Making Meaning in Challenging Times — with Jamie Wheal

What helps you make meaning in challenging times? As you confront
COVID, the climate crisis, and all of the challenges we discuss
on this show, what helps you avoid nihilism or fundamentalism,
and instead access healing, inspiration, and connection? 


Today on Your Undivided Attention, we're joined by
anthropologist and writer Jamie Wheal. Wheal is the author of
Recapture the Rapture: Rethinking God, Sex and Death In a World
That's Lost Its Mind. In the book, he makes the case that in
order to address the meta-crisis — the interconnected
challenges we face, which we talked about in Episode 36 with
Daniel Schmachtenberger, we must address the meaning
crisis — the need to stay inspired, mended, and bonded in
challenging times. Jamie argues that it doesn't matter whether
we're staying inspired, mended, and bonded through
institutionalized religion or other means as long as
meaning-making is inclusively available to everyone.


What we hope you'll walk away with is a humane way to think about
how to address the challenges we face, from COVID to climate — by
enabling us to make meaning in challenging times.