Episodes
Saturday Sep 16, 2017
LAO TZU: PART SIX
Saturday Sep 16, 2017
Saturday Sep 16, 2017
In this podcast, we consider Chapter Eleven of The Tao Te Ching. This chapter deals with the uses of emptyness, not only in the sphere of practical life but also for meditation. [Free. 17 minutes.]
Saturday Sep 09, 2017
LEFT-RIGHT: PART TWO [COSMOPOLITANISM, ETHNO-NATIONALISM, HEIDEGGER, NIETZSCHE]
Saturday Sep 09, 2017
Saturday Sep 09, 2017
In this podcast I compare and contrast cosmopolitanism with ethno-nationalism. I discuss the use of Heidegarian tropes by alt-right ideologues to justify their stance which regards cosmopolitanism as the cause of all the ills of the modern world. I show how this move is easily countered and that Heidegger's view of 'the self' can actually be used to counter the notion that cosmopoitanism leads to the modern carelessness with the environment and 'rootlessness'. What is missing from the alt-right reading of the Heideggarian human 'self', I argue, is the questioning nature of this 'self' which in turn leads to the yoga questions: 'Who and what am I?'. At the very least, if we are honest with ourselves, the answer is that of Diogenes the Cynic: 'I am a citizen of the world'. At the same time, the beauty of one's particularity is revealed, even as one might rhapsodically experience oneness with everything. I trace some of this path of thought through a brief discussion of Heidegger's relationship to Nietzsche, to whom he dedicated four thick volumes of reflection and criticism. [Free. 43 minutes.]
Friday Nov 11, 2016
YOGA'S COUNTER-CULTURAL ROOTS
Friday Nov 11, 2016
Friday Nov 11, 2016
In this podcast, we explore Yoga's counter-cultural roots in the ancient Saivite-Dionysian religion. [Free. 38 minutes.]
Tuesday May 17, 2016
CHAOS AND COSMOS PART FOUR
Tuesday May 17, 2016
Tuesday May 17, 2016
Here, somewhat belatedly, is the final part of Chaos and Cosmos, a talk given at Parkdale in 2015. The main thrust of this part of the talk is to abstract the practicalities implicit in the discourse thus far for practitioners of meditation and creativity. We also hear about Taliesin's shit-or-bust attempt to win the high priestess.
Tuesday Dec 29, 2015
BELIEF, SYSTEM, STRUCTURE
Tuesday Dec 29, 2015
Tuesday Dec 29, 2015
This podcast gets off to a slow start. Stick with it! It deals with belief and certainty, faith and doubt, movement and stasis, dogma and openness to revision, religious institutions and power. [Free. 20 minutes.]
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.]