The Learning To Die Podcast

I am joined by Ireland's stone-lifting ambassador, David Keohan, in this Learning to Die episode. We discuss the ancient practice of stone lifting in Ireland and many other countries globally, how it was a rite of passage for the youth, a challenge within the community and something to do for fun. Stone lifting is an art that was lost through 800 years under British occupation. Like many customs, aspects of culture and language that were lost during this occupation, Ireland is in a cultural revival, and David is leading the way by lifting stones. An element of Irish culture that was nearly lost, but David is on a quest to make stone lifting great again. This conversation undoubtedly enthused me, and I can't wait to dig more into this subject. The great thing about stone lifting is that it's free. Check out the episode and the links below. Items we discuss GQ article on David https://www.gq.com/story/the-quest-to-pick-up-the-lost-lifting-stones-of-ireland Irish Times Article on David https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2023/10/29/indiana-stones-meet-the-man-bringing-back-irelands-lost-culture-of-stone-lifting/ History of stones https://brigadoon.org.au/stalls-exhibitors/history-of-stones/ Sean Urq https://www.instagram.com/seanurq/ from https://liftingstones.org Map of Irish lifting stones https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1588334600/map-of-irish-lifting-stones Follow David on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/_indiana_stones_/?hl=en> I hope this was useful. Please enjoy this episode of the Learning to Die podcast.   Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au  for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au

In this episode, we are joined once again by Professor Seamus O'Mahony. Seamus is a doctor and a prize-winning author. He worked for many years in the NHS, returning to his native city of Cork in 2001, where he was a gastroenterologist and clinical professor until February 2020. His first book, The Way We Die Now, won the British Medical Association's Council Chair's Choice award in 2017. Purchase the book here https://www.amazon.com/Way-We-Die-Now-Medicines/dp/1250112796 His second book, Can Medicine be Cured?  was published in 2019; purchase the book here: https://www.amazon.com.au/Can-Medicine-Cured-Corruption-Profession-ebook/dp/B07DKKVBL4 and his latest book The Ministry of Bodies, was published by Head of Zeus in March 2021. Purchase the book here https://www.amazon.com/Ministry-Bodies-Death-Modern-Hospital/dp/1838931929. He is a regular contributor to the Dublin Review of Books and the Medical Independent. He has written also for The Observer, the Irish Times, the Irish Independent, and the Saturday Evening Post. He is a member of the Lancet Commission on “The Value of Death” and is a visiting professor at the Centre for the Humanities and Health at King's College London. In this episode, we discuss his latest book "The Guru, the Bagman and the Sceptic" https://seamusomahony.com/books/the-guru-the-bagman-and-the-sceptic-a-story-of-science-sex-and-psychoanalysis/  You can purchase it here https://www.amazon.com.au/Guru-Bagman-Sceptic-science-psychoanalysis/dp/1803285656  I hope this was useful. Please enjoy this episode of the Learning to Die podcast.   Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au  for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au  

Greg Bennick is BACK!!! For another great episode. Greg Bennick is the author of the upcoming official biography of Ernest Becker. Greg has been speaking on stages worldwide for over thirty years.  Greg is a performer thought provoker, punk rock singer, and world traveller who infuses ideas and action everywhere he goes. He is the Executive Director and founder of One Hundred for Haiti, a non-profit supporting development programs in rural Haiti, and he is a co-founder of the Portland Mutual Aid Network, which collectively supports the houseless and unsheltered community in Portland, Oregon. He lives in Seattle, Washington. Greg's previous episode with us is https://learningtodie.com.au/podcasts/3-dolphins-to-wwii-with-greg-bennick-on-the-work-of-ernest-becker/ Contact our guest Greg: https://gregbennick.com/ Check out our research study on dreams, death anxiety and religion. Open to all >18 years https://dreamteam.study/   Links from our discussion Podcasts Dr Rachel Menzies on her book about denial of death “Mortals” https://learningtodie.com.au/podcasts/27-dr-rachel-menzies-mortals-how-the-fear-of-death-shaped-human-society/ Freeman Dyson and Stephen Blackwood: On the Freedom of Thought and Nature https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSbY8I-3338   Books Ernest Becker books https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/ernest-becker/205137/ Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind by Tom Holland https://www.amazon.com.au/Dominion-Making-Western-Tom-Holland/dp/1408706954 Dr Iain McGilchrist “The Matter with Things” https://channelmcgilchrist.com/matter-with-things/ Rene Girard, Scapegoats https://www.amazon.com.au/Scapegoat-Ren%C3%A9-Girard/dp/0801839173 Yukio Mishima Sun and Steel   People Ernest Becker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Becker Freeman Dyson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeman_Dyson Alan Watts https://alanwatts.org/life-of-alan-watts/ Yukio Mishima Sun and Steel   Information: Religious affiliation in Australia https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/religious-affiliation-australia Academic paper: Riordan, D.V. The Scapegoat Mechanism in Human Evolution: An Analysis of René Girard's Hypothesis on the Process of Hominization. Biol Theory 16, 242–256 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-021-00381-y Follow us Ciaran on Substack https://substack.com/profile/23799980-quarrelsome-life The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au.  

In this episode, we are joined by Dr Neil Durrant. Neil is a former Anglican minister turned philosopher. We discuss Neil's book "Nietzsche's Renewal of Ancient Ethics, Friendship as Contest" https://www.booktopia.com.au/nietzsche-s-renewal-of-ancient-ethics-neil-durrant/book/9781350298873.html. Nietzsche's Renewal of Ancient Ethics connects different strands in Nietzsche's studies to progress a unique interpretation of friendship in his writings. Neil Durrant explores this alternative approach to Nietzsche's ethics through the influence of ancient Greek ideals on his ideas, highlighting the importance of contest for developing strong friendships. Durrant traces the history of what Nietzsche termed a 'higher friendship' to the ancient Greek ideal of the Homeric hero. In this kind of friendship, neither person attempts to tyrannize or dominate the other but aims to promote the differences between them to stimulate stronger and fiercer contests. Through this exchange, they discover new heights-new standards of excellence-both for themselves and for others.   Links discussed in this episode 3 reasons not to be a Stoic (but try Nietzsche instead https://theconversation.com/3-reasons-not-to-be-a-stoic-but-try-nietzsche-instead-198307 Fredrich Nietzsche https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche BBC documentary on Nietzsche Genius of the Modern World - Friedrich Nietzsche The 1-minute video in which "all white people" are declared racist:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAMofeTJpRk  Part 2/3 of Russell Walter's Nietzsche series in which he discusses "Agon":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WHAEIvtXN4 Russell Walter's awesome video about Mishima:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEgBI8_R9l8&t=885s  Yukio Mishima Sun and Steel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukio_Mishima McGilchrist: The Coincidence of Opposites Iain McGilchrist: The Coincidence of Opposites Connect with Neil LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-durrant-highered/ Neil's website https://neildurrant.com/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/neildurrant/ Twitter https://twitter.com/drneildurrant Substack https://neildurrant.substack.com/p/contempt Follow us Ciaran on Substack https://substack.com/profile/23799980-quarrelsome-life Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au  for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au.

“I know more now than I ever knew before, it's far worse than I ever imagined it could be, but I actually have more hope now than I ever had that we can actually do something about it.” These are the words of our guest today, Thomas O'Connor. Thomas is a farmer and small business owner from Kerry, Ireland, and a spokesperson for the Irish farming organisation Talamh Beo https://talamhbeo.ie Ciaran and Thomas discuss geopolitical instability and feeding people in times of global supply chain disruptions food security vs food sovereignty the importance of animal-inclusive food systems the role of soil health how to make Irish farming make resilient what regular people can do to improve food sovereignty, and much more. Feel free to start listening/watching straight away. However, if you'd like to know more, the writing below is a 2-3-minute read by Ciarán that offers some background information. Why is a philosophy podcast like ours doing an episode on farming? On one level, it is very simple: “No Farms, No Food”. This is a slogan of the Dutch farmers who are being scapegoated as villains, and who have even been associated with the “far right” by the influential journalist George Monbiot. Monbiot, an anti-livestock and pro-technology vegan activist who want us to eat hyper-processed fake meats made using “precision fermentation”, did an interview recently on Politics Joe in which he used the phrase “far right” at least a dozen times when discussing the Dutch farming protests. Moreover, he explicitly linked support for the farmers with Nazi “blood and soil” ideology. This is madness. The Dutch farmers feed millions and millions of people at a time of increasing geopolitical instability and worsening global food shortages. Thomas Fazi, in a recent piece for Unherd, brilliantly outlines key points around the attacks on farmers worldwide. He also explains the global consequences of “the Dutch government's proposal to cut nitrogen emissions by 50% in the country's farming sector by 2030”, at a time when “almost a billion people around the world are still affected by hunger”. And Vandana Shiva, the Indian environmentalist, social activist, and author, has also offered support for the Dutch farmers. Shiva recently described what is going on in Holland as a “farmers-citizen movement”, and said that citizens of the Netherlands “don't want their economy, their land, their country hijacked” by massive financial interests who want to centralize control over food and land because this “is where the future profits are seen by the billionaires.” And as can be seen in Ireland too, with continued attacks here on the agricultural industry that seem to have no regard for where our actual food will come from, the Dutch are the canaries in the coal mine. Then on another level, farming isn't just about the production of Calories. “Whose food you eat,” says Thomas in our chat, “their slave you are.” Thomas unpacked this statement throughout our discussion when he described how Talamh Beo, which means “Living land”, focuses on food sovereignty rather than just food security. While food security is about ensuring you have a minimum caloric value to stay alive, food sovereignty is about much more than that. Food sovereignty is about local production, nutrient-dense food, and culture, which all relate to wider ecological stewardship. This focus on food sovereignty is inspired by La Via Campesina.   La Via Campesina (LVC) is affiliated with farming organizations worldwide and has hundreds of millions of members. LVC represents the small-scale farmers who produce the majority of the world's food, and who have come together to resist corporate capture by big business. In a position paper from 2021 on the UN Food Systems Summit, LVC shines a light on the corporate capture they are pushing back against: “We believe it is essential to oppose the corporate capture of food systems because global agribusiness supports the imposition of financial and market paradigms to food production and distribution. This logic created the 2008 food crisis and has continued to negatively affect small-scale food producers and people, in general, all over the world.” LVC goes on to describe how “more and more UN policies” have been putting the “private interests and speculation” of transnational corporate entities above the interest of the public. These powerful transnational corporate interests, what we might call Big Food Oligarchs (BFOs), don't want localized, independent, resilient, community-based food production and distribution networks. BFOs want globalised, dependent, fragile and atomized consumers that they can assimilate into their market share and feed off of like vampires. In our conversation, Thomas describes what can be done to resist this machine: “My Dad used to say that ‘you came into the world the way it is, the best you can do is to change it a little bit.' So we're not responsible for the reality we came into, but we're definitely responsible for how we interact with that reality…We used to be custodians and part of the living landscape; we can be again.” I hope that was useful. Please enjoy this episode of the Learning to Die podcast.   Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au  for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au.                

In this episode, Ciaran and Ian sit down to have a chat on numerous topics to kick off 2023. Links to people and things we discuss in this episode • Bernardo Kastrup is the executive director of Essentia Foundation. His work has been leading the modern renaissance of metaphysical idealism, the notion that reality is essentially mental. He has a PhD in philosophy (ontology, philosophy of mind) and another PhD in computer engineering (reconfigurable computing, artificial intelligence) https://philpeople.org/profiles/bernardo-kastrup • Anna I. Krylov, The Peril of Politicizing Science, The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 2021 12 (22), 5371-5376 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01475. Read the paper here for free https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01475 • Bertrand Russell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell • Jordan Ernest Burroughs (born July 8, 1988) is an American freestyle wrestler and former Folkstyle wrestler who currently competes at 79 kilograms and previously competed at 74 kilos. In freestyle, he was the 2012 Olympic gold medallist, is the reigning and a six-time world champion (nine-time medallist), three-time Pan American Games Gold medallist, four-time Pan American champion, and four-time US Open national champion, and has made the US World or Olympic Team on 11 occasions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Burroughs • Oil protesters appear in court after throwing soup at Van Gogh painting https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/15/oil-protesters-appear-in-court-threw-soup-van-gogh-painting.html • Martin Shaw https://drmartinshaw.com/interview/ • John Moriarty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Moriarty_(writer) • Decoding Jung's Metaphysics: The Archetypal Semantics of an Experiential Universe https://www.amazon.com.au/Decoding-Jungs-Metaphysics-Archetypal-Experiential/dp/1789045657 Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au  for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au.

A brief 10-minute meditation for our sleep4performance listeners led by Alexis Santos, a meditation teacher. https://www.alexissantos.io/ Please do not listen while operating machinery, driving or undertaking any safety-critical role. This mediation is designed to support having a nap or initiating sleep in a safe, comfortable environment. Sleep Well!!!! Ian 

Today I am joined by Alexis Santos. Alexis has been in the field of mindfulness and meditation since 2001. After graduating from Harvard University in 1995, he spent several years in medical school before leaving his chosen doctor career to seek a different path. It was while travelling in India that he was introduced to insight meditation. Since that time, Alexis has practised in many meditative styles and traditions, including Sayadaw U Tejaniya, the Thai Forest tradition with Ajahn Sumedho, the Tibetan tradition with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche and within the lay Western insight community where he continues to learn from the growing diversity of voices. Alexis's primary teacher has been Sayadaw U Tejaniya, from the Burmese Theravada tradition, with whom he was ordained as a Buddhist monk from 2003 - 2005. Sayadaw encouraged Alexis to teach in 2012. Alexis also completed the Spirit Rock/IMS four-year teacher training program with Jack Kornfield and others, including mentors Joseph Goldstein and Carol Wilson.  Alexis teaches meditation at retreat centers around the world. He is featured on the Ten Percent Happier meditation app and is co-founder of Open Door Meditation Community in Portland, Maine, where he is a guest teacher. Alexis's teaching style is natural and uncrafted. He brings a practical, intuitive and compassionate approach to the development of wisdom. https://www.alexissantos.io/ Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au for all episodes and links. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au  or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au

Today we are joined by Dr Myriam Francois. Myriam is a former Research Associate at the Centre of Islamic Studies (CIS) at SOAS University. She completed her PhD (DPhil) at Oxford University, focusing on Islamic movements in Morocco in 2017. She holds an MA from Georgetown University (USA) and a BA from Cambridge University (UK). Her resume speaks for itself. She has worked with the BBC, Channel 4, Sky News, Al Jazeera, Huffington Post and many more. Some notable works include 2019 documentary “City of Refuge” examined the plight of Syrian refugees in Lebanon and aired on BBC Radio4 (April 2019) and BBC World Service (May 2019). Myriam is the presenter of BBC World Service documentaries on Brexit in Leave-voting town in Wales (Llanelli) (2019), and on #MeToo in the Muslim world (2018). Her Channel 4 documentary “The Truth about Muslim marriage” (11/2017) was nominated for the best investigative documentary in 2018 (AMA), as well as two BBC One documentaries, “The Muslim Pound” (aired 07/ 2016) and “A Deadly Warning: Srebrenica Revisited”, (aired 07/2015) which was nominated for the Sandford St Martin religious programming award 2016. Website https://www.myriamfrancois.com/ Twitter @MyriamFrancoisC Instagram myzfrancois Links and topics of discussion in this episode Institute of art and ideas https://iai.tv/ What is Islam? One God and the Quran https://quran.com/en as the most recent revelation from God. Praying multiple times a day helps to connect you to God and take a break from this world. Ramadan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramadan Charity and pilgrimage to Mecca https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/introduction-cultures-religions-apah/islam-apah/a/the-kaaba Lebanon and Israel The Sykes-Picot agreement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement Sunni and Shia Muslim https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-shia-sunni-divide-78216 Who was Rumi? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi Rumi Poems https://www.rumi.org.uk/poetry/ Hyper Normalisation Documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thLgkQBFTPw What is self-flagellation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-flagellation#:~:text=Self%2Dflagellation%20is%20the%20disciplinary,seen%20as%20a%20spiritual%20discipline and are ultra-endurance events a form of this, a means to go beyond? Sayadmansour A. Neurotheology: The relationship between brain and religion. Iran J Neurol. 2014;13(1):52-5. PMID: 24800050; PMCID: PMC3968360 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3968360/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CNeurotheology%E2%80%9D%20refers%20to%20the%20multidisciplinary,and%20brain%20sciences%20in%20general. How religions and practices are all streams going into the same ocean The Best Catholics in the World, The Irish, the Church and the End of a Special Relationship by Derek Scally https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-best-catholics-in-the-world-9781844885282 Joseph Massad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Massad The meaning of Jihad and the struggle within https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/what-does-jihad-really-mean-to-muslims What is Sharia? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au for all episodes and links. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au  or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au

Today I am joined by Mary Dennett or should I say, Sister Mary Dennett MA, BSc (Ed) Grad Dip (Ed Admin). Mary is a Sister of Mercy with many years of experience in secondary education. She has attended the Earth Literacy Course in Genesis Farm, New Jersey, USA and Teilhard de Chardin's Prayer of the Universe and completed a MA in Culture and Spirituality at Holy Names University in California. In addition, she is my wife's auntie and is currently in palliative care in Melbourne, Australia. This was a privilege for me; talking to Mary at the end of her life at a young spritely 83 years old was beautiful and emotional. It has made me question many things in my life, and Mary has inspired me to value each day. It's hard to believe that Mary is in care; other than her lack of physicality, Mary is sharp, quick-witted and insightful about life. I hope you enjoy this episode. Sisters of Mercy https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sisters-of-Mercy Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au for all episodes and links Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au   or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au.

In this episode, Ciaran and I are joined by Dr Shane Creado in Chicago. Shane is a double board-certified sleep medicine doctor and psychiatrist. He practices functional sleep medicine, integrative psychiatry, and sports psychiatry, combining all those skills to uncover underlying factors that sabotage the patients, comprehensively treat them, and help them achieve their goals. He completed an undergraduate degree in physical therapy and went on to do an MD, graduating at the top of his class with Honours in every subject in medical school. He completed his psychiatric training at the University of Wisconsin, where they awarded him the graduating resident award for academic achievement. He then went on to a fellowship in Sleep Medicine at the University of Wisconsin because of the huge overlap between sleep and psychiatric issues. Topics we discuss in this epic episode with Shane. The value of storytelling and narrative for convey historical truths The neolithic burial chamber in Ireland called Newgrange Carl Jung archetypes Learning about yourself from facing your shadow, integrate the shadow The guesthouse by Rumi https://gratefulness.org/resource/guest-house-rumi/ The role of suffering to better our life The story of Job https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_(biblical_figure) Ying and Yang, Unification and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang “Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love, and hate, are necessary to human existence.” William Blake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake In Heraclitus's Fragments, he notes that tension is the very thing that makes life sing. Take a guitar string, for example. If you wind it too tight, it will snap. Too slack, and it will buzz and make no note at all. Heraclitus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraclitus Jordan Peterson on Evil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqoyQNUrGls The story of two wolves https://www.urbanbalance.com/the-story-of-two-wolves/ The use of biblical stories in today's world Carl Jung anima and animus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anima_and_animus Boethius https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boethius Thomas Jefferson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson Catholic church historical, social, cultural, religious, and personal context Stoicism in Catholicism and Christianity https://dailystoic.com/stoicism-and-christianity/ The Best Catholics in the World: The Irish, the Church and the End of a Special Relationship by Derek Scally https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-best-catholics-in-the-world-9781844885282 On the Genealogy of Morality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Genealogy_of_Morality#Summary Carl Jung and the shadow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhzBo0dZNpY Catholic church raided during service https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/coronavirus/outrage-after-police-stop-mt-hawthorn-st-bernadettes-church-service-to-check-masks-c-5565472 Derrin Brown https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derren_Brown Roland Fryer on Police violence in the USA https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/fryer/files/empirical_analysis_tables_figures.pdf Coleman Hughes https://colemanhughes.org/ Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl Covid in Sydney: Military deployed to help enforce lockdown https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-58021718 Who was Rumi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi Jungian Dream Interpretation - Marcus West https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x73dOSrn4fw Leo Tolstoy, A Confession, a short book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confession A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart by Martin Luther King Purchase Shane's book here Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes: The Cutting-edge Sleep Science That Will Guarantee a Competitive Advantage Contact Shane at shanecreado.com Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au for all episodes and links Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au   or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au.

In this episode, we are joined once again by Professor Seamus O'Mahony. Seamus is a doctor and a prize-winning author. He worked for many years in the NHS, returning to his native city of Cork in 2001, where he was a gastroenterologist and clinical professor until February 2020. His first book The Way We Die Now won the British Medical Association's council chair's choice award in 2017. Purchase the book here https://www.amazon.com/Way-We-Die-Now-Medicines/dp/1250112796 His second book Can Medicine be Cured?  was published in 2019, purchase the book here https://www.amazon.com.au/Can-Medicine-Cured-Corruption-Profession-ebook/dp/B07DKKVBL4 and his latest book The Ministry of Bodies was published by Head of Zeus in March 2021. Purchase the book here https://www.amazon.com/Ministry-Bodies-Death-Modern-Hospital/dp/1838931929 He is a regular contributor to the Dublin Review of Books and the Medical Independent. He has written also for The Observer, the Irish Times, the Irish Independent, and the Saturday Evening Post. He is a member of the Lancet commission on “The Value of Death” and is visiting professor at the Centre for the Humanities and Health at King's College London. In this episode, we discuss his involvement in this Lancet report. The Lancet is the top medical journal in the world with an impact factor of 79. The published Report of Lancet Commission on the Value of Death: bringing death back into life. You can read the entire report here (50 pages) for free https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02314-X/fulltext Here is a short summary video from the Lancet (

In the episode of the Learning to Die Podcast, Ian and Ciaran sit down to discuss the relationship between Christianity and Society. We had a theme for this conversation of a scoping review. We discuss this broad interesting and tumultuous relationship between Christianity and society. Items of discussion What is Marxism? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism Frans de Waal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frans_de_Waal Books we mention A confession by Leo Tolstoy, full free audiobook here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k9Qo4w3JVY Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind by Tom Holland The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name by Brian C. Muraresku A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart by Dr Martin Luther King Jr Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au for all episodes and links Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au

In this episode of the learning to die podcast I am joined by Dr Caitlin Duffy Caitlin graduated with a PhD in English Literature from Stony Brook University. Her dissertation focused on exploring the ways that 19th-century American gothic literature works to define liberalism and contemporary American horror films react to/define/challenge conceptions of neoliberalism.  She has been published in The Journal of Dracula Studies, Poe Studies, and a collection of essays on Trump in fiction. As a graduate student, she used her blog as a space for my comprehensive exam notes. You can read it here https://caitlinduffy.hcommons.org/blog/ Caitlin's work at Sublime Horror https://www.sublimehorror.com/author/caitlinduffy/ You can follow Caitlin on Twitter @caitduffy49 Here are a bunch of items we discussed in this episode, in no particular order. I hope you enjoyed the episode Blúiríní Béaloidis 21 - Samhain / Halloween (With Dr. Billy Mag Fhloinn) https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/blu-iri-ni-be-aloidis-21-samhain-halloween-with-dr/id1227741013?i=1000455434902 Head full of ghosts by Paul Tremblay https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Head_Full_of_Ghosts About Charles chestnut https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_W._Chesnutt Po Sandy by chestnut https://chesnuttarchive.org/item/ccda.works00014 Silas Weir Mitchell 1829-1914 a biographical memoir http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/mitchell-silas.pdf Physician Silas Weir Mitchell is perhaps best remembered for his “Rest Cure” for nervous women, depicted by his onetime patient Charlotte Perkins Gilman in “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892) https://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/01/go-rest Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce1842– 1914 was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose_Bierce His works we discuss Tales of Soldiers and Civilians is a collection of short stories by an American Civil War soldier,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_Soldiers_and_Civilians "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (1890) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Occurrence_at_Owl_Creek_Bridge> "The Eyes of the Panther https://literature.fandom.com/wiki/The_Eyes_of_the_Panther One of the first American Gothic novels, Edgar Huntly (1787) mirrors the social and political temperaments of the postrevolutionary United States. https://www.amazon.com.au/Edgar-Huntly-Sleep-Walker-Charles-Brown/dp/0140390626 Why Horror Seduces by Mathias Clasen https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/mobile/view/10.1093/oso/9780190666507.001.0001/oso-9780190666507 Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912) was an Irish author who is celebrated for his 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Stoker Something in the Blood: The Untold Story of Bram Stoker, the Man Who Wrote Dracula  https://www.amazon.com.au/Something-Blood-Untold-Stoker-Dracula/dp/1631493868 Dracula https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracula Darby O'Gill and the Little People is a Walt Disney movie from the 1950s. It was one of Sean Connery's first movies. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darby_O%27Gill_and_the_Little_People Barbian L, Sledzik PS, Reznick JS. Remains of War: Walt Whitman, Civil War Soldiers, and the Legacy of Medical Collections. Mus Hist J. 2012;5(1):7-28. doi:10.1179/mhj.2012.5.1.7 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3381362/> Walt Whitman and the Civil War https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/walt-whitman-and-civil-war/ Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au  for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au  

In this episode, we welcome back Gordon Marino. Gordon earned his PhD from the University of Chicago, M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, and B.A. from Columbia University. His areas of specialisation include History of Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, and Kierkegaard. He teaches philosophy and related courses as a professor at St. Olaf College and holds a position as the curator of the Kierkegaard Library. In 2018, Marino published his most recent book, The Existentialist's Survival Guide. He has authored and co-authored numerous works, including Kierkegaard in the Present Age. His articles have appeared in internationally acclaimed news sources and periodicals such as The Atlantic Monthly, New York Times Magazine, Wall Street Journal, and the American Poetry Review. Follow Gordon here https://www.existentialistscorner.com/ In this episode, we discuss The Cuban Missile crisis What is Existentialism? https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/  Values and cultural differences Nuclear near misses and a previous episode we did https://learningtodie.com.au/podcasts/13-nuclear-near-misses-and-vice-admiral-vasili-arkhipov/  Gordon's essay, "We must imitate Zelensky, not just admire him https://iai.tv/articles/we-must-imitate-zelensky-not-just-admire-him-auid-2085 Ciaran's essay Existential Roulette "Ukraine and the Quagmire of Defending Freedom in the Nuclear Age" https://quarrelsomelife.substack.com/p/existential-roulette?r=dknyr&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Operation Paperclip and how NASA had Nazi scientists Development of values and different values in our society Alexander Dugin and his impact on Russia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Dugin Unit 731 in the Japanese Army Appeasement in pre WW2 And an outlook on Tyson versus Whyte  Order Gordon's book here “The Existentialist's Survival Guide: How to Live Authentically in an Inauthentic Age”https://www.amazon.com.au/Existentialists-Survival-Guide-Authentically-Inauthentic/dp/0062435981 Follow Gordon on Twitter @GordonMarino Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au  for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au   or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au

In this episode, we catch up with @tommysantospn, AKA Tommy $, to discuss his previous role as a combat medic in the 82nd Airborne Artillery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/82nd_Airborne_Division_Artillery. His journey of self-development from his time in the military to attaining two master's degrees since then. However, this episode is primarily focused on Tommy's new quest. Tommy is going to Ukraine on a mission.  Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au for all episodes and links. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au  or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au

What an episode; we were thrilled to have Robb Wolf on the podcast. This was a great discussion led by Ciaran. Robb was scheduled to come on for 60 minutes but kindly stayed for 90 minutes. In this episode, we discussed many things today: the pandemic, diets, wokeism, environment, climate change, war, politics, and much more.  If you recognise Robb's name, you're not mistaken. He has been on the JRE podcast at least three times. He is a former research biochemist and a two time New York Times/WSJ Best Selling author of the Paleo Solution and Wired to Eat. He is a brown belt in BJJ (Robb, on his love of BJJ https://youtu.be/l_HcfDWuozA)has fought as an amateur kickboxer. Find out more about Robb here and his podcast at https://robbwolf.com/.  His recent work with Diane Rodgers can be accessed here https://www.sacredcow.info/about-sacred-cow. They recently appeared on the JRE podcast episode #1784 to discuss this work https://open.spotify.com/episode/0r7MbKFhtLf9RLOahCT1gU Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au for all episodes and links. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au  or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au.    

In this episode, Ciaran and I reflect on what is happening in Ukraine and the potential outcomes. If you have listened to our previous episodes you will know we have discussed Nuclear near misses. Will this be Nuclear war? Are we about to embark on World War III or a Cold War II? Is it East versus West all over again. More importantly, how the f$ck did we get to this.  Links to items we discuss  Jordan B Peterson on D-I-E must DIE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq2rBE5zwAs    The Return of Holy Russia: Apocalyptic History, Mystical Awakening, and the Struggle for the Soul of the World https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-return-of-holy-russia-apocalyptic-history-mystical-awakening-and-the-struggle-for-the-soul-of-the-world_gary-lachman/22995467/#edition=24585393   ON UKRAINE, THERE'S NO WAR THAT EMOTIONAL HASTINESS CAN'T MAKE WORSE https://gript.ie/on-ukraine-theres-no-war-that-emotional-hastiness-cant-make-worse/ The second coming by WB Yeats https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43290/the-second-coming   Check out Ciaran's writing work at Areo on this subject and more https://areomagazine.com/author/ciaranatsigmanutrition/   Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au for all episodes and links Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au  

In this episode, we speak to Dr Rachel Menzies. Rachel is a clinical psychologist and member of the Australian Psychological Society. She is currently practising in Sydney's eastern suburbs. Rachel completed her Honours degree in psychology at the University of Sydney, winning the Dick Thompson Thesis Prize for her work on death anxiety and its relationship with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Rachel completed her Masters of Clinical Psychology and her PhD at the University of Sydney. Rachel has published extensively on the causes of various disorders, including depression, OCD, panic disorder, illness anxiety, social anxiety, agoraphobia, generalised anxiety disorder and specific phobias, as well as on gender differences in anxiety. Rachel was featured in The Conversation Yearbook 2016, a collection of the top 1% of ‘standout articles from Australia's top thinkers. Rachel is the lead editor of the book Curing the Dread of Death: Theory, Research and Practice, published by Australian Academic Press in 2018. In 2019, she released her second book: Tales from the Valley of Death: Reflections from Psychotherapy on the Fear of Death. In 2021, Rachel released Mortals: How the Fear of Death Shaped Human Society. Rachel has delivered workshops on death anxiety and its relation to anxiety and mood disorders across 7 Australian cities. This 2019 national tour was hosted by the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy (AACBT). In addition to her clinical work, Rachel currently works as a postdoctoral research fellow and guest lecturer at the University of Sydney.   In this interview, we discuss Rachel's new book Mortals: How the Fear of Death Shaped Human Society. We thoroughly enjoyed this book, and, in this interview, we explored many topics from religion, funeral practices, health, vitamins, and much more. If you are interested in Ernest Becker's work around the Denial of Death https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Denial_of_Death or Terror Management Theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terror_management_theory , then you will love this book. Highly recommended and easy to read. Order your copy today https://www.amazon.com.au/Mortals-death-shaped-human-society-ebook/dp/B0967TDPZR https://www.booktopia.com.au/mortals-ross-menzies/book/9781760879167.html#:~:text=The%20ground%2Dbreaking%20book%20that,other%20species%20throughout%20our%20evolution.   All of Rachels publications can be found here https://rachelmenzies.com/publications/ Contact Rachel at rachelelizabethmenzies@gmail.com and see her website at https://rachelmenzies.com/ Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au for all episodes and links Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au  

Ven Dr Buddharakkhita is an Irish native, BSc & PhD from University College Dublin with a Diploma in Buddhism from ITBMU Myanmar. He has enjoyed a successful engineering career in semiconductor chip fabrication. He has practised meditation extensively in lay life since childhood. He was first ordained in 2006 in the Theravada Forest Tradition with two decades of training with renowned meditation masters across a range of practices. He has more than 30 years of experience living, working and practising meditation in Europe, US, Asia and Australia. His teaching has been well received. Emai Buddharakkhita on : knowtheheart@gmail.com  Knowing the heart talk on YouTube https://youtu.be/09SCzptegoE Gratitude talk on YouTube  https://youtu.be/oIohofxuIZc  In this episode we discuss  Buddharakkhita's background, education and his path to Buddhism Specialisation versus Generalised approaches Philosophize this Podcast https://www.philosophizethis.org/  Ricky Gervais show "Afterlife" https://youtu.be/JDtJhIQSdao and https://youtu.be/jpiM2z9ARm4  John Stuart Mills https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill  Ian's coming to God and Ciaran's experience with meditation  Marks of Existence in Buddhism The Perils of Politicizing Science, Anna I. Krylov, The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 2021 12 (22), 5371-5376, DOI:10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01475 Read here https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01475?ref=pdf& Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au for all episodes and links Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au

Jonny Dillon is from Greystones, County Wicklow, Ireland. He works as an archivist at the National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin, is a research editor for the Collection's online platform Dúchas.ie, produces and hosts the Collection's podcast Blúiríní Béaloidis (Folklore Fragments) and is Honorary Treasurer to the Folklore of Ireland Society. He releases instrumental acoustic guitar music under his own name, and produces records of electronic music on analogue synthesisers and drum machines under the pseudonym of 'Automatic Tasty'." In this episode, we discuss so many things including how Walt Disney visited the National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin before he made Darby O'Gill and the Little People https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052722/ we discuss the Banshee, the Irish underworld, sweat lodges, the integration of science, the sacred and mythology, the changes in Irish culture, philosophy, conflict, psychedelics, fairy forts, music, Irish language and much more...... Links to pursue    Short videos Fairy Forts: A great insight into Fairy Forts in Ireland. This place is not far from where I grew up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyuXi_jsPvg This video is entertaining and highly recommended.   Owneygat Cave Ireland https://youtu.be/ZB0vottAVWw   In Honour of Tradition - Jonny Dillon The past may be forgotten but it does not die, for the voice of the past is present, and speaks to us today. In the disordered confusion of the modern age this voice is often lost to us, but those who are still and who strain to listen, will hear it as it echoes to us through Time, for the voice of Tradition is never silent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBI97Z0iud4   Additional audio material we discussed Uberboyo YouTube channel with a series of lectures on Aion https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvohnwo84dIluwLTzNB9xncnfg5SiadB0   The Almanac of Ireland Podcast https://www.rte.ie/radio/podcasts/series/32164-the-almanac-of-ireland/   Folklore Fragments podcast on fairy forts: In fields, valleys, and quiet places the country over can be found countless earthwork mounds, cairns, tumuli, and other signs of early human habitation in Ireland. These sites often garnered supernatural associations in the folk tradition, is commonly understood as the abodes of 'Na Daoine Maithe' (The Good People) or fairies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2OjysP7ids   A Week in Darkness: The Purest Medicine, Aubrey Marcus Podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewq7r1s535c   People we discussed René Descartes 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650 was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist who invented analytic geometry, linking the previously separate fields of geometry and algebra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes   Heraclitus: A Greek philosopher who was active around 500 BCE, Heraclitus propounded a distinctive theory which he expressed in oracular language. He is best known for his doctrines that things are constantly changing (universal flux), that opposites coincide (unity of opposites), and that fire is the basic material of the world. The exact interpretation of these doctrines is controversial, as is the inference often drawn from this theory that in the world as Heraclitus conceives it contradictory propositions must be true. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/heraclitus/   Robert Gordon Wasson (September 22, 1898 – December 23, 1986) was an American author, ethnomycologist, and Vice President for Public Relations at J.P. Morgan & Co http://www.gordonwasson.com/   Books The Matter with Things ~ Iain McGilchrist Volume I and II here https://channelmcgilchrist.com/the-matter-with-things/   The Banshee The Irish Supernatural Death-messenger https://www.bookdepository.com/Banshee-Patricia-Lysaght/9780862784904   Irish Wake Amusementshttps://www.amazon.com/Irish-Wake-Amusements-Sean-Suilleabhain/dp/1856351734   Nihilism: The Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age https://www.amazon.com.au/Nihilism-Root-Revolution-Modern-Age/dp/1887904069   Finite and Infinite Games https://www.amazon.com.au/Finite-Infinite-Games-James-Carse/dp/1476731713>   The Crisis of the Modern World https://www.amazon.com.au/Crisis-Modern-World-Rene-Guenon/dp/0900588241>   The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-reign-of-quantity-and-the-signs-of-the-times-rene-guenon/book/9780900588686.html>   Places or items we discussed Newgrange is a Stone Age (Neolithic) monument in the Boyne Valley, County Meath, it is the jewel in the crown of Ireland's Ancient East. Newgrange was constructed about 5,200 years ago (3,200 B.C.) which makes it older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids of Giza. https://www.newgrange.com/   Axial Age (also Axis Age) is a term coined by German philosopher Karl Jaspers in the sense of a “pivotal age”, characterizing the period of ancient history from about the 8th to the 3rd century BCE. https://slife.org/axial-age/   Irish Sweathouses are small, rare, beehive-shaped, corbelled structures of fieldstones, rarely more than 2 metres in external height and diameter, with very small "creep" entrances which may have been blocked by clothing, or by temporary doors of peat-turves, or whatever came to hand. Most of those which survive could not have accommodated more than three or four sweaters. They resemble the small 'caves', built into banks, in which many Irish natives were reported to live in the seventeenth century http://irishmegaliths.org.uk/sweathouses.htm   Contact Jonny and follow his work The Folklore of Ireland Society https://www.ucd.ie/irishfolklore/en/folkloresociety/ and at https://www.duchas.ie/en nationalfolklorecollection on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nationalfolklorecollection/   Bluiríní Béaloidis is the podcast from The National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin, and is a platform to explore Irish and wider European folk tradition across an array of subject areas and topics. Host Jonny Dillon hopes this tour through the folklore furrow will appeal to those who wish to learn about the richness and depth of their traditional cultural inheritance; that knowledge and understanding of our past might inform our present and guide our future. https://soundcloud.com/folklore_podcast Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au  for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au   or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au    

In this episode we are joined by Professor Seamus O'Mahony. Seamus is a doctor and prize-winning author. He worked for many years in the NHS, returning to his native city of Cork in 2001, where he was a gastroenterologist and clinical professor until February 2020. His first book The Way We Die Now won the British Medical Association's council chair's choice award in 2017. His second book Can Medicine be Cured?  was published in 2019, and his latest book The Ministry of Bodies was published by Head of Zeus in March 2021. He is a regular contributor to the Dublin Review of Books and the Medical Independent. He has written also for The Observer, the Irish Times, the Irish Independent, and the Saturday Evening Post. He is a member of the Lancet commission on “The Value of Death” and is visiting professor at the Centre for the Humanities and Health at King's College London. In this episode, we discuss Seamus's work around academia in science and medicine and aspects of death in our culture. Here are some links to items or people we discussed Robert Maxwell and academic journals https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Maxwell The Lancet Commission on death https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(18)32388-2.pdf The McNamara fallacy https://mcnamarafallacy.com/   Documentary, The Fog of War  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317910/ watch here for free https://vimeo.com/434235852 Inverse care law https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse_care_law The book called “To be a machine” https://granta.com/products/to-be-a-machine/ The Peril of Politicizing Science – A Scientist's Take http://iopenshell.usc.edu/pubs/pdf/jpcl_opinion_2021.pdf?ref=brianlovin.com What is medical humanities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_humanities Ivan Dominic Illich was a Roman Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher, and social critic.[1] His 1971 book Deschooling Society criticizes modern society's institutional approach to education, an approach that constrains learning to narrow situations in a fairly short period of the human lifespan. His 1975 book Medical Nemesis, importing to the sociology of medicine the concept of medical harm, argues that industrialized society widely impairs quality of life by over medicalizing life, pathologizing normal conditions, creating false dependency, and limiting other more healthful solutions. https://journals.psu.edu/illichstudies/about Free article on his work medical nemesis https://jech.bmj.com/content/57/12/919   Books by Seamus The way we die https://seamusomahony.com/books/the-way-we-die-now/ Can medicine be cured? https://seamusomahony.com/books/can-medicine-be-cured/ Seamus will be coming back in February or March to discuss the Lancet report on the value of death. Contact Seamus or find out more at https://seamusomahony.com/ Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au  for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au   or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au  

This week we bring you an external interview. In this episode, I was interviewed by Niall from the Mind Manifest Podcast on the Relationship of Sleep and Psychedelics. Full episode show notes over at https://www.mindmanifestpodcast.com/news/iandunican Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au  for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au   or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au    

In this episode, we have a chat with Dr Chris Letheby. Chris is a philosopher working on issues related to the therapeutic and transformative potential of classic psychedelic drugs. Book: Philosophy of Psychedelics https://oxfordmedicine.com/view/10.1093/med/9780198843122.001.0001/med-9780198843122 Lecture: Dr Chris Letheby - Psychedelics and Meditation: A Neurophilosophical Perspective (Altered States Seminar 4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTVKGS1M3Js  Connect with Chris at his website http://www.chrisletheby.com/  Items we discuss in this episode Who is Heraclitus? https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/heraclitus/ Who is Spinoza? https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/spinoza/  What is Naturalism? https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/naturalism/  The Free Energy Principle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIu_dJGyIQI  What is structural realism? https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/structural-realism/  The four main branches of philosophy and more https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_philosophy  Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au  for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au   or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au    

In this episode, we discuss climate change in the context of existential threats to our world. But before we do I go on a ramble about Irish folklore and the Irish language. The Irish National Folklore Collection https://www.ucd.ie/irishfolklore/en/ Bluiríní Béaloidis is the podcast from The National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin, and is a platform to explore Irish and wider European folk tradition across an array of subject areas and topics https://soundcloud.com/folklore_podcast Sacred Cow book and documentary https://www.sacredcow.info/  The Great Barrington declaration https://gbdeclaration.org/ What is marine snow? https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/marinesnow.html  The Precipice by Toby Ord https://theprecipice.com/ Alan Robuck on Climate Consequences of Nuclear War http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/nuclear/  Future of Life Podcast  https://futureoflife.org/2019/09/30/fli-podcast-feeding-everyone-in-a-global-catastrophe-with-dave-denkenberger-joshua-pearce/ Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au  for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au   or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au  

In this episode we start discussing the great text by Leo Tolstoy Read the book here: The Death of Ivan Ilyich http://www.classicallibrary.org/tolstoy/ivan/index.htm Listen to Stephen Blackwood reading Leo Tolstoy's classic novella, ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich.'  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlaXnWk_mYY Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au  for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au   or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au    

In this episode, we discuss Ciaran's world of boxing. We look back at the recent fight between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder 3 . This was an unplanned podcast, just us discussing our viewpoints on boxing and the physiology of Fury. Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au  for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au   or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au  

In this episode, Ciaran and Ian discuss Thich Quang Duc who was a Buddhist monk protesting in South Vietnam, when his image captivated the world. Malcolm Browne won the World Press Photo of the Year in 1963 photographing Duc committing an act of self-immolation, burning to death. Central to our discussion today is the excellent scientific paper by Francis A.M. Manno  (2019) Monk on fire: The meditative mind of a burning monk, Cogent Psychology, 6:1, DOI: 10.1080/23311908.2019.1678556 You can read the full paper here https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311908.2019.1678556 Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au  for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au   or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au      

Gordon Marino earned his PhD from the University of Chicago, M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, and B.A. from Columbia University. His areas of specialization include History of Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, and Kierkegaard. He teaches philosophy and related courses as a professor at St. Olaf College and holds a position as the curator of the Kierkegaard Library. In 2018, Marino published his most recent book, The Existentialist's Survival Guide. He has authored and co-authored numerous works, including Kierkegaard in the Present Age. His articles have appeared in internationally acclaimed news sources and periodicals such as The Atlantic Monthly, New York Times Magazine, Wall Street Journal, and the American Poetry Review. Follow Gordon here https://www.existentialistscorner.com/  Links from discussions in the episode Jake La Mottahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_LaMotta Gay Talese https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_Talese Who is Soren? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B8ren_Kierkegaard What is Terror Management Theory https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199828340/obo-9780199828340-0058.xml The sickness unto death https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-sickness-unto-death-9780140445336 Leo Tolstoy "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" http://www.classicallibrary.org/tolstoy/ivan/index.htm The Philosophy of William James Order Gordon's book here “The Existentialist's Survival Guide: How to Live Authentically in an Inauthentic Age”https://www.amazon.com.au/Existentialists-Survival-Guide-Authentically-Inauthentic/dp/0062435981 Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au  for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au   or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au  

In this episode, we discuss a few crazy events in the world before we delve into more nuclear near misses and the man who is responsible for us still alive today. Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart - I Saved the World Today (Official Video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf052uxFF58 Future of Life https://futureoflife.org/ Stanislav Petrov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov The man who saved the world https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24280831 Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au  for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au   or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au        

In this episode, we discuss many things related to behaviour and assholes at sporting events. Here are several links that we discuss. This was a far-reaching discussion about many topics. We hope you enjoy   Andrew Newberg, Professor and Director of Research Marcus Institute of Integrative Health | Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital http://www.andrewnewberg.com/   Hanlon's Razor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor  8 'Stages of death' Meditation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azo95eWqw8k    Maranasati (mindfulness of death, death awareness) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mara%E1%B9%87asati    Who is Baruch Spinoza? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVEeXjPiw54 more on Spinoza here  https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/spinoza/   The Axiom of the Infinite Unknown https://sigmanutrition.com/science-part-two/    The self-drawing hands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drawing_Hands   George Orwell, Notes on Nationalism https://www.penguin.com.au/books/notes-on-nationalism-9780241339565   Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au  for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Tao Te Ching (Download free copy here https://sourceoflightmonastery.tripod.com/webonmediacontents/1935012.pdf)  Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au   or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au  

In this episode, we continue our journey through the book of five rings. The Book of Five Rings (Go Rin no Sho) is a text on kenjutsu and the martial arts `Miyamoto Mushashi around 1645 read more here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Five_Rings  Battle Drills https://www.mkbartlett.co.uk/ Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au  or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au 

In this episode of the Learning to Die podcast we discuss the man that may be responsible for our lives today (Vasili Arkhipov) and how we have side stepped a nuclear war. Items we discuss in the episode Sting - Russians (Official Music Video) The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity https://www.amazon.co.uk/Precipice-Existential-Risk-Future-Humanity/dp/0316484911 Indian/Pakistan border closing India Pakistan Wagah Attari Border Closing Ceremony (By Sanjeev Bhaskar - The Longest Road). The Future of Life Institute https://futureoflife.org/ The Korean War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War Cuban Missile crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis Vasili Arkhipov Vasili Arkhipov, 2017 Future of Life Award winner for averting nuclear war Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au  or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au

In this episode, we continue our journey through the book of five rings. The Book of Five Rings (Go Rin no Sho) is a text on kenjutsu and the martial arts `Miyamoto Mushashi around 1645 read more here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Five_Rings  Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au  or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au 

In this episode of the Learning to Die Podcast, Ciaran and Dr Stephen Blackwood discuss a broad range of topics including the lessons to be learned from the Roman poet Boethius, confusions around what science is and isn't, what reason and rationality can mean in their fullest sense compared to what they are often seen as in a more narrow one, what beauty is and the role it can play in the human experience, and the possible causes and remedies for the meaning crisis in which we are living through.    Stephen Blackwood is the founding President of Ralston College. He was born in Alberta and grew up in beautiful Prince Edward Island in a big family on a small family farm. He studied classics as an undergraduate, and received an MA (Classics) from Dalhousie and a PhD (Religion) from Emory University. He has held visiting positions at Harvard University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Cambridge. His intellectual interests include philosophy, religion, psychology, theology, ethics, politics, nature, and art. His primary academic focus has been on the nature of the human person, specifically as it comes to be understood in ancient and medieval times, and on the evolution of the ideals, institutions, and cultural forms that enable human beings to flourish. His book on the Roman poet-philosopher-statesman, Boethius, was published by Oxford University Press. He has co-founded or helped to direct several non-profit organizations, including in inner-city education and cancer research. He has lived and worked in many European countries and is a naturalized citizen of the United States,   Dr Blackwood's website: https://www.stephenjblackwood.com/   Ralston College's website: https://www.ralston.ac/   Dr Blackwood is the host of the Ralston College Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVbAjoLkDnj5f6JkCVM-agw Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au  or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au 

In this episode, we start our journey through the book of five rings.  The Book of Five Rings (五輪書, Go Rin no Sho) is a text on kenjutsu and the martial arts`Miyamoto Mushashi around 1645 read more here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Five_Rings  The "Dokkōdō" is a short work written by Mushashi a week before he died in 1645. It consists of 21 precepts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dokk%C5%8Dd%C5%8D Documentary: Crazy Wisdom: The Life & Times of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1172047/ Book: Sam Sheridan, The Fighter's Mind: Inside the Mental Game https://www.amazon.com.au/Fighters-Mind-Sam-Sheridan/dp/0802145019   Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au  or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au 

In this episode, we chat with Sonny Brown, a former MMA fighter, and BJJ black belt. Sonny was victorious in 3 MMA title bouts becoming a 3 time Australian Mixed Martial Arts Champion in the lightweight division beating standouts Dan Hooker and Damien Brown. He is the only person to secure an MMA victory via Gogoplata choke in Australia. He is successful in No-Gi Grappling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitions winning roughly 18 gold, 10 silver and 7 bronze medals in state and national competitions. These days Sonny teaches kids as a PE teacher and hosts and runs the world-famous Sonny Brown Breakdown podcast and YouTube channel. Be sure to check it out at https://www.sonnybrown.net for links to the podcast and the breakdown videos.  Sonny has also written an excellent article on the Book of Five Rings that you can access here  https://www.sonnybrown.net/notes-book-of-five-rings-miyamoto-musashi/  Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a video and some slides. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au  or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au 

In this episode, Ciaran and Ian sit down to discuss the horrific events of World War II, in particular the A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The United States detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities on the 6th and 9th August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict.  Oppenheimer Bhagavad-Gita Quote https://youtu.be/pqZqfTOxFhY Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions. The YouTube version of this episode has a slideshow. Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au  or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au 

Strap yourselves in for this story. This one hit me hard. Colin sits down with Ciaran and Ian to discuss his near-death experiences and the impact on his life. Colin goes into great detail in this episode...I can't do it justice in the show notes. Please listen to this. This episode has changed my life already (Ian). Colin is a professional coach for the past ten years. Over more than twenty-five years of training and coaching, he has worked with and trained extensively under ex British special forces instructors, attaining a 4th-degree black belt and high-level weapons training in the Chinese martial art of Akanaryu.  He has been involved in Corporate Wellness Training for more than eight years, first with large companies then working with executives and CEO's on their personal performance goals.  Working with his wife and business partner Karma he has worked to bring functional fitness into every sector. Included in this has been an extensive structured schools programme, two European seminar tours covering 12 countries and providing training with Olympic Medalist athletes, and a series of professional CrossFit Competitions in Europe.  Along with his academic studies in biomechanics, nutrition, traditional Chinese medicine, his deep interest in philosophy and the inner world has guided him in his work and family life for over twenty years, and particularly in the past three years where he has experienced and survived four cardiac arrests stemming from a formerly undiagnosed genetic condition.  He now owns and runs Optimise Health and Performance with his wife in Clonmel Co. Tipperary where they work on an individual basis with clients from the corporate and business community to help them achieve more balance in their daily lives.  Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au  or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au   

In this episode, Ian sits down face to face with Dr Stephen Bright in Perth, Western Australia to discuss the subject of psychedelics. A topic of taboo in our society, but are these so-called drugs bad or can they be used to improve health and wellbeing. We discuss why setting and intention are key in this process and the spiritual elements of such a journey. This is a great conversation and I got extremely excited during this as we attempt to discuss the integration of science, spirituality and the wonder and awe of life. A quantitative exploration of the relationships between regular yoga practice, microdosing psychedelics, wellbeing and personality variables https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00049530.2021.1882266  Australia should be initiating a psychedelic research program: What are the barriers?https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0004867416670520  Exploring the relationship between microdosing, personality and emotional insight: A prospective study https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2054/5/1/article-p9.xml You can find out more about Stephen here and his research https://www.ecu.edu.au/schools/medical-and-health-sciences/our-staff/profiles/senior-lecturers/dr-stephen-bright Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au  or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au     

In this episode, Ciaran and Ian sit down to discuss how Ernest Becker's work has influenced them and how it applies to our world today. Becker, Ernest (1973). The Denial of Death. New York: Simon & Schuster. Ciaran's essay "The Divined Joker" read or listen here https://www.quarrelsomelife.com/quarrelsome-life-radio/2021/3/12/qlr-podcast-7-the-divined-joker The nightmare that is a reality https://wethescreamers.com/essay-discussion Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions Contact us at ian@learningtodie.com.au  or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au 

On this episode of Learning to Die, Ian and Ciaran were joined by Lyla Rothschild and Deborah Jacobs from the Ernest Becker Foundation (EBF). Lyla is the Program Director, and Deborah is the President/Executive Director at EBF. Expanded biographies can be found here: https://ernestbecker.org/about/our-people/  For more details on the work of the Ernest Becker Foundation, please see:  Website: www.ernestbecker.org  Email: info@ernestbecker.org Twitter: @ernestbeckerfdn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ErnestBeckerFoundation (also on FB: Death & Denial Discussion Group hosted by EBF)  Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au  for all episodes and links to the YouTube video versions Contact us at  ian@learningtodie.com.au or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au 

We had a lot of fun in this episode with Greg...We laughed so much. Greg Bennick is the author of the upcoming official biography of Ernest Becker. Greg has been speaking on stages worldwide for over thirty years.  A performer, thought provoker, punk rock singer, and world traveller, Greg infuses ideas and action everywhere he goes. He is the Executive Director and founder of One Hundred For Haiti, a non-profit supporting development programs in rural Haiti, and he is a co-founder of the Portland Mutual Aid Network who collectively supports the houseless and unsheltered community in Portland Oregon. He lives in Seattle Washington. Links for Greg: WEBSITE: www.gregbennick.om ONE HUNDRED FOR HAITI WEBSITE: www.onehundredforhaiti.org PORTLAND MUTUAL AID NETWORK: www.portlandmutualaidnetwork.com Gregs Punk Rock band https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_(band)  Check us out at www.learningtodie.com.au  for all episodes and links to the You Tube video versions Contact us at  ian@learningtodie.com.au or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au 

In this episode of the Learning to Die Podcast; Ciaran and Ian discuss current topics of interest that they are seeing in the media, politics and the world in general. This episode is titled "Dioscúrsa Maith" which means good discourse in our native Irish language. Links to items we discuss in this episode Tom Holland (2020) Dominion; Making of the Western Mind https://www.amazon.com.au/Dominion-Making-Western-Tom-Holland/dp/1408706954 Anthony Gottlieb (2016) The Dream of Reason – A History of Western Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance https://www.amazon.com.au/Dream-Reason-History-Philosophy-Renaissance/dp/0393352986/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=dream+of+reason&qid=1625876168&s=books&sr=1-2 www.learningtodie.com.au is coming soon  Contact us at  ian@learningtodie.com.au or ciaran@learningtodie.com.au   

How do I live when I know I must die? Learning to Die is a show about exploring that question hosted by Ian Dunican and Ciaran O'Regan. They explore areas of philosophy, psychology, martial arts, culture, existential risk, and anything else that seems of interest and relevance to navigating a well-lived life. And, since Montaigne put it beautifully when he said "every man bears the whole form of the human condition,"   Ian and Ciaran can only hope that some of what they learn prior to returning their borrowed carbon to the Universe might be of benefit to you too. Namaste Sapiens. www.learningtodie.com.au is coming soon