Episodes
Friday Nov 27, 2015
LOVE & COMPASSION
Friday Nov 27, 2015
Friday Nov 27, 2015
This podcast delineates types of love and locates compassion in the resulting schema. The vajrayana interpretation of enlightened consciousness as an erotic coupling between wisdom and compassion is elucidated. All of this is viewed through a lens of scepticism towards ideals and a gut-conviction that all phenomena are pure. [Free. 40 minutes.]
Saturday Nov 07, 2015
HOW DO WE KNOW THAT EVERYTHING ISN'T AN ILLUSION?
Saturday Nov 07, 2015
Saturday Nov 07, 2015
In this podcast, we address a question asked by a friend. "How do we know that everything isn't an illusion?" The question quickly turns into a discussion of genealogy, vedanta, maya and myth, the role of the possibility of illusion in the genealogy of philosophy, perception, science and yoga. [Free. 44 minutes.]
Sunday Oct 11, 2015
CHAOS AND COSMOS PART THREE
Sunday Oct 11, 2015
Sunday Oct 11, 2015
In this, the third of four episodes of Chaos and Cosmos, we discuss the process nature of reality and how this impacts on boundaries. We entertain the idea that the dancing and insubstantial nature of boundaires is interpreted for practical reasons and to a large extent through language, which projects a stasis onto the flux of existence by valuing some lines in the swirl of stuff over others. Our sense of separate identity is just such an interpretation made under the yolk of grammar and socialisation. This can be glimpsed in an investigative meditation but is rendered obscure by cultivation in the name of morality, spirituality and/or particularity. There's audience participation. The previous two episodes are still here - you might have to scroll down! [51 minutes. Free.]
Sunday Sep 27, 2015
METAPHORS, JAM ROLY-POLY, THE VERTICAL AXIS & FLATLAND
Sunday Sep 27, 2015
Sunday Sep 27, 2015
Anna says that this is a bed-time story. I think it is philosophical comedy. I'm pretty certain sombody somewhere will hear this and get twice as enlightened as Buddy Guy. You can hear the wind and somebody with a megaphone in the distance. Nietzsche looms large as a trenchant critic of the various Platonisms. Meanwhile, this ordinary world is the Buddha heaven, if only we can see it. Hierarchical metaphysics mystify this at the same time as they turn earth into hell with their hierarchical cast systems and vicious patriarchy. Yet still, it's not all surface. The horizontal metaphor is shit too. Convolutions innit?! [18 minutes. Free.]
Monday Aug 31, 2015
EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON? REALLY?
Monday Aug 31, 2015
Monday Aug 31, 2015
This short podcast takes a swipe at the current platitude that 'everything happens for a reason', characterising it a an escapist notion. [9 minutes. Free.]
Monday Aug 31, 2015
CHAOS AND COSMOS PART 2
Monday Aug 31, 2015
Monday Aug 31, 2015
In this seond part of four, the theme of the coincidence and mutual dependence of opposites comes to the fore. This is a theme central to the world-views of our three sages: Buddha, Lao Tzu and Heraclitus. Amongst particular opposites discussed are oneness and multiplicity, chaos and cosmos, high and low, nirvana and samsara and more. The discussion also considers language, human suffering and flourishing, interconnectedness and strategies for living.
Wednesday Aug 12, 2015
DOES YOGA MAKE YOU HAPPY?
Wednesday Aug 12, 2015
Wednesday Aug 12, 2015
This short blast came out of a question Anna was asked about the possible impact of yoga practice on one's happiness. The conversation segues into a brief discussion of santosha which is Patanjali's term for contentment, and then into a consideration of psychological resilience. These are themes that we will expand upon in future podcasts. [16 minutes. Free.]
Tuesday Aug 04, 2015
ENLIGHTENMENT
Tuesday Aug 04, 2015
Tuesday Aug 04, 2015
In this short discussion, Pete and Anna tackle the tricky notion of enlightenment. "If you meet the Buddha on the road, twat him." [25 minutes. Free]
Tuesday Jul 28, 2015
CHAOS AND COSMOS PART 1
Tuesday Jul 28, 2015
Tuesday Jul 28, 2015
This podcast is the first in a series of four on the wide theme of Chaos and Cosmos. One of the main structuring elements of the talk is an examination of three great ancient process philosophers, namely, Heraclitus, Lao Tzu and the Buddha. In this first episode, the main features of the process world-view that the three share is explicated. I also weave in the story of an imagined meeting between these three at a pub on The Island of Anglesey, a meeting engineered by the love-lorn arch-druid Taliesin, who hopes that the three wisest men of the age can help him get the girl. This was recorded at a talk with friends at The Parkdale Yoga Center. [1 hour 14 minutes. Free.]
Sunday May 17, 2015
TANTRA
Sunday May 17, 2015
Sunday May 17, 2015
This short talk describes Tantra in general terms and is the first entry in our 'verbal glossary' which we hope will help listeners negotiate the vast field of spirituality. [5 minutes, free.]