- 16 minutes 22 secondsAI, Cults, and Phoebe Bridgers
- Why the AI conversation is bigger than functionality
- The hidden story underneath productivity and efficiency
- When accomplishment becomes a measure of human worth
- Why peace should be the source of work, not the reward for it
- Navigating religion when the rest of life is falling apart
- Spirituality as something that encompasses the whole person
- Signs that a religious system may be functioning like a cult
- The danger of institutions claiming exclusive access to God
- What healthy spiritual practice should actually produce
- Phoebe Bridgers and the power of familiar-yet-challenging art
- Why great artists invite rather than demand
- Art, friendship, and love as forces that meet us where we are and move us forward
Links For Justin:
Order In The Low - NEW Book with Scott Erickson
Coaching with Justin
Order In Rest - New Book of PoemsNEW Single - Let Go
NEW Music - Sliver of Hope
NEW Music - The Dood and The Bird
The Book - It Is What You Make it
24 August 2026, 11:00 am - 19 minutes 59 secondsNihilism & The Odyssey
- Nihilism is not the same as apathy
- Why nihilism can become a justification for inaction
- The pain and personal cost of continuing to care
- How information overload creates paralysis
- Why the systems feeding us outrage benefit from our inaction
- Turning down global noise without abandoning social responsibility
- Why meaningful action is usually local
- Art-making as an antidote to reactivity and overwhelm
- Becoming generative rather than merely responsive
- The controversy around casting choices in The Odyssey
- Why audiences increasingly approach art as propaganda
- The artist’s job is not to reinforce conclusions we already hold
- How propaganda sacrifices craft to deliver its message
- Why much so-called religious art is actually political propaganda
- Beauty as an invitation into discomfort, growth, and transformation
- Why “wokeness” and “anti-wokeness” are both too small for what art can do
Links For Justin:
Order In The Low - NEW Book with Scott Erickson
Coaching with Justin
Order In Rest - New Book of PoemsNEW Single - Let Go
NEW Music - Sliver of Hope
NEW Music - The Dood and The Bird
The Book - It Is What You Make it
6 August 2026, 11:00 am - 53 minutes 43 secondsWhen Everything Falls Apart: Jess Janz on Hope, Creativity & Beginning Again
Starting with the surprisingly complicated question, “Does a book ever actually feel finished?”, they wander into the deeper realities of creativity, friendship, identity, vulnerability, and hope.
Together they explore:
- Why is releasing creative work emotionally complicated?
- The people who quietly shape our work behind the scenes.
- How trusted relationships help us become better artists and better humans.
- Why uncertainty is an essential part of every creative process.
- Living as a “border walker” between certainty and mystery.
- The importance of staying curious instead of rushing toward resolution.
- Why does making art ultimately become a way of making a life?
Whether you’re writing a book, starting a business, raising a family, or simply trying to become more fully yourself, this conversation offers an invitation to embrace the unfinished nature of the creative life.
Pick up Jess's new book, "The Table Where we Meet," here - https://www.jessjanz.com/bookLinks For Justin:
Order In The Low - NEW Book with Scott Erickson
Coaching with Justin
Order In Rest - New Book of PoemsNEW Single - Let Go
NEW Music - Sliver of Hope
NEW Music - The Dood and The Bird
The Book - It Is What You Make it
9 July 2026, 7:00 pm - 22 minutes 52 secondsWhat’s Really Holding You Back? (And 5 Other Questions I Can’t Stop Thinking About)
This episode is a listener Q&A covering some surprisingly connected themes: ambition, gratitude, creativity, faith, neurodivergence, and artificial intelligence.
Justin explores:
- Why “being held back” isn’t always something to overcome.
- How gratitude changes our relationship with ambition.
- What to do when your faith feels like it’s falling apart.
- ADHD, executive functioning, and practical ways to get unstuck.
- Why creativity begins with play rather than performance.
- Whether AI can actually participate in the creative process.
- Why the tools we use ultimately shape the people we become.
Referenced:
- Austin Kleon – Don’t Call It Art
- C.S. Lewis on beauty
- The Atlantic AI Search Database
- Spiritual direction as a practice of discernment
Links For Justin:
Order In The Low - NEW Book with Scott Erickson
Coaching with Justin
Order In Rest - New Book of PoemsNEW Single - Let Go
NEW Music - Sliver of Hope
NEW Music - The Dood and The Bird
The Book - It Is What You Make it
2 July 2026, 11:00 am - 48 minutes 42 secondsDesign Your Good Life: Why Purpose Matters More Than Productivity with Charles Lee
Justin sits down with Charles Lee for a deep conversation around meaning, implementation, purpose, and the future of human fulfillment.
Drawing from Charles’ new book framework, the conversation moves beyond surface-level productivity into the deeper questions most people avoid:
- Why are you doing what you’re doing?
- What kind of life are you actually building?
- What happens when achievement no longer satisfies?
Together they explore:
- Why implementation builds confidence
- The emotional cost of unfinished ideas
- Community as an intentional practice
- Contribution vs self-platforming
- Creativity, meaning, and human flourishing
- Why the modern world is making it easier to avoid purpose
- The growing existential crisis hiding underneath productivity culture
This episode challenges the idea that success alone leads to fulfillment and argues for a more intentional, deeply human way of living.
Links For Justin:
Order In The Low - NEW Book with Scott Erickson
Coaching with Justin
Order In Rest - New Book of PoemsNEW Single - Let Go
NEW Music - Sliver of Hope
NEW Music - The Dood and The Bird
The Book - It Is What You Make it
19 May 2026, 11:00 am - 12 minutes 41 secondsAI Can’t Replace the Part That Makes Art MatterJustin reflects on a recent interview with Diplo about AI replacing singers and uses it as a doorway into a deeper conversation about art, product, beauty, and human value. He argues that art is not valuable because it sells or because it reaches technical perfection. Art matters because it comes from a human being in process. Drawing on examples from Diplo’s collaborations, Billy Corgan’s resistance to AI songwriting, CS Lewis on beauty, and Justin’s own work coaching artists, this episode invites creators to resist the machine’s value system and remember that the work is not the point. The human becoming through the work is. Links For Justin: Read Justin's Substack Order In The Low - NEW Book with Scott Erickson Coaching with Justin Order In Rest - New Book of Poems Order Sacred Strides JustinMcRoberts.com Support this podcast NEW Single - Let Go NEW Music - Sliver of Hope NEW Music - The Dood and The Bird The Book - It Is What You Make it Hearts and Minds Amazon Barnes and Noble6 May 2026, 11:00 am
- 45 minutes 59 secondsHow to See Invisible Things With Stephen Roach
Breath and Clay as a “house of refuge” from cultural noise
Community as collaboration, not organization
Why the event works: clarity plus mystery
Makers show up with projects, not just opinions
Real-world outcomes: collaborations that keep growing after the weekend
Letting fruit scatter without controlling the pipeline
The 2026 theme: Making Space https://www.thebreathandtheclay.com
The icon: the chair
Stephen’s new book: How to See Invisible Things
Inner life and outer life of the artist
“Border-walker” artists and the liminal, unresolved middle
Art as a way of seeing, not a utilitarian product
Scarcity vs abundance as a spiritual and creative posture
Mary “treasuring” as a model for creation and formation
Book excerpt: John Cage 4’33, Quaker silence, sacramental vision
Call to action: make the investment, ditch something else, come to Winston-Salem
https://www.thebreathandtheclay.comLinks For Justin:
Order In The Low - NEW Book with Scott Erickson
Coaching with Justin
Order In Rest - New Book of PoemsNEW Single - Let Go
NEW Music - Sliver of Hope
NEW Music - The Dood and The Bird
The Book - It Is What You Make it
11 February 2026, 12:00 pm - 1 hour 6 minutesWhy Healing Can’t Be Rushed (or Automated) with Jamie Lee Finch
- Why “home” is a somatic experience, not just a location
- Persona vs personhood — and why the difference matters
- The danger of self-awareness without relationship
- Why stewardship is a better metaphor than ownership
- How shame becomes the most familiar somatic state
- Why healing must be titrated, not rushed
- The cost of progress-driven spirituality and productivity culture
- Reintegrating younger selves instead of rejecting them
- Visibility, integrity, and the courage to expand again—carefully
Links For Justin:
Order In The Low - NEW Book with Scott Erickson
Coaching with Justin
Order In Rest - New Book of PoemsNEW Single - Let Go
NEW Music - Sliver of Hope
NEW Music - The Dood and The Bird
The Book - It Is What You Make it
13 January 2026, 12:00 pm - 1 hour 14 minutesStop Calling Yourself Broken: A Conversation About Sobriety and Wholeness with Laura McKowen
This week, Justin sits down with bestselling author Laura McKowen for an honest, layered conversation about sobriety, identity, creative calling, and the slow, often painful work of becoming whole.
Together they explore:
• Why “place” matters for emotional and spiritual grounding
• The strange internal pull that guides creative people long before they have language for it
• How early snippets of desire can act as breadcrumbs into a future self
• The difference between writing for yourself and writing for publication
• Why AA saved Laura’s life—and where its framing can unintentionally keep people small
• How relapse, repeated “Day Ones,” and imperfect recovery are part of the human journey
• The relationship between money, creativity, and integrity
• Why the long work of sobriety is ultimately a long work of identity
The episode closes with a reading from In the Low and a reflection on why wholeness—not speed, not perfection—is the actual goal.
Laura's Website - https://www.lauramckowen.com
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/laura_mckowen
Links For Justin:
Order In The Low - NEW Book with Scott Erickson
Coaching with Justin
Order In Rest - New Book of PoemsNEW Single - Let Go
NEW Music - Sliver of Hope
NEW Music - The Dood and The Bird
The Book - It Is What You Make it
11 December 2025, 12:00 pm - 4 minutes 9 secondsWhy We Stopped Waiting (and What It’s Costing Us)
• Why “waiting” feels harder now than it did a decade ago
• What Arcade Fire’s “We Used to Wait” reveals about our relationship to speed
• The spiritual value of slowness—especially during Advent
• How desire clarifies identity rather than feeding consumption
• A practical invitation: choose something you want, pause before getting it, and explore the desire beneath the desire
• Reading from In the Low on longing, disappointment, and hope
Links For Justin:
Order In The Low - NEW Book with Scott Erickson
Coaching with Justin
Order In Rest - New Book of PoemsNEW Single - Let Go
NEW Music - Sliver of Hope
NEW Music - The Dood and The Bird
The Book - It Is What You Make it
5 December 2025, 12:00 pm - 16 minutes 29 secondsThe Hidden Danger of Shortcuts
The false promise of “instant clarity” and “quick fixes.”
Why bypassing struggle stunts real growth.
How to use AI and psilocybin responsibly—without losing your humanity.
The value of failure, pain, and disillusionment.
Reflections from In the Low by Justin McRoberts & Scott Erickson on living fully in difficult seasons.
Links For Justin:
Order In The Low - NEW Book with Scott Erickson
Coaching with Justin
Order In Rest - New Book of PoemsNEW Single - Let Go
NEW Music - Sliver of Hope
NEW Music - The Dood and The Bird
The Book - It Is What You Make it
6 November 2025, 12:00 pm - More Episodes? Get the App