Well of Ignorance

Heated Dinner Conversation

What kind of people are we becoming—and who is shaping the next generation? After a candid conversation with a thoughtful fifteen-year-old, Stephen reflects on the quiet erosion of virtues like integrity, courage, compassion, and mercy. Drawing on a moving passage from The Chosen by Chaim Potok, he asks a pressing question: if character is formed through the examples we witness, where are today's young people learning what truly matters? This episode is an invitation to consider the values we're modeling and the legacy we're leaving behind. Transcript: Several friends were having a heated after-dinner discussion concerning the state of certain historic values within our culture. You know, things like integrity, courage, compassionate regard for others...things like that. A variety of opinions were shared, but all of them expressed deep, even searing, concern for the future. Quietly, but attentively sitting throughout this agitated conversation was a young man, 15 years old, who finally just blurted out that he attended a prestigious private school with the children of powerful, connected families, and if they reflected the future of values in our nation, then we were in a hell of a lot of trouble. His passionate outburst brought us to a stunned silence. In his book The Chosen, author Chaim Potok depicts a father’s recollections of his early years with his son, wanting desperately to instill the importance of building a life on the things that matter most: “A heart I need for a son, a soul I need for son, compassion I want from my son, righteousness, mercy, strength to suffer and to carry pain, that I want from my son, not a mind without a soul!” Back at dinner, after the teenager’s outburst, my friends and I set to wondering in a more subdued manner, where that sort of mentoring was taking place. At home? School? Where, exactly, was it being modeled? Parents? Government? Teachers? TikTok? The fundamental infrastructure of our national life is built person by person. Just who is doing the building today--and how? Get full access to Living in the Meantime at livinginthemeantime.substack.com/subscribe [https://livinginthemeantime.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Psychedelics and Soul Care: What Christians Need to Know w/ Dr. Jaime Clark-Soles

Can psychedelic experiences deepen Christian faith rather than diminish it? In this thoughtful conversation, Stephen Bauman welcomes New Testament scholar Dr. Jaime Clark-Soles to explore the intersection of Christianity, spirituality, and psychedelic-assisted therapy. Drawing from their shared participation in the landmark Johns Hopkins/NYU psilocybin study, they discuss mystical experience, ego, healing, Scripture, and why the church should engage this growing conversation with curiosity, wisdom, and pastoral care. Chapters 00:00:00 – Introducing Dr. Jaime Clark-Soles and the Story Behind Psychedelics and Soul Care 00:03:15 – Why Stephen Chose to Keep His Psychedelic Experience Private 00:10:03 – The Healing Potential of Psychedelics for Mind and Spirit 00:13:31 – Defining Psychedelics, Mysticism, and Direct Experiences of God 00:19:40 – Why Two Christian Scholars Participated in the Johns Hopkins Study 00:24:03 – Ego Dissolution, Freedom, and the Experience of Divine Love 00:35:12 – Religious Experiences vs. Living a Faithful Christian Life 00:42:01 – Rediscovering God Through Nature and Creation 00:47:24 – Mysticism in Scripture and Why the Church Should Pay Attention 00:55:11 – The Future of Psychedelic Therapy, Soul Care, and the Church Get full access to Living in the Meantime at livinginthemeantime.substack.com/subscribe [https://livinginthemeantime.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Well of Ignorance

As Stephen and Melissa celebrate 50 years of marriage, this special Independence Day episode reflects on the surprising ways love, commitment, humility, and lifelong growth shape a life. Their personal milestone becomes a springboard for a larger question: as the nation marks its 250th anniversary, what kind of future are we choosing to build together? Transcript: Melissa and I are marking our 50th wedding anniversary this Fourth of July weekend. Though our actual date fell in May, family circumstance led us to share our commemoration with our nation’s 250th anniversary -- that way, on our 75th, we can brag how we had blazing fireworks on our 50th. We’ve been fortunate through these years. What an ignoramus I was at 23... But what a serendipity that a great leap of faith landed me in a partnership that became an essential component of my emergence as a fully functioning adult, learning repeatedly that the will to extend oneself for one’s own and another’s spiritual growth -- with spiritual understood to include all that contributes to human thriving -- lies at the heart of a life well-lived. We’re in a deeply grateful place, but I would never say there is nothing new ahead. In fact, I’m counting on it—still eager for the adventure and still aware that I have not yet reached the bottom of my own well of ignorance. Other people track different paths, of course, and I can’t comment on how they might define their fulfillment, partnered or not. Our experience certainly doesn’t circumscribe the universe of potential positive outcomes. But what I can acknowledge is that the tenacious and necessarily humble commitment to hanging in under the banner of loving intention has wrought a wonderful gift that’s hard to imagine appearing through any other process. So much for our 50 years... But now, what about our nation’s 250?? What about that? What about that... Get full access to Living in the Meantime at livinginthemeantime.substack.com/subscribe [https://livinginthemeantime.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Morally Fraught

In the wake of a heartbreaking tragedy caused by a drunk driver, Stephen reflects on the quiet but profound moral choices woven into everyday life. While many of life's deepest sorrows come from circumstances beyond our control, others begin with seemingly ordinary decisions that carry enormous consequences. This episode explores personal responsibility, moral culpability, and the sacred weight of the choices we make—often long before we recognize their significance. Transcript: The news report began this way: “An eighty-two-year-old Nassau County man whose sport utility vehicle collided with a minivan full of young soccer players on a Long Island highway, killing him and two of the children, had a level of alcohol in his system that was more than twice the legal limit...” The story continued by describing the shock and grief of the families and the boys’ delightful personalities... which by the end had brought to mind the numbers of persons who passed through my office over the years in a state of deep grief. Most of the time the loss was due to causes beyond their or anyone else’s control and the emotional task consisted mainly of acceptance of the new reality. But sometimes the grief was at least partly due to causes that were very much within human control; and those agonies were the more difficult to process, where the personal work involved the realm of moral culpability as, for instance, it might be imbedded within a decision as mundane as whether or not to start the car engine. Isn’t it so that many days present all of us with choices as simple, yet morally fraught as that?? Get full access to Living in the Meantime at livinginthemeantime.substack.com/subscribe [https://livinginthemeantime.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Father's Day

In this Father’s Day reflection, Stephen recalls a heartbreaking encounter from his early years in ministry—a young boy who had come to believe that “stupid” was his name because it was all he ever heard from his father. Through this brief but unforgettable moment, Stephen explores the lasting power of a parent’s words, the deep human need for affirmation, and the responsibility fathers have to shape the identity and worth of their children. A poignant meditation on the wounds we can inflict—and the healing we can offer. Transcript: Decades ago, in my first church, I had a small exchange with a young boy standing off by himself who seemed swallowed up in deep sadness. I went to him and introduced myself and asked him his name. He told me his name was “Stupid.” I said I couldn’t believe that was his real name. But he quickly responded that I could believe what I wanted, but his name was “Stupid” because that’s what everyone called him. Said with a kind of quiet finality, he walked away. Later, I spotted him on his way out the door with a man I understood was his father. I don’t know what preceded this exact moment, but I witnessed his father turning a very ugly face toward his son and hissing, “My God, you are just so stupid!!” The boy glanced up and caught my eye for a long moment, then shrugged his shoulders and walked out the door. Like I said, that happened a long time ago. In the meantime, I’ve witnessed far worse behaviors, of course. But since Father’s Day was coming along, the memory of the knowing look in the boy’s eyes came to mind, along with the pain and insight we shared for just a moment... Get full access to Living in the Meantime at livinginthemeantime.substack.com/subscribe [https://livinginthemeantime.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]