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Wide-ranging talks on all things relating to spirituality, meditation, yoga, current affairs, politics and philosophy. contact me via info AT peteyates.uk.
Episodes
Thursday Jan 16, 2025
Thursday Jan 16, 2025
Join me on my constitutional. In this podcast, I examine how wide-spread and justifiable resentment at conditions of life under current power arrangements is channelled by the very agencies causing that resentment into serving their project of concentrating concentrate wealth and power in a very few hands. The result here is that a good many people believe passionately that they are sticking it to the man by cleaving to beliefs, action and politics which that same man devised and paid to propagate. I use the example of some recent debate around the viability of Universal Basic Income (UBI) and the role of the state. [Free. 27 minutes.]
Tuesday Jan 09, 2024
Tuesday Jan 09, 2024
In this podcast, we discuss Chuang Tzu's Cracking the Safe [ix. 2.], which outlines the emergence and persistence of kleptocratic states and the operations of their rulers. Chuang Tzu mocks the plethora of 'rules and principles' rhetorically expounded by kleptocrats and characterises them as merely the ideological support for unwieldly bureaucracies. Against this mode of social organisation, Chuang Tzu proposes simplicity and bucolic peace. We discuss the resonances between this passage and 'classical anarchism'. [Free. 46 minutes.]
Saturday Dec 09, 2023
Saturday Dec 09, 2023
In this podcast, we discuss the Chapter of the Chuang Tzu entitled Cutting Up An Ox. In this chapter, we see the application of non-doing (wu wei) to a specific practical task and how it enables the highest degree of skill. We expand on Chuang Tzu's phenomenology of this application of wu wei. We discuss the application of this skill to creative as well as artisanal tasks, and also to meditation and living in general. [Free. 53 minutes.]
Saturday Nov 25, 2023
Saturday Nov 25, 2023
In this podcast, we consider a passage from the Chuang Tzu entitled Action and Non-action. We describe how the processes of action and non-action are not stark opposites but mutually dependent phases of a profound meditation on the Tao. [Free. 31 minutes.]
Wednesday Oct 11, 2023
Wednesday Oct 11, 2023
This podcast is an introduction to our forthcoming series on the work of Chuang Tzu, and which builds on our long series on Lao Tzu. [Free. 27 minutes.]
Wednesday Oct 04, 2023
Wednesday Oct 04, 2023
In this podcast, we engage with the final chapter [81] of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. In this chapter, Lao Tzu is suspicious of book learning and loquacious oratory, instead intimating that knowledge gained through meditation and clear seeing and plain speech are preferable. He also reminds us that non-doing is the way of both the sage and the Tao itself. [Free. 29 minutes.] For details and to book our forthcoming live event - http://peteyates.uk/live-events/
Monday Sep 18, 2023
Monday Sep 18, 2023
In this podcast, we discuss Chapter 80 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. In this chapter, Lao Tzu considers and recommends a life of rural simplicity in a 'small is beautiful' culture. There are many resonances with some strands of current environmental thinking which we draw out. [Free. 28 minutes.] [Find out about our forthcoming live talks on zoom HERE.]
Sunday Sep 10, 2023
Sunday Sep 10, 2023
This podcast deals with Chapter 79 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. Here, Lao Tzu considers debt and credit, both spiritual and financial. Lao Tzu recommends a spiritual abundance which urges us to forgive what we are owed and to honour what we owe. The trailer for our upcoming zoom events is included at the end of the podcast. For details and to book see HERE. [Free. 30 minutes.]
Tuesday Aug 29, 2023
Tuesday Aug 29, 2023
In this podcast, we consider Chapter 78 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching in the light of current affairs and alignment with the Tao. The theme of the power of the softness of water is a major concern for Lao Tzu here. [Free. 36 minutes.] To book into upcoming zoom event CLICK HERE.
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
In this podcast, we reflect on Chapter 77 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. Here, Lao Tzu contrasts the human way with the way of Tao in a way which is highly apposite for our current condition. The human way, according to Lao Tzu is nothing other than our 'trickle up' economic system in which the few get wealthier and more powerful and the many are increasingly immiserated. The contrasting way of Tao is one of spiritual abundance to which giving and helping are intrinsic. We include a trailer for our upcoming series of events, The Apocalypse and You. [For details and to book a place see - http://peteyates.uk/live-events/] [Free. 28 minutes.]