Against Everyone with Conner Habib

Lory Widmer Hess is the author of When Fragments Make a Whole, as well as a caregiver and spiritual direction facilitator in Switzerland. Her book chronicles her healing journey with the gospels - through various illness, medical procedures, and emotional and soul challenges - from an esoteric viewpoint.Support AEWCH on patreon: patreon.com/connerhabibLory's website: https://enterenchanted.com/Lory's book: When Fragments Become A Whole

Friends,Against Everyone with Conner Habib is eight years old today! Not many media projects last for eight years or make it up to nearly 300 episodes at this point.  To celebrate, I talk here about conversation; what it means to all of us. After all, if I asked you if conversation had changed your life, you'd probably say yes. A conversation that set you down a career path, or a new place to move to. An argument that went haywire and ended your relationship. A flirtation that led to the great love of your life.But we forget, too, that other people's conversations change our lives. What does it mean to do a podcast, and how has the landscaping of podcasts degraded, fallen apart, as well as grown, in the past eight years? What have I noticed?As a bonus, I've attached my very first episode at the end. It's clumsy, personal, filled with insecurity and uncertainty. Please support the show - all eight years and 295 (free!) episodes of it - on patreon.Patreon.com/connerhabib

Episode DescriptionI'm joined by author, teacher, and theorist, Douglas Rushkoff. He's one of the most important intellectuals of our time, some people call him a futurist, but he's always a step ahead of the future. The is the part 2 of the conversation we had on Doug's podcast, TEAM HUMAN called "LIVE UP TO YOUR FOOL POTENTIAL". But of course, it also stands on its own and you don't have to listen to them in order.This show is supported through listeners. No ads! Please do support it via Patreon: patreon.com/connerhabibConner's Website: connerhabib.comConner's Instagram: https:/www.instagram.com/againsteveryonewithconnerhabibAnd please also consider supporting Team Human on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/teamhumanDouglas's website.

I talk with co-hosts of the Light in Every Thing podcast, Rev. Jonah Evans & Rev. Patrick Kennedy about meeting the world not as a "problem" to be solved, but as a realm already overcome by spiritual love.

From the archives - I talk with Italian philosopher and author FEDERICO CAMPAGNA about the urgent task of our time... which is nothing less than the recreation of reality itself!

I talk with writer, author, and esoteric health practitioner ARE THORESEN.The language of inevitability is upon us, and it is a cruel language, one that allows no discussion of freedom or our ability to direct things. The future - a terrible future - is filled with AI, the effects of climate crisis, fascisms, and wars. And our present - a terrible present - is only going to get worse.In other words, we're given a unified picture of where we're going and what's happening and how to feel about all of it.Of course, the language of inevitability can only show us relatively little. A narrow look at presumed (or manipulated) outcomes.The future is as wide open as ever.Difference and mutability is closer to the truth: whatever happens will happen differently, to different places, and to each and every one of us.Why? Because material laws and spiritual laws flourish differently in each person's life. We all have our own levels and areas of understanding, aptitude, capacity, and education. We all express differing variations on one theme, but that theme is the cosmos.This is the starting point for my conversation with occultist, veterinarian, and author, ARE THORSEN. Are has been on the show many times, most recently on AEWCH 243, when we talked about illness, health, and the end of materialism. Also on AEWCH 205 on Ragnarok, and AEWCH 116 on demonology & nothingness. His most recent books, The Four Doors and Fading and Merging are available via Amazon. Other recent books (which you can order via independent bookstore through the links here) include Meeting Michael: Further Communications from Spirit Worlds and Travels on the Northern Path of Initiation: Vidar and Baldur, the Three Elemental Realms and the Inner and Outer Etheric Worlds.On this episode, we discuss the technique of connecting with the spiritual world, and more specifically why meditation isn't enough... we need to walk into the spiritual world. And how?

My guest this episode is writer, scholar, teacher, and astrologer, RONNIE PONTIAC. I've been impressed and informed by Ronnie's esoteric work for awhile now, and finally, we got to have our first conversation. And it's a profound one...We talk about the need for a spiritual path in our moment, and how the alternative is... well, quite grim. We talk about how spirituality can lead us into a path of hatred and personal gain. We talk about my suspicion about astrology, how I think it works, how I think it does't work, why so much of it is wrong (and why Ronnie is so often right!). And there's so much more on this episode (Including my extended intro on the esoteric aim of being a Friend To Humanity.)Ronnie was a key figure at the Philosophical Research Society founded in 1934 by Manly Palmer Hall. The PRS is still around, and promotes, teaches, and offers research opportunities into the esoteric & philosophical of all societies; with the values of freedom, community, objective study, and inclusiveness at its core. He's the author most recently of American Metaphysical Religion: Esoteric and Mystical Traditions of the New World. His forthcoming book, which can preorder now, is The Rosicrucian Counterculture: The Origins and Influence of the Invisible Society.

I talk with spiritual teacher and author Lisa Romero about the challenges that are facing us today and an unlikely key to progressing through them: the esoteric mysteries of Ireland.

This is the is the sixth and final episode in a series of episodes on How To Live in 2025, focusing on the thoughts, feelings, and actions we need to thrive, develop,  create, and resist. In other words, tools that don't merely deaden us in the frantic pursuit of survival, but that assist us in nourishing ourselves, each other, and the world, all together.This time, the theme is READand my guest is ALEXANDER CHEE.At the end of this episode, the exercise is a little different. First we do a reading for you, the listener, in the world and its anxieties and challeneges. We consider what they are, how to approach them, and how not to approach them. Then, Alex and I do a reading for what you could be reading... We draw a tarot card and let it give book recommendations.Alex the author of three books, most recently his essay collection How To Write An Autobiographical Novel, and also two novels, Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night.

This is the fifith in a series of episodes on How To Live in 2025, focusing on the thoughts, feelings, and actions we need to thrive, develop,  create, and resist.In other words, tools that don't merely deaden us in the frantic pursuit of survival, but that assist us in nourishing ourselves, each other, and the world, all together.The theme isPEACEKEEPand my guest isCHEYNEY RYAN.Cheyney works withThe Oxford Consortium for Human Rights. He's a a researcher; professor; founder of the Institute for Ethics, Law, and Armed Conflict at Oxford; and author, most recently, of the excellent book,Pacifism as War Abolitionism and also ofThe Chickenhawk Syndrome: War, Sacrifice, and Personal Responsibility, as well as many articles on peace activism, pacifism, Marxism, and nonviolent action (you can find links to plenty of the here).PEACEKEEP was a word I had to invent for the show because we have such an undeveloped language of peace. While the lexicon of war is extensive, the act of creating true peace in the world doesn't exist in an active word. That is in part because thewar system - as Cheyney calls the autonomous, seemingly inexorable network of war activities, sites, motivations, and contracts - has instead on the articulation of its own anatomy. It's entranced us into detailing its every contour so that we become more and more convinced of its reality and density.

This is the third in a series of episodes on HOW TO LIVE IN 2025, focusing on the thoughts, feelings, and actions we need to thrive, develop, create, and resist. At the end of each of these episodes, I'll offer an exercise - a thought exercise, spiritual exercise, or practical exercise - that brings an experiential dimension to what I and the shows guests talk about. This episode's theme is DIEand my guest is bestselling author and host of the Ask A Mortician YouTube channel, CAITLIN DOUGHTY.

This is the third in a series of episodes on HOW TO LIVE IN 2025, focusing on the thoughts, feelings, and actions we need to thrive, develop, create, and resist. At the end of each of these episodes, I'll offer an exercise - a thought exercise, spiritual exercise, or practical exercise - that brings an experiential dimension to what I and the shows guests talk about. This episode's theme is CONNECTAnd my guest is organizer, activist, and writer, DEAN SPADE Our disconnection from each other is the negative space that power thrives in. It's a void that threatens to overtake us with its heavy unfeeling emptiness. Connection is the remedy, but more than that: it's the great meaning we all seek. The connections we form with each other can create networks of mutual aid, solidarity, safety, love, pleasure, and happy engagement with the challenges of our time. Dean's new book, Love in a F*cked-Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell Together offers a powerful look at connection. And it gives everything its title promises: a wealth of practical steps you can take to learn how to live well in this world through what you learn in relationship with others. It's a book about relationships that takes nothing for granted from the dominant narratives that rule our lives. Rather than trying to fit society as it is, the book asks us what it would look like if our relationships were built out of our desires, including our desire to create a better word through better relationships.

This is the second in a series of episodes on HOW TO LIVE IN 2025, focusing on the thoughts, feelings, and actions we need to thrive, develop,  create, and resist. At the end of each of these episodes, I'll offer an exercise - a thought exercise, spiritual exercise, or practical exercise - that brings an experiential dimension to what I and the shows guests talk about. This episode's theme: PRAYand my guest, ⁠BASTIAAN BAAN⁠. Bastiaan Baan is a teacher, author, and was a Christian Community priest in the Netherlands. His many books include the just-released ⁠Trust in the Future: Facing Uncertain Times With Confidence⁠; his book on the relationship between Christianity and the elemental beings, ⁠Lord of the Elements: Interweaving Christianity and Nature⁠; and his exploration of christian paths of meditation, ⁠Ways into Christian Meditation⁠. He also speaks around the world on spiritual topics.

This is the first in a series of episodes on How To Live in 2025, focusing on the thoughts, feelings, and actions we need to thrive, develop,  create, and resist. At the end of each of these episodes, I'll offer an exercise - a thought exercise, spiritual exercise, or practical exercise - that brings an experiential dimension to what I and the shows guests talk about. That way, you won't only be participating by listening, but you can actually bring some of the vitality of the conversation forward. The theme and action of this episode is ENVISION.And my guest is ROB HOPKINS. Rob is the author of From What Is to What If: Unleashing the Power of Imagination to Create the Future We Want and the forthcoming Falling in Love with the Future. He's also the host of the excellent 100-episode podcast, From What If to What Next which features a different conversation with big thinkers on each episode. He's also a founder of the Transition Network, which works via multiple initiatives (planting trees, local food sufficiency, alternate modes of transport, mental health support, and more) to usher towns and communities out of their entanglement with cultural, political and economic death, and into thriving and healthy sufficiency.

The task ahead is daunting: We must totally recreate economy, politics, and culture. How can we move forward with help from the three gifts of the magi: gold, frankincense, and myrrh?

I talk with money teacher and listener favorite PILAR LESKO about the spiritual realities of making, spending, and gifting money in challenging times.

Our inner lives do matter, more than ever, in this moment. But how do they matter, and how can we offer them up to the tasks of our time? And what if some of us get those inner conditions properly oriented to the spiritual work of the world we're in, but most people don't? Will any of it make a difference?To discuss this, I welcomed author and teacher Lisa Romero back to the show.Lisa and I talked about these themes before on the show, on AEWCH 257, but now we develop them more deeply here, particularly in relation to how the world is unfolding.

Friends,In the wake of Donald Trump's second election win, amongst those who didn't vote for him at least, calls for mourning and grieving have been issued all around. The idea being that something has been lost, that it may be irretrievable, that a brokenness must be felt and that we should honor that feeling. But what if instead of making room to mourn, we notice that we've already made plenty of room for feeling — too much, in fact — and what if all that expression of feeling has become part of the problem? On this episode, I look into the problems with our feelings about politics when they don't meet our thinking and action correctly. Rather than make lots of predictions about what's next. or try to figure out who to blame, or even assume that anyone who listens to the show voted one way or the other, I consider 1. The problems with the intense expressions of emotion. 2. How Trump was elected again anyway (with as little speculation as possible). 3. Why the political realm is dead in its current form. 4. Where we can draw strength from to create a new political life that can adapt to individuals and economies. 5. What to do about the fact that a lot of people are our "enemies." 6. The path that we're on in the world and in our own development. Together and in each of our individualities, we will create a new way.

I talk with Faroese songwriter and performer Eivør about music, water, The Faroe Islands, and myth!

I talk with authors/teachers/organizers DEAN SPADE (Mutual Aid) & SHULI BRANSON (Practical Anarchism) about how to get out of the mindset of the state as the election approaches, and how to think about creative and real engagement with the political instead.

On the heels of the release of their first album in 20 years (!) I talk with Karate frontman GEOFF FARINA about music as a conversation with ideas, and how music creates a lens for life.

Michaelmas is the esoteric christian celebration of the Archangel Michael. How can connecting with the impulses of the holiday show us how to co-share their burden of those who are suffering; strengthen love through our will; and leave the path of empowering violence?

Why is white magic so ill-defined? And why is it vital for our spirituality today AND if the occult is going to continue to matter? This is the second episode in a two part series on white magic, and on this one, I strive towards a definition by giving seven points.

Why is white magic so ill-defined? And why is it vital for our spirituality today AND if the occult is going to continue to matter? I begin this short series of episodes by looking at Saint Brendan the Navigator and how his seven-year voyage from Ireland to North America, as well as my encounters with him, can help us understand what white magic is.

Part two in a two part series on figuring out - from a spiritual rather than materialist starting point - how to live in our moment.

Part one in a short series on figuring out - from a spiritual rather than materialist starting point - how to live in our moment.

Friends, How does music become meaningful? How does it become meaning? And what can we learn about reality from music without reducing music to its function? Rudolf Steiner said “The music of the spheres is a reality. As soon as we come into the spiritual world which lies beyond the soul-world, we are in a world which lives altogether in sound and song, in melody and harmony, and harmonies of spoken sound. Out of these inner relationships of sound the human ear is formed. “ I invited guitarist and songwriter BEN CHASNY  AKA SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE on the show to discuss all of this. Ben last appeared on the show way back on AEWCH 45 when we talked about Rudolf Steiner and the spiritual aspects of intervals. Well... sort of. Ben's actually been on every episode for quite some time because we recreated the AEWCH theme song (originally co-composed with AEWCH guest, Jeb Havens) together. On this episode, he plays the song live and we discuss writing it together. We talk about the essential aspects of music, if there are any. And we look at the spiritual influencer culture of podcasting that has eroded its credibility over the years.At the end, Ben plays "The Mission" from the recent Six Organs of Admittance album Time Is Glass, which is, as it turns out, about me and my boyfriend.

Why is transforming time the most urgent task? I examine this through the works of Jean Gebser, Rudolf Steiner, Byron Katie, Jeff Vandermeer, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Emmanuel Swedenborg, and more.

I talk with legendary experimental pop musician and philosopher TOM KRELL, AKA, How To Dress Well, about art, spirt, and connecting with each other in the vast distances between us.

Hope is dead. Long live hope! Whereas once hope was simply an audacious wish that we turned over to representatives of power, hope now can be a radical act through which we erode power. But how? How do we leverage hope to help us direct and engage rather than simply wish and spectate? To investigate this, I asked one of the most exciting and influential political thinkers of our time, JOHN HOLLOWAY. John is the author of many influential and internationally recognized books, including Hope in Hopeless Times (the last in a series of books about how to find new strategies of flourishing and living away from capitalism, starting with Change the World Without Taking Power: The Meaning of Revolution Today and its sequel, Crack Capitalism.) He teaches sociology in the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, and has worked with the Zapatista movement. In this episode, we talk about hope without delusion. Dreaming big without forgetting to act, acting small without forgetting the big vision, how and why we need to get rid of money, and more. I'm so happy to have spoken with John and to share this with you!

“The study of movement is a science of the imperceptible...” In the final episode of my series on scientific concepts, I talk with historian of science and culture, Janina Wellmann, about the mystery of motion, movement, and stillness.

I talk with author of The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt's New World and Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self, Andrea Wulf about the meeting point of science and art... and why it matters so much. Episode six in my series on how science intersects with our lives!

I talk with Predrag Slijepčevic, biologist and author of Biocivilisations: A New Look at the Science of Life about the radical potential of biology and symbiosis! This is the fifth episode in my series on how scientific concepts intersect with our lives.

I do a deep dive on the work of scientist, psychoanalyst, Marxist, and criminal, Wilhelm Reich... both on my own and with Dr. James Strick. It's a whole episode examining Reich's theories and experiments, as part of my series of episodes on how science intersects with our daily lives!

I talk with cultural theorist and nature philosopher ERICA BERRY, author of Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We Tell about Fear. This is the third episode in a series of episodes about how science and scientific concepts intersect with our lives!

I talk with wildlife biologist and the co-host of my favorite podcast, Tooth & Claw, about what happens when animals attack people, and why it makes for such a good story. The second episode in my series of episodes on how science and scientific concepts intersect with our lives.

In the first episode in a series of episodes about how scientific concepts intersect with our lives in surprising ways, I talk with author of In Light Years There's No Hurry, Marjolijn van Heemstra about the way that conceptualizing space differently can heal and transform us in the face of the challenges that confront us today.

On this challenging episode, I talk with author and psychoanalyst Avgi Saketopoulou about how to reframe what trauma is, and how to think beyond consent.

On Thursday, March 28, myself and journalist & organizer UNA MULLALLY, presented the event THE BEGINNING IS NEAR in Dublin, where we talked about the end of the world and what comes after that. It marked in person with frequent AEWCH guests, philosopher and activist SREĆKO HORVAT, and cultural critic and writer MARK O'CONNELL. The event marked Srećko's first speaking engagement in Ireland, and also my first attempt at creating an "AEWCH event" in Ireland. I'd love to do many more. The night was broken into halves: first, we talked about apocalypse. Then we had a short break and spoke about renewal. What arose was a challenging set of indications and prospects, failures and pathways. Some questions that came up: Is the apocalypse always happening? What does the esoteric tell us about how to live beyond apocalypse? What is the role of art in renewal? Why is it important to evade the political realm? What is the use of hope? Enjoy the episode!

On this personal, spiritual, and worldly episode, I talk with spiritual teacher and writer Lisa Romero - using events in my own life - about how turning point in our lives, and our relationships, can offer opportunities to help the world's development... if we work through them properly.

I talk with novelist, essayist, playwright, and organizer Sarah Schulman about bringing utopianism and reform together in the political and cultural realms.

I talk with journalist, activist, and artist Una Mullally about what happens after collapse and how we can learn to draw strength from the destruction of who we once were.

After a short break, we're back - and AEWCH 228 guest SHULI BRANSON returns to discuss anarchism, spirituality, and peace. This is a special crossposted episode with Shuli's excellent new podcast, The Breakup Theory!

I talk with author of BIG FICTION: HOW CONGLOMERATION CHANGED THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY AND AMERICAN LITERATURE, Dan Sinykin, about how the aesthetics of what we read is shaped by big business decisions.

I talk with fantasy and horror novelist Sarah Maria Griffin about what it takes - and what it takes from you - to be a working writer.

I talk with Rev. Jonah Evans about what "spiritual work" is, how it differs from other kinds of work, how it differs from spiritual practice, and why we probably can't just call everything spiritual work.

Friends, Leftists and progressives more broadly are becoming increasingly aware of the lie of "loving what you do." And we're also becoming more aware of the ways corporations try to ameliorate real reflection and demands for higher wages via "perks" like organic cereal dispensers and "funny hat day" and other forms of glitzy dross. But conversations about all the above, as important as they are, can sometimes reduce fuller conversations to a political/rights dimension, which don't consider feeling, culture, the individual, or even economy. One of the sites of labor where this is evident is the "dream job." That's a category that includes YouTube "stars," writers, podcasters, adult performers, and more. My friend - regular AEWCH guest, the bestselling author and mortician and YouTube star of Ask A Mortician - Caitlin Doughty and I have been "making content" for over a decade. We talk about how the landscape has changed, where it's going, but mostly how this particular form of work is emblematic for the "dream job" that is at once elevated and belittled in our society, free and exhausting, life-giving and soul-killing. My hope is that you'll reflect on your own work and dreams as you listen. And that we'll all talk more about how to make our artistic efforts more free and easier to engage with, while at the same time dissolving the "grind" of it. Happy 250 episodes to this crazy, exhausting, fun, enlivening thing. Thanks for being along for the ride. XO CH

Why would anyone start a podcast? Doesn't everyone have a podcast? Is podcast work actually work? Is there a spiritual aspect to podcasting? (And also, why do we all have to work, even with all this crazy stuff going on in the world?)

Is peace possible? If so, is it possible or even okay to find it in a time of extreme conflict and violence? Is it ethical to work towards your personal goals in a time of crisis? I look at this from a spiritual perspective on the first episode of the year.

Happy Holidays, friends! Track List Elk River by Ben Chasney/Six Organs of Admittance from AEWCH 45 • Boomer Class by Dick Diver • What Have I Done by Anna Ternheim (live) • Sudden by Jeb Havens • The Speeding Train by The Van Pelt • The Land of Spirit and Light (Part 3) by Michael White • Galway Girl by Daoiri Farrell with Geoff Kinsella and Robbie Walsh live at the airport • TNT by Wye Oak • Ulna by Feathers • Steely Dan by Geoff Farina • Live Till You Die by Emitt Rhodes • AEWCH theme (Ronson-y version) by Conner Habib, Jeb Havens, and Ben Castle • You Forgot by Railroad Jerk

I talk with visionary artist and front person of Lungfish, musician Daniel Higgs about friendship, perceiving spiritual beings in a spiritual landscape, the way a presence appears in the middle of a concert, and the role trust plays in relationship and creating art.