Weird Studies

The German poet and philosopher Jean Gebser's major work, The Ever-Present Origin, is a monumental study of the evolution of consciousness from prehistory to posthistory. For Gebser, consciousness adopts different "structures" at different times and in different contexts, and each structure reveals certain facets of reality while potentially occluding others. An integral human being is one who can utilize all of the structures according to the moment or situation. As Gebserian scholar Jeremy Johnson explains in this episode, modern humans are currently experiencing the transition from the "perspectival" structure which formed in the late Middle Ages to the "aperspectival," a new way of seeing and being that first revealed itself in the art of the Modernists. Grokking what the aperspectival means, and what it might look like, is just one of the tasks Jeremy, Phil and JF set themselves in this engaging trialogue. Jeremy D. Johnson is the author of the recently released Seeing Through the World: Jean Gebser and Integral Consciousness. REFERENCES Jeremy Johnson, Seeing Through the World: Jean Gebser and the Integral Consciousness Jean Gebser, The Ever-Present Origin William Irwin Thompson, Coming Into Being: Artifacts and Texts in the Evolution of Consciousness Ken Wilber, integral theorist Lionel Snell, “Spare Parts” Nagarjuna, “Verses of the Middle Way” (Mulamadhyamakakarika) Peter Sloterdijk, You Must Change Your Life Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica Object-oriented ontology (OOO) Dogen, Uji (“The Time-Being”), from the Shobogenzo (Treasury of the True Dharma Eye)Special Guest: Jeremy D. Johnson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No survey of weird literature would be complete without mentioning Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951). As with all masters of the genre, Blackwood's take on the weird is singular: here, it isn't the cold reaches of outer space that elicit in us a nihilistic frisson, but the vast expanses of our own planet's wild places -- especially the northern woods. In his story "The Wendigo," Blackwood combines the beliefs of the Indigenous peoples of the Eastern Woodlands with the folktales of his native Britain to weave an ensorcelling story that perfectly captures the mood of the Canadian wilderness. In this conversation, JF and Phil discuss their own experience of that wilderness growing up in Ontario. The deeper they go, the spookier things get. An episode best enjoyed in solitude, by a campfire. Header Image: "Highway 60 Passing Through the Boreal Forest in Algonquin Park" by Dimana Koralova, Wikimedia Commons SHOW NOTES Glenn Gould, The Idea of North Algernon Blackwood, "The Wendigo" Game of Thrones (HBO series) Weird Studies, Episode 29: On Lovecraft H. P. Lovecraft, "Supernatural Horror in Literature" Edgar Allan Poe, "The Philosophy of Composition" Fritz Leiber, The Adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Richard Wagner, Parsifal David Lynch, Twin Peaks: The Return Peter Heller, The River: A Novel The Killing of Tim McLean (July 30, 2008) Weird Studies, Episode 3: Ecstasy, Sin, and "The White People" Mysterious Universe: Strange and Terrifying Encounters with Skinwalkers Jacques Vallée, Passport to Magonia: On UFOs, Folklore, and Parallel Worlds Graham Harman, Weird Realism: Lovecraft and Philosophy Arthur Machen, Hieroglyphics: A Note Upon Ecstasy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"All things feel," Pythagoas said. Panpsychism, the belief that consciousnes is a property of all things and not limited to the human brain, is back in vogue -- with good reason. The problem of how inert matter could give rise to subjectivity and feeling has proved insoluble under the dominant assumptions of a hard materialism. Recently, the American filmmaker Errol Morris presented his own brand of panpsychism in a long-form essay entitled, "The Pianist and the Lobster," published in the New York Times. The essay opens with an episode from the life of Sviatoslav Richter, namely a time where the famous Russian pianist couldn't perform without a plastic lobster waiting for him in the wings. In Morris's piece, the curious anecdote sounds the first note of what turns out to be a polyphony of thoughts and ideas on consciousness, agency, Nerval's image of the the "Hidden God," and the deep weirdness of music. Phil and JF use Morris's essay to create a polyphony of their own. REFERENCES Errol Morris, "The Pianist and the Lobster" Sviatoslav Richter, Russian pianist Nick Cave., Red Hand Files #53 Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Bruno Monsaingeon (dir.), Richter: The Enigma Bon Jovi, "Livin’ on a Prayer" Brad Warner, "The Eyes of Dogen" Gilles Deleuze, Difference and Repetition Edgard Varèse, composer Benjamin Libet, neuroscientist Robin Hardy (dir), The Wicker Man Frans De Waal, Mama’s Last Hug Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus Sartre, The Transcendence of the Ego Tarot de Marseille - XVIII: The Moon Marsilio Ficino, Three Books on Life Carl Jung, "On the Relation of Analytical Psychology to Poetry", The Red Book Terence McKenna, Food of the Gods Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This podcast explores William Gibson's 'Pattern Recognition' as a reflection of our modern era, discussing themes such as the attention economy, postmodern culture, power, loss, grief, and art. They delve into the protagonist Casey Pollard's role as a cool hunter and her semiotic hypersensitivity. The podcast also examines the concept of attention as a key currency in capitalism, the symbolism and dark side of cultural objects, shiny surfaces hiding depths, and the themes of art, ghosts, and dreams in the book. Lastly, they explore the attention-intention dichotomy and agency in a dystopian world.

The idea that beauty might denote an actual quality of the world, something outside the human frame, is one of the great taboos of modern intellectual thought. Beauty, we are almost universally told, is a cultural contrivance rooted in politics and history, an illusion that exists only in human heads, for human reasons. On this view, a world without us would be a world without beauty. But in this episode Phil and JF explore two texts, by James Hillman and Peter Schjeldahl, that dare to challenge the modern orthodoxy. For Hillman and Schjeldahl, to experience the beautiful is precisely the break out of human bondage and touch the Outside. Beauty may even be one of the few truly objective experiences anyone could hope for. Peter Schjeldahl, “Notes on Beauty,“ in Uncontrollable Beauty: Toward a New Aesthetics James Hillman, “The Practice of Beauty,” in Uncontrollable Beauty: Toward a New Aesthetics C.G. Jung's retreat, Bollingen Tower Ugly public art in Palo Alto Dave Hickey, Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy Deleuze and Guattari, “Of the Refrain,” from A Thousand Plateaus Roger Scruton, Beauty Weird Studies, Episode 36 -- On Hyperstition Weird Studies, Episode 33 -- The Fine Art of Changing the Subject: On Duchamp's "Fountain" Lionel Snell, My Years of Magical Thinking George Santayana, The Sense of Beauty Ingri D'Aulaires, D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time Christian Wiman, He Held Radical Light God, Book of Job Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Through her fiction, Flannery O'Connor reenvisioned life as a supernatural war wherein each soul becomes the site of a clash of mysterious, almost incomprehensible forces. Her first novel, Wise Blood, tells the story of Hazel Motes, a young preacher with a new religion to sell: the Church Without Christ. In this episode, JF and Phil read Motes's misadventures in the "Jesus-haunted" city of Taulkinham, Tennessee, as a prophetic vision of the modern condition that is at once supremely tragic and funny as hell. As O'Connor herself wrote in her prefac to the book: "(Wise Blood) is a comic novel about a Christian malgré lui, and as such, very serious, for all comic novels that are any good must be about matters of life and death. REFERENCES Flannery O'Connor, Wise Blood James Marshall, George and Martha (here's a great NYT piece on the books) Graham Hancock, Fingerprints of the Gods Paul Elie, The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy Daniel Ingram, Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha George Santayana, The Sense of Beauty Amy Hungerford's lecture on Wise Blood (Yale University) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dive deep into the layers of 'Stranger Things' as the hosts dissect its analog versus digital themes. They explore how the show addresses the complexities of reality through its characters, particularly focusing on the emotional journey of Joyce Byers. Intriguing comparisons to the 1984 Apple commercial reveal insights about individuality and consumerism. The discussion also critiques how digital culture impacts authentic experiences, advocating for mindfulness amidst technology's chaos.

In his essay "On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life," Nietzsche attacks the notion that humans are totally determined by the historical forces that shape their physical and mental environment. Where other philosophers like Plato saw virtue in remembering eternal truths that earthly existence had wiped from our memories, Nietzsche extolled the virtues of forgetting, of becoming "untimely" and creating a zone where something new could arise. For Nietzsche, history was useful only if it served Life. Because we live in an age which constantly reifies history (through movies, news, social media, etc.) while also tricking us into thinking we somehow exist outside of history, the essay remains as relevant today as it was when Nietzsche wrote it a century and a half ago. REFERENCES Nietzsche, "On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life" in Untimely Meditations Epic Rap Battles of History: Eastern Philosophers vs Western Philosophers Ernest Newman, Life of Wagner Alexander Nehamas, Nietzsche: Life as Literature Alfred Korzybski, Manhood of Humanity Michael Foucault, "What is Englightenment?" Antinatalism Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra James Carse, Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility P. J. O’Rourke, American writer Richard Pryor, American comedian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist and historian of religion Erik Davis joins Phil and JF to talk about his latest magnum opus, High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies. In this masterwork of weird scholarship, Davis explores the simultaneously luminous and obscure worlds of three giants of Seventies counterculture: Terence McKenna, Robert Anton Wilson, and Philip K. Dick. Their psychonautical legacy serve as fuel for a deep-delving conversation on Davis' own ontological leanings, yearnings, and hesitations. We touch on his philosophical development since the release of Techgnosis in 1998, the meaning of "weird naturalism," the primacy of the aesthetic, the uses and abuses of anthropotechnics, the challenges of tightrope-walking across bottomless chasms, and lots more. REFERENCES Erik Davis, High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Expreience in the Seventies Erik Davis, Techgnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information Philip K. Dick, American science fiction writer Robert Anton Wilson, American writer Terence McKenna, Half-elf bard Graham Harman, American philosopher Timothy Morton, British philosopher Jeffrey J. Kripal, The Serpent’s Gift: Gnostic Reflections on the Study of Religion William James, American philosopher and psychologist Hee-jin Kim, Eihei Dogen: Mystical Realist Dogen, "Instructions for the Cook" Steve Reich, "Music as a Gradual Process" Peter Sloterdijk, You Must Change Your Life Albert Hofman’s famous bicycle ride Erowid LSD vault George Lackoff and Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By Alexander Bard and Jan Söderqvist, Syntheism: Creating God in the Internet AgeSpecial Guest: Erik Davis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Made in 2003, Lutz Dammbeck's documentary The Net: The Unabomber, LSD, and the Internet is a film about many things, but the gist of it is something like what William Burroughs called the doctrine of control. We live in a world governed by technologies designed with a particular idea of society in mind, one that has its roots in the trauma of global war and the utopian dreams of modern thinkers. The viability of this ideal is, of course, an important question, and it was made all the more urgent by recent developments at the intersection of technology and politics. In this episode, JF and Phil discuss the doctrine of control as imagined by one of its fiercest -- and most insane -- critics: Ted Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber. Kaczynski's thoughts on technological society form the through-line of Dammbeck's film, which in turn serves as a through-line for this jam on everything from one-world government and cybernetics to the archetype of the magus and the Whole Earth Catalog. REFERENCES Lutz Dammbeck (director), The Net: The Unabomber, LSD and the Internet (2003) Chuck Klosterman, "FAIL" in Eating the Dinosaur Jacques Ellul, French theorist Suzanne Treister, HEXEN Tarot Deck -- Seven of Swords -- Justice -- The Sun Norbert Wiener, Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and Machine and The Human Use of Human Beings Bertrand Russell, The Scientific Outlook Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Kevin Kelly, What Technology Wants Weird Studies Episode 2: Garmonbozia Stewart Brand, writer and editor of the Whole Earth Catalog Ursula Le Guin, Always Coming Home Gary Snyder's idea that "we are primitives of an unknown culture" is explored in Phil Ford, Dig: Sound and Music in Hip Culture Richard Brautigan, "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace" (poem) San Francisco Oracle Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices