Richard Beck - The Joy of Moving Beyond Yourself (N348)

Nomad Podcast

Tim Nash

Christianity, Faithshift, Deconstruction, Christianmysticism, Religion & Spirituality, Christianspirituality, Progressivechristian, Christian, Religion, Emergingchurch

4.7 • 658 Ratings

🗓️ 11 July 2025

⏱️ 101 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode, Tim chats with psychologist and theologian Richard Beck about his book The Shape of Joy, which explores the idea that much of modern misery stems from a life turned inward—and that joy comes when we shift our attention beyond ourselves.

Drawing on ancient theology, modern psychology, and lived experience, Richard challenges the dominance of a belief-centric, self-focused faith and invites us into a more outward-facing spirituality. He unpacks the difference between therapeutic introspection and the kind of excessive rumination that often leaves us stuck, and offers a vision of spiritual practices that open us to the world, to others, and to the divine.

After the interview, Nomad hosts Tim and Anna reflect on how Richard’s insights resonate with their own journeys—particularly their experiences of rumination, mental health, the role of spiritual practices, and the inward/outward tension in modern life.

Interview starts at 16m 11s

Books, quotes, links →

The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonderful listeners. By supporting us, you gain access to Nomad’s online spaces—like the Beloved Listener Lounge, Enneagram Lounge, and Book Club—as well as bonus episodes such as Nomad Contemplations, Therapeutic Reflections, and Nomad Revisited.

If you’d like to join our lovely community of supporters, head over to our Patreon page. You might even be rewarded with a Nomad pen or our coveted Beloved Listener mug!

If a monthly commitment isn’t possible right now, a one-off donation is always deeply appreciated—you can do that here.

Looking to connect with others nearby? Check out the Listener Map or join our Nomad Gathering Facebook group.

And if you're up for sharing your own story, we regularly post reflections from listeners on our blog—all with the hope of fostering deeper understanding, connection and supportive relationships. If you'd like to share your story on the blog, contact us for more information here.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The Welcome back to Nomad Podcast. I'm Tim Nash, I'm very pleased to say. This is Anna Robinson.
0:42.4	Good morning, Tim. Hello, everyone.
0:44.7	So Anna, what have you been up to since we last spoke, which I think was the Dan McClellan episode a couple of months ago now?
0:51.4	Oh, something fun that I did was take part in the Uncontrolling Love of God conference with
0:58.8	Tom Ord and Simon Cross in the Progressive Christian Network.
1:04.3	And that was really, really engaging, really fun to be part of that.
1:08.2	And I got to meet some really, really interesting people, some great discussions and grappling with open and relational theology. It was really good. I really enjoyed that. Yeah. And what did you do? You lead in some groups or something? So the conference was kind of people were invited to have sort of conversations and then it was opened up to the floor for people to kind of join in
1:27.6	and take part which I really liked. So I was doing a conversation across difference talking
1:33.5	about how we have conversations when we were in different places and different positions,
1:37.9	which was, yeah, it was really good. We enjoyed it. And I led a couple of short reflections as well,
1:42.9	trying to help bring the head knowledge down into the
1:44.7	heart, body, that kind of thing. So yeah, it was fun, really lovely to venture out of Cornwall
1:50.1	and go and meet people. Yeah, talk about face shifting and faith and emerging theologies and all sorts of
1:56.7	things. Yeah, it was great. How about you? What have you been up to? Yeah, you'll like this one.
2:01.0	Anna, I've been forest bathing a couple of times. Oh, yeah? Yeah, I came across a group that goes to a local
2:06.5	wood near here and everybody kind of takes a mat and some chairs and then you just kind of meditate
2:12.5	while listening to nature. It's amazing. Absolutely loved it. We did one on the summer solstice as well.
2:19.1	Slightly different. We were kind of encouraged to kind of look up through the tree canopy and
2:23.8	kind of reflect on the interplay of light and dark. It was, it's quite profound, actually. Like,
2:29.9	I can easily walk through a wood and miss the orchestra of sounds that's going on. And it really
2:35.8	does sound like an orchestra when you tune into it. Like the, you know, the wind and the leaves,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Tim Nash, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Tim Nash and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.