The Soul of Desire with Curt Thompson

We all long to be fully known. Yet so often this desire for true connection and community is impaired by trauma, shame, and suffering. In October of 2021, we hosted psychiatrist Curt Thompson to discuss his book, The Soul of Desire: Discovering the Neuroscience of Longing, Beauty, and Community.

In his book, Thompson weaves together neurobiological insight and spiritual formation to open up new ways of understanding our longing for connection with God and each other. Curt explored the ways cultivating presence with ourselves, others, and God can move us from brokenness to beauty:

“The reason that this is important is because our trauma and our shame, all that stuff–if I don’t take care of that, I’m necessarily literally going to have to be burning neurobiological energy to contain it, and that is energy that I then will not have available to create those artifacts of beauty and goodness in the world that God has prepared for me and you together, along with the presence of the Holy Spirit from before the foundation of the world, to create.”

Confessional Community and the Imagination

During our conversation, Curt offers up a vision for the ways in which a confessional community can reshape our imaginations and reveal new possibilities for better knowing and loving God ourselves and others. It’s a redemptive, hopeful, even beautiful vision, and we hope it inspires you to press into your community too.

This podcast is an edited version of our Online Conversation from October, 2021. You can access the full conversation with transcript here.

Learn more about Curt Thompson.

Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:

The Soul of Desire: Discovering the Neuroscience of Longing, Beauty, and Community, by Curt Thompson
Daniel J. Siegel
Tina Payne Bryson
James K.A. Smith
The Silver Chair, by C.S. Lewis

Related Trinity Forum Readings:

Insights from Great Literature
Man’s Search for Meaning

Related Conversations:

Strength in the Second Half with Arthur Brooks
Cultivating a Life of Learning with Zena Hitz
Being, Living, and Dying Well with Lydia Dugdale
Hope, Heartbreak, and Meaning with Kate Bowler
The Burden of Living and the and the Goodness of God with Alan Noble
All the Lonely People with Ryan Streeter and Francie Broghammer

To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org/podcast and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, join the Trinity Forum Society

Special thanks to Ned Bustard for our podcast artwork.