Episodes
Tuesday May 31, 2022
LAO TZU 49
Tuesday May 31, 2022
Tuesday May 31, 2022
In this podcast we discuss Chapter 62 of lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. In this chapter, Lao Tzu once again draws out the connection between meditation and politics. He describes how the sage who would advise rulers needs to have a light touch and to retire from the clamour and ceremony of political office, a 'gesture' which arises directly out of his/her alignment with the Tao. [Free. 19 minutes.]
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
UKRAINE & THE FOG OF WAR 1 - INTERESTING TIMES 50
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
This episode of Interesting Times considers the war in Ukraine and the informational fog around it. I pay particular attention to the proceedings of the United Nations Security Council and the address to the European Parliament given by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. I also briefly engage with views as diverse as those of Republican military man Col Larry Wilkerson and radical journalist Ben Norton. Further episodes to follow on the history of the region and analyses of the public discourses in circulation. [Free. 29 minutes.]
Wednesday Jan 19, 2022
LAO TZU 43
Wednesday Jan 19, 2022
Wednesday Jan 19, 2022
In this podcast, we discuss Chapter 56 of The Tao Te Ching in which Lao Tzu advises us of our orientation to life, advising quietly recognising our connectedness with others. [Free. 9 minutes.]
Thursday Aug 26, 2021
LAO TZU 40
Thursday Aug 26, 2021
Thursday Aug 26, 2021
This podcast deals with Chapter 40 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. We concentrate on the amazing relevance this chapter has to our current political, economic and spiritual emergencies. In a few short lines, Lao Tzu diagnoses the condition of the working people of his time as subjection to violent and militarily oriented 'robber barons' whilst they themselves are the creators of value and the necessary goods to sustain life. This is exactly our condition too. Lao Tzu offers a meditation to counter the fragmental [non-holistic, non-systemic thinking] which is the ideological counterpart to a kleptocratic economy. [Free. 29 minutes.]
Wednesday Jun 16, 2021
QUESTIONING QUESTIONING
Wednesday Jun 16, 2021
Wednesday Jun 16, 2021
This short podcast offers some preliminary reflections on questioning and curiosity. [Free. 13 minutes.]
Wednesday Mar 24, 2021
LAO TZU 34
Wednesday Mar 24, 2021
Wednesday Mar 24, 2021
This podcast engages with Chapter 47 of The Tao Te Ching which deals with solitude and meditation. The style of meditation alluded to is a letting be rather than a cultivation and gives rise to an intuitive knowledge, a sense of the bigger picture. We suggest how acquaintance with this wonderful meditation can produce social goods and is sorely needed in these interesting times. [Free. 16 minutes.]
Wednesday Dec 16, 2020
RAW THOUGHT - US ELECTION, BREXIT, THE CORBYN PROJECT
Wednesday Dec 16, 2020
Wednesday Dec 16, 2020
This episode in our patrons only Raw Thought series connects three seemingly unconnected current events. These are: the signing off of the US Presidential Election by The Electoral College, the further rescheduling of the 'cut-off' date for Brexit, and the initiation of the new Project for Peace and Justice by Jeremy Corbyn. [Patrons Only. 23 minutes.]
Monday Dec 14, 2020
LAO TZU 32
Monday Dec 14, 2020
Monday Dec 14, 2020
This episode of our Lao Tzu series deals with Chapter 45 of the Tao Te Ching. Here we find Lao Tzu in teacher mode. He gently points us towards the Tao, counsels against perfectionism, and recommends tranquillity. [Free. 18 Minutes.]
Wednesday Dec 02, 2020
LAO TZU 31
Wednesday Dec 02, 2020
Wednesday Dec 02, 2020
This episode of our Lao Tzu series deals with Chapter 44 of the Tao Te Ching. This chapter urges us not to be too caught up the pursuit of wealth and status but to find peace in alignment with the Tao. [Free. 18 minutes.]
Friday Aug 28, 2020
AGAINST FLAG-SHAGGING - INTERESTING TIMES 9
Friday Aug 28, 2020
Friday Aug 28, 2020
In this podcast, we argue that patriotism is ideological, irrational, based on arbitrary boundaries, implicated in the weaponisation of history, employed by dead-cat culture wars, and rooted in a pathological narcissism. We suggest how those afflicted with it might return to health. [Free. 27 minutes.]