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Watch the video: https://youtu.be/mIgiz_wQbXk We all know we will die one day. It is another thing to consider that it is I who am going to die. In this Mythic Mind conversation, Dr. Andrew Snyder (professor of philosophy and theology) is joined by David and Jack to read Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich. We trace a man who did everything "properly," climbed the ladder, decorated the right house, and still ended up utterly alone, until suffering forces him to ask the one question he has always avoided: am I guilty? Topics include how ordinary people keep death at arm's length, why suffering can become a grace, and what it means to finally take responsibility for the life you've lived. Along the way we find Tolstoy reaching some of the same places as Lewis and Kierkegaard by a very different road. Related: • Kierkegaard on Man's Highest Perfection (Mythic Mind, ep. 193): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJXOC2PfR3M • Till We Have Faces, Part One: Orual Behind the Veil (Mythic Mind, ep. 114): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KhXO9V0PRw Join the Mythic Mind Fellowship: https://mythicmindfellowship.com/membership Listen to/watch the Mythic Mind podcasts: - Mythic Mind - Mythic Mind Games - Mythic Mind Movies #MythicMind #Tolstoy #DeathOfIvanIlyich #BookClub #Philosophy #Theology #CSLewis Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/lJXOC2PfR3M We are pressed to dissolve into the mass, to wear a demographic as a self, or to win identity from whatever community we most esteem. Kierkegaard’s answer cuts the other way: the glory of the human being is to recognize utter dependency on God. In Mythic Mind episode 193, Dr. Andrew Snyder is joined by Zach and David for an Exploring the Psyche conversation on Kierkegaard’s discourse “To Need God Is a Human Being’s Highest Perfection.” They push past the easy proverb that a person needs only a little, through Job and vanity that can even dress itself as renunciation, to the Christian claim that greatness is not pagan self-sufficiency but knowing how much we need God. Along the way: first self and deeper self, the moving wheel of fortune versus the eternal, inwardness against self-enclosure, Christendom versus contemporaneity with Christ, and why casting Kierkegaard as a secular existentialist misses the Christian (even Boethian) grain of the text. Topics include needing little versus needing God, praying for the powerful because they need God most, grace and being capable of nothing, the hard wine before the good wine, and how anchoring in God frees the temporal self for real community rather than atomism. Join the Mythic Mind Fellowship: https://mythicmindfellowship.com Fellows and Companions can join The Psychology of Søren Kierkegaard: Life in Anxiety and Despair, beginning the week of October 4, plus Academy courses, Inkwell essays, and the fuller life of the community. Listen to and watch Mythic Mind podcasts: - Mythic Mind - Mythic Mind Games - Mythic Mind Movies &amp Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/Juoxi8xM5eQ Socialism is often sold as justice, necessity, or the only way to win. This Exploring the Psyche episode asks a harder question: what does that bargain do to the soul? In Mythic Mind episode 192, Dr. Andrew Snyder takes up a live Right-wing temptation around redistribution, democratic appetite politics, and seizing power "for our side." He grants the real injustice (vote-buying, short-sighted majorities, a disenfranchised base), steelmans the classical and Lewisian fears about democracy's degeneration and spiritual leveling, then refuses the conclusion that remakes persons into instruments. The court can sentence Socrates. Only Socrates can harm Socrates. Drawing on Plato and Aristotle, C. S. Lewis, Kierkegaard (and Gregory Beabout), Dostoevsky's Crystal Palace, and Tolkien on the Machine and coerced wills, the talk argues that envy baptized as entitlement, managed security without risk, and power that treats neighbors as tools all shrink the self before God. Freedom requires gratitude, courage, and faithful action. A managed win for any base is still a loss for the person. Topics include democracy and demagoguery, envy and false entitlement, facticity and possibility, despair and the spiritless crowd, welfare soft slavery, Tolkien's Machine versus sub-creation, and why refusing the smaller victory is the psyche's first win. Join the Mythic Mind Fellowship: https://mythicmindfellowship.com Fellows receive Academy courses (including The Psychology of Søren Kierkegaard: Life in Anxiety and Despair, beginning the week of October 4), Inkwell essays, and the fuller life of the community. Since the fall season began, podcast downloads have nearly doubled. Membership is the deeper layer of the work you hear here. Listen to and watch Mythic Mind podcasts: - Mythic Mind - Mythic Mind Games - Mythic Mind Movies & Shows #MythicMind #ExploringThePsyche #Socialism #Kierkegaard #CSLewis #Tolkien #Philosophy #Theology #Psyche Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/iXr8KuutfW0 When Boethius lost everything, Lady Philosophy told him the wound beneath the wound: you have forgotten who you are. That diagnosis still lands. Who are you when the roles, tests, and labels fall away? In this Mythic Mind Exploring the Psyche conversation, Dr. Andrew Snyder (professor of philosophy and theology) talks with licensed therapists Jeremy Key and Tyler Finders about identity: Myers-Briggs and Enneagram snapshots, the trap of "I am my diagnosis," agency that will not go away, and Kierkegaard's claim that the self is a relation in motion rather than a fixed type. Topics include authenticity versus persona, how suffering clarifies what is real, and why identity often arrives when you stop hunting for it and start seeking what is good. Related: • Exploring the Psyche: The Importance of Home (Mythic Mind, ep. 190): https://youtu.be/9__99dsKwiU • Anxiety Means You Can Choose (Mythic Mind, ep. 189): https://youtu.be/DwKDIRfQGQY • A Life Well Lived (Mythic Mind, ep. 188): https://youtu.be/2Dgj68PWXdQ • Fall Season: Exploring the Psyche (Mythic Mind, ep. 187): https://youtu.be/_Lbvd79c0d8 Join the Mythic Mind Fellowship: https://mythicmindfellowship.com Listen to/watch the Mythic Mind podcasts: - Mythic Mind - Mythic Mind Games - Mythic Mind Movies & Shows #MythicMind #ExploringThePsyche #Identity #Kierkegaard #Boethius #Psychology #Philosophy #Theology Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

In this Mythic Mind Exploring the Psyche conversation, Dr. Andrew Snyder talks with licensed therapists Jeremy Kee and Tyler Finders about the value of home: roots and responsibility, the fear of committing to the wrong thing, hobbits who leave the Shire in order to save it, and C.S. Lewis’s reminder that pleasant inns are not the final destination. Topics include belonging in a shifting world, establishing versus finding home, and why home still matters psychologically and spiritually. Join us for our season of "Exploring the Psyche" at https://mythicmindfellowship.com Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

Anxiety is usually treated as a disease to be eliminated. Medication and psychotherapy have their place, but what if, in our pursuit of so-called mental health, we are lobotomizing something essential to being human? In this Exploring the Psyche conversation, Andrew is joined again by licensed therapists Tyler Finders and Jeremy Key to ask what anxiety actually is. We argue that anxiety is not an impediment to agency, but a call of the human spirit to take responsibility for our choices in the moment where what has been meets what might still be. We talk about surface-level anxiety versus deeper existential anxiety, courage as every virtue at its testing point, spheres of control versus spheres of concern, and why anxiety cannot (and need not) be “cured.” It can only be answered: by reclaiming agency instead of surrendering it. If anxiety is how freedom feels, the question is not how to make it disappear, but how to let it educate us into responsibility. Join us for our season of "Exploring the Psyche" at https://mythicmindfellowship.com Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

In this inaugural episode of our fall "Exploring the Psyche" season, I discuss "living well" with Tyler Finders and Jeremy Key, both of whom are clinical psychotherapists and Christian thinkers. Keep up with all things Exploring the Psyche at mythicmindfellowship.com Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

Between podcasts with professionals in the field, discussions of philosophy, film, and video games, Inkwell articles, a course on Kierkegaard, and more, Mythic Mind will be "Exploring the Psyche" this fall! Join the Fellowship or otherwise keep up with us at mythicmindfellowship.com Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

C.S. Lewis's That Hideous Strength is a profound, still very underread story that provides penetrating insights into the growing forces of dehumanization that drive much of our culture. In 2025, the B.B.C produced an audio drama adaptation. Here is my review. To get access to all Inkwell readings, become a member as a Fellow or Companion at mythicmindfellowship.com Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

[This episode is best as video. Watch at https://youtu.be/tFrz6G_Avg4. Starting at the beginning of August, we will begin transitioning away from Patreon to our new home at http://www.mythicmindfellowship.com! This is an exciting new chapter that will facilitate deeper fellowship, more opportunities, and a better experience across the board. In this episode, I provide a tour through the new website. Right now, we are in a soft launch period, but the full site will be available on August 1st. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

In this lecture from his "English Poems and Poets" course, classical teacher Josh Traylor provides a broad overview of literary Romanticism 19th century England. Josh has listed his course at an incredible rate for us, so take advantage of his offer and enroll today: English Poems and Poets. Watch the video of this episode and subscribe to my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/JN81DlZZjq8 Become a patron of Mythic Mind at patreon.com/mythicmind Listen to all THREE Mythic Mind podcasts: Mythic MindMythic Mind GamesMythic Mind Movies & Shows(or become a patron to get all three shows in one ad-free feed) Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

In this lecture from his "English Poems and Poets" course, classical teacher Josh Traylor explains what Romanticism is, what it is not, why it is ambiguous, and how we should understand it as a European cultural movement in the late 1700s and in the 1800s. Josh has listed his course at an incredible rate for us, so take advantage of his offer and enroll today: English Poems and Poets. Watch the video of this episode and subscribe to my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/kF4KsqKe7dM Become a patron of Mythic Mind at patreon.com/mythicmind Listen to all THREE Mythic Mind podcasts: Mythic MindMythic Mind GamesMythic Mind Movies & Shows(or become a patron to get all three shows in one ad-free feed) Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/_XTGWHb0iDY Tolkien once wondered whether a film could cut Helm's Deep. In the book it still teaches how hope arrives at dawn, and how a seeing-stone can undo the unwary. In this Mythic Mind Lord of the Rings study, Dr. Andrew Snyder (professor of philosophy and theology) walks Book III, chapters 7–11: the Hornburg and the men of Rohan, Gandalf's dawn, and the Palantir's dangerous gift of sight after Orthanc. Topics include battle as more than spectacle, hope against despair, and why true seeing is moral before it is magical. Related: • The Two Towers, Part 1 (Mythic Mind, ep. 178): https://youtu.be/ueNTOpwZInI • The Two Towers as Film and Adaptation (Mythic Mind Movies, ep. 26): https://youtu.be/cQQy1BkKGt0 • The Fellowship of the Ring as Film and Adaptation (Mythic Mind Movies, ep. 25): https://youtu.be/ZpZY3u_eyuw • J.R.R. Tolkien and the Long Defeat (Mythic Mind, ep. 181): https://youtu.be/R-1Yp1Z8dv4 Join the Mythic Mind Fellowship: https://mythicmindfellowship.c... Listen to/watch the Mythic Mind podcasts: - Mythic Mind - Mythic Mind Games - Mythic Mind Movies & Shows #MythicMind #Tolkien #TwoTowers #HelmsDeep #Palantir #LOTR #Theology #Philosophy Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

What does the future hold? What has been let go by the past? How should we view the moving horizon? In this episode, I draw from Tolkien's letters, The Lord of the Rings, and his essays, "The Monsters and the Critics" and "On Fairy-Stories," to discuss his concept of The Long Defeat. Purchase the entire course, including our recorded live meetings, here:Purchase Course Watch the video of this episode and subscribe to my YouTube channel here:https://youtu.be/R-1Yp1Z8dv4 Become a patron of Mythic Mind at patreon.com/mythicmind Listen to all THREE Mythic Mind podcasts: Mythic MindMythic Mind GamesMythic Mind Movies & Shows(or become a patron to get all three shows in one ad-free feed) Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/1jTkmfAQ9SI We live amid tribal AI arguments: every machine-made frame is "slop," or every model is just a new paintbrush. This Mythic Mind conversation slows down between those poles with a technologist and a novelist. Dr. Andrew Snyder (professor of philosophy and theology) is joined by Josh Daws (former Disney software engineer; VP of Technology at The Blaze) and novelist Michael Kane (After Moses) to ask what AI-generated media can and cannot bear as storytelling, and what remains properly human when prediction scales into myth-shaped output. Topics include creativity and collaboration with tools, the temptation of knee-jerk culture-war takes, and how authors and audiences might keep soul in an age of autocomplete. Related: • Video Games and the Psyche (Mythic Mind Games, ep. 52): https://youtu.be/-BS688rdNW8 • Anxiety Means You Can Choose (Mythic Mind, ep. 189): https://youtu.be/DwKDIRfQGQY • A Life Well Lived (Mythic Mind, ep. 188): https://youtu.be/2Dgj68PWXdQ • English Romanticism w/ Josh Traylor (Mythic Mind, ep. 184): https://youtu.be/JN81DlZZjq8 Join the Mythic Mind Fellowship: https://mythicmindfellowship.c... Listen to/watch the Mythic Mind podcasts: - Mythic Mind - Mythic Mind Games - Mythic Mind Movies & Shows #MythicMind #AI #Storytelling #JoshDaws #MichaelKane #Philosophy #Creativity #Theology Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.