1 July 2025
subscribe
Archived Programs
Popular Tags
MeaningofLife.tv videos
Subscribe to MeaningofLife.tv videos via podcast or email
Jun 22, 2017 —
Josh Summers & Linda Blanchard
TAGS Buddhism | enlightenment | Hinduism | human nature | meditation | mindfulness | philosophy | religion
May 15, 2017 —
Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci
- Massimo’s new book How to Be a Stoic
- Why we all need a philosophy of life
- Why Stoicism can appeal to Christians, Buddhists, and atheists alike
- Stoic virtues, disciplines, and areas of study
- Cynics—the monks of Stoicism
- Things within and outside your control
- Massimo’s Stoic version of a Dear Abby column
Apr 25, 2017 —
Josh Summers & David Barash
TAGS biology | Buddhism | free will | fundamentalism | genetics | mind-body problem | mythology | philosophy | religion
Mar 13, 2017 —
Nikita Petrov & Tony Ortega
- How the Church of Scientology managed to run a “prison”
- L. Ron Hubbard’s theory of the mind
- “Auditing” and the “superpowers” it leads to
- Did Hubbard believe his own mythology?
- The cruel humor of LRH’s space opera
- The SeaOrg: A billion years of snitching and interrogations
- Scientology after Hubbard and outside the U.S.
Feb 22, 2017 —
Robert Wright & Micah Redding
TAGS Christianity | death | human nature | Islam | Judaism | love | religion | technology | the future | transhumanism
Feb 20, 2017 —
Robert Wright & Mark Van Steenwyk
- Meet Mark Van Steenwyk, Christian Anarchist
- Mark’s mystical experience at a Bible camp
- The time Mark was diagnosed with demonic possession
- Forms of Christian activism
- Trump makes anarchism more appealing
- Mystical dimensions of political activism
- Getting the attention of Christians via civil disobedience
Jan 19, 2017 —
Robert Wright & Dale Wright
TAGS Buddhism | Christianity | compassion | consciousness | enlightenment | meditation | mindfulness | perception | philosophy | politics | religion | spirituality | war | Zen
Jan 16, 2017 —
Robert Wright & James Currier
TAGS atheism | Buddhism | empathy | family | Hinduism | human nature | identity | meditation | philosophy | religion | ritual | science | spirituality | Sunday Assembly
Jan 13, 2017 —
Robert Wright & Mark Juergensmeyer
- How Mark got his start studying under Reinhold Niebuhr
- Using religion to justify violence
- The appeal of ISIS’s apocalyptic vision
- What Obama got right—and wrong—in his response to terrorism
- Will Trump’s war on terrorism lead to another 9/11?
- What would Reinhold Niebuhr say about religion and violence today?
- Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian realism
TAGS Christianity | Donald Trump | foreign policy | fundamentalism | Islam | politics | psychology | religion | terrorism | violence | war
Dec 25, 2016 —
Robert Wright & John Paul Lederach
TAGS anger | empathy | ethics | foreign policy | human nature | moral imagination | peace | psychology | religion | violence | war
Dec 18, 2016 —
Nikita Petrov & George Young
- Does Russian thought have anything to contribute to the world?
- Nikolay Fedorov, an eccentric thinker who influenced Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky
- Fedorov’s plan: Immortality for everyone
- “Kinship” as a fundamental property of all matter
- A mass movement for the spiritual unity of humankind
- Vladimir Solovyov’s The Meaning of Love: Sexuality as a path to a Christian utopia
- Christ as the ultimate role model
TAGS Christianity | consciousness | death | evolution | history | human nature | literature | mysticism | occult | philosophy | politics | religion | science | spirituality | technology | the future | transhumanism
Dec 2, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Jay Michaelson
TAGS anger | Buddhism | Christianity | compassion | democracy | Donald Trump | empathy | ethics | happiness | human nature | identity | Islam | Judaism | love | meditation | mental health | mindfulness | moral imagination | politics | psychology | religion | sadness | spirituality | tribalism | Zen
Nov 27, 2016 —
Nikita Petrov & Robert Place
TAGS ancient philosophy | Buddhism | Christianity | consciousness | enlightenment | meditation | mysticism | mythology | occult | philosophy | politics | psychology | religion | self
Nov 21, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Gad Saad
- How hormones drive consumer and mating behavior
- How your fingers give your testosterone level away
- Why some people seem taller than they are
- Why grandfathers get fewer gifts than grandmothers
- Is religion at the root of bad behavior?
- Is Islam more conducive to violence than other religions?
- Evolutionary perspectives on religion
Oct 31, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Pamela Cooper-White
TAGS Christianity | Donald Trump | history | mental health | moral imagination | nationalism | politics | psychology | religion | tribalism
Oct 25, 2016 —
Philip Menchaca & Benjamin Zeller
TAGS Buddhism | Christianity | death | Donald Trump | economics | psychology | religion | science | spirituality
Oct 20, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Daniel Ingram
TAGS Buddhism | consciousness | enlightenment | meditation | memory | mind-body problem | mindfulness | psychology | religion
Oct 19, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Sam Harris
- Sam Harris, mystic and atheist
- The mystery of consciousness
- Is mysticism more like science than like religion?
- How religion makes progress
- Sam’s case for intolerance
- The root causes of extremism
- Religious and secular reasons to do good
- Ways religion may be closer to the truth than atheism
- A secular approach to death
TAGS agnosticism | atheism | Buddhism | Christianity | cognitive science | consciousness | death | empathy | ethics | evolution | history | Islam | meditation | mind-body problem | mindfulness | mysticism | nationalism | New Atheists | perception | poverty | psychology | religion | science | self | spirituality | tribalism
Oct 18, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Margaret Wertheim
TAGS Christianity | consciousness | Daniel Dennett | philosophy | physics | religion | science | spirituality
Oct 10, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Jonathan Gold
- The seminal Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu, hero of Paving the Great Way
- Buddhist and Darwinian arguments for reality not being as it seems
- The ‘hyper-reductionism’ of Buddhism
- Meditation and the doctrine of emptiness
- Does the Buddhist view of causality leave room for agency?
- Are the past and the future real?
- Hindu and Buddhist versions of non-duality
TAGS Buddhism | evolution | free will | Hinduism | human nature | meditation | mindfulness | perception | philosophy | psychology | religion | self | spirituality | time
Oct 9, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Wesley Wildman
- Wesley explains “transreligious theology”
- What’s religious about religious naturalism?
- Can science help us understand ultimate reality?
- Bringing religious thought and philosophy together
- Be skeptical of spiritual experiences
- Don’t just love your enemies, understand them
- Wesley: “Purpose” isn’t a useful category
TAGS atheism | Buddhism | Christianity | consciousness | meditation | Paul Tillich | philosophy | physics | psychology | religion | science | spirituality | tribalism
Sep 21, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Erik Braun
- Erik’s book The Birth of Insight and its hero, Ledi Sayadaw
- Three marks of existence: impermanence, suffering, and not-self
- Origins and characteristics of American Buddhism
- How Burmese politics shaped Western Buddhism
- Ledi’s take on how meditation leads to enlightenment
- The ethical side of Buddhist practice
- Erik’s meditation practice
TAGS Buddhism | consciousness | enlightenment | history | human nature | meditation | mind | mindfulness | philosophy | politics | psychology | religion | science | self
Sep 17, 2016 —
Nikita Petrov & George Young
- What is Russian cosmism?
- The religious side of cosmism
- Cosmism as a response to the challenges of the 20th century
- Nature as a temporary enemy and eternal friend
- Pavel Florensky, the Russian da Vinci
- Plant life as a spiritual ideal
- The father of the Soviet space program, and his weird spirituality
- Cosmism and transhumanism: Compare and contrast
- Cosmism as a Russian propaganda project
TAGS Christianity | consciousness | death | evolution | history | human nature | mysticism | occult | philosophy | politics | religion | science | spirituality | technology | the future | transhumanism
Sep 12, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Robert George
- Why Robby refuses to support Trump
- Is history shaped more by social forces or human agency?
- Robby gives an insider’s view on why Appalachia is Trump country
- The declining influence of religion
- How a lack of humility poisons politics
- Contempt in current political rhetoric
- Robby: Politicians need to get out of the identity politics game
TAGS Christianity | ethics | free will | history | moral imagination | philosophy | politics | psychology | religion | tribalism
Sep 10, 2016 —
Josh Summers & Chip Hartranft
TAGS Buddhism | consciousness | enlightenment | Hinduism | human nature | meditation | mindfulness | philosophy | religion | spirituality | yoga
Aug 23, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Daniel Ogilvie
TAGS ancient philosophy | death | ethics | history | monotheism | New Atheists | philosophy | psychology | religion | Richard Dawkins | science | soul
Aug 19, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Douglas Osto
- Doug’s book Altered States: Buddhism and Psychedelic Spirituality in America
- Psychedelics as gateway drugs to Buddhism
- Common ground between Buddhism and psychedelic spirituality
- What is Psychedelic Buddhism?
- When are psychedelics unhealthy?
- Compare and contrast between Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism
TAGS Buddhism | consciousness | drugs | enlightenment | happiness | meditation | mental health | mindfulness | religion | spirituality | Zen
Archives
- August 2021(3)
- July 2021(1)
- June 2021(2)
- May 2021(4)
- April 2021(3)
- March 2021(4)
- January 2021(4)
- October 2020(3)
- August 2020(5)
- July 2020(8)
- June 2020(6)
- May 2020(5)
- April 2020(5)
- March 2020(7)
- January 2020(3)
- October 2019(6)
- August 2019(3)
- July 2019(9)
- June 2019(13)
- May 2019(5)
- April 2019(9)
- March 2019(3)
- January 2019(9)
- December 2018(11)
- November 2018(12)
- October 2018(9)
- August 2018(9)
- July 2018(7)
- June 2018(12)
- May 2018(10)
- April 2018(6)
- March 2018(9)
- January 2018(11)
- October 2017(7)
- August 2017(8)
- July 2017(5)
- June 2017(8)
- May 2017(3)
- April 2017(6)
- March 2017(5)
- January 2017(27)
- December 2016(33)
- November 2016(12)
- October 2016(18)
- September 2016(13)
- August 2016(12)
- July 2016(8)
- June 2016(14)
- May 2016(15)
- April 2016(8)
- March 2016(10)
- February 2016(16)
- January 2016(8)
- December 2015(11)
- November 2015(11)
- October 2015(14)
- September 2015(11)
- August 2015(11)
- July 2015(10)
- August 2014(2)
- July 2014(1)
- May 2014(1)
- January 2014(3)
- October 2013(2)
- July 2013(1)
- May 2013(1)
- January 2013(1)
- June 2010(1)
- August 2003(12)
- July 2003(8)