On today’s show, Chong and Dan look back on an eventful year. Along major dimensions - in technology, in geopolitics, in our socio-emotional lives, it feels like things are accelerating and spinning out of control. This leads to a discussion about peace - what is it, and how can we achieve it? Why does it seem like peace is only ever temporary? Where does chaos and disorder come from, that disturb the peace? Dan concludes with reflections on where ultimate peace is found - yes, Jesus - but goes to great lengths to explain this in the least-trite way possible.

Music by: Julian Wan

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Show notes

Big things have been happening (2:55)

• Social-technological - AI, medicine, Internet-mediated life...
• Geopolitical - Breakdown of Pax Americana
• Emotional-psychological - Awareness, acceptance and exploitation of disorders within the heart
• The external things affect us individually, and vice versa

The Nine Breakthroughs of the Year

How Anxiety Became Content

What do we mean by peace? (26:05)

• Absence of bad stuff; presence of good stuff
• Can we be at peace, even when things around us are bad?
• "Shalom" - the way things ought to be

What causes chaos and disorder? (37:50)

• Left-Right answer, circa early 2000s - individuals vs society
• Left-Right answer, circa 2020s - Common-Enemy politics
• The upshot - we are being affected both too little and too much by the outside world

Conclusion (53:20)

• Peace comes from an external intervention into the broken human world
• Peace requires a change in perspective - cosmic, eternal
• People are looking for peace; Christians can help them find it