What do you say when you tried atheism — genuinely tried it — and it just didn’t hold? When the mystery of your own consciousness, the fact that humans write operas and weep and hold babies, simply refused to reduce to atoms and molecules?
That’s where Rainn Wilson starts. Known to millions as Dwight Schrute from The Office, Wilson has spent the last several years stepping fully into his spiritual life — writing Soul Boom, hosting a podcast, and doing the uncomfortable work of saying out loud, in Hollywood of all places, that he believes in God. In this exchange, Tami asks him the question at the heart of it all: why are you not an atheist?
His answer is disarming. He honors skeptics, wrestles honestly with inherited images of God, and finds unexpected footing in the Lakota Sioux concept of Wakan Tanka — the Great Mystery — a God not above nature but woven through it. And he arrives, with characteristic candor, at something that feels true rather than tidy.
What you’ll hear in this exchange:
- Why Wilson tried atheism and what ultimately made it impossible for him to stay there
- How the Lakota concept of the Great Mystery opened a new way of thinking about God
- What it actually costs to come out as devout in the entertainment industry
- Why spiritual tools don’t just transform individuals — they transform communities
This is the kind of conversation that makes you want to hear the whole episode.
This clip is taken from the full Insights at the Edge conversation with Rainn Wilson: Soul Boom: Standing for a Spiritual Revolution. Find the complete interview in this feed or at soundstrue.com.
This episode is sponsored by Omega Institute, a global gathering hub for lifelong learning and spiritual exploration. Omega offers weekend workshops, special events, rest and rejuvenation retreats, professional training, online learning, and more. Discover what calls to you at eomega.org/true
