Wide-ranging talks on all things relating to spirituality, meditation, yoga, current affairs, politics and philosophy. contact me via info AT peteyates.uk.
In this podcast, we discuss Chapter 61 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. We relate the description of the power dynamics between states given in Chapter 61 to current affairs, Reich's connection of sexual repression with fascism and the consequences of an inflamed reverence for sacred books and other fetish objects. [Free. 20 minutes.]
A guitar improvisation in the form of a pop love song. [Free. 4 mins 3 secs.]
In this podcast, we reflect of Chapter 60 of The Tao Te Ching in which Lao Tzu recommends a light touch on the part of rulers if destructivity is to be minimised in society. A light touch is possible when rulers and / or their advisors are aligned with the Tao and the processes of existence and life as they act through human beings. We relate Lao Tzu's recommendations to our current political state and the ever present realisation that governments do bad things even whilst some collective focus is necessary for our species survival. We examine variations on this insight found in neoliberal economic thought, Marxism and the anarchism. [Free. 36 minutes.]
In this podcast we consider Chapter 59 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. This deals with the theme of simplicity of being as being at the heart of both meditation and the leadership qualities of the sage. [Free. 16 minutes.]
In this podcast, I continue with an analysis of the war in Ukraine. The focus in this episode is mainly on events in the Maidan Square, Kyiv in 2014 and on the fallout that that event may have had in relation to the current war. I draw out some general themes, particularly on the character of large scale civil unrest and the relationship between larger geopolitical context and current events. [Free. 1 hour 1 minute.]
In this podcast, I examine important historical antecedents to the war in Ukraine. In particular, I appraise the argument that the eastward spread of NATO bears some responsibility for what is now so catastrophically unfolding. [Free. 1 hour, 12 minutes.]
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.]
This podcast is a wide-ranging consideration of individual, psychological insecurity and material, collective insecurity and the relationship between them. We make our observations in the context of current events, especially the war in Ukraine, global warming, and financial meltdown, whilst drawing on inspiration from process philosophers like the Buddha, Heraclitus, Whitehead, Watts, Nietzsche, Marx and Lao Tzu. We draw on a brief discussion of the sublime and the beautiful to help us identify the emancipatory comportment to our intrinsic vulnerability and mortality. [Free. 50 minutes.]
In this podcast, we discuss Chapter 58 of The Tao Te Ching. In this chapter, Lao Tzu discusses the ideal character of the sage who would take up leadership or advise a leader and how it needs to be modest and low key. [Free. 20 minutes.]
In this podcast, we consider the possibility of civil unrest in the UK as the consequences of inflation reduce the standard of living for many people. We consider the roles of strikes, mass refusals and information technology in the developing chaos. [Free. 31 minutes.]
