Heart Yoga Radio

In this podcast, we consider Chapter 65 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. Unusually, we take issue with a proposition put forward by Lao Tzu. This manoeuvre proves to be quite fruitful in underscoring the need to retain ones critical faculty, to push for more and better education throughout society and to  expose the forces of psychological manipulation at play in our fractured culture. [Free. 14 minutes.]

In this podcast, we consider Chapter 64 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. Themes we draw out are: the relationship between knowledge and mystery, the dangers of epistemological hubris and black swan events, the tension between caution and care in life-projects and the desirability of spontaneity and  freedom from anxiety. [Free. 22 minutes.]

In this podcast, discuss Chapter 63 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. The main theme is how the sage negotiates life through wu wei, or non-doing. In astonishingly few words, Lao Tzu imparts a very detailed account of wu-wei. [Free. 37 minutes.]

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.]

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.]

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.]

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 57 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. In this chapter, Lao Tzu extols the virtues of wu wei, non-doing, when it is employed by sage leaders. The question of the tendency for all governments to do things which are inimical to the flourishing of the people haunts this discourse and we tease out the resonances this has with a wide variety political philosophies. [Free. 23 minutes.]

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.]