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About this episode
Because I was raised with no religion, I used to think they were all ridiculous.
But now that I’m trying to understand all the worldviews, I find the subject fascinating.
My super-smart scientist friend tells me about Brahma and Shiva emerging from the navel and forehead of Vishnu. I ask, “Wait, do you mean literally or figuratively? Is this a fable or metaphor?” She insists it’s absolute fact, and it happened before time. She tells me very seriously about the kalpa cycle and how this all works.
Another friend, way smarter than me, has no doubt we are all in a computer simulation right now, and has an airtight argument why.
Other friends are 100% sure that everything in the Tanakh and Christian Bible is true. Adam and Eve, made of clay and rib. Noah lived to be 950 years old. Heaven and hell, angels and Satan, all of it literal fact.
So a billion people know one collection of facts to be absolutely indisputably true. And another billion people know a different and completely contradictory collection of facts to be absolutely indisputably true. Both insist they are right, and therefore the others are wrong.
So, which one is right? All? None? I have no idea or opinion. I love the contradiction, and don’t want it resolved.
To pick a side would clash with my goal of understanding each point of view.
Get every episode summarized
Each time Derek Sivers publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
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