Episode Summary
In this episode, I reflect on the loneliness of living in nuance in a world of scripts. From MAGA truisms to the Sermon on the Mount, I explore how authoritarian movements thrive on simple answers while Jesus called his followers to a radically different way of life—humility, mercy, and love of enemies. Along the way, I share personal updates, how busyness can numb our critical thought, and why deconstruction often feels like wilderness. This is a conversation about resisting the easy scripts, asking better questions, and finding a more merciful, holistic way forward.

As a on again/off again live sound engineer, we are always thinking about signal to noise ratio. Or, why is that speaker humming? It's keeping me from hearing the vocals clearly!

In daily life we are bombarded with influencers and newscasts designed to promote outrage and/or to generally obscure facts and data that don't look good.

Here's how to maximize "signal" (the good) while minimizing "noise" (the extraneous).

The cancer community that I am part of lost a friend last weekend. This podcast is an essay that I wrote about his memory and the loss. The topic is what healthy manhood looks like, and how that is different for different people. In this we contemplate Plato's theory of the forms, and how this theory affects how we see ourselves.

Much love Zach. See you on the other side.