Being and Becoming

Phillip Lunt joins the podcast and shares insight on a variety of topics including Jordan Peterson (and the book club we hosted virtually last year on the podcast), facing "dragons," postmodernism, consciousness, as well as sharing a positive outlook on work. We also discuss marriage, the Enneagram, and Christianity. Please enjoy the "flow" of the conversation as Phil and Logan sync up for a dynamic hang.

Carl Arvidson is a graphic designer with a passion for coffee. He has many talents and joins the show with Logan to discuss some unique childhood memories from his time spent in Sudan and Nigeria, the challenge of being "the new kid" in school, dropping out of college to help run a startup coffee shop, and much more.

Tyler Mattox-Frye is a youth pastor/congregational care pastor in the Methodist Church. Tyler shares with Logan his experiences at the church and about his time in seminary, which he is finishing this year.

Brad generously shares his personal wisdom and wit. Logan and Brad reminisce on shared high school memories, discuss their careers, and take a deep dive into music production.

Jordan is a gifted creative who has turned his attention to writing books in recent years. Logan and Jordan discuss the writing process as well as a couple of books Jordan has recently completed writing.

BBP is back! Logan had the privilege to have his very own sister, Aleia, join the podcast today. The two siblings reminisce on their past while they hang out and catch up. Their brother, Luke, was the first guest on the show back in 2023 and now his sister is the first guest for 2024. Aleia offers valuable insight on what makes a great podcast. I hope you enjoy our yapping, ciao!

Logan hosts the podcast by himself and rambles about thoughts on his life at the present moment

Austin, Pat, and Logan return to discuss their break from the podcast. They converse about current happenings in their lives while also speculating on future plans.

Tyrone Chandler has been the president of Community Assets, a youth leadership and community development company, for the past 10 years. He also runs a technology education center called Urban Youth Entrepreneur Academy, which assists underserved children living in areas deemed "tech deserts." Please consider getting involved or supporting the work Tyrone is doing at the website below: https://www.communityassetsllc.com

New episodes will begin releasing November 1st, then will continue releasing every two weeks for the foreseeable future

Thank you for your continued support!

We will be taking a break for the season and returning to the airwaves this Fall. There will be updates to the format, production, and different segments of the show upon our return (tune in to learn more). Thank you to everyone who has been listening and supporting us for the past six months!

We conclude 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote For Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson as we discuss the final chapter, Pet A Cat When You Encounter One On The Street, as well as the Coda, which is after chapter 12. Logan, Austin, and Pat recount their takeaways from the book and also talk about suffering, health, disease, the Bible Project, Christianity, and chaos and order.

Pat shares what he has learned during his second reading of this book, Austin likens chapter 12 to the book of Ecclesiastes, and Logan shares a personal anecdote about perspective.

We hope you have enjoyed our discussion on this book and would appreciate any additional thoughts or feedback you may have.

Pat, Austin, and Logan discuss different theories regarding the origin of Earth and we try to discern if the age of our planet is important. Austin reminds us about the significance of purpose, Logan wonders if the supposed conflict between scientific communities and faith communities is over exaggerated, and Pat calls out the scientists.

Logan, Austin, and Pat delve into Christianity today and discuss Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. Austin and Pat discuss the Bible Project and we converse about sacrifice, love, and music. We contemplate Jesus' anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane and the meaning of His final words on the cross.

Ian Wray joins the podcast today and discusses his travels around the world, his passion for Jesus, and valuable lessons he learned during his time as a youth pastor. Ian is currently working to complete his Masters in Theological Studies at The Belonging Co. Logan and Ian also discuss social media and its pervasive influence on individuals and culture.

Austin, Logan, and Pat let nostalgia drive the conversation today as they recollect their high school experiences. The trio then offers advice to their younger selves.

Picture credit: Moonlight Photography (link to website below)

https://www.photosbymoonlight.com/?fbclid=IwAR2C5sSD4aOot_iahomAmLWXwh6ofl3fl7cZUrf72WQ1n23OTSq7C288R-k

Pat, Austin, and Logan return to their Book Club discussion as we converse about chapter 11: Do Not Bother Children When They Are Skateboarding from 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote For Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson. The topics we cover include (but are not limited to) skate parks and playgrounds, safety and danger, aggression, Nietzsche's thoughts on resentment, Jung on the “shadow self,” the “flesh,” environmental issues and population, cultural revolutions, affirmative action, the Oedipal Mother, Hansel and Gretel, motherhood, Buddha, Yin and Yang, freedom, responsibility, and home.

Pat poses a great question about how to seek out danger in adulthood, Logan ponders the possibility of creating equal opportunity, and Austin (in Jung’s words) relays the idea that every good mother is bad.

We complete our two part series with our first guest on Shooting The Breeze: Ryan Schwartz. Ryan joins Logan, Austin, and Pat as they converse about religion (Eastern religions and Christianity), seminary, deconstruction, the importance of belonging, Nihilism, and belief structures.

Kim Townsend, CEO of the Anderson Housing Authority, joins Logan in a conversation about community development, volunteer trends, youth behavior, planning for the future, beautification, and housing. Kim previously worked for the city of Anderson for nearly 20 years and was instrumental in building bridges between people from different backgrounds.

We do apologize for the quality of the video recording as we were experiencing technical difficulties throughout the duration of the call. Nevertheless, we believe this message is important and worth hearing.

Picture credit: Richard Sitler of the Anderson Herald Bulletin

Today we are joined by our first guest on Shooting The Breeze: Ryan Schwartz! Ryan studied Bible and Religion at Anderson University where he also attended seminary. Logan, Austin, and Pat are joined by Ryan in conversation to discuss topics including Nihilism, Post Modernism, absolute truth, interpretation, suffering, meaning, and being open minded.

This is part one of a two part discussion. We hope you enjoy!

We discuss chapter 10: Be Precise In Your Speech from 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote For Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson. The topics we talk about include perception, the complexity of the world, purpose (the importance of having an aim), speech, the Enlightenment, Nihilism, the chaos of the desert, fasting, ignored reality, sins of omission, when it is necessary to have conflict, dragons, behavior of school children, and the internet as medium for communication.

Austin warns about running back to the tyranny of the known, Logan waxes poetically about the world being beautiful but tragic, and Pat emphasizes the importance of slaying the dragon in its lair.

Pat, Austin, and Logan shoot the breeze about American church structures, Austin then shares insight on duty and belonging, and we end by discussing our opinions on Christian worship music.

The conversation you are about to hear is centered around an anecdote from chapter 9: Assume That The Person You Are Listening To Might Know Something You Don’t from 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote For Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson. The aforementioned anecdote involves a woman from Peterson's clinical practice who was seeking help in making sense of the experiences in her life. Pat, Austin, and Logan had different understandings as to the purpose of the story Peterson shared so they share their different perspectives during this episode.

We discuss chapter 9: Assume That The Person You Are Listening To Might Know Something You Don’t from 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote For Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson. Pat, Austin, and Logan converse about advice, thinking, ideas, being a good listener, Carl Rogers and the Rogerian Method, Socrates, the importance of community, and mutual exploration.

Pat wonders about the effects of great music, Logan relates to the idea that talking helps aid good thinking, and Austin observes how seeing the humanity in each other can compliment our weaknesses.

Logan, Austin, and Pat shoot the breeze today. Austin shares an accomplishment while we discuss working out and trying to be healthy. We then talk about how today is a gift and we end the conversation with thoughts about the transitions we are going through in life right now. Pat may or may not share some thoughts on Texas at the end.

We discuss chapter 8: Tell The Truth - Or, At Least, Don’t Lie from 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote For Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson. Logan, Austin, and Pat team up to tackle concepts including “life lies,” safety and the corporate state, totalitarianism, agreeableness, sacrifice, error, reason, resentment, Satan and the Garden of Eden, vision, and social justice.

Austin sings Bob Dylan, Pat shares one of his favorite lyrics, and Logan surprisingly does not share a musical reference.

Makenzie Arvidson is passionate about psychology and is currently working on her Masters degree at Miami University (Oxford). Today Logan and Makenzie discuss how she became interested in psychology as a field of study, her unique job experience in the field, behavioral tools, Christianity (and how it relates to psychology), mental health, the mind and its complexities, family dynamics, resiliency, nature vs nurture, and relationships.

Logan shares a quick update about future releases.

We discuss chapter 7: Pursue What Is Meaningful (Not What Is Expedient) from 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote For Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson. This chapter was both Austin and Pat’s favorite so we hope you enjoy our conversation. The topics and notable ideas we cover include Sigmund Freud, pleasure, motivation, Socrates, sacrifice, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Carl Jung, freedom, Abraham and Isaac, corruption in the Christian church, the importance of a good attitude, life being inherently valuable, Nihilism, suffering, the problems Christianity did solve, the Death of God (as declared by Friedrich Nietzsche) and its implications, the difference(s) between ideas and facts, loneliness, and carrying your cross. Yes, it is a long discussion.

Logan focuses on making things better (instead of worse), Pat offers introspection on what makes his life most meaningful, and Austin expresses the wisdom in carrying a light yolk.

We discuss chapter 6: Set Your House In Perfect Order Before You Criticize The World from 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote For Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson. Logan, Austin, and Pat converse about anxiety, pain, vengeance, justice, anger, violence, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Cain and Abel, and a great perspective from the Old Testament.

Pat shares a tragic personal story, Austin emphasizes the importance of preparedness, and Logan attempts to understand a Leo Tolstoy quote.

We discuss chapter 5: Do Not Let Your Children Do Anything That Makes You Dislike Them from 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote For Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson. Pat, Austin, and Logan contemplate parenting, childhood, discipline, punishment, prison, criminal justice, responsible sex, revolution, and peace. 

Pat argues that childhood can inform our understanding of parenting (even if we are not currently parents), Logan harps on the importance of the little things, and Austin mentions the birds and the bees and belonging. 

Steve Sparks joins Logan for a conversation about Christianity, addiction, recovery, self-induced suffering, sobriety, deliverance, and the power of God intervening in dismal circumstances. Steve wonderfully embodies servant leadership with 18 years of assisting people struggling through difficult crises. He shares wisdom from his experiences working at homeless shelters, pastoring a church, and his current role of working in a lab.  

We conclude our discussion on chapter 4: Compare Yourself To Who You Were Yesterday, Not To Who Someone Else Is Today from 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote For Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson. There were many references to the Old Testament, New Testament and Christianity in this chapter so Pat, Austin, and Logan speak to this subject matter exclusively in this episode. The conversation includes differences between the way God is portrayed in the Old Testament vs the New Testament, ideas about God incarnate, Nietzsche's thoughts on the Old Testament and the New Testament, thoughts on how to best view the past, checking your aim and adjusting your goals accordingly, Nihilism, a definition for faith, and forgiveness. 

Pat emphasizes how asking good questions will lead to pursuing truth, Logan plays devil's advocate, and Austin shares a goal he started in 2020.   

We discuss chapter 4: Compare Yourself To Who You Were Yesterday, Not To Who Someone Else Is Today from 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote For Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson. Austin, Pat and Logan try to have a meaningful conversation about people at the bottom of hierarchies, measuring wellbeing across multiple domains, the perception of self, our internal critical voice, how agreeable people need to speak their minds, Cain and Abel, confronting our own resentment, values and purpose, healthcare and insurance, gaming systems, success and failure, incentiving people to do good, how our aim determines our sight, giving our best, and voluntarily taking on burdens in our daily life.

Logan defines the word "passion" after rambling about economics, Pat constructs an argument for freedom then details his understanding of the healthcare field, and Austin sheds light where others might turn a "blind eye."

Please let us know if you have any suggestions as to books we should read or topics we should discuss by contacting us at beingbecomingpodcast@gmail.com    

We discuss chapter 3: Make Friends With People Who Want The Best For You from 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote For Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson. Austin, Logan and Pat reminisce on their high school experiences today while also conversing about nostalgia, Kairos moments, Nihilism, growing apart from friends, sacrificing the present for the future, our responsibility to help our neighbors and friends, and we end with exploring a critique for this chapter while wrestling with the ideas it contains. This Book Club conversation also contains a lot of personal stories from our lives that we hope you find meaningful.

Pat quotes Ecclesiastes while warning about expediency, Logan accepts the limits of his own optimism, and Austin offers a compassionate perspective on relationships.

Please let us know if you have any suggestions as to books we should read or topics we should discuss by contacting us at beingbecomingpodcast@gmail.com    

James E. Sedlacek generously discusses his newly released book, The Verbal Aspect Integral to the Perfect and Pluperfect Tense-Forms in the Pauline Corpus, which details the verbal aspect of the Greek Perfect tense. He writes about how this tense encompasses events and states of being in Greek. James informs us on the different perspectives and interpretations on the Greek Perfect tense as well as the "Perfect Storm" debate which lead to much discussion within the Greek Linguistics field regarding this subject matter. He then explains the 3 cardinal works on the Perfect tense and explores what the Perfect tense means.

Later, James and I talk about linguistic translation through history, New Testament verbs and their interpretations, how language changes over time, scribal updates to texts, Constantine promoting Christianity to the state religion in Rome, the Dead Sea Scrolls, 1 Timothy chapter 2, gender hierarchy within the Church, and the woman at the well in the gospel of John. We end the episode with James sharing some of his favorite books on his impressive bookshelf.

Please consider checking out and support James by following his work on his website and by purchasing his book (links below):

https://sedlacekj6.wixsite.com/mysite

https://www.peterlang.com/document/1253478?fbclid=IwAR0aFVw_91CwRtM_WhbaJ-ssyaMbOg22PKW4CodLJbuS0q3uClav04DyYbI

We discuss chapter 2: Treat Yourself Like Someone You Are Responsible For Helping from 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote For Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson. Pat joins Austin and Logan for the Book Club today and our conversation includes pets, Adam and Eve, self-care, pain, the power of stories, volunteering in churches, journeying into the unknown, Abraham and Isaac, Taoism, more chaos and order conversations, the Garden of Eden, and serpents. It's a long list and an even longer episode!   

Austin makes a great point about leveraging our suffering in order to love better, Pat eats dinner on the podcast then rearranges the title of the chapter to create a meta-reality, and Logan grapples with the propensity to sin and wonders if we are all afraid to "walk with God."

Please let us know if you have any suggestions as to books we should read or topics we should discuss by contacting us at beingbecomingpodcast@gmail.com

Thank you for tuning into our Shooting The Breeze segment. We discuss the other 2 segments of the show that debuted earlier this week. Austin reminisces the hike he took with his wife on the PCT, Pat voices his thoughts on sleep + dreams + de ja vu, we then talk about wrestling with our high school friends, and we try to remember how many holes we collectively made in walls while wrestling. Stay tuned until the end to hear huge news from Austin!   

Austin sits down with Luke Hauer and they discuss Luke's film aspirations and the current screenplay he is working on. The film is greatly inspired from real experiences the Hauer family encountered while living in Hamilton, OH.   

Luke then shares his insights on the art of movie making, his criteria for rating movies and offers a valuable critique for Christian films. Austin offers insight about introvert/extrovert differences, especially when it comes to creating art, and makes an observation about how philosophy impacts film.  

We hope you find this conversation both funny and insightful.