In this week's episode, we were joined by Joy Marie Clarkson, author of the new book Aggressively Happy: A Realist's Guide to Believing in the Goodness of Life. Joy and Shadi exchange thoughts on ways to best find happiness while Damir remains skeptical that such a goal is worthy of pursuit. As the conversation progresses, the discussion turns to deep questions about how one should think about the brevity of life, what role romantic partners play in happiness, and whether Shadi is actually pursuing happiness or just avoiding FOMO.

 

In a highlight of Wisdom of Crowds podcasting history, Joy turns the tables on Damir midway through the episode and plays interviewer, while Shadi sits back in fascination.

 

In this week's Bonus episode for subscribers, Shadi and Damir sit down again to continue pulling on some of the deep threads from the main episode. Their conversation ends up being the most detailed discussion the two have had about their religious and spiritual views, culminating in a revelatory breakthrough that had remained elusive for their first two years of podcasting.

 

Subscribe here to listen. Members will also gain access to other paid content, including weekly bonus episodes, Q&A features with Shadi and Damir, and our full archive of Friday Essays.

Required Reading

• Aggressively Happy: A Realist's Guide to Believing in the Goodness of Life, by Joy Marie Clarkson (Amazon)

 

• Joy's podcast on arts, culture, and theology, "Speaking with Joy"

 

• Plough Quarterly, a magazine on the role of religion in public life

 

• Shadi's new project with Christian theologian Matthew Kaemingk (Fuller Seminary)

 

• A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara (Amazon)

 

• The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Amazon)

 

• A Place for Us, by Fatima Farheen Mirza (Amazon)