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The Heart and the Head

The Heart and the Head

By: Dr. Brenton G. Smith
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About this listen

The Heart and the Head is a podcast about changing our lives through taking up a philosophical life of seeking after truth. This is considered by examining the lives and teachings of great philosophers and thinkers throughout history.

This is a show about how to change everything. It is for those of us who no longer find themselves reflected in the cultural narrative of seeking happiness through pursuit of wealth, achievement, or self-expression.

In Republic, Plato tells a parable, imploring each of us to “turn around” from the darkness of a life lived in the ignorance of a metaphorical cave to the light of a life outside that cave. In the cave's darkness, we identify external things such as success or pleasure as most real and as the way to happiness. When we turn around and begin to exit the cave, we begin to realize that the most real things are rather internal, spiritual things, things which Plato associates with a higher power which he refers to as the Divine.

Plato’s parable speaks just as much to us today as to the ancient Greeks. To take up the philosophical life means changing our whole way of living, changing what we desire and value, and committing to that change with our whole selves. This is a podcast devoted to helping us better understand how to live such a philosophical life.

https://brentongsmith.com/podcast/

© 2025 The Heart and the Head Personal Development Personal Success Philosophy Social Sciences Spirituality
Episodes
  • 6 - Political Polarization: A Problem of Self Identity

    6 - Political Polarization: A Problem of Self Identity
    Jan 9 2025

    In this show, I'll discuss the problem of polarization and identity politics. I will discuss the phenomenon of polarization: what it is, and why it happens. By first figuring out the answers this show to what polarization is and why it occurs, next show, we will move to examine how to solve it.

    Topics discussed are as follows:
    -What is Polarization? In order to discuss this topic, I will look at French Philosopher Rene Girard's conception of Mimetic desire, which will help us understand in a wider sense how polarization relates in a basic way to human nature.

    -Two different answers to one question: "Why Are we so Polarized?" The answers are: (1) Dehumanization, (2) Self-Identity and how identity relates to polarization.

    Because much work has been done on the first answer, I focus my reflections on the second answer, which I consider more primary. In order to examine it, I'll be relying primarily on Soren Kierkegaard's analysis of human identity in The Sickness Unto Death and Walker Percy's exploration of the same topic in Lost in the Cosmos.

    If you have questions or comments about content from this episode, please send feedback to theheartandtheheadpodcast@gmail.com
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    46 mins
  • 5 - Responding to Suffering - Finding Meaning in Suffering

    5 - Responding to Suffering - Finding Meaning in Suffering
    Dec 14 2024

    In these three episodes, I look at different ways we might respond and choose to experience suffering we encounter in our lives.

    This episode looks at how we might begin to find meaning in our suffering. There are a few guiding texts which I reference during this discussion: Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, Huxley's Brave New World, and the Bible's Book of Job.

    If you have questions or comments about content from this episode, please send feedback to theheartandtheheadpodcast@gmail.com
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    41 mins
  • 4 - Responding to Suffering - Suffering as Meaningless

    4 - Responding to Suffering - Suffering as Meaningless
    Nov 19 2024

    In these three episodes, I look at different ways we might respond and choose to experience suffering we encounter in our lives.

    This episode looks at an option before us when we suffer: to see our suffering as meaningless. There are a few guiding texts which I reference during this discussion: Shakespeare’s Macbeth; as well as works by Albert Camus, Friedrich Nietzsche, and William Faulkner.

    If you have questions or comments about content from this episode, please send feedback to theheartandtheheadpodcast@gmail.com
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    40 mins

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