Alex O'Connor and Dr. K: Why a meaning crisis is breaking us

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

September 29, 2025

Duration

3h 21m

Channel

The Diary of a CEO

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Greg Koukl (Christian), Alex O’Connor (atheist), and Dr K (psychiatrist) explore why so many feel lost, whether God is the answer, how death anxiety drives our search for meaning, and how YOU can find direction…today. This isn’t just a discussion. It’s a confrontation with life’s hardest challenge: finding meaning, and how faith, reason, and spirituality compete to fill the void. Greg Koukl is a Christian apologist, speaker, and founder of Stand to Reason, Alex O’Connor is a philosopher, writer, and host of the Cosmic Skeptic channel, and Dr K, is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, mental health educator, and co-founder of Healthy Gamer. Together, they discuss: ◼️If God gave you a purpose…what does that actually mean? ◼️Why “do what makes you happy” is terrible advice for finding meaning ◼️How comfort is quietly killing your sense of purpose ◼️The shocking truth about modern loneliness and identity loss ◼️The “paperclip problem” that exposes religion (00:00) Intro (02:32) Why Are People Drawn to Your Mission (03:53) Alok's Perspective and Experience (05:29) What Is Purpose and Spiritual Practice? (08:01) Greg's Perspective and Experience (09:45) Alex's Perspective and Experience (13:01) Is Meaning Necessary? (17:29) What's the Point of This Conversation? (18:58) Can Humanity Find Its Purpose? (36:59) Is It Important to Be Curious About God? (42:19) Is Modern Society the Reason for a Meaning Crisis? (42:51) What Is Meaning and Why Do People Feel the Lack of It? (51:25) The Problem of Consciousness (1:07:01) How to Find Meaning (1:25:50) Is Agnosticism the Truth? (1:35:18) Ads (1:36:16) Do We Each Have a Specific Purpose or Is It Self-Chosen? (1:40:04) Dharma and Karma (1:48:32) Can We Have a Fulfilling Life Without a Transcendent Purpose? (2:20:07) Ads (2:22:28) How to Create a Meaningful Life as an Agnostic (2:40:10) Is Alex on His Way to Getting Closer to God? (2:52:04) How to Remove the Feeling of Being Lost in Life (3:05:28) What to Do When You Feel Stuck (3:11:32) Closing Thoughts Follow Alex: YouTube: http://bit.ly/3KCRM0B Substack: http://bit.ly/46GsExC Instagram: https://bit.ly/4mBNW5o Follow Greg: X - https://bit.ly/4nMy80v Stand to Reason - https://bit.ly/4pFtYJG A Gift to DOAC Listeners from Stand to Reason: Download "How God Rescues Broken Souls” from Greg Koukl’s book, The Story of Reality, at http://bit.ly/3It65o4 You can purchase ‘The Story of Reality’, here: http://bit.ly/4nyUaUZ Follow Dr K: YouTube - https://bit.ly/48wUuig Instagram - https://bit.ly/48xxSy3 Twitch - https://bit.ly/42zkAO3 You can find out more about Dr K’s guide to mental health, here: https://bit.ly/4nUKjZm The Diary Of A CEO: ◼️Join DOAC circle here - https://doaccircle.com/ ◼️Buy The Diary Of A CEO book here - https://smarturl.it/DOACbook ◼️The 1% Diary is back - limited time only: https://bit.ly/3YFbJbt ◼️The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards (Second Edition): https://g2ul0.app.link/f31dsUttKKb ◼️Get email updates - https://bit.ly/diary-of-a-ceo-yt ◼️Follow Steven - https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb Sponsors: Adobe Express - http://ADOBE.LY/STEVEN Plaud - https://www.plaud.ai/pages/steven use DOAC22 for 22% off Note and NotePin Function Health - https://Functionhealth.com/DOAC with code DOAC100 for $100 towards your membership

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Steven Bartlett

  host

• Greg Koukl

  guest

• Alex O’Connor

  guest

• Dr. K (Alok Kanojia)

  guest

• Narrator

  other

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of The Diary of a CEO, featuring Steven Bartlett and Greg Koukl, Alex O'Connor and Dr. K: Why a meaning crisis is breaking us explores atheist, Christian, Spiritualist Clash Over Purpose, Suffering, and God This long-form discussion brings together Christian apologist Greg Koukl, atheist-leaning agnostic philosopher Alex O’Connor, and spiritual psychiatrist Dr. Alok Kanojia (Dr. K) to dissect the modern ‘meaning crisis’ amid rising religiosity and worsening mental health stats. They debate whether purpose is objective or self-created, and how far science, spirituality, and religion can each go in resolving existential emptiness and suffering.

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