About Intersections

Underlying all areas of human exploration and understanding is a fundamental quest for meaning and significance. Intersections explores the beauty and diversity of human knowledge, while highlighting their connections to larger questions of meaning and purpose.

Knowledge, Belief, and the Iguana

Humanity is on a constant search for meaning and understanding. The meaning each of us derive out of our lives relies on our beliefs. While knowledge asks the "what" questions, beliefs ask the "why." Intersections focuses on the interplay between knowledge and belief, as the connections between these two areas reveals the deeper values which give meaning and purpose for our lives. For example--the iguana: Knowledge of the iguana involves objective facts and reality; the iguana's body, its scales, eyes, diet, habitat, etc. Knowledge is quantifiable; it can be measured and studied. Beliefs about the iguana involve questions of meaning and overarching connections to invisible ideas or values. Beliefs point to a larger purpose or significance behind what is understood with our senses about the iguana. All of us look at the physical reality of the iguana with a set of beliefs underneath what is observed. Unlike knowledge, these beliefs, while they cannot be scientifically tested or proven, fundamentally shape how we understand everything around us: • Eastern religious beliefs claim that the iguana is a reincarnated person. • Western monotheistic beliefs claim that the iguana is the creation of a powerful Divine Creator. • Atheistic beliefs claim that the iguana is simply a unique molecular structure that has chemically evolved over millenia. • Tribal animism, common in many indigineous cultures, claims that the iguana is a spirit that can be communed with. Though we live in a modern, technologically-driven world, each of us brings these, or other, belief systems to our perceptions of objective reality. Identifying these beliefs are critical for understanding the significance we give to objective knowledge. Intersections explores these connections between human knowledge and underlying beliefs. By connecting the richness of knowledge to beliefs, we highlight their significance--which is ultimately what gives our lives meaning and purpose. On each episode we have a conversation with individuals who connect their life and work to larger questions of values and beliefs. Intersections also airs as a monthly radio program on KSQD 90.7 FM in central California. KSQD Intersections Web Page