This is the first episode of a new chapter of The Quest –– Being Human. It begins by noting that in a sense we are all philosophers, theologians, anthropologists, and psychologist in that to be human is to ask certain basic questions of life. The secret to overcoming great difficulties and living a fulfilling life, in fact, lies in our discovering the "why," the meaning, of our existence.

This short podcast continues to explore the human condition in our experiences of happiness, joy, and gratitude. It is appreciative of modern Cognitive Therapy as a help in working out negative emotions;  indeed, it finds the basic precepts of Cognitive Therapy to be present in ancient Greek philosophy, folk wisdom,  and biblical wisdom stories.  At the same time, it is noted that the experience of real joy (mystical joy) has its source in something still deeper than any psychological technique.

We are all in a very real sense philosophers, theologians, psychologists, and anthropologists, for we all want to know what it means to be human. Are we here on this earth for a purpose, or are we merely the product of some bo-chemical accident? Is the ultimate nature of reality hostile and angry? Is it cold, blank, and indifferent? Or is it warm, loving, benevolent? There just certain basic questions that are a part of what it means to be human.

This thirteenth episode of The Quest  (Chapter Two: The Mystery We Call God) focuses on the essence of Christian spirituality as encounter with the mysterious and personal presence of God. The Trinity is seen as giving concrete reality to the precept of love and the reality of God as personal. While there is an attempt to explain somewhat about the Trinity, it is asserted that it is better to experience the Trinity, the Three Personal God, than to be able to explain the doctrine. 

In this podcast I share those times and ways in which my own faith has been shaken, and what I have discovered in that shaking. The honest struggle with doubt and uncertainty is seen here as a means to spiritual progress. Specifically, the questions raised by biological evolution and human suffering are at the forefront here. 

This episode begins by looking at belief in God and what Glenn Chestnut calls "the mysterious X factor. It goes on to explore the four classical evidences for the reality of God: (1) the cosmological or first cause argument, (2) the teleological or argument from order, purpose and design, (3) the ontological argument or the evidence from the being of God, (4) and the moral argument of Kant and C.S. Lewis. Where did the universal human sense of right and wrong come from? What is its source?.Reason and science are seen as complimentary. Both, at their best, share a passion for knowledge and an enormous sense of awe and wonder. Ultimately each of these arguments is seen as best understood from the perspective of sacred mystery.

This reflection asks two questions: "What do I mean when I say God?" and "When, if ever, did God become  more than  just a word for me?" It is noted that the Bible offers no metaphysical, philosophical, or academic definitions of God; in fact, "The god that can be defined is not God." God is a mystery and only those who are open to life as poetic mystery and pay consecrated attention see.

This is the final episode on the chapter "How Do We Know?" It looks at five additional elements of postcritical thinking: (1) The appreciation of myth, symbol, and poetry. (2) Authoritative sources of knowledge. (3) The knowledge of living into.  (4) The debatability of everything. 

This ninth episode on epistemology, or how we know, looks at a number of characteristics of post-critical thinking and finds: (1)Post-Critical Thinking Requires Critical Thinking.;(2) There Is No 42 Like Answer; (3) The Knowledge In Your Guts Is Real; (4) Honesty Is Preferable to Militant Doubt; (5) Knowledge Is  Systemic and Non-Linear; (6) Post-Critical Thinking Is Able To Tolerate Ambiguity; (7) Appreciation For Other Ways of Knowing.

This seventh episode of The Quest / How Do We Know? asserts that the postmodern world has split off the conscious mind from its roots in the unconscious, so  that those ways of interaction  between the conscious and unconscious ––dream, vision, ritual, and religious experience, or revelation-- have largely been lost.  It maintains that revelation is and reason are not antithetical, and that the purpose of revelation is not to convey a body of information, or to function as the infallible communication of concepts, doctrines, or formulas, but rather to disclose the reality of God. The Bible is not itself revelation but rather the witness to revelatory events.