This episode is a brief discussion about our goals and intentions for the podcast.
Welcome to our new podcast!
In this episode, we sit down to discuss why we're here and what we hope this podcast will mean for you along the way.
We really believe in the power of honest and open dialogue and we're honored to have you along for the ride.
To join the discussion, visit us on Instagram @meaninginthemiddlepod or in our Meaning in the Middle Facebook group.
Cheers.
[00:00:00] Landon: This is meaning in the middle. My name is Landon Pontius and I'm an atheist.
[00:00:06] Ryan: And my name is Ryan Adams and I am a Christian.
[00:00:09] Landon: We are best friends, and this is a podcast where we're engaging on the foundational truths in religion and philosophy
[00:00:16] Ryan: while exploring how we can seek out meaning in life together.
[00:00:20] Ryan: Even though we have different orientations to life itself,
[00:00:24] Landon: we really believe in the value of the. And then it's transformational power and we believe that our best chance at finding and knowing it is to pursue it together.
[00:00:34] Ryan: And we're so excited to have you along with us on this journey,
[00:00:38] Landon: cheers to our podcast.
[00:00:43] Landon: What would success look like from this podcast besides being filthy rich?
[00:00:51] Ryan: Right. Well, yeah, of course. Um, that's a great question. I think. For me, success would really be putting something into the [00:01:00] world that has some integrity to it. And I always think of it more in terms of like an invitation than a conclusion, which I think is what you and I have been engaging on for years anyway.
[00:01:12] Ryan: Um, but just to kind of give people permission to. Um, examine things that matter from different angles and recognize that there can be really fruitful relationship in the midst of that, whether or not there's an agreement or not. Um, so I think being able to kind of cultivate a space where, um, yeah, people can maybe feel like they're not so alone in this.
[00:01:30] Ryan: Um, and that just because we disagree doesn't mean that we can't kind of link arm and arm and continue to seek truth.
[00:01:37] Landon: We really want this to be collaborative and cooperative. And it's really something that we are doing together. We're not competing, but we are really trying to navigate this space of meaning because you know, something we've talked about a lot is this idea of a meaning crisis.
[00:01:54] Landon: But John has kind coined that phrase of this meaning crisis. And I think even if we don't use that specific language, a [00:02:00] lot of us are sort of familiar with. What that means sort of hear that and you're like, okay. Yes, that rings true. We're seeing all of this political conflict. We're seeing kind of what social media is doing to our mental health and our kind of social structure and kind of what we think of when we think of words like community and friends, like networks of friends.
[00:02:21] Landon: And, um, I think a lot of people are really struggling with figuring out where to ground themselves. Where to anchor that meaning and where to anchor their purpose and their sense of identity. So, one thing we want to do with this podcast is to try to create language for, for that space, not to give conclusive answers, but to try to model how to engage with good questions.
[00:02:45] Ryan: Yeah. I think, I mean, both of us are pretty allergic to apologetics, whether it's, you know, Christian apologetics or atheist apologetics, The purpose is to come in and to win. And I think honestly, both of us would love for the other [00:03:00] person to see things the way that we do. Like that's a human necessity, like as a human desire we have, because belonging, you know, a lot of belonging comes from agreement.
[00:03:11] Ryan: And I think that that's even part of the crisis that we're finding in our cultures. It's increasingly diverse and, um, complex. Is that it's very easy for us to retreat into kind of monolithic. Micro-cultures essentially, it's like, well, if, if we can all agree on all the same things, then we're going to be okay, but that kind of thinking automatically pits us versus them.
[00:03:34] Ryan: And, um, I really hope that we're able to, to kind of transcend that because it feels like that's like the surface argument is like, if we have these particular debates about. Specific issues or how we vote or whatever it might be, then we ended up in tribalism, but you and I really love kind of digging down deep layer by layer to the thing beneath the thing, beneath the thing and seeing like, is there any sense of commonality there?
[00:03:59] Ryan: And sometimes there isn't [00:04:00] sometimes there isn't that's okay. Um, but it's actually, like, we find belonging to each other in the process itself of seeking. So I love that. Like our friendship is not based on, we've reached the same conclusions, we're in the same tribe. And so now we're on it, but oh, we're actually, arm-in-arm doing the thing together and that's the substance of our friendship.
[00:04:24] Landon: Yeah. And something you talk a lot about is the importance of kind of taking stock of how we hold our beliefs and not simply basing everything on what those beliefs are. And I think. Yes, we disagree on some large topics. And I think for a lot of people that can be difficult to sort of navigate how to live life together with people who have those sorts of differences.
[00:04:51] Landon: But I think what we do share common ground between us is I think that we try to hold our beliefs in a similar way. [00:05:00] Right. We, it's not open-handed in the sense of. We have no convictions. And we have,
[00:05:07] Ryan: do you remember when we were kids and they would tell us, like, what was it like, don't be so open-minded or your brain would fall out,
[00:05:12] Landon: right?
[00:05:12] Landon: Yeah. We're trying to be a podcast that says things like that as little as possible, but yeah, it's not about us feeling like, oh, I could be easily convinced of something drastically different than whatever kind of my current worldview is, but. It's about being open enough to challenge it and to engage. I think it's the willingness to engage that sort of so much of that value is, and you realize that there's so much nuance there that if it's just, oh, you believe in God.
[00:05:45] Landon: And I don't believe in God. And that's somehow like, that's the description of our differences. Like there's so much in between. There's so much space where we can occupy the space that we can occupy together, whether it's. [00:06:00] Intellectually or even in practice, you know, there's things, activities we can engage in ways that we can kind of encounter people in our community and friends that don't have to be so drastically different just because we have sort of different conclusions on this one specific topic, which, you know, granted is a big topic.
[00:06:16] Landon: It's that? It's not that, oh, you're believing God. Just another thing that you have an opinion about, uh, Yeah, I think not letting those differences stop us and trying to be a bridge to each other, but then also hopefully to whatever the ultimate truth
[00:06:35] Ryan: is. And, and I think, man, we're in a, we're in a point in history where we need to recognize the necessity of this skill set, because it's not going to go back to the way it was.
[00:06:50] Ryan: And. That's what I hear time and again from people is either, um, maybe like yearning for the past and almost like biding our time until we get back [00:07:00] to the point where we all just agree. Like we returned to some sort of monolithic cultural, vantage point of whether it's like, oh, when we go back to being Christian.
[00:07:10] Ryan: Okay. Quote, unquote Christian nation, or once we eventually do away with silly religion and we all become pleasant, atheist, you know, it's like, we're just, everybody's biding their time waiting for the point at which we all agree. And I just don't think that's going to happen. I think we're going to see this constant ebb and flow of new ideas and ways of being in the world.
[00:07:29] Ryan: And I think we all need to learn the skills, not just to survive in a, uh, poly. Sure. Okay. We're going to, our goal is also in bed, one word per podcast, but like, you know, in multitudeness society, we need the skills to know how to maneuver that with grace, how to be, um, careful with how we believe and what we believe in.
[00:07:54] Ryan: Mature in our ho and holding those beliefs, but also like examining what we believe and then being able to [00:08:00] engage with people that don't like, if we don't learn those skill sets, I think it just sets us up for failure as a society at large. And it, and it breaks relationship until we find that we have very small communal markings of who is in and who's out and who belongs and who doesn't.
[00:08:14] Ryan: Um, and we find ourselves in all these like a thousand tiny little echo
[00:08:17] Landon: chambers. Yeah. I think. You know, we're not here because we feel like we do this perfectly, but we think it's valuable to practice in public. Yeah. Maybe that's part of it. Even as that, before. You feel like you have everything buttoned down or you have the argument or you have, um, or that you've practiced this skill set of openness.
[00:08:41] Landon: Like it's sort of the paradox of it is like the value of it is in doing it when you're not ready. Right. Isn't doing it is in kind of pursuing discomfort. It's not that this it's not that all of these conversations are going to be comfortable or are going to be easy. I'm sure we're going to challenge each other's ideas and ways.
[00:08:59] Landon: We'll be [00:09:00] difficult, but in the end, if we can continue to kind of navigate that space and hopefully bring other people with us and answer each other's questions and try to
[00:09:12] Ryan: question each other's answers, question,
[00:09:13] Landon: each other's answers, I think that's going to be hugely important. And I'm super excited about that prospect for this podcast.
[00:09:21] Ryan: Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's, you know, like you're saying basically, like we make the road by war. And we've been having these conversations enough, not that we've necessarily come to any conclusions and some of this we're going to be retreading things that we've talked about for a couple of years now.
[00:09:35] Ryan: Um, and some of it's stuff, that's been very recent conversation for us and some of it's uncharted territory, but yeah, I, I love, I love that idea that you're offering of, like, we, we kind put this on display. Not because we have got it together or we've figured it out, but we have to learn it by doing it.
[00:09:52] Ryan: Like there's no manual for this.
[00:09:54] Landon: This is not what the Bible is supposedly.
[00:09:56] Ryan: Yeah. I think that's not until episode three. [00:10:00]
[00:10:02] Landon: Uh, goodness. And the next couple of episodes, Ryan and I are going to be talking about our origin stories a little bit about where we are and how we got here. We'd love for you to check out.
[00:10:13] Ryan: We're really excited to see
[00:10:15] what
[00:10:15] Landon: develops. Yeah, we would love it. If you'd subscribe to the show and whatever podcast app you're using that way, you can stay up to date on our newest episodes. We'll be releasing them regularly. We'd love to get your feedback as we go. It's going to be great. It's going to be so great.
[00:10:32] Landon: I love you. Love you too.