Podcast Benomtad
Open, friendly, philosophical discussions about folktales, society, culture, and wisdom.
Episodes
Ian and I discuss the Greek-Roman god Dionysus-Bacchus. He reads an Orphic poem and then I gloss various stories put together into a narrative in Edith Hamilton’s Mythology. This is a fascinating discussion of a god with opposing features: of gentleness, compassion, and persuasion, but also of wild revelry, frenzy, and terrible violence. We discuss this divinity of the vine, of natural vitality cultivated on a structure, and of ...
If you’re mindful, you’re better able to connect to and serve others. How does one get so? Getting back to what naturally arises.
(From a discussion on Von Schönwerth’s “Anna Mayala”)
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The Sheriff, out hunting with the town notables, wishes John were with them. The bugle calls, and back at the castle, John awakens. He thinks of his compadres over in Sherwood– the green men, and sees how he’s grown fat in the six Fall and Winter months with the Sheriff. He goes to the pantry and asks the Steward for some meat and bread, and the fat man, envious of John’s closeness to the Sheriff, says it’s too late for breakfas...
Ian and I discuss McLuhan’s difficult Playboy interview where he answers questions about his philosophy of technology. At the core of our concern is how to live well, connected to people and ourselves as embodied beings, as information technology advances. Perhaps appropriate to the topic, we do struggle some to get ahold of his philosophy and how to go forward with this concern.
McLuhan’s 1969 Playboy Interview:
an: Rousseau seems to have an inherent faith in nature, in its goodness. If you believe in that, you have something to aim for, to return to that. I: Rousseau also says that most virtues are negative.
(From our discussion “Rousseau, Happiness, & Modernity”)
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Three brothers, tired of poverty, go out into the world. In the forest, they come to a hill of silver and the first brother decides to load his pockets and return home. The second does so with a hill of gold, but the third goes further into a much-larger forest, one of unknown breadth. There, starving, he climbs a tree to look around, wishes for food, and finds a knapsack that always provides a feast.
Going on, he finds a succ...
Attention is your light, and that can build if you can keep your attention on it. It can grow, and we can see it more truly. Instead of increasing our attention, however, we often instead look for something that seems bright to our minds right now, what is salient, and so forth. Do not take the world as it presents to you now.
(From our discussion “Rousseau, Happiness, & Modernity”)
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The beautiful Veri and Anna Mayala were in love, but she was poor, and her many suitors were grievous to them. But finally, they were to be married, and on that date imaginative “Crazy Veri” got a roebuck from the woods for the feast and was walking back to the village.
At a footbridge, his mind wandering, he noticed the moon had already risen, and its reflection shone in the water. He grew melancholy, and was drawn by sweet me...
About the Merchant’s son’s character: Early in life he showed faith in his father, himself, the world… How did he change? When he goes back home he is not recognized by the sentries of his hometown. Then he changes into the shepherd’s garb. Perhaps there is something of another world to him, and he isn’t to return to this world?
(From a discussion of “The King of the Golden Mountain,” by the Brothers Grimm)
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Back in the time of small kings, one was riding forth with his retinue from the castle to go hunting. Three sisters who were watching their cows saw them, and the eldest pointed to the king and said she would marry him, or none. The second girl answered from the other side of the hill, pointing to the one on the right and saying the same thing. The king had the three sisters brought to him and confirmed what they had said, and h...
The character of Bearskin: courage, but then he learns perseverance with his seven years of living Hell. He must live truly wretchedly; he cannot even pray.
(From a discussion on “Bearskin,” by the Brothers Grimm)
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JJ Rousseau wrote in “Emile” that his principle aim in teaching his student is to feel the beautiful of all sorts to fix his tastes on it and prevent his natural appetites from corruption. In this podcast I try to introduce Ian to Rousseau’s thought and we go off into the wilds of conversation.
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A wealthy merchant loses his ships, and a dwarf appears to him with an offer: sacrifice the first thing that touches you when you come home, and I will help you exceed your previous riches. He is dismayed, however, when his son runs up to him, and twelve years later, that son belongs to the dwarf.
He is clever, however, and negotiates with the little man, who lets him be sent off into the river by his father. The boat capsizes,...
Ian talks about various strands of Buddhism, including Tibet and its philosopher rule, and Zen’s founder’s saying a lot of words about the problems with expressing things with words. This is within the larger context of Buddhism in the West and the Meaning Crisis.
(From a discussion on “Awakening from the Meaning Crisis, Ep. 13, Buddhism and Parasitic Processing”)
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A soldier returns from the wars, and now that his parents have died, he seeks shelter with his brothers. But they reject him, and he wanders, penniless and starving, into a field. The wind shifts, and a sly man in a green coat appears. The soldier is to kill a bear, and he does so unflinchingly, so the green frocked man offers him a deal: if he wears the bearskin, which is what he will be known by, for seven years, without washi...
The story teaches that one wants to find the good-hearted, but hard-working parts, and bring in the creative magic, and over time, alchemize the tyrannical ruler, and overcome him, without ruining its good nature. The sharpshooter follows that way, not knowing exactly what is happening, to a place he does not understand that is said to be at the edge of destruction.
(From a discussion on “Go to the Verge of Destruction and Brin...
The Brothers Grimm’s “The Fisherman and His Wife”
A fisherman lived with his wife in a miserable pigsty by the sea. When he went fishing, he pulled up a large flounder, a prince who began speaking with him and negotiated his release. The fisherman simply let the talking fish go, leaving a trail of blood behind it. Back home, his wife, surprised that he did not ask for anything, sends him back to wish for a nicer home. He goes...
The first two sons of the king’s gardener are passive, choosing the pleasure inn over the shabby one, and they end up as condemned robbers. These hedonistic brothers ignore wise advice and go instead with their senses. Their passivity may be rooted in their upbringing. They may be like the pleasure-seeking erotic man who keeps expanding the outlets for his desire and eventually step on someone’s toes.
(From a discussion on th...
In “Awakening from the Meaning Crisis,” Ep. 13, “Buddhism and Parasitic Processing,” John Vervaeke, based in Stephen Batchelor’s idea that we’ve gravely misinterpreted Buddhism in the West, outlines how we might understand core parts of the Buddha’s teachings. For suffering, he interprets it as a form of parasitic processing, a reciprocal narrowing of the connection between oneself and the world. And for moving towards enlightenm...
On appearances: Robin Hood voluntarily descends in society. That way, he can see what is happening on the ground. Perhaps those who truly speak to the people attract all sorts.
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