Answered from When Bad Things Happen to Good People · Hidden Brain · 2026-10-05
Kate Bowler borrows from philosopher Charles Taylor a contrast between the pre-modern porous self, open to God, terror and reality, and the modern buffered self, sealed off and treated as a project to optimize. She argues the buffered self turns every dark chapter into homework. Letting ourselves be acted upon, she says, opens us to the bad but also to beauty, and spares us the illusion of total control.
Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on Hidden Brain (2026-10-05). Read the whole episode summary →