264: Norman Wirzba: The Myth of Self-Sufficiency and the Good Life

About this episode

Norman Wirzba discusses how the myth of self-sufficiency distorts our understanding of the good life and emphasizes the importance of interdependence.

This is our unabridged interview with Norman Wirzba. How does the pursuit of independence distort our understanding of the good life? Before Norman Wirzba became a theologian, philosopher, and public intellectual, he was a farm boy in Southern Alberta, waking before sunrise to tend to the land and animals in his care, and he says that these early experiences working with the natural world taught him one essential lesson: life does not exist on our terms. Now a professor at Duke University working at the intersection of theology, philosophy, and agrarian studies, Norman argues that modern culture has trapped us in an illusion of self-reliance, when the key to a good life may simply require a deeper understanding of our place in what he calls the meshwork world. Key Ideas: See Beyond Self-Sufficiency Norman challenges the modern myth of the isolated individual and invites us to recognize how deeply our lives depend upon others. Let Care Shape Your Life Farming taught Norman that flourishing begins with patience, attentiveness, and responsibility toward living things. Rediscover the Sacred Ordinary Everyday realities, from baking a pie to tending animals, become windows into…

People in this episode

Host: Lee C. Camp

Guest: Norman Wirzba

Topics covered

• self-sufficiency
• good life
• interdependence
• farming
• theology
• philosophy
• agrarian studies

Keywords

• independence
• meshwork world
• compassion
• humility
• wonder
• rest
• gratitude

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Duke University

Places: Southern Alberta

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