{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Dialog","title":"1.3 / Is life a problem to solve?","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2487,"description":"Behind mountains, more mountains. Nick Surface loves that Haitian proverb because it describes what happens when you treat life like a problem to solve: you solve one, and the next one is already waiting.\nMaybe your number is a salary, a weight, a promotion or a guarantee that your kids turn out fine. Then you get there and want double. Kierkegaard is often credited with the line that life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced. Most of us agree with it, then live the opposite way.\nJosh Craft and Nick talk about why we crave certainty, how anxiety tells you what you can't control, and what Lao Tzu, Epictetus and Romans 8:28 say about the part you can.\nHow do you know what you can't control?\nAnxiety is the sign. The things that make us most anxious are things we can't control: our kids' safety, the economy, an election. That doesn't mean you drift through life. You put yourself into what you can control.\nWhat can you actually control?\nYour thoughts, your attitudes and your actions. An attitude isn't how you feel. It's what you do with how you feel. You can feel angry and not punch a hole in the wall.\nIf God works all things together for good, why don't more things work out?\nEither it's external and you can't control it, or it's internal and you can. Jesus said to take the log out of your own eye first. Our greatest problem is us.\nWhat should you be certain about?\nYourself. When Josh's wife was rushed into emergency surgery right after their third child was born, he sat alone holding the baby and asked one question: what can I control right now?\nScriptures\nRomans 8:28 · Matthew 7:3-5 · Matthew 7:7 · Proverbs 27:17 · Genesis 2:24\nThinkers and books\nSøren Kierkegaard · Frank Herbert, Dune · Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching · Epictetus · the Stoics\nChapters\n0:00 Show intro\n2:33 Do you treat life like a problem to solve?\n5:38 Behind mountains, more mountains\n6:22 Kierkegaard and Dune: a reality to experience\n7:27 Chasing certainty where there is none\n13:33...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/7YsfA4gq5VzjhvmKvDET1pQqT0OM6yxv1laklKclR7g/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS83ZWZh/MTRmZDEzOWRjZGQz/Y2M2NThkNzYwOTJj/ODA4MC5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}