Robert Jensen

Emeritus professor Robert Jensen discusses his book This I Don’t Believe: A Fulfilling Life Without Meaning (2026), which questions the assumption that human existence needs a transcendent purpose anchored outside the natural world. He suggests modern life, with its social media and manufactured spectacles, may deepen the hunger for something beyond the ordinary, though he admits that is only a guess. Speaking from his own experience, he says the absence of cosmic meaning has not led him to despair. He finds fulfilment in thinking, manual work, and relationships with neighbours. He links his outlook partly to an abusive, alcoholic childhood that taught him no one was coming to save him and says moving from academia in Texas to rural New Mexico deepened his humility. The conversation turns to intellectual humility, accepting the limits of human understanding, and living with uncertainty. Jensen criticises the left’s condescension toward religion, rigidity around transgender ideology, and dismissal of feminist critiques of pornography, while also describing hostility from the right. He argues that traditional political organising cannot remake the world, that a nation of 340 million cannot be truly democratic, and that neither fossil fuels nor solar power will sustain eight billion people living at modern levels. He expects a future of “fewer and less”, asking how to get there humanely. Examples such as his acequia irrigation association and his editing work with prisoners illustrate his central point: people with different beliefs can build real community when they share values and interests, rather than judging one another by ideology alone.