This post’s subject is borrowed from Kris’s suggestion for Core Questions PSA might continue to explore, and is an ongoing project here at PSA…see recent posts in the months of 4/25 and 3/25 covering much of this ground. However, it’s a huge topic.

Speaking of “Huge Topics” and the “Big Questions of Life the Universe and Everything” one might note the very current applicability of exploring  this pursuit as evidenced by an Ezra Klein podcast published just a few days ago. Ezra’s guest on his “podcast show” was Ross Douthhat, a fellow writer for the NT Times who generally covers politics from a conservative perspective which often involves, for him, references to his Christian faith, and to the parts of the conservative “movement” that are “Christian Based”.

Ezra and Ross dived deep into the “big questions” on this podcast, including getting far into the weeds about what we might term more fringe “spiritual experiences” which Douthat goes as far as to say:most everyone has these spiritual experiences which don’t fit the conventional explanations for Life the Universe and Everything. Douthat actually uses that phrase in the podcast.

We also learn about Klein’s spiritual and/or ineffable experiences, including some under the influence of psychedelics. I had to stop for a moment and consider whether I could possibly be hallucinating this podcast as it seemed so exceptional for two of The NY Times top minds to be talking about these “things” in a public forum.

One might conclude the Big Questions are now in the air, or on the table, as we seek to understand human consciousness in a world where AI seems to be inhabiting some similar or overlapping world. And, when it comes to the ineffable…there’s exoteric explanations as well as perhaps more profound explanations in esoteric traditions, but…well… it’s hard to talk about!