Episodes

Thursday Apr 20, 2017
LAO TZU: PART TWO
Thursday Apr 20, 2017
Thursday Apr 20, 2017
In this podcast, we engage with Chapters 2 and 3 of The Tao Te Ching. Themes include language and opposites, the pregnancy of emptyness, past, present and future times, human character and the nature of a sage, social organisation and meditation. [Free. 43 minutes.]

Monday Apr 10, 2017
LAO TZU: PART ONE
Monday Apr 10, 2017
Monday Apr 10, 2017
In this podcast, we comment on the first chapter of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. Though it is very short, this chapter covers an immense amount of ground, including the paradoxical nature of talk about the ineffable, the creativity of nothingness and the character of 'the sage'. We intend to comment on the entire text over time. [Free. 41 minutes.]

Friday Mar 17, 2017
LEGS ON A SNAKE
Friday Mar 17, 2017
Friday Mar 17, 2017
In this podcast we ask if consciousness is in need of improvement through 'spiritual cultivation' or if such games are 'legs on a snake'. [Free. 18 minutes.]

Sunday Mar 12, 2017
THE MAYBE STORY, EXISTENTIALISM AND THE CRAVING FOR CLOSURE
Sunday Mar 12, 2017
Sunday Mar 12, 2017
This patrons only podcast is a recording of a talk given at Parkdale recently. [2 hours 49 minutes.]

Wednesday Feb 08, 2017
THE BLUE PILL OR THE RED PILL? PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
Wednesday Feb 08, 2017
Wednesday Feb 08, 2017
This is the first of a series devoted to the philosophical resonances of the film The Matrix [1999]. We take it that many of the philosophical issues brought up in The Matrix boil down to the consequences of presupposing the binary 'real-apparent'. We outline how this is so in this introduction in preparation for forthcoming podcasts on the real-apparanet binary's entanglement with existentialism, metaphysics and politics. If you can't see the film, at least watch this brilliant four minute clip in which the hero Neo is given the choice between the red pill which will open him up to the reality of his situation and the blue pill which will keep him in a state of delusion: https://youtu.be/zQ1_IbFFbzA. [Free. 22 minutes.]

Sunday Jan 15, 2017
SYNCHRONICITY
Sunday Jan 15, 2017
Sunday Jan 15, 2017
Synchronicity is the phenomenon in which we encounter meaningful coincidences. It tends to occur if we are in dialogue with our unconscious mind, whether through meditation or psychoanalytic types of engagement. In this podcast we consider the nature of this phenomenon and its possible use for self-enquiry. The book Synchonicity [1952] by C G Jung and Wolfgang Pauli is drawn upon as is Jung's approach to the I Ching. [Free. 25 minutes.]

Sunday Dec 11, 2016
CONSIDERING CULTS
Sunday Dec 11, 2016
Sunday Dec 11, 2016
In this podast we attempt to characterise 'cults' and identify psychological processes that sustain them. This broadens out a little into considerations of dominance and power dynamics in general. [Free. 30 minutes.]

Monday Nov 28, 2016
THE BELOVED
Monday Nov 28, 2016
Monday Nov 28, 2016
We launch this podcast with a reading of Rumi's poem Choose Love which serves as a perfect door-way into a discussion on love. intoxication, separation and oneness.
[Free. 21 minutes.]

Friday Nov 25, 2016
CHOOSING A YOGA TEACHER TRAINING
Friday Nov 25, 2016
Friday Nov 25, 2016
There's a lot in the air at the moment about what constitutes a proper training for a yoga teacher. Here's what we have to say about it. [Free. 25 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.]