during this discussion: Shakespeare’s Macbeth; as well as works by Albert Camus, Friedrich Nietzsche, and William Faulkner.
If you have que...
In the next three episodes, I look at different ways we might respond and choose to experience suffering we encounter in our lives. ·There are a few guiding texts which I'll use for my discussions over these shows: primarily Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning; Shakespeare’s Macbeth; Bessel Van De Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score, Brene Browne’s lecture series, The Power of Vulnerability, Aldous Huxley's Bra...
In this episode, we consider the role that suffering and pain play in the philosophical life. Suffering and pain can cause us to "hit a bottom", propelling us to live differently as a result. We consider this topic through a discussion of Boethius's consolation of philosophy, also considering a diversity of resources from Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, an opinion piece by David Brooks in the NYTi...
In the first episode of the podcast, I outline goals of the podcast, address the question of why anyone would want to live philosophically in the first place, and explain the name of the podcast - the Heart and the Head.
If you have questions or comments about content from this episode, please send feedback to theheartandtheheadpodcast@gmail.com
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