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Peter Ulric Tse is a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College, currently on sabbatical as a visiting professor at Cambridge and a Visiting Fellow at Clare Hall. A Guggenheim and Humboldt Fellow, he studies attention, visual consciousness and volition, and has spent over fifteen years building a naturalistic case for libertarian free will, beginning with The Neural Basis of Free Will: Criterial Causation (MIT, 2013). He is now two volumes into a trilogy: A Neurophilosophy of Libertarian Free Will and Free Imagination (both OUP, 2024), with Re-enlightenment to follow. In this conversation, I sit down with Peter to explore the idea at the heart of Free Imagination: that what makes humans free is not intelligence but imagination, our capacity to model what is not, has never been, and could not be. We start with bonobos sitting miserably in the rain and the Löwenmensch, a 40,000-year-old carving of a lion-headed man, and trace how tool-making may have forged an internal virtual avatar that lets us act in imagination long before we act in the world. Peter takes apart the Libet experiments and the case against free will made by Sapolsky and Gazzaniga, arguing that the real action lies not in split-second choices but in distal, deliberative imagining. We explore the brain's planning and willpower systems, efference copy and schizophrenia, Kundalini yoga, and why lobotomised patients simply stopped acting. Then the conversation turns to culture: whether our imaginations are sovereign, Edward Bernays and The Century of the Self, why some stories grip us from beneath, and Peter Singer's expanding circle. This is a conversation for anyone who suspects the imagination is both our greatest tool and our greatest weapon, and wants to know whether we can learn to wield it freely. 🔗 Links- Website: https://sites.dartmouth.edu/peter/- Free MOOC: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBZk0Jl545845TCxtkEbJQ7bTJTqi_HrF ⏳ Timestamps:00:00 Intro - Free will, imagination and the crack in the animal mind00:47 What can we learn from bonobos sitting in the rain?04:37 Defining imagination: our internal virtual reality07:47 The Default Mode Network, daydreaming and the ego11:08 From mental workspace to the Löwenmensch14:27 Hand axes, Homo erectus and the slow birth of imagination17:19 Our greatest tool and our greatest weapon: escaping the reptilian trap22:14 Free Imagination: the internal avatar and the evolution of tool-making24:54 Has neuroscience been barking up the wrong tree?26:54 Libet, the readiness potential and the case against free will32:31 Distal decisions: where free will really lives34:34 Baseball, Sapolsky and learning Spanish: why past imagining still counts38:27 Why volitional attention needs consciousness39:59 Split brains, Gazzaniga and the interpreter43:34 Efference copy and schizophrenia: did I do that?47:14 Planning, priorities and the neuroscience of willpower52:18 Lobotomies, akinetic mutism and the fire in the belly55:57 Ritual, Jung and the gods and madness of the imagination57:52 Breath, Kundalini yoga and training the will1:00:30 Is your imagination sovereign?1:01:56 Edward Bernays, The Century of the Self and propaganda1:04:42 Why do some stories capture us?1:07:49 Peter Singer's expanding circle1:12:24 New religions for an expanding circle1:16:12 The unconscious and the elves in the basement1:18:59 Emotions, desires and cybernetic beings1:21:31 Anagnorisis, storytelling and why Harari is wrong1:24:19 Globalism and the merging of the world's religions1:27:26 Peter's guest recommendations: Carolyn Dicey Jennings and Eddy Nahmias1:28:23 Where to find Peter

Dr. Sharon Blackie is an award-winning writer, psychologist and mythologist whose work sits at the junction of depth psychology, mythology and ecology. Coming from a background in behavioural psychology and neuroscience, she has spent over two decades reinstating imagination and intuition as ways of knowing. She is the author of seven books, including the internationally bestselling If Women Rose Rooted and Hagitude, which reframed midlife and elderhood as alchemical rather than diminishing. Her latest, Ripening: Why Women Need Fairy Tales Now, was published in May 2026. She writes the global-bestselling Substack The Art of Enchantment (60,000+ readers), is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an Honorary Member of the Association of Jungian Analysts, and recently founded the Nostos Institute, which aims to build a living Western spiritual path out of ancient philosophy and depth psychology. ________________ In this conversation, I sit down with Sharon to explore what it might mean to re-enchant a disenchanted world. We begin with her winding path: from a fiercely behaviourist psychology department, to a PhD in the neuroscience of anxiety, and finally to the imaginal, mythic heart of depth psychology. Sharon gives a crash course in Neoplatonism (the One, the Nous and the World Soul) and traces how James Hillman and Henri Corbin drew on it to describe the imaginal world: a real, intermediary realm where images, dreams and synchronicities live. We dig into the difference between enchantment and magical thinking, why so much Jungian thought stops short of the metaphysics, and how big dreams and synchronicities tend to convert people rather than arguments. We talk about Plato's Myth of Er and the guardian daimon, why Sharon has focused on reclaiming women's stories and the archetypes of the older woman (the Hagitude project), and what her new Nostos Institute is trying to build. Along the way: fairy tales as the antidote to alienation, why young people are turning to Christianity, and whether a screen-bound, precarious, increasingly mechanised world can find its way back to community and the more-than-human world. This is a conversation for anyone who feels the pull of meaning and belonging but can't quite find the door. ________________ 🔗 Links- Website: https://sharonblackie.net/- Substack (The Art of Enchantment): https://sharonblackie.substack.com/ ________________ ⏳ Timestamps:00:00 Intro - Reinstating imagination as a way of knowing01:01 From behaviourist neuroscience to the imaginal: Sharon's winding path05:59 A crash course in Neoplatonism: the One, the Nous and the World Soul08:55 "Platonism for the masses": Christianity and the problem of institutionalisation12:52 Iamblichus, theurgy and the imaginal world15:51 Soul vs. spirit: the missing piece19:20 Enchantment vs. alienation: Studebaker, Don Quixote and "to sing into"25:41 Magical thinking vs. enchantment: fantasy or participation?29:20 The metaphysics Hillman and Jung left out31:47 What actually converts you: big dreams and the angel cards33:36 Plato's Myth of Er and the guardian daimon36:06 Are women more porous to the imaginal?38:55 Reclaiming women's stories: from Native American writers to Celtic myth43:32 Beyond the hero's journey: Hagitude and the archetypes of the older woman48:41 Inside the Nostos Institute: a Western spiritual path57:47 What "feeling fully alive" actually looks like1:01:11 Why young people are turning to Christianity: precarity and meaning1:11:19 Sharon's guest recommendation: David Abram1:13:16 Where to find Sharon's work

Benjamin Studebaker is a political theorist with a PhD from Cambridge whose work cuts against the grain of almost every revolutionary and reformist story on offer. He is the author of The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy: The Way Is Shut (2023) and Legitimacy in Liberal Democracies (2024). His central claim is that the Western democracies have become "embedded democracies" — systems in which citizens can no longer imagine an alternative worth sacrificing for, and so remain trapped in a low, stable, and deeply frustrating equilibrium. ________________ In this conversation, I sit down with Benjamin to explore his diagnosis of the chronic crisis at the heart of liberal democracy. We begin with the idea of the "embedded democracy" and the restricted imaginarium left behind by the catastrophes of the twentieth century, before working through why the culture war functions as a manageable — even useful — form of disagreement, one that dissipates energy rather than threatening the order. Benjamin unpacks his distinction between personal and impersonal hypocrisy, his four levels of legitimacy (perfect, full, minimal and liminal), and the concept of "enclavism": the retreat into faith, family, fandoms and futurism when politics feels futile. We range across Don Quixote and quixotic socialism, the Lord of the Rings image behind his book's subtitle, the problem of capital mobility, NATO defence spending and the Americanisation of European politics, and why a networked, nuclear-armed, drone-fought world makes the old theories of revolutionary change look obsolete. It's a sobering, clarifying conversation for anyone trying to understand why our politics feels simultaneously so turbulent and so stuck. ________________ You can find Benjamin's work at: Website: https://benjaminstudebaker.com About / all links: https://benjaminstudebaker.com/about Substack: https://bmstudebaker.substack.com/ ________________ ⏳ Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 1:29 What is an "embedded democracy"? Why revolution is off the table 3:10 Other kinds of democracy: Poland, Hungary and living memory 6:31 Is China a viable alternative? The restricted imaginarium 9:55 Ironism: why public culture can't take anything seriously 12:12 The culture war as manufactured, manageable disagreement 14:52 Fusionism, fragmentation and the collapse of coalitions 21:06 Personal vs impersonal hypocrisy in US politics 28:25 The material drivers: universities, consumers and producers 35:14 "The way is shut": the Lord of the Rings reference explained 37:07 Quixotic socialism: acting out a politics without stakes 43:14 Enclavism and the four Fs: faith, family, fandoms, futurism 46:16 Perfect, full, minimal, liminal: the four levels of legitimacy 51:35 Can things get better? The New Deal, the 70s and why we can't go back 54:29 Capital mobility: the unsolved problem at the heart of the crisis 1:00:00 NATO, defence spending and the Americanisation of Europe 1:07:53 In defence of the Westminster system: order over fairness 1:11:03 Why reform stalls: lost threats and "middle capitalism" 1:19:49 Immiseration and the shrinking sense of the possible 1:24:25 Can revolution even happen now? Nukes, drones and integrated economies 1:28:11 Where to find Benjamin's work 1:28:48 Benjamin's guest recommendations

Georg Northoff is Canada Research Chair in Mind, Brain, Imaging, and Neuroethics at the University of Ottawa's Institute of Mental Health Research, a practising psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and philosopher, and one of the founders of neurophilosophy. Over two decades his work has reframed the brain's resting spontaneous activity — the Default Mode Network — as the primary architect of consciousness and selfhood. He is the author of The Spontaneous Brain, alongside more accessible introductions including NeuroWaves: Brain, Time, and Consciousness (2023) and NeuroPsychoAnalysis (2023). ________________ In this conversation, I sit down with Georg to explore his spatial-temporal neuroscience — a framework that replaces the mind-body problem with the world-brain relationship. We begin with AI consciousness, move into the Default Mode Network and why depression is a brain running too slowly, his non-dual awareness study with meditators, his critique of Heidegger as still anthropocentric, and Whitehead's process ontology. A conversation that starts with ChatGPT and ends near the edge of what it means to exist. ________________ 🔗 LinksWebsite: https://www.georgnorthoff.comNeuroWaves: Brain, Time, and Consciousness (2023): https://www.mqup.ca/Books/N/Neurowaves2NeuroPsychoAnalysis (2023): https://www.amazon.com/Neuropsychoanalysis-Contemporary-Introduction-Introductions-Psychoanalysis/dp/0367678047The Spontaneous Brain: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262038072/the-spontaneous-brain/ ________________ ⏳ Timestamps:00:00 Intro — Georg Northoff and the spontaneous brain01:15 Can AI be conscious? The case of temporal synchronisation03:21 OpenClaw, heartbeats, and whether AI is moving towards experience06:00 Temporal windows: how the brain processes a word, a sentence, and a self10:12 The spontaneous brain — why background activity is the game changer13:56 A short history of the Default Mode Network16:29 Time is everything: depression, anxiety, and the speed of neural flow22:07 Self as continuity — why the DMN has the longest timescales29:57 The paradigm shift: from cognitive to temporal neuroscience38:03 Where does self emerge from temporal structure?42:33 Self is more basic than consciousness44:55 Jung, Freud, and cultural imprints in spontaneous brain activity49:11 Non-dual awareness: the meditation study and what it shows51:05 The World-Brain problem — replacing mind-body with a new question56:22 Heidegger and Dasein: existential time, but still anthropocentric1:00:23 The tango: self at the seam of inner and outer time1:02:29 Whitehead's process ontology and the Copernican reversal1:04:37 Why this work resonates more in China and Iran than in the West1:09:13 Guest recommendation: Federico Zilio1:09:59 Where to find Georg's work

Keegan Kjeldsen hosts The Nietzsche Podcast and the Untimely Reflections (essentialsalts) YouTube channel — a deep four-year project working through Nietzsche, his forerunners back to the ancient world, and his afterlives in 20th- and 21st-century thought. He’s also a doom metal guitarist with Destroyer of Light and Slumbering Sun, and the author of The Ritual Madness of Rock & Roll, a memoir-meets-aesthetics inquiry written on the road through Europe. ________________ I sat down with Keegan to work through his concept of übermodernism — what’s “over and above” modernism, in the same Nietzschean spirit as the Übermensch is over and above man. We trace the history of “the modern” all the way back to Petrarch in the 14th century, work through Nietzsche’s perspectivism and his critique of the genealogical fallacy, and ask where the next modernism is meant to come from. A conversation for anyone tired of fighting over whether Nietzsche belongs to the right, the left, or the postmodernists. 📚 I’m hosting the Interintellect book club this Sunday 10th May to work through the third and final essay of Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morality. Tickets: https://interintellect.com/salons/what-is-the-meaning-of-ascetic-ideals-friedrich-nietzsche-on-the-genealogy-of-morality ________________ 🔗 Links🎙️ Untimely Reflections (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/@untimelyreflections🎧 The Nietzsche Podcast (Apple): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nietzsche-podcast/id1573808070☕ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/untimelyreflections📖 The Ritual Madness of Rock & Roll: https://www.blackrosewriting.com/biographymemoir/p/theritualmadnessofrockandroll ________________ ⏳ Timestamps:00:00 James’s Intro01:59 Welcome and opening with Keegan02:41 What is übermodernism? Going over and above modernism05:03 Nietzsche’s perspectivism and the death of objective truth08:14 Nietzsche as the canary in the 20th-century coalmine11:47 When did “the modern” begin? Antiqua, nova and the first modernists13:07 Rousseau’s letter and the first use of “modernist” as a pejorative19:00 Genealogies, lineage and the string of pearls fallacy28:42 Reading Nietzsche on the utility of an organ vs. its origin34:29 Heidegger, Descartes and the “where it all went wrong” move39:59 Nietzsche’s lectures on rhetoric: language is rhetoric, not information43:59 Plato’s win over the Sophists as a sophist’s own move48:59 We Philologists: the Greeks weren’t who you think they were55:59 Petrarch and the birth of “the modern” as an age58:29 Toledo and the Muslim transmission of the ancient texts1:04:29 McGilchrist and the right-and-left hemisphere narrative1:09:59 Machiavelli, humanism and man as the actor of history1:15:29 Beyond correctness: value-for-life as the new test of truth1:22:12 Are we übermodern yet? Great politics vs. petty politics1:29:49 Keegan’s guest recommendations: Studebaker and Möller1:31:29 Where to find Keegan and his next book on Nietzsche’s Hellenism

Dr. Aldrich Chan is a neuropsychologist, psychotherapist and founder of the Center for Neuropsychology and Consciousness. An adjunct professor at Pepperdine University, Aldrich's research on the default mode network, mindfulness and trauma bridges neuroscience with ancient Taoist philosophy. He is the author of Reassembling Models of Reality (2021) and Seven Principles of Nature: How We Strayed and How We Return (2025). ________________ In this conversation, we explore Aldrich's synthesis of neuropsychology, Taoism and evolutionary mismatch theory — his SAD theory (separation, alienation, discord), the seven principles of nature (CPR WEST), subcortical midline structures and our original experience of connectedness, and what it means to live in alignment with nature. ________________ 🔗 LinksAldrich's website: https://www.drchancnc.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/draldrichanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/drchancncPodcast: https://www.youtube.com/@drchancncBook: https://geni.us/7principlesofnature ________________ ⏳ Timestamps:00:00 Intro - Neuropsychology meets Taoism00:43 Seven Principles of Nature and the CPR WEST acronym03:58 The SAD theory: separation, alienation and discord04:53 The default mode network06:29 The triple network: DMN, salience and central executive10:05 The boat metaphor12:58 Separation as a natural phase15:16 Alienation and evolutionary mismatch theory17:21 Movement mismatch19:09 Social connection as the most obvious mismatch21:07 The agricultural revolution's consequences27:44 Discord and dualism31:01 The nature–culture debate36:23 CPR WEST unpacked39:14 Creativity and uncertainty41:18 Certainty is the death of a question43:55 Vipassana and reframing the stress response45:07 Two stress pathways51:06 Chaos and order52:57 Relationship and neuroecology54:03 Multi-level selection theory57:59 Ego boundary dissolution1:00:58 Subcortical midline structures1:02:04 Jung and archetypes as brainstem activity1:05:28 Jung called himself a Taoist1:06:03 Shadow integration and wholeness1:08:42 Dynamic equilibrium1:12:03 Flow states1:13:52 Spontaneity and play1:18:26 Transformation1:19:52 Wrapping up1:22:05 Where to find Aldrich1:23:14 Guest recommendations

Dr. Erik Goodwyn is a practising psychiatrist with a background in neurobiology who bridges the worlds of neuroscience, Jungian psychology, and fantasy. Erik is co-editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Jungian Studies and has written dozens of academic papers along with books on the neurobiology of the gods, dreams, and archetypes. Last year he published his first fantasy novel, King of the Forgotten Darkness, which won the Literary Titan Golden Book Award. ________________ In this return visit, we dive deep into who actually creates the dream – the Invisible Storyteller that isn't your conscious self. We explore the neuroscience behind this, discussing the Default Mode Network, Salience Network, and Executive Control Network, and what they reveal about dreaming, meaning-making, and the deeply non-egoic nature of consciousness. Erik shares clinical insights into Dissociative Identity Disorder as evidence of an underlying organising principle, we tangle with what it means for consciousness to be "non-egoic," and we work through his groundbreaking definition of archetypes through Cognitive Metaphor Theory. It's a conversation that challenges everything you think you know about who you are. ________________ 🔗 Links- Erik's website: https://erikgoodwyn.com- Erik's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theimaginarium ________________ ⏳ Timestamps:00:00 Intro - The Invisible Storyteller01:39 Greeting and reflections on James's reading03:35 What is the Invisible Storyteller?06:01 Jung's avoidance of reductionism through mythic language08:16 The Default Mode Network and dreaming10:27 The three networks: default mode, salience, and executive control15:27 Memory consolidation, identity formation, emotional regulation, future planning18:29 Is the Invisible Storyteller the unconscious?22:18 Deeper processing independent of conscious ego25:58 Recurrent dreams and the role of conscious engagement28:40 The Invisible Storyteller as meaning-making31:07 Dreams versus storytelling: memory Olympics and metaphor36:58 The role of the right hemisphere and symbolism41:04 The Invisible Storyteller as process or personality?44:18 Dissociative Identity Disorder and organising principles50:33 DID as evidence of an organising intelligence55:43 The specificity of dissociative amnesia58:22 Non-egoic consciousness and emergent properties1:02:14 Consciousness arising from complex systems1:05:44 AI image generation as analogy for dream creation1:10:56 The Invisible Storyteller as personality versus ancestry and genome1:15:32 Jungian vision and updating Jung's theory1:18:40 Archetypes through Cognitive Metaphor Theory1:22:37 Spontaneous thoughts and universal challenges1:25:58 Primary metaphors and innate mappings1:29:20 Danger and darkness as innate mappings1:32:17 Definition of archetype and falsifiability1:34:47 Building on Gary Clark's work and Anthony Stevens1:36:25 Gratitude and future conversations

Adriana Forte is a Brazilian-born writer, facilitator, and developmental thinker currently based in a rural intentional community in Bellingen, New South Wales, Australia. Originally trained as a journalist, Adriana has spent years investigating the intersection of women's cyclical biology, embodied knowing, and the structures of modern life. She runs retreats and workshops through her Substack platform C-Lab (A Lab for a Cyclically Informed Society), and is currently completing a book on the spell of modernity and the role of the matriarch as a force for cultural repair.________________ In this conversation, James sits down with Adriana to explore one of the most under-examined questions in contemporary culture: what happens when society is built around a linear, continuous model of productivity — and half the population runs on a fundamentally cyclical one? Drawing on her own journey from Brazil through Hong Kong and India to off-grid life in rural Australia, Adriana maps the hormonal landscape of the female cycle and argues that the oscillation between estrogen and progesterone doesn't just produce moods — it produces a distinct mode of subjectivity, perception, and thought. We explore the cultural erasure of rites of passage, the psychological costs of the contraceptive pill, the wisdom encoded in perimenopause and menopause, and why Adriana believes the matriarch — the post-menopausal woman — may be the missing counter-energy to the relentless forward drive of modernity. The conversation moves through evolutionary biology, embodied philosophy, grassroots community-building, and genuine hope for a more rhythmically intelligent future.________________ You can find Adriana's work at: Substack (C-Lab): https://theclab.substack.com/ ________________ ⏳ Timestamps:0:00 Intro - Our Bellingen Connection5:41 How Adriana ended up on this journey12:56 Critique of Modernity and Birth Interventions15:23 Rhythms and female psychology24:38 A map of the menstrual cycle39:11 The Influence of Modernity on Women’s Psyche45:59 Transgender and phenomenology of hormones52:01 The oscillating nature of female psychology59:25 The spell of the System on modern psychology1:09:15 The challenge of organising around cyclical society1:15:03 Adriana’s Matriarch Book1:18:43 Where to get more from Adriana1:19:39 Adriana’s Guest Recommendation

Dr. Michael R. Montgomery (PhD, MA, MSc, MSW, LCSW) is an existential psychoanalyst who represents a radical wing of contemporary depth psychology—one deeply influenced by R.D. Laing's anti-psychiatry tradition, phenomenology, and a fierce commitment to humanising extreme mental states. Based between Boston, Massachusetts and having deep roots in post-conflict Belfast, Montgomery positions himself as both clinician and activist, bridging psychoanalytic practice with community healing, peace work, and cultural critique.His signature concept—"psychophobia" (society's fear of the mind and extreme mental states)—anchors a body of work challenging psychiatric medicalisation, advocating for phenomenological approaches that honour lived experience, and reclaiming psychosis, mania, and other "extreme states" as potentially transformative rather than purely pathological._____________In this conversation, Michael Montgomery shares his journey through various philosophical and spiritual traditions, emphasising the importance of bridging Eastern and Western thought in psychotherapy. He discusses the role of silence, community, and personal experience in healing, while also addressing the complexities of faith and human nature. The dialogue explores the concept of psychophobia and the transformative power of music and community in fostering connection and understanding._____________🔗 Links- Michael's podcast: https://psychophobia.com/- Michael's website: https://drmontgomery.com/_____________⏳Timestamps:00:00 Intro00:34 How Michael knows Jon Mills03:04 The art of speaking across ideological lines04:36 Michael's relationship with Buddhism08:00 Existential psychoanalysis09:33 The R.D. Laing lineage12:06 The importance of existential psychotherapy13:02 Michael's experience growing up in the Troubles in Belfast13:43 Michael's quest for answers16:26 Michael's World Record attempt in the silent room21:23 The endurance of spiritual lineages22:38 Why no peace on Earth?26:19 What Buddhism offers27:26 The revival of relationship with Christianity31:43 Does God exist?37:02 What is psychophobia?46:47 The McDonaldisation of healthcare52:12 Michael's disillusion with the mental health system57:21 Plurality: do we have many selves?01:06:41 Michael's experience with dreams and consciousness01:08:53 Elevated states and mental health01:14:35 How dreams can change your perception of reality01:17:08 Voices, language patterns and the nature of psyche01:21:06 Michael's guest recommendation: Ken Wilber01:22:11 Where to get more from Michael

Layman Pascal is a Canadian "feral philosopher" and host of The Integral Stage podcast who has become a central connector and theorist in the overlapping worlds of metamodernism, integral theory, and Game B. His signature contributions—the Metaphysics of Adjacency, the Integration Surplus Model of spirituality, and Metashamanics—offer a sophisticated yet playful bridge between abstract philosophy and embodied transformation. Known for his capacity to hold complexity with humour, Pascal brings both philosophical rigour and playful irreverence to questions of meaning-making in an age of metacrisis. ____________ In this conversation, we talk Nietzsche, metashamanism, and the ontology and epistemology of entities.We delve into the role of personal experience in shaping philosophical thought, and the implications of neurodiversity in understanding shamanic practices. The dialogue also touches on the nature of imagination, creativity, and the unpredictability of inspiration, exploring our different approaches to life from the moist pragmatism to dry scholarism. ____________ 🔗 More from Layman Layman's website: https://www.laymanpascal.com/ Layman's Substack: https://laymanpascal.substack.com/ ____________ ⏳ Timestamps: 00:00 Intro - the Feral Philosopher 03:19 Blaise Pascal's spiritual note 05:18 Nietzsche and the irrationality of philosophers 08:55 The power of irrationality in humanity's story 10:41 Layman's book on Nietzsche 12:00 The Integral Nietzsche 14:13 What if Nietzsche hadn't gone mad? 16:06 The enlightened Nietzsche 19:33 The shamanic Nietzsche 22:04 What is metashamanics? 23:07 Shamanic neurodivergence 26:26 Attributes of the well-adjusted shaman 28:33 Liminality and the epochal emergence of the shamanic 31:31 The shamanoid Elvis 33:17 The reality of entities 37:05 Layman Pascal: pragmatist? 47:12 The power of trance 51:50 The muse as entity 56:34 Layman's guest recommendation 57:59 More from Layman

Dr Stefano Carpani is an Italian Jungian psychoanalyst, lecturer at the C.G. Jung Institute Zürich, and scientific consultant at Pacifica Graduate Institute. At 46, he has emerged as a leading voice amongst a new generation of Jungian thinkers, bridging depth psychology with sociology, critical theory, and contemporary political questions. In this conversation, Stefano and I explore the landscape of contemporary Jungian thought, beginning with his distinction between Jungian, post-Jungian, and neo-Jungian approaches—where neo-Jungians like himself aim to make analytical psychology relevant to 21st-century crises beyond the consulting room. We discuss his I+I theory, which synthesises Jung's individuation with sociologist Ulrich Beck's individualization, arguing that contemporary identity formation requires both psychological and sociological lenses to understand. Stefano shares insights from his award-winning work on the fall of the Berlin Wall, explaining how the numinous—an autonomous psychic force Jung described—operates in collective historical transformation, suggesting that major shifts require not just political will but adequate psychic conditions and "the attraction of the symbol." We explore the concept of enantiodromia, Jung's idea that psychological and cultural movements tend to revert to their opposites when pushed too far, applying this to contemporary political polarisation and populism. Throughout, Stefano makes a compelling case for why Jungian analysts must engage courageously with war, democracy, and social transformation, bringing depth psychology out of the clinic and into public discourse. 🔗 Links - For Jungian monthly talks organised by Stefano: https://www.instagram.com/jungianeum_/ and https://www.youtube.com/@psychosocialwednesdays1944/videos - Stefano's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHpWRYvgyhifcVkNGk9Tq-A ⏳ Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:08 Stefano, the international Jungian 02:21 Jungians vs. Post-Jungians vs. Neo-Jungians 07:27 The Post-Jungians 10:15 The Neo-Jungians 12:50 Classical Jungians vs. Developmental vs. Archetypal 15:40 James's case for a Jungian textbook 20:01 The Jungian language barrier 23:20 The hindrance of jargon 27:11 Stefano's sociological Jungian work 31:49 Bringing the unconscious into everyday life 34:52 Covid through the lens of Jung 35:49 The fallacy of the end of history 38:05 The fall of the Berlin Wall as a numinous event 43:33 Moments of memetic infection 47:16 History makers as artists 49:42 Jungian lens on contemporary politics 50:53 Returning to memetic infection 58:24 What is enantiodromia? 01:00:12 Populism and energetic release 01:04:33 Stefano's guest recommendations 01:05:18 Where to find out more about Stefano

Get Jon's book "End of the World: Civilization and Its Fate": https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/end-of-the-world-9781538189016/ _______________ Dr Jon Mills is a philosopher-psychoanalyst and Honorary Professor at the University of Essex, whose work bridges Hegelian philosophy, psychoanalytic theory, and contemporary existential threats facing civilisation. With over 35 books to his name—including five Gradiva Award winners—Jon has spent decades developing what he calls “dialectical psychoanalysis,” a rigorous philosophical framework for understanding the unconscious mind. His latest work, which we’re discussing in this episode, confronts an uncomfortable question: does humanity possess a collective death drive that propels us towards self-destruction? _______________ You can find Jon’s work at: Website: https://www.philosophypsychoanalysis.com Publications: https://www.philosophypsychoanalysis.com/academics-psychoanalysis-philosophy _______________ In this conversation, I sit down with Jon to explore the darkest questions about our species’ future. We examine whether humanity harbours a death wish, diving into the multiple existential crises threatening civilisation—climate change, nuclear weapons, AI risks, geopolitical conflict, and overpopulation/demographic collapse. Jon brings his formidable philosophical toolkit to bear on these challenges, drawing from Hegel, Freud, and his own dialectical framework to understand how good and evil operate simultaneously in human affairs. We debate techno-optimism versus existential pessimism, explore the psychology behind apocalyptic thinking, and we talk about my previous episode on secular eschatology and we discuss what that reveals about our relationship with mortality. We’re left with the question of whether our species can transcend its self-destructive patterns or whether we’re inexorably drawn towards catastrophe. _______________ ⏳Timestamps 00:00 James’s Intro01:21 Claude AI’s intro to Jon02:16 Jon’s prolific output02:59 Does humanity have a death wish?04:13 The collective forces at play05:57 Collective and the collective unconscious09:03 What we mean by humanity - metaphor or reality?11:03 The crises facing humanity today12:25 What Jon wanted to achieve with the book15:45 Universal pessimism?19:41 James on demographic collapse23:29 Poverty decline globally25:21 Optimism on climate26:09 China and the Thucydides Trap27:45 James on AI concerns28:16 Negative trends in prejudice and freedom31:03 The psychology of the Thucydides Trap34:35 Good and evil are operative at once36:43 James’s secular eschatology thesis41:45 Why are most apocalypse predictions Western?43:26 Apocalypse as death-cope44:39 Apocalypse as unmet need gone rotten?45:35 Jon’s relationship with death48:18 Jon’s guest recommendation: Michael Montgomery

PF Jung is a YouTube content creator renowned for making the meme of "Enlightened Centrism" great again. He's a self-styled "memetic feudal lord" and "applied sociologist" who has gotten himself in trouble for his attempts to bridge the polarities in society and seeking to bring the far right and far left together. He creates philosophical and political commentary content exploring nuanced positions that resist tribal categorisation, though this approach has led to significant challenges navigating the online political space. You can find Paul's work at: YouTube: youtube.com/@PFJung In this conversation, I sit down with Paul to explore the crisis facing political nuance in online spaces. We discuss his co-opting of the Enlightened Centrism meme, why holding mixed political views has become increasingly difficult to sustain online, and the exhausting work of maintaining charitable interpretation when everyone wants the fight. Paul shares his experience growing a channel whilst managing contradictions, navigating the Peterson-adjacent space, and what it means to be at the "edge of the inside" of multiple political communities. We also explore why the online political warzone demands tribal allegiance and whether there's still room for complexity in an era of constant gotchas and worst-case interpretations. ⏳ Timestamps 00:00 James's Intro01:15 What is Enlightened Centrism? Paul's co-opted meme02:49 Defining the position: right-wing and left-wing on different issues04:00 Contradictions of Centrism05:08 Crisis of National Identity13:15 Horseshoe Theory vs Fishhook Theory16:56 The Political Divide20:29 PF Jung's most right-wing belief22:40 Economic shifts and onshoring23:43 Critique of the US economy26:42 Economic decadence and hyper-novelty30:52 Radical Centrism in action36:50 Constitution treated as religion42:28 Type I vs Type II errors in governance43:46 Radical solution for digital culture45:15 PF Jung's axiom of faith48:06 Populist movements and preference cascades1:00:33 Identity crisis of the channel1:17:47 Edge of the Inside archetype1:25:58 Guest recommendation

Brendan Graham Dempsey is a metatheory researcher at the Institute of Applied Metatheory and host of the Metamodern Meaning podcast. His work bridges evolutionary theory, developmental psychology, and worldview studies, bringing empirical rigour to questions about how human consciousness and culture evolve. His latest book, Psyche and Symbolic Learning, is the second in a planned ten-volume series exploring these themes through the lens of hierarchical complexity and neo-Piagetian developmental frameworks. You can find Brendan’s work at: Metamodern Meaning podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@BrendanGrahamDempsey Brendan’s Substack: https://brendangrahamdempsey.substack.com/ Brendan’s website: https://www.brendangrahamdempsey.com/ Our previous chats: Philosophy Wisdom and Metamodernism Critiquing Metamodernism In this conversation, Brendan introduces me to the ambitious world of metatheory – an attempt to create a unified, coherent understanding of all human knowledge by bridging disciplines from neuroscience to sociology to the humanities. We explore his new role researching worldviews empirically at the Institute of Applied Metatheory, where he’s working to bring scientific rigour to questions that have long been speculative: Can we measure the complexity of worldviews? Do cultures develop through predictable stages? How complex is the Bible compared to Homer, or a text message to your mam? We dive deep into hierarchical complexity, a psychological framework that quantifies the sophistication of thinking across domains and time periods. Brendan shares fascinating research comparing the cognitive complexity of ancient religious texts, from early biblical narratives to the Epic of Gilgamesh, revealing how literacy transforms meaning-making structures. We discuss the difference between metatheory and interdisciplinary work, why spiral dynamics isn’t quite a metatheory, and how this research programme aims to give metamodernism and integral theory the empirical grounding they’ve long needed. This is a conversation for those curious about the big questions: How does all human knowledge fit together? Can we study worldviews scientifically? And what does it mean to truly understand complexity? ⏳ Timestamps 00:00 James’s Intro 01:30 Brendan’s new role at the Institute of Applied Metatheory 03:24 What is metatheory? Situating theories within a bigger picture 06:05 Cognitive science vs. metatheory: Where are the edges? 07:37 Consilience and the unified theory of knowledge 10:27 What is the “normal science” of metatheory? 15:14 Applying metatheory: From integral medicine to worldview research 20:48 Systematising worldview terminology: Paradigms, gestalts, and meaning-making structures 23:03 Measuring cognitive complexity in texts 24:11 Can we validate developmental claims empirically? 25:08 Hierarchical complexity and neo-Piagetian psychology 28:30 Dynamic skill theory: Why you’re not “at a stage” 32:30 What does complexity mean? Is it like IQ? 33:00 Complexity as a scale of task performance, not hardware 35:05 Skill webs and context-dependent performance 37:12 Measuring texts: From texting your mam to ancient scriptures 42:14 Scoring the Bible: Early narratives vs. scribal texts 44:43 The documentary hypothesis and complexity differences in biblical sources 45:09 Literacy’s impact: Hunter-gatherer texts vs. scribal complexity 46:24 Homer, Gilgamesh, and the wisdom of Ptahhotep: Comparing ancient complexity 49:48 Translation challenges in measuring ancient texts 56:49 Education, zip codes, and complexity gaps 59:28 Why developmental models are more optimistic than IQ 1:04:24 Metatheory and metamodernism: How they relate 1:03:15 Testing metamodern and integral claims about worldview development 1:04:24 Metatheory and metamodernism: How they relate 1:10:21 Integral theory and the metamodern landscape 1:12:03 Guest recommendations: Layman Pascal and Nick Headland 1:14:08 Where to find Brendan

"The protection of interiority is the central motivation of Metamodernism." So says Greg Dember, a Seattle-based musician, songwriter and independent researcher in Metamodernism. As the co-founder of the What Is Metamodern? website with Linda Ceriello, PhD, Greg’s writing and podcast appearances speaking on metamodernism have helped popularize the terminology outside of academic discourse through accessible writing. He is the author of Say Hello To Metamodernism!: Understanding Today’s Culture of Ironesty, Felt Experience, and Empathic Reflexivity (2024 Exact Rush). He is also a co-editor of the forthcoming multi-author volume, My Impossible Soul: The Metamodern Music of Sufjan Stevens (Bloomsbury/Lexington). He holds a BA (1987) from Yale University. ____________ Greg and Linda's Metamodern site - https://www.whatismetamodern.com Greg's article on the 11 methods of Metamodernism - https://medium.com/what-is-metamodern/after-postmodernism-eleven-metamodern-methods-in-the-arts-767f7b646cae Greg's book on Metamodernism - https://www.amazon.com/Say-Hello-Metamodernism-Understanding-Reflexivity/dp/B0DHGFKZ8W/ __________ In this conversation, I sit down with Greg to explore metamodernism as the cultural backdrop that's emerged since roughly 2000, taking over from postmodernism's ironic detachment. We discuss how metamodernism oscillates between modern earnestness and postmodern irony to defend the significance of interiority and felt experience. Greg introduces his framework of 11 metamodern methods—including empathic reflexivity and the double frame—and we examine how artists like the Daniels (Everything Everywhere All At Once), Wes Anderson, Bo Burnham, and even The Beatles navigate this territory. The conversation ranges from David Letterman's evolution to Don Quixote as a proto-metamodern text, exploring how this sensibility has spread from indie niches into mainstream culture, and what it means for how we make and experience art today. _____________ ⏳Timestamps 0:00 Episode Intro2:26 Greg's current work: Sufjan Stevens book3:26 What is metamodernism? Cultural backdrop since 20104:50 From modernism to postmodernism to metamodernism7:36 David Letterman: from postmodern irony to Metamodern maturity10:32 The oscillation between modern and postmodern attributes12:26 Jimmy Fallon and the trend toward sincere enthusiasm15:56 Felt experience vs. detached observation19:26 Bo Burnham's Metamodern masterpiece "Inside"24:31 Rick Glassman and the Dance of Irony25:26 The new sincerity and its relationship to metamodernism28:26 Defending interiority as Metamodernism's central motivation31:38 From indie niches to mainstream: Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift33:29 Everything Everywhere All At Once: metamodernism as hell38:26 Wes Anderson and the metamodern sensibility39:28 The 11 metamodern methods framework40:31 Method #1: Empathic reflexivity40:56 Method #2: Oscillation between modern/postmodern dualities41:24 Method #3: The double frame (Raoul Eshelman)44:26 Quirky as a metamodern aesthetic46:26 Irony vs. cynicism: an important distinction49:26 Don Quixote as proto-metamodern?53:26 History rhymes: Shakespeare, Nietzsche, and cultural crossroads57:26 Exploring quirky and other metamodern methods59:39 Play, playfulness, and Wes Anderson1:01:01 Method #4: Meta-cute1:01:46 Moonrise Kingdom and Fantastic Mr. Fox as meta-cute1:03:56 Protecting interiority: the motivation behind metamodern art1:04:56 Metamodernism as reclaiming something eternally human1:06:26 Sufjan Stevens and the Illinois album1:07:16 Proto-metamodern vs. actually metamodern: the key distinction1:08:26 The Metamodern "Rocky Racoon"1:12:29 The Proto Metamodern Morrissey and The Smiths1:14:43 Guest recommendation: Linda Ceriello1:14:58 Where to find Greg's work