Podcasts about Plotinus

BIBLIOGRAPHYPRIMARY AND CLASSICAL SOURCESAristotle. Metaphysics. Translated by Hugh Tredennick. Harvard University Press.Aristotle. On the Heavens. Translated by W. K. C. Guthrie. Harvard University Press.Diogenes Laërtius. Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book VIII. Translated by R. D. Hicks. Harvard University Press.Euclid. The Thirteen Books of Euclid's Elements. Translated and edited by Thomas L. Heath. Cambridge University Press.Iamblichus. On the Pythagorean Way of Life. Translated by John Dillon and Jackson Hershbell. Society of Biblical Literature.Philolaus. Fragments and Testimonia, collected and discussed in Carl A. Huffman's Philolaus of Croton.Plato. Phaedo. In Plato: Complete Works, edited by John M. Cooper. Hackett Publishing.Plato. Republic. Translated by C. D. C. Reeve. Hackett Publishing.Plato. Theaetetus. Translated by M. J. Levett and revised by Myles Burnyeat. Hackett Publishing.Plato. Timaeus. Translated by Donald J. Zeyl. Hackett Publishing.Plotinus. The Enneads. Translated by A. H. Armstrong. Harvard University Press.Porphyry. Life of Pythagoras. In The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library, translated by Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie and edited by David R. Fideler. Phanes Press.Proclus. A Commentary on the First Book of Euclid's Elements. Translated by Glenn R. Morrow. Princeton University Press.PYTHAGORAS AND THE PYTHAGOREAN TRADITIONBurkert, Walter. Lore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanism. Translated by Edwin L. Minar Jr. Harvard University Press, 1972.Huffman, Carl A. A History of Pythagoreanism. Cambridge University Press, 2014.Huffman, Carl A. Archytas of Tarentum: Pythagorean, Philosopher and Mathematician King. Cambridge University Press, 2005.Huffman, Carl A. Philolaus of Croton: Pythagorean and Presocratic. Cambridge University Press, 1993.Kahn, Charles H. Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans: A Brief History. Hackett Publishing, 2001.Riedweg, Christoph. Pythagoras: His Life, Teaching, and Influence. Cornell University Press, 2005.Waterfield, Robin. The First Philosophers: The Presocratics and Sophists. Oxford University Press, 2000.Zhmud, Leonid. Pythagoras and the Early Pythagoreans. Oxford University Press, 2012.PLATO, PLATONISM, AND ANCIENT COSMOLOGYAnnas, Julia. An Introduction to Plato's Republic. Oxford University Press, 1981.Cornford, Francis Macdonald. Plato's Cosmology: The Timaeus of Plato. Hackett Publishing, 1997.Dillon, John. The Middle Platonists: 80 B.C. to A.D. 220. Cornell University Press, 1996.Fowler, David. The Mathematics of Plato's Academy: A New Reconstruction. Oxford University Press, 1999.Guthrie, W. K. C. A History of Greek Philosophy, Volumes I–V. Cambridge University Press.Johansen, Thomas Kjeller. Plato's Natural Philosophy: A Study of the Timaeus-Critias. Cambridge University Press, 2004.O'Meara, Dominic J. Pythagoras Revived: Mathematics and Philosophy in Late Antiquity. Oxford University Press, 1989.Sedley, David. Creationism and Its Critics in Antiquity. University of California Press, 2007.Wallis, Richard T. Neoplatonism. Hackett Publishing, 1995.EUCLID, THE PENTAGON, AND GREEK MATHEMATICSHeath, Thomas L. A History of Greek Mathematics. Dover Publications.Heath, Thomas L. The Thirteen Books of Euclid's Elements. Cambridge University Press.Knorr, Wilbur Richard. The Evolution of the Euclidean Elements. D. Reidel Publishing, 1975.Mueller, Ian. Philosophy of Mathematics and Deductive Structure in Euclid's Elements. MIT Press, 1981.Netz, Reviel. The Shaping of Deduction in Greek Mathematics: A Study in Cognitive History. Cambridge University Press, 1999.Pappas, Theoni. The Joy of Mathematics. Wide World Publishing, for accessible visual discussion of pentagonal proportion and recursive geometry.Van der Waerden, B. L. Science Awakening. Noordhoff International Publishing.LATE ANTIQUITY, NEOPLATONISM, AND THEURGYChlup, Radek. Proclus: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press, 2012.Dillon, John. The Middle Platonists. Cornell University Press.Finamore, John F., and Sarah Iles Johnston. The Chaldean Oracles: A New Translation and Commentary. Society of Biblical Literature, 2011.Gregory, John. The Neoplatonists: A Reader. Routledge, 1999.Shaw, Gregory. Theurgy and the Soul: The Neoplatonism of Iamblichus. Angelico Press, revised edition, 2014.Smith, Andrew. Porphyry's Place in the Neoplatonic Tradition. Springer, 1974.Wallis, Richard T. Neoplatonism. Hackett Publishing.Also want to remind people about the website, if you're into reading we have tons of information by multiple contributors, and we got t-shirts up on the site if you're interested. Fun fact, the art is all based on the eyeball. 

“Plotinus: Omnipresence and Transcendence of the One in VI 5 [23]” by Rev. Gary Gurtler, S.J. (Boston College). Presented at Thomas Aquinas College's 2026 Thomistic Summer Conference.

Send us Fan MailMost messages aimed at young men today split into two dead ends: become a sensitive, apologetic non-threat, or go to war and reclaim dominance. Zan thinks both camps hold a fragment of truth and neither offers a boy anything to actually hope for — which is why, more and more, he finds himself wanting to talk to thirteen-to-eighteen-year-olds instead of grown men.In this episode, Jordan asks Zan directly: what's the message? What do you actually say to a generation of boys who've been told their masculinity is the problem, who are retreating to their rooms, whose only two options seem to be surrender or rage?Zan's answer moves through some of the widest philosophical territory this podcast has covered — the concept of worship, stripped from religion and rebuilt around beauty itself. Petrarch and Dante, both of whom had their entire life's work ignited by seeing a woman he barely knew. The 1,500-year-old volcanic winter that blacked out the sun across Europe, and how people found meaning through it anyway. The uniculture problem — why knowing about every disaster on Earth simultaneously might be worse for the human nervous system than knowing only what happened in your own village. And a genuinely moving true story: a twelve-year-old boy, a short walk to a candy store, and one sentence from Zan that a mother said changed her son for weeks afterward.Watch until the end for what Zan calls the real message underneath everything — not optimism, not denial, but gratitude for what you have precisely because it won't last.

Send us Fan MailMost men have been trained to see the “male gaze” as something to apologize for — a coarse, objectifying reflex to suppress or perform your way out of. Either you're the bro who can't see past a woman's body, or you're the guy in the loafers and matcha latte performing a “female gaze” so hard it becomes its own kind of costume.In this episode, Jordan revisits a line from The Alabaster Girl that's followed him for thirteen years — women have a beauty song — and asks Zan whether it still holds. What follows is one of the most philosophically dense conversations on the podcast: gratitude as the lens that transforms looking into witnessing, the difference between a woman posed as a nude and a woman caught naked and unguarded, and why Zan refuses to be embarrassed about the fact that his eyes are drawn to the female form.They get into the man in the coffee shop who watches a woman order her latte and lets her walk out the door without chasing her — and why Zan calls that moment “code complete.” The phrase Zan wrote in his new book: a woman's walk is the oldest promise in the world. Freud's split between exhibitionism and voyeurism, and why every peep show needs a pervert. And Zan's answer to the discourse around male gaze versus female gaze — which he'd never even heard of before Jordan brought it up.Watch until the end for Zan's real-time reinterpretation of John Berger's “nude vs. naked” distinction — and his own bikini-versus-underwear version of it.__________________________________________________Ars Amorata, Summer '26:Text Her — Stan's course on apps and messaging: from swipe right to archetype. Opens soon.https://amorati.me/courses/text-her/Perception, Openness, Beauty — Online weekend intensive with Jordan, 18-19 July. Inside the Guild.https://arsamorata.com/guild/Desire in the Afternoon — Private salon-consultation with Jordan. 25-26 July, Bali. (Two-day option with embodied women's feedback newly added.)https://desireintheafternoon.carrd.co/Amorati Guild Summer Holiday — A beach weekend in Vama Veche with Zan. 21-23 August, Romania.https://arsamorata.com/guild/____________________________________________________Need a gunslinger? Someone who rides into town, completely solves your problem, then rides off into the sunset. Contact Zan Perrion personally to inquire about his incredibly effective one-on-one Laser Coaching. Find him here: https://arsamorata.com/gunslinger/__________________________________Get instant access to our 4 part mini-course with Zan Perrion

In this episode we explore one of the most fascinating texts in the history of Western esotericism: Porphyry's Commentary on the Cave of the Nymphs. Written in the 3rd century, this short but remarkable work interprets a mysterious passage from Homer's Odyssey as a profound allegory for the soul's descent into matter and its eventual return to the divine. We explore how Porphyry reads the cave, its nymphs, its looms and its two gates as a complete symbolic map of the cosmos, drawing on Platonic metaphysics, ancient astrology, and even the Cult of Mithras.Find me and my music here:https://linktr.ee/filipholmSupport Let's Talk Religion on Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/letstalkreligionOr through a one-time donation:https://paypal.me/talkreligiondonateTranslations of the commentary:Lamberton, Robert (translated by) (1983). "Porphyry: On the Cave of the Nymphs". Station Hill Press.Thomas Taylor's translation (from the 1800's) is a classic. It is available through Lamp of Trismegistus.John M. Duffy, Philip F. Sheridan, Leendert G. Westerink, and Jeffrey A. White (ed.) (1969). "Porphyry: The Cave of the Nymphs in the Odyssey". State University of New York.Secondary sources:Akçay, Nilüfer (2019). "Porphyrys On the Cave of the Nymphs in its Intellectual Context". Brill.Beck, Roger (2006). "The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun". OUP Oxford.Cooper, John M. (ed.) (1997). "Plato: Complete Works". Hackett Publishing Company.Dillon, John (1996). "The Middle Platonists". Bristol Classical Press.Gerson, Loyd P. (ed.) (2019). "Plotinus: The Enneads". Cambridge University Press. (This is the translation of the Enneads I have been using in this episode).Gerson, Loyd P (2008). "Cambridge Companion to Plotinus". Cambridge University Press.Gregory, John (ed.) (1998). "The Neoplatonists: a reader". Routledge.Iamblichus "On the Mysteries". Tranlsated by Emma C. Clarke, John M. Dillon & Jackson P. Hershell. Writings from the Graeco-Roman World. Society of Biblical Literature.Proclus "The Elements of Theology: A Revised Text with Translation, Introduction, and Commentary". Translated by E.R. Dodds. Second Edition. Oxford University Press.O'Meara, Dominic J. (1999). "Plotinus: An Introduction to the Enneads". Oxford University Press.Shaw, Gregory (2014). "Theurgy and the Soul: The Neoplatonism of Iamblichus". Angelico Press/Sophia Perennis.Wallis, R.T. (1998). "Neoplatonism". Second Edition. Bristol Classical Paperbacks. Hackett Publishing Company. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us Fan MailA Guild member sent in a message that stopped this episode cold. A friend of his — married, still in love with his wife — confided that she won't have sex with him anymore. Not even a goodbye kiss. He found out she's been using a vibrator. He can't understand why she won't let him be the one. And the group of friends around him, hearing this, offer the usual advice: book a weekend away, drop the kids at her sister's, get her alone.Jordan and Zan don't offer that advice. Instead, they take the story apart piece by piece — and land somewhere much harder and much more honest than “just try harder.”They get into what it actually means when a woman stops admiring her husband — not respect, something deeper — and why that, once gone, cannot be incremented back with flowers and date nights. The devastating truth that all the desperate gestures a man makes at 3am to save a dying relationship are exactly what he should have been doing all along, when things were good. Why “relationships are work” and “relationships are compromise” are, in Zan's words, bullshit — and what he believes actually holds a marriage together instead. And the brutal timing problem: the moment a man finally feels the fear is usually the exact moment it's already too late to act on it.Watch until the end for what Zan calls his gunslinger coaching — for the men who are in it right now, and need someone to ride in fast and find out if it's still redeemable.

What does it mean to "see God again" after modernity has taught us to look for the sacred in all the wrong ways? In this special Lectern conversation, John Vervaeke is joined by Guy Sengstock for a deep reflection on John's three-part course trilogy, Seeing God Again for the First Time. John invited Guy to watch the courses and respond not only to their arguments, but to the way the courses enact a philosophical, phenomenological, and spiritual exercise. Guy begins from his own background as co-founder of Circling, describing how relational practice opened a mystery that psychological language could not fully hold, eventually leading him into Heidegger, phenomenology, and philosophy as contemplation. From there, he draws out the personal and pedagogical arc of John's work: teaching as encounter, as vulnerability, and as a way of revealing what students are already confronted with. John describes the course as an attempt to integrate rigorous argument, phenomenological exploration, and spiritual exercise in the spirit of Socrates, Plotinus, and Pierre Hadot. Rather than define religion or God and then argue for or against them, John sets out to deconstruct the modern grammar that blocks our ability to encounter sacredness at all: the fact/value, is/ought, subjective/objective, theory/data, and meaning/measurement dichotomies. The conversation moves through Paul Tillich, William Desmond, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Catherine Pickstock, Janet Soskice, D.C. Schindler, and 4E cognitive science, showing how analytic philosophy, continental phenomenology, and cognitive science converge in undermining modernity's inherited picture. Guy and John explore sacredness as ultimately real, ultimately orienting, ultimately transformative, and ultimately resonant; naming as relational participation rather than possession; wonder as calling self and world into question; and aletheia as truth that discloses beauty, goodness, and intelligibility. The conversation closes with the contemporary stakes of this recovery: AI, consciousness, personhood, the meaning crisis, and the alignment problem. John argues that we can no longer treat philosophy and sacredness as academic luxuries when our technologies are reshaping cognition, identity, and agency. If we are creating new kinds of intelligence, the question is not merely how to bind them to us, but how to orient them - and ourselves - toward truth, goodness, beauty, intelligibility, and the sacred. Guy Sengstock is a co-founder of Circling and a longtime teacher of relational, dialogical, and contemplative practice. His work bridges phenomenology, philosophy, facilitation, and the lived mystery of interpersonal encounter. Explore courses and other offerings from The Lectern: https://lectern.teachable.com About The Lectern The Lectern is dedicated to wisdom cultivation through dialogue, inquiry, and transformative practices. Through courses, live events, and community conversations, we seek not merely to discuss ideas, but to explore how they can shape the way we live. 00:00 Welcome to The Lectern 01:00 Why Guy is reflecting on Seeing God Again 02:00 Guy introduces his background in Circling and philosophy 04:00 Circling, mystery, and the limits of psychological language 06:00 Heidegger, Being and Time, and philosophy as contemplation 09:00 John's Socratic and Plotinian aspirations 10:30 Argument, phenomenology, and spiritual exercise 12:00 Seeing God Again, pilgrimage, and the Philosophical Silk Road 13:00 John the person, scientist, philosopher, and teacher 15:00 Teaching as existential confrontation 17:00 The manner of teaching as part of the teaching 18:00 Modernity, the meaning crisis, and sacredness 20:00 When teaching became encounter 21:00 Paul Tillich, cognitive science, and teaching virtue 23:00 William Desmond and philosophy as spiritual exercise 25:00 Teaching toward a philosophical-spiritual end 26:00 Involving the whole self without becoming self-involved 29:00 Revealing what students are already confronted with 31:00 Teaching, social phobia, and vulnerability 33:00 The sacred as deep teaching 35:00 Idealization, temptation, and participation 38:00 Naming God and the loss of relational naming 41:00 The four dichotomies of modernity 42:00 Out-rigoring the rigor 44:00 Deconstructing the grammar that blocks sacredness 45:00 Mystical traditions as phenomenological exemplars 47:00 Modernity's vertical and horizontal dichotomies 49:00 Recovering sight beyond modernity's glasses 50:00 Sacredness as ultimately real, orienting, transformative, and resonant 52:00 Why John uses atheist scholarship before apologetics 53:00 Counter-modern thought and the limits of postmodernism 55:00 Why these dichotomies matter beyond academia 57:00 Everything Everywhere All at Once, nihilism, and value 01:01:00 Philosophy outside the ivory tower 01:02:00 Postmodernity and living in the ruins 01:04:00 Recovery and asking "Where are we?" 01:05:00 Wittgenstein, Heidegger, and recovering meaning 01:07:00 Modernity as icon rather than representation 01:08:00 Truth, goodness, beauty, and intelligibility 01:12:00 Wonder vs. curiosity 01:15:00 Aletheia, beauty, liberation, and onto-normativity 01:18:00 Seeing God Again as pilgrimage 01:19:00 Theoria as theory, contemplation, and pilgrimage 01:21:00 AI, analytic philosophy, and consciousness 01:24:00 Meaning, relevance, and the limits of computation 01:26:00 AI personhood and disembodied embodiment 01:30:00 Why philosophy matters for technologies shaping us 01:32:00 AI agents, personhood, and the coming ontological crisis 01:35:00 The meaning crisis and the loss of sacred orientation 01:37:00 Personhood, ontology, and responsibility 01:39:00 The alignment problem and binding intelligence to the sacred 01:40:00 Why the course must be taken as a course 01:41:00 Teacher assistance, Socratic process, and future retreats 01:42:00 Socratic Salon and participatory practice 01:43:00 Closing reflections on retreat and relationship Thank you for listening!

Max completed his PhD at Boston College in spring 2025 and currently teach philosophy at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. He primarily work in the history of philosophy, with my primary area of specialization in ancient Greek and Roman metaphysics and natural philosophy. He has also done work on medieval philosophy and cosmology, and is generally interested in exploring pre-modern conceptions of nature, the heavenly bodies and their interactions with terrestrial life, and the artificial-natural divide. His dissertation was on Plotinus' ontology of artifacts.Wade's site: https://maxwade.online/---Become part of the Hermitix community:Hermitix Twitter - x.com/hermitixpodcast Support Hermitix:Patreon - patreon.com/hermitix Donations: - https://www.paypal.me/hermitixpodHermitix Merchandise - http://teespring.com/stores/hermitix-2Bitcoin Donation Address: 3LAGEKBXEuE2pgc4oubExGTWtrKPuXDDLKEthereum Donation Address: 0x31e2a4a31B8563B8d238eC086daE9

Send us Fan MailYou go for a drink with a buddy, and he unloads what's happened with his girl. A lot of push-pull, ignored texts, mood swings, drama. He wonders what's going through her mind, and enlists your help in figuring her out too.What do you say?Do you engage your own anxious brainwaves, and try and decipher her motives? Or do you tackle the real issue on display:Never mind the woman… what's going on with you?I don't believe pondering a woman's motives and feelings is entirely a fool's game. But it's amazing how men get caught in this loop. All day, all month, thinking of her, wondering what to text, how to approach the issue, how to get what you want without losing the little you already have.We all know what happens when we overthink things. Action ends up awkward. Whatever we end up saying or doing, it seems to drive her away.When it comes to drama, pulling away, mixed messages, heightened emotions, many men feel a subtle distress. And it's the distress that drives these endless questions.What if, instead of the week lost chasing her in your mind, you could find tranquility amidst the storm? Today's episode is about exactly that.Because in the end, 90% of drama resolves by itself. Let her unravel and come to you in good time.__________________________________________________If you're working with the patterns of a lifetime, and want to learn to hold yourself steady when desire and drama collide:I'm running a small private coaching afternoon called Desire in the Afternoon. An intimate consultation about your past, present and future with desire, lust, and love.DITA is a breakthrough session for a man dedicated to finding mastery in the themes of attraction and love.Oxford — Saturday June 27.Paris — Saturday July 4.Max. three seats per city. Details and application here: https://desireintheafternoon.carrd.co/Or, to go all in with me and Zan for a full calendar year, join The Guild: https://arsamorata.com/guild~ Jordan__________________________________________________#zanperrion #fearofintimacy #dating #mendating #flirting #datingadviceformen #flirttips #relationship #jealousy #attraction #menandwomen #bodylanguage ____________________________________________________Need a gunslinger? Someone who rides into town, completely solves your problem, then rides off into the sunset. Contact Zan Perrion personally to inquire about his incredibly effective one-on-one Laser Coaching. Find him here: https://arsamorata.com/gunslinger/__________________________________Get instant access to our 4 part mini-course with Zan Perrion

What did "materialism" actually mean to the ancients, and how does it differ from our modern scientific understanding? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Max Wade (Ph.D., Boston College) to bridge the gap between ancient Greek ontology and modern philosophical debates.We dive deep into the "weirdness" of ancient thought, exploring why the Stoics believed in physical gods and why the Epicureans were the only true ancient materialists. Dr. Wade challenges the secularized modern reading of Socrates and Plato, revealing how their theories of divine design were actually a reactionary response to pre-Socratic natural philosophy.In this episode, we discuss:The Miriology of Being: Why the relationship between parts and wholes is the key to unlocking ancient ontology.Active vs. Passive Matter: The crucial distinction that separates Platonists, Aristotelians, and Stoics from the Epicureans.The "Swerve": Why materialism and determinism were considered incompatible in the ancient world.Plato's Atlantis & Egyptian Wisdom: Why reading Plato literally misses his point about the soul's forgetfulness and eternal truth.Marxism & Hegel: How modern materialism is often a misreading of ancient concepts through a German Idealist lens.About Our Guest: Dr. Max Wade is a scholar of ancient philosophy whose dissertation focused on Plotinus' Ontology of Artifacts. Follow his work at maxway.substack.com.Send us Fan Mail Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to BitterlakeSupport the showCrew:Host: C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesArt Design: Corn and C. Derick VarnLinks and Social Media:twitter: @varnvlogblue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.socialYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeCurrent Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic,Julian, Drea, Free Beer 

Send us Fan MailWe all know it's not about what you say to her. It's the inner coherence, the calmness of vibration in your body, that shapes the interaction before your words do.One of our Guild members wrote about a moment at the gym. He saw a woman, was instantly spellbound, a little frozen. He approached, took his shot, and asked for feedback.His story is one we can all relate to — great, great desire… and the wish to connect with her with delight and transparency. Zan is so inspiring when he talks about this. But the coolest line in the world doesn't land when your body is in turmoil.Today we dive into that interior territory. How do you deal with the sheer force of your own desire? Can you align the embodied experience of your attraction so you communicate in the most compelling way?There are women here and there, and there is beauty that makes you quake. If you want to learn to walk the tightrope of your most intense feelings, a timely invitation:I'm running a small private coaching afternoon called Desire in the Afternoon. An intimate consultation about your past, present and future with desire, lust, and love.DITA is a breakthrough session for a man dedicated to finding mastery in the themes of attraction and love.Oxford — Saturday June 27. Paris — Saturday July 4.Three seats per city. Details and application here. https://desireintheafternoon.carrd.co/~ Jordan__________________________________________________#zanperrion #fearofintimacy #dating #mendating #flirting #datingadviceformen #flirttips #relationship #jealousy #attraction #menandwomen #bodylanguage ____________________________________________________Need a gunslinger? Someone who rides into town, completely solves your problem, then rides off into the sunset. Contact Zan Perrion personally to inquire about his incredibly effective one-on-one Laser Coaching. Find him here: https://arsamorata.com/gunslinger/__________________________________Get instant access to our 4 part mini-course with Zan Perrion

Send us Fan MailThere is far more attraction in the world than most of us are able to perceive. And far more women into you than you might ever notice.Today's episode unpacks how the ego distorts our ability to perceive the signs of mutual attraction. This is a deep-dive about how we get in our own way, and what becomes possible when we ‘cleans the windows of perception'.If you're listening to this, and you recognise how your ego patterns are diminishing the quality of attraction in your life, here's an invitation:I'm running a small private coaching afternoon called Desire in the Afternoon. Three men, four hours, a private room. We work directly with your life's story around desire, the particular patterns your ego is making, and what a completely different future for your intimate life can look like.DITA is a breakthrough session for a man on the cusp of understanding his pattern and ready to shift it.Oxford — Saturday June 27. Paris — Saturday July 4.Three seats per city. Details and application here.https://desireintheafternoon.carrd.co/~ Jordan__________________________________________________#zanperrion #fearofintimacy #dating #mendating #flirting #datingadviceformen #flirttips #relationship #jealousy ____________________________________________________Need a gunslinger? Someone who rides into town, completely solves your problem, then rides off into the sunset. Contact Zan Perrion personally to inquire about his incredibly effective one-on-one Laser Coaching. Find him here: https://arsamorata.com/gunslinger/__________________________________Get instant access to our 4 part mini-course with Zan Perrion

Send us Fan MailMost men leave an interaction having done everything right — approached, connected, built rapport for forty-five minutes — and then walked away without ever pulling the trigger. They got the number. They didn't invite. And those are not the same thing.In this episode, Zan and Jordan return to one of the most fundamental and most overlooked principles in the Ars Amorata: the invitation. Not as a technique for scheduling a meeting, but as a spirit — a way of being that tells every woman in your orbit, I would rather have you near me than not.They get into why most men's invitational energy has an invisible ceiling on it: come close, but not too close. The father archetype Zan reaches for when explaining how a man can contain feminine chaos without walling himself off from it. The David Deida debate — whether the male nervous system is inherently stressed by female proximity, or whether that's just a man who hasn't found gratitude yet. And the single sentence that Zan says captures everything: I don't know you at all, but I would love to have you around me.Watch until the end for the practical layer: when to invite, how to invite, and why it doesn't matter at all whether she says yes or no.

Send us Fan MailMost men arrive at a retreat, a workshop, or a pilgrimage to the mentor with the same silent demand underneath everything else: make it click. They've read the books, done the programs, sat through the silent retreats. They're well-theorized. Now they want it to land — permanently, finally, done.In this episode, recorded the Friday before Zan's ten-day training week in Bucharest, Zan and Jordan pull apart what the click actually is, whether it's even possible to engineer it, and what to do in the long dark stretches when nothing clicks at all.They get into the man who travels across the world for ten days hoping something will permanently shift — and why the pressure of that hope is exactly what blocks it. Jordan's 19-year-old diary, rediscovered in a childhood bedroom: three months backpacking Southeast Asia, parties until sunrise, pages of email addresses from strangers across the world — and a pervasive feeling throughout all of it that he was lonely and missing out. The spiral of workshop-after-workshop that kicks in when nothing clicks and a man decides he must be broken. And Zan's answer to the question everyone asks him: when did you finally get it? I never did. I'm still trying.Watch until the end for Jordan's biggest click — the one that freed him from second-guessing every interaction — and the homework Zan and Jordan leave you with.

Send us Fan MailMost men reading Zan's work assume the Ars Amorata vision is a soft one — all light and ease, women as fluttering butterflies, every interaction kissed by poetry. But there's a shadow side to the archetype that gets quietly ignored, and an answer to a question that almost nobody dares to ask: what would the world actually look like if every man embodied this philosophy?In this episode, Jordan brings a question from a Guild member known only as X — a sweeping, visionary inquiry about what happens to relationship forms, dating culture, and the wider social fabric if all boys grew up versed in these principles. Zan and Jordan take the question seriously, and the conversation moves into territory neither expected.They get into Zan's heresy that women are a reflection of the men in society — and why he doesn't coach women at all. The dividing line between a man who's angry at women (workable) and a man who hates women (closed). The middle-of-the-road guy with no role models, caught between the gun-toting carnivore podcaster and the matcha-latte male feminist. The institutionalised hatred of masculinity in certain cultures that some Guild members are quietly writing in about. And Zan's growing conviction that his future work belongs with thirteen-year-old boys, not thirty-year-old men.Watch until the end for Jordan's take on what would actually change in a world full of Amorati men — and the one global shift he believes would matter more than any other.

Explore the fascinating world of religion in Ancient Greece, from the powerful Olympian gods like Zeus, Athena, and Apollo to sacred rituals, temples, myths, and festivals that shaped daily Greek life.Find me and my music here:https://linktr.ee/filipholmSupport Let's Talk Religion on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/letstalkreligion Or through a one-time donation: https://paypal.me/talkreligiondonateSources/Recommended Reading:Bowden, Hugh (2010). "Mystery cults in the Ancient World". Thames and Hudson Ltd.Burkert, William (1987). "Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical". Wiley-Blackwell. Burkert, Walter (1988). "Ancient Mystery Cults". Harvard University Press.Chulp, Radek (2016). "Proclus: An Introduction". Cambridge University Press.Cooper, John M. et. al (translated by) (1997). "Plato: Complete Works". Hackett Publishing.Dodds, E.R. (2004). "The Greeks & The Irrational". University of California Press.Eidinow, Esther & Julia Kindt (ed.) (2017). "The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion". Oxford University Press.Gerson, Loyd P. (ed.) (2019). "Plotinus: The Enneads". Cambridge University Press. (This is the translation of the Enneads I have been using in this episode).Gerson, Loyd P (2008). "Cambridge Companion to Plotinus". Cambridge University Press.Gregory, John (ed.) (1998). "The Neoplatonists: a reader". Routledge.Huffman, Carl A. (ed.) (2017). "A History of Pythagoreanism". Cambridge University Press.Iamblichus "On the Mysteries". Tranlsated by Emma C. Clarke, John M. Dillon & Jackson P. Hershell. Writings from the Graeco-Roman World. Society of Biblical Literature.Inwood, Brad (ed.) (2003). "The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics". Cambridge University Press.Kirk, G.S., J.E. Raven & M. Schofield (1983). "The Presocratic Philosophers". Second Edition. Cambridge University Press.Parker, Robert C.T. (2011). "On Greek Religion". Cornell University Press.Proclus "The Elements of Theology: A Revised Text with Translation, Introduction, and Commentary". Translated by E.R. Dodds. Second Edition. Oxford University Press.Shaw, Gregory (2014). "Theurgy and the Soul: The Neoplatonism of Iamblichus". Angelico Press/Sophia Perennis.Ustinova, Yulia (2017). "Divine Mania: Alterations of Consciousness in Ancient Greece". Routledge.Wallis, R.T. (1998). "Neoplatonism". Second Edition. Bristol Classical Paperbacks. Hackett Publishing Company.Zhmud, Leonid (2012). "Pythagoras and the Early Pythagoreans". Translated by Kevin Windle & Rosh Ireland. OUP Oxford. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us Fan MailMost men preparing for an encounter with a woman are reaching for the wrong tool: a script, an opening line, a prescribed posture. They walk in armoured with a battle plan, hands at their sides, leaning back on their heels — and wonder why nothing sticks.In this episode, Zan and Jordan unpack what's actually moving underneath a magnetic interaction: the rhythm a man carries in his body, the poetry of his presence, and the strange truth that a man's greatest asset in a room is everything that arrives with him before he speaks a word.They get into the four-hour coaching session where a guy was animated, alive, full of stories on his couch — and then turned into a statue the moment he stepped onto the street to approach women. The therapeutic frame that tells you your humour is a “shield” — and why that frame might be costing you the very thing that makes you compelling. The musician who has rhythm in his fingers but shuts it off the second he tries to flirt. And the question Zan asks every man he coaches before they even get to “the situation”: what do you love, what do you do with leisure time, what are you looking forward to?Watch until the end for the practical layer: how rhythm actually shows up in the body — the rock step, the in-and-out, the slow-then-quick — and why men who learn this stop needing techniques altogether.

Send us Fan MailEvery once in a while a new paradigm of thinking enters your mind, reformats your worldview, and blows your sense of what's possible in life wide open.A friend of mine used to refer to these as brainquakes, and they might only happen once every few years.Zan gave many of us such a brainquake with his initial Ars Amorata philosophy. Now, a brainquake has happened unto Zan.The mathematician-philosopher Alfred North Whitehead spent his life trying to understand the nature of reality. His conclusion: beauty is the purpose of the universe — and God's entire project is forever luring you toward more beauty.The upside of this is that every single event in the cosmos happens as an invitation… ushering us, ever deeper, into moments of wonder, beauty, awe, enchantment.However, every time you stay in your seat, delete the message, swallow your truth — you're not just missing an opportunity. You're choosing inertia over beauty. And inertia, argues Zan, is evil.My inner critic was already giving me stick for not talking to that beautiful woman; now you're telling me my failure to approach her is evil?!Well, it takes a lot of energy to suppress God's plan of beauty.On the other side: the more courageous the jump, the more beauty can come.

Send us Fan MailMost men chasing the writer's life have the same fantasy: quit the corporate world, escape to Paris, find the bohemian enclave where great work just happens. But that Paris doesn't exist anymore — and Zan would argue it never quite existed the way we imagine it.In this episode, Jordan presses Zan for an update on his next book (still no release date — sorry, you've been warned), and Zan opens up about the slow, painterly way he writes: six hours a day in the chair, no Substack dribbles, no early drafts shown to anyone. Then the conversation turns to a question many men in our audience are quietly wrestling with: how do you hold a creative life and a corporate life in the same body, without one suffocating the other?They move through the four archetypes of the would-be artist, the romance of place (Paris in the 20s, Brooklyn now, Bucharest, Bali), and the strange truth that even with the internet “democratising” creativity, most of us are working alone — without that gentle rivalry between Picasso and Matisse looking over each other's shoulders.Watch until the end for Zan's plans for a literary retreat in Venice this autumn, haunting the ghost of Casanova through the city that shaped him.

Send us Fan MailMost men who want more sexual energy are refusing to sit on a stallion that's already inside them.That wild horse energy is already there — it always was. The question isn't how to generate more of it. It's how to feel it breathe beneath you as you step out of your bedroom. It's about letting it purr during small-talk: with enough force to be felt, and enough restraint to be respected.In this episode, Zan and Jordan explore what it actually looks like for a man to move from suppression to full expression — without tipping into the shameless, invasive territory that makes everyone uncomfortable. Many of our viewers say they don't have a single man in their lives that gives an image of full, wide-hearted male sexual vitality. Here, we do our best to provide a concrete image for those who say they've never seen this sort of energy up-close before.

Episode Description In this episode, Austin Bridges (co-director of L/L Research) and Doug Scott present the first half of a structured introduction to the Ra Contact for process philosopher Matt Segall, whose work on Whitehead's process philosophy has been a central inspiration for Doug's book Raian Process Metaphysics. The conversation moves from the historical origins of the Ra Contact through Ra's cosmological framework—intelligent infinity, the primal distortions, and the nested hierarchy of Logoi—to Doug's concept of teleopotentiation: the creative principle by which genuine novelty enters existence through the interplay of Affirming, Denying, and Reconciling forces. Matt responds with immediate recognition of Neoplatonic resonances, and the group engages a candid discussion of Don Elkins's death and the psychic risks inherent in this kind of work. Part one of two. Opening Invocation — Doug Scott Topics Covered I. Who Is Austin Bridges? Co-director of L/L Research, steward of the Ra Contact material and its community for over thirteen years. Austin frames his relationship to the material through epistemic humility—holding it as the backbone of his spiritual seeking without claiming it as ultimate truth. His excitement about Doug's process-philosophical synthesis as a new avenue for the material to serve the world. II. The Three Principals: Don, Carla, and Jim The unique trio whose convergence made the Ra Contact possible. Don Elkins — UFO investigator, pilot, physics professor at the University of Louisville. His journey began with the death of Captain Thomas Mantell in pursuit of a UFO and moved through hypnotic regression, past-life regression, and eventually channeling experiments with his physics students. Designated by Ra as "the questioner." Carla Rueckert — Christian mystic, cradle Episcopalian, library scientist. A direct mystical experience of Jesus at age two shaped her lifelong devotion. Became Don's research partner in 1968 and began channeling in 1974, discovering an extraordinary aptitude. Designated by Ra as "the instrument." Jim McCarty — Wilderness school graduate turned off-grid educator in rural Kentucky. Heard Don and Carla on the radio, joined their work, and moved in with them in 1980. Two weeks later, the Ra Contact began. Designated by Ra as "the scribe," his deeper role was sustained energetic focus and protection during sessions. III. The Nature of the Ra Contact (1981–1984) 106 sessions of trance channeling—completely distinct from the conscious channeling that preceded it. Carla was fully unconscious during sessions, her spirit displaced while Ra directly used her vocal cords. Three microphones and three tape recorders were required because equipment consistently failed. The ritual setup included a virgin chalice, incense, a virgin candle, and a Bible opened to the Gospel of John, chapter one. The material's language, rigor, and depth were unlike anything channeled before or since. IV. Who Is Ra? A sixth-density social memory complex originally evolved on Venus. Member of the Confederation of Planets in Service to the One Infinite Creator. The same Ra known to the ancient Egyptians—though their intended teaching of spiritual philosophy was distorted into deity worship by Egyptian politics and power structures. Ra responds to a "calling" generated by Earth's suffering, offering guidance exclusively through Q&A format to protect free will. V. The Density Structure Seven densities as bandwidths of conscious awareness—not physical locations but vibrational spectra through which consciousness evolves. Humanity occupies third density (self-awareness and choice). Fourth density (love and understanding) is dawning, but the transition is chaotic because the incoming energy must manifest through beings still enmeshed in third-density separation. An eighth density serves as the first density of a new octave—the pattern is cyclical. VI. Social Memory Complex as Whiteheadian Society (Doug) Doug translates Ra's concept into process terms: a social memory complex is a singular plurality—"the many become one, and are increased by one." Its formation is a fourth-density achievement prefigured in third density through the ecclesia, the gathered community. The noosphere coming online. The collective unconscious becoming collective conscious. In Whiteheadian terms: a higher-grade society sheltered by the third-density framework until a metaphysical threshold of wholeheartedness is reached. VII. Intelligent Infinity and the Primal Distortions (Austin) The One Infinite Creator as undistorted unity—"the macrocosm of the mystery-clad being." Ra's two uses of "intelligent infinity": (1) absolute non-dual reality, and (2) the potential aspect of creation paired with intelligent energy as the kinetic aspect. The three primal distortions as the logical structure giving birth to creation: Free Will (awareness awakening within infinity), Love/Logos (focusing of intelligent energy into creative form), and Light (the first manifestation—all that exists, organized by love). VIII. Ra's Use of Logos (Austin) The Logos as a nested, fractal hierarchy: Primal Logos → Galactic Logoi → Solar Logoi → Planetary Logoi → individual mind/body/spirit complexes. Each level receives intelligent energy from its parent Logos and has the free will to further refine its own creation. The engagement is participatory—creation gives experience back to the Logos, and the Logos iterates. "Each Logos desires to create a more eloquent expression of experience of the Creator by the Creator." IX. Teleopotentiation: The Engine of Creative Advance (Doug) Doug's central contribution: teleopotentiation names the universal creative principle underlying both Ra's cosmology and Whitehead's process thought. Drawing from Gurdjieff's Law of Three (via Cynthia Bourgeault): Affirming Force meets Denying Force, and through a Reconciling Force, a New Higher Arising is generated—genuine novelty, not compromise or rearrangement. Doug defines intelligence as "awareness in motion towards more—awareness as desire for gnosis." The will's focusing act by which infinite possibility becomes potentiated probability, becomes manifested actuality. X. The Torus and the Ankh (Doug) Teleopotentiation has a geometry: the torus—the shape of continuous self-referential flow, the shape that self-knowing takes. The Ankh is the two-dimensional cross-section of this toric reality. The circle is the eternal; the cross is manifestation; the eternal experiences itself through extended embrace. The primal rhythm carries three affects: yearning (outward flow), longing (the turn toward return), and rejoicing (coalescence at the center). Rhythm itself necessitates three—and this triadic structure is "the rhythms clothed in mystery, for they are being itself." XI. Matt Segall Responds Matt identifies immediate Neoplatonic resonances—Plotinus's emanation from the One, the levels of density recalling the hypostases. He suggests this resonance may itself trace back to Ra's Egyptian teaching seeding Plato's philosophical understanding. His assessment: "None of this feels foreign to me. The concepts and the deep pattern of creation and manifestation feel intimately familiar." He affirms that Whiteheadian language could have helped Ra express what the noun-based structure of English made difficult. XII. The Death of Don Elkins Matt asks about Don's suicide and its relationship to the channeling project. Austin explains: the positive magical charge of the contact attracted a fifth-density service-to-self entity that could not create distortion but could energize distortions already present. Don's pre-existing mental health vulnerabilities became inroads for this influence. A diagnosis of depressive psychosis with schizophrenic tendencies. The mental health system's failure. A tragic standoff with police ending in Don's death by his own hand. The trio's unique synergy was irreplaceable; the Ra Contact ended permanently. Doug adds: fifth density is the ceiling for negative polarity—in sixth density, one can no longer ignore one's unity with the other, and the negative path collapses. But at fifth density, extraordinary black magic is possible, though negative beings cannot create—they can only amplify what is already there. Closing Benediction — Tim Merrill "Out and within to all that is beautiful and noble, virtuous, all that is worthy of our best selves. And we express gratitude for this experience, for the catalyst that has brought us here together, and for the iron that we are forging. May it become gold, and the athanor of love. Amen." Key Terms in This Episode Density — Bandwidth of conscious awareness through which consciousness evolves; seven densities within an octave of experience Social Memory Complex — Collective consciousness where individual beings achieve sufficient harmony that memories and experiences become mutually accessible; Ra is a sixth-density social memory complex Intelligent Infinity — Pure undifferentiated potential; the ground of all being before focus or manifestation Intelligent Energy — Intelligent infinity focused as creative force; the Logos Logos / Logoi — Creative consciousness at various scales: Primal, Galactic, Solar, Planetary, Individual Primal Distortions — The three fundamental "distortions" (complexifications) from unity: Free Will, Love/Logos, Light Teleopotentiation — Purposive bringing-forth of genuine novelty through the Law of Three: Affirming meets Denying, Reconciling generates New Higher Arising Law of Three — Every manifestation requires three forces: Affirming, Denying, and Reconciling (Gurdjieff via Cynthia Bourgeault) Torus — The geometry of continuous self-referential flow; the shape that self-knowing takes at every scale Ankh — The cross-section of toric reality; the eternal experiencing itself through extended embrace and transformation Wanderer — A higher-density being who incarnates into third density to serve The Veil — The forgetting that characterizes third-density incarnation, intensifying the experience of choice References & Resources The Ra Contact: Teaching the Law of One — Don Elkins, Carla Rueckert, Jim McCarty (L/L Research, 2018) lawofone.info — Free searchable archive of all 106 sessions llresearch.org — L/L Research, publishers and stewards of the Ra Contact Raian Process Metaphysics — Doug Scott (Building 4th Press, 2026) Physics of the World-Soul — Matt Segall (SacraSage Press, 2021) The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three — Cynthia Bourgeault (Shambhala, 2013) Process and Reality — Alfred North Whitehead (Free Press, 1978) Building 4th Community — cosmicchrist.net Next Episode: Part two of the Law of One introduction, continuing with deeper process parallels, the dipolar God, and fuller group discussion. Recorded April 24, 2026. "The many become one, and are increased by one." — Alfred North Whitehead

Send us Fan MailMost men who find our work say they want the same thing: more sexual energy. It seems like the way to avoid being felt as a nice-guy and to escape the friend-zone.But the downside of our sexual desire is the agony that it brings up: physically, mentally, emotionally. It's handy, therefore, that our subconscious engages in sexual repression, to keep this angst at bay.In this episode, Zan and Jordan touch on entitlement, blame, and distress as three aspects that keep our sexual desire feeling painful, and how to access ‘pure, life-giving desire' as a way out of this angst.Watch until the end, and get some concrete examples of what sexual energy channelled into a creative force actually looks like.

Send us Fan MailWho Longs More: Women or Men?The words “longing” and “yearning” have become mainstays in our recent conversation with men. Strange - these are terms you find in Rumi's mystic poetry, or in femininity goddess work, not the male dating arena. But here we have it: men owning their longing for relationship, and all the poetic wisdom that the longing itself contains.At the same time, more men than ever are voicing their discomfort with terms like “certainty” and “conviction”. These are classic ‘masculine qualities'. Sure, it's dicey to claim certainty and conviction over anything in today's world… but will any great love affair take off if both parties are restricted to yearning, and neither embodies a bit of conviction about their feelings?Today, Zan and Jordan explore this well-worn language used in today's ‘conscious' or ‘spiritual intimacy' circles. Zan debunks a number of definitions of these terms. I, Jordan, don't necessarily agree. What do you think?

Send us Fan MailWhat a Man Transmits Before He SpeaksMost men in the dating world focus on entirely the wrong questions.It's not about what you say to her, but the ‘world' you're arriving from.There is a stark difference between running someone through well-designed stages, and transmitting a context of being. One is shallow: sequence, steps, clear-defined outcome. The other is deep: you as a mythical sense of ‘world' in which unpredictable things might happen.As we kick off Season #2 we get into this distinction, what it looks like in practice with a woman who's testing your frame, and why the men who get this stop needing techniques altogether.

As we continue through "Life, Death, and Meaning with Beowulf and Boethius," I survey the emergence of Neoplatonism from the pre-Socratics to Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Augustine, and Boethius.Watch the video of this episode and subscribe to my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/O0K6HKbHFp0Become a patron of Mythic Mind at patreon.com/mythicmindListen to all THREE Mythic Mind podcasts:Mythic MindMythic Mind GamesMythic Mind Movies & Shows(or become a patron to get all three shows in one ad-free feedBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

The writings of ancient and medieval Christian mystics were rediscovered in the twentieth century, and today they are read more widely than ever before. But do modern assumptions about religious experience influence how we hear those premodern voices? Do we do them justice by thinking of mysticism as interior and ineffable? Or can mystical experience intersect with the natural environment, and indeed the cosmos, which science calculates with precise quantities? David Albertson's The Geometry of Christian Contemplation: Measure without Measure (Oxford UP, 2025) suggests a fresh approach to the history of mystical theology that is oriented toward exteriority more than interiority, and toward the measurable world outside more than the invisible world within. The ancient Greek philosopher Plotinus had taught contemplatives to close their eyes and withdraw into the soul. Most Christians followed his directions, but others dissented. In three critical episodes, an alternative model of Christian contemplation began to emerge: from Dionysius the Areopagite, to the Byzantine monks John of Damascus and Theodore the Studite, to eccentric humanists in medieval Paris. Together these episodes add up to a very different theological aesthetics, one that can enliven the modern study of mysticism and correct some of its imbalances. For in the centuries before the scientific revolution and the secularization of nature, Christians still saw God in the exterior world, not only the interior soul. God was not an ineffable and formless Absolute, immeasurable as the soul, but an infinite Measure who leaves behind geometrical traces in the figures of the world. The God who became a human body in the Incarnation not only entered time and matter, but also spatial extension, and with it the conditions of measure: points, lines, curves, shapes, planes, dimensions, and magnitudes. Today the wisdom of this counter-tradition can strengthen the study of mysticism, not only by supplementing our contemporary fascination with negative theology by redefining what it means to name God positively, but by suggesting a new connection between Christian mysticism and the hyper-measured, hyper-technologized world that surrounds us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The writings of ancient and medieval Christian mystics were rediscovered in the twentieth century, and today they are read more widely than ever before. But do modern assumptions about religious experience influence how we hear those premodern voices? Do we do them justice by thinking of mysticism as interior and ineffable? Or can mystical experience intersect with the natural environment, and indeed the cosmos, which science calculates with precise quantities? David Albertson's The Geometry of Christian Contemplation: Measure without Measure (Oxford UP, 2025) suggests a fresh approach to the history of mystical theology that is oriented toward exteriority more than interiority, and toward the measurable world outside more than the invisible world within. The ancient Greek philosopher Plotinus had taught contemplatives to close their eyes and withdraw into the soul. Most Christians followed his directions, but others dissented. In three critical episodes, an alternative model of Christian contemplation began to emerge: from Dionysius the Areopagite, to the Byzantine monks John of Damascus and Theodore the Studite, to eccentric humanists in medieval Paris. Together these episodes add up to a very different theological aesthetics, one that can enliven the modern study of mysticism and correct some of its imbalances. For in the centuries before the scientific revolution and the secularization of nature, Christians still saw God in the exterior world, not only the interior soul. God was not an ineffable and formless Absolute, immeasurable as the soul, but an infinite Measure who leaves behind geometrical traces in the figures of the world. The God who became a human body in the Incarnation not only entered time and matter, but also spatial extension, and with it the conditions of measure: points, lines, curves, shapes, planes, dimensions, and magnitudes. Today the wisdom of this counter-tradition can strengthen the study of mysticism, not only by supplementing our contemporary fascination with negative theology by redefining what it means to name God positively, but by suggesting a new connection between Christian mysticism and the hyper-measured, hyper-technologized world that surrounds us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

The writings of ancient and medieval Christian mystics were rediscovered in the twentieth century, and today they are read more widely than ever before. But do modern assumptions about religious experience influence how we hear those premodern voices? Do we do them justice by thinking of mysticism as interior and ineffable? Or can mystical experience intersect with the natural environment, and indeed the cosmos, which science calculates with precise quantities? David Albertson's The Geometry of Christian Contemplation: Measure without Measure (Oxford UP, 2025) suggests a fresh approach to the history of mystical theology that is oriented toward exteriority more than interiority, and toward the measurable world outside more than the invisible world within. The ancient Greek philosopher Plotinus had taught contemplatives to close their eyes and withdraw into the soul. Most Christians followed his directions, but others dissented. In three critical episodes, an alternative model of Christian contemplation began to emerge: from Dionysius the Areopagite, to the Byzantine monks John of Damascus and Theodore the Studite, to eccentric humanists in medieval Paris. Together these episodes add up to a very different theological aesthetics, one that can enliven the modern study of mysticism and correct some of its imbalances. For in the centuries before the scientific revolution and the secularization of nature, Christians still saw God in the exterior world, not only the interior soul. God was not an ineffable and formless Absolute, immeasurable as the soul, but an infinite Measure who leaves behind geometrical traces in the figures of the world. The God who became a human body in the Incarnation not only entered time and matter, but also spatial extension, and with it the conditions of measure: points, lines, curves, shapes, planes, dimensions, and magnitudes. Today the wisdom of this counter-tradition can strengthen the study of mysticism, not only by supplementing our contemporary fascination with negative theology by redefining what it means to name God positively, but by suggesting a new connection between Christian mysticism and the hyper-measured, hyper-technologized world that surrounds us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies

How did Plato influence St. Augustine? Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Dcn. Harrison Garlick and Dr. Chad Pecknold of the Catholic University of America discuss Plato's influence on St. Augustine.Check out our account on X for daily postings on the great books!Check out our library of written guides to the great books!Check out FIRE ON THE ALTAR by Dr. Chad Pecknold.The discussion begins with the historical evolution of Platonism—from the original Academy of Socrates and Plato, through Middle Platonism (with figures like Plutarch and Apuleius), to the late or Neoplatonism of Plotinus and others—showing how it became increasingly religious, mystical, and hierarchical in the Roman Empire, complete with daemons (intermediary spiritual beings) and a strong emphasis on the soul's ascent to the divine.St. Augustine, after years as a Manichaean and skeptic, encountered Platonic texts (likely including Plotinus) in Milan around 385–386 AD through Christian Platonists like Bishop Ambrose and Simplicianus. These writings played a crucial role in his intellectual conversion: they revealed a transcendent, immaterial God as Being itself, the eternal Word/Logos, and the soul's capacity for contemplative ascent beyond the material world—ideas strikingly parallel to the prologue of John's Gospel.Yet St. Augustine recognized Platonism's crucial limitation: it allowed him to "catch the fragrance" of God but not to "feast" through union, because it lacked the Word made flesh—the incarnate Christ as the true mediator who bridges the gap between the divine and humanity, solving the problem of mediation and purification that Platonism itself raised but could not resolve.Ultimately, Pecknold presents Platonism as a providential praeparatio evangelica—a promise that raises the restless heart's longing for God, truth, beauty, and eternal happiness—but one fulfilled only in Christianity. St. Augustine adopts and transforms Platonic elements (such as the ideas/forms residing in the divine mind, now identified with the Logos/Christ, and the soul's ascent through purification) while critiquing its errors, especially its inadequate mediators and inability to address incarnation, bodily resurrection, and grace. In this way, St. Augustine shows that Plato comes closest among philosophers to Christianity, yet only the Word made flesh satisfies the hunger Plato so powerfully articulated.Plato on St. Boethius is up next week!

Send us a textWhy women test, and how to pass.(Hint: it has nothing to do with tactics—and everything to do with truth.)WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:- The single quality that women ultimately probe for when they meet a man- The behavioral nuances most men miss—but women never do- What Zan wouldn't do—why the spirit of invitation makes all the differenceTIMESTAMPS:00:00 Highlights02:15 Today's question06:55 The quality that sets certain men apart from all others20:08 Be honest, but not crude – the art of being gentlemanly 22:00 What Would Zan Not Do? 42:15 How truth releases tension and creates openness in a woman49:45 Women light up when you own your desire and express it52:00 Another flavor of approachWhat part of yourself are you most tempted to hide from a new woman you meet? Share your experience with us. ABOUT THIS VIDEO:When a woman tests you, she isn't asking you to perform.What she wants to know is: are you genuine? Or is there more going on beneath the surface that she can't see? Women love to have fun—but trying to figure out whether your interest in her is real, or whether you're just engaging her for a quick ego boost before disappearing, is not a game she wants to play.It often surprises men how accepting women are of desires the men themselves have difficulty accepting. It's not what you want that turns her off. It's the fact that it scares you. Today's episode explores what it means to be trustworthy—and the different flavors desire can take when it's honestly expressed.#zanperrion #fearofintimacy #dating #mendating #flirting #datingadviceformen #flirttips #relationship #jealousy ____________________________________________________Read The Full Amorati Guild Invitation → https://arsamorata.com/guild/____________________________________Need a gunslinger? Someone who rides into town, completely solves your problem, then rides off into the sunset. Contact Zan Perrion personally to inquire about his incredibly effective one-on-one Laser Coaching. Find him here: https://arsamorata.com/gunslinger/____________________________________Get a gifted copy of The Alabaster Girl, personally signed by Zan Perrion. Go to https://alabastergirl.com____________________________________Get instant access to our 4 part mini-course with Zan Perrion

Where did the medieval via negative come from? In large part, it was inspired by Plato and those who followed him an innovated on his way of thinking. In the second of two parts on the Cloud of Unknowing we consider Plotinus and Pseudo-Dionysius.

Send us a textWhy being mysterious is so attractive to women, and the body language and texting that keeps women interested. ____________________________________________________Episode 40 — What Makes a Man Mysterious — And Why Women Melt in His Presence____________________________________________________80% of communication between men and women is nonverbal. “It's not what you say, but how you say it”.  Most of the time, you're just ‘another guy' to her. And you have opportunities to show her that you aren't, but what do you do… say… in those situations? Being mysterious is a fine art that's far too daunting for most men to practice, and those who do attempt it often end up in some extreme caricature of themselves, out of alignment and frustrated. In today's episode, Jordan and Zan explore what a truly mysterious presence looks like in a man. With live demonstrations on ways to stand and gesture to women in person, to how to text them later on, watch and see how you, too, can start moving through the world with more mystique and intrigue. What thoughts come up for you after watching? Let us know in the comments below.____________________________________________________Come join us! Sign up today and enjoy all the perks of the Amorati Membership, including live calls with Zan and his team. Go here: https://www.Amorati.net/____________________________________Need a gunslinger? Someone who rides into town, completely solves your problem, then rides off into the sunset. Contact Zan Perrion personally to inquire about his incredibly effective one-on-one Laser Coaching. Find him here: https://arsamorata.com/gunslinger/____________________________________Get a gifted copy of The Alabaster Girl, personally signed by Zan Perrion. Go to https://alabastergirl.com____________________________________Get instant access to our 4 part mini-course with Zan Perrion

In this episode I am joined by Dr Francisco José Luis, scholar of Indo-Iranian Studies and Comparative Religion trained at the Sorbonne, Paris and SOAS, London. Francisco recalls his upbringing and education in Luxembourg; details his rigorous academic training in classical languages such as Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit; and laments what he sees as the rise of idealogical indoctrination in modern education Francisco discusses his PhD in pre-reformist Sikhism, his years of field work living in the Punjab, and expresses his love of the German intellectual tradition. Francisco reveals the influence of Neoplatonism in Islamic theology and mysticism, describes his own turn to Shiʿi Islam, and explains why he believes that even today there is a living lineage of Neoplatonism that stretches directly back to Plotinus. … Video version: https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep327-neoplatonic-mystic-dr-francisco-jos-luis Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast'. … Topics include: 00:00 - Intro 01:01 - Upbringing in Luxembourg 02:56 - Classical education 04:28 - Learning Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit 08:03 - Germanic intellectual tradition and WW2 12:37 - Advantages of an anti-American education 15:06 - Critical thinking and intellectual independence 17:04 - Boomer educators and idealogical indoctrination 20:59 - German literature 22:56 - Post WW2 culture shock and the boomer revolution 27:20 - Vatican II and loss of trust 30:35 - Filling education gaps 32:06 - A deeply pagan Catholic 35:21 - Meditation practice and interest in Neo-Vedanta 37:52 - Studying two masters degrees simultaneously at the Sorbonne 39:57 - Rigorous training in Sanskrit 43:56 - MA theses in French literature and pre-reform Sikhism 45:20 - PhD at SOAS in pre-reformist Sikh monastic orders 46:48 - Living among the Sikh community and learning Punjabi 49:54 - Young Sikh's interest in pre-reformist religion 50:54 - Death threats from Sikhs 53:00 - Changes in Sikhism 55:20 - Tradition religious music of Sikhism and other pre-reformist features 01:00:18 - Neo-traditionalist Sikh movements in the UK and India 01:03:59 - Falling in love with Shiʿi Islam 01:10:16 - Conversion to Islam? 01:11:45 - Shi'ism as a personal practice 01:13:23 - Cultural barriers against European converts 01:16:12 - Neo-Platonic Vajrayanism 01:17:43 - Mysticism perceived as a threat 01:21:48 - Neoplatonic influence on Islam 01:27:28 - Surprising Neo-Platonic features of Islamic mysticism 01:33:30 - Metempsychosis in Islam 01:37:16 - Francisco is a Neoplatonist 01:43:08 - Vajrayana and Shiʿi inner alchemy and dream yoga 01:50:43 - Islamic tummo … To find our more about Dr Francisco José Luis, visit: - https://www.instagram.com/hludvig_tradicionalista For more interviews, videos, and more visit: - https://www.guruviking.com Music ‘Deva Dasi' by Steve James

This two-part video series provides a deep historical analysis of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD), tracing its ingredients from 19th-century New England intellectual and social revolutions to its status as America's de facto civic religion. We argue that MTD collapsed when the sexual and moral revolutions forced a devastating fracture between its Christian heritage and its core principles of self-actualization and benevolence, leading to the polarized political landscape of today.Moralist Therapeutic Deism Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eHYMzanOvs&t=4679s @triggerpod   @InterestingTimesNYT   @JonathanPageau   @PaulVanderKlay 00:00:00 - Introduction and Recap00:10:07 - MTD, Chicago, and Obama00:13:00 - Cornell as Microcosm00:25:15 - Tim Keller on programatic secularism00:35:55 - Mainline Christianity00:37:45 - Wokeness and MTD00:47:05 - MTD and Partisanship00:49:20 - Arena vs Agent00:51:00 - Donald Trump 00:56:15 - Nationalism vs Globalism01:03:40 - Who killed MTD?01:05:55 - Competing Arenas01:08:25 - The future of Christian NationalismIn this video I mention:Aaron Renn, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Baker, Alfred, Allen C. Guelzo, Amos, Andrew Jackson Davis, Ann Lee, Anagarika Dharmapala, Arthur Conan Doyle, Athanasius, Barack Obama, Benjamin Franklin, Billy Graham, Black Lives Matter, Bud, Buddha, Calvin, Cathleen Falsani, Catherine Fox, Charles B. Rosna, Charles Carroll Bonney, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Charlie Kirk, Christian Smith, Christopher Pearse Cranch, Clement of Alexandria, Conrad Grebel, Constantine, David Bentley Hart, Deepak Chopra, Donahoe, Donald Trump, Eddie Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Elijah Muhammad, Eliott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Elizabeth Keckley, Ellen Todd, Emilie Todd Helm, Emanuel Swedenborg, Epictetus, Erica Kirk, Ernst Troeltsch, Ezra Klein, Fanny Hayes Platt, Faustus Socinus, Finney, Fox Sisters, Franz Anton Mesmer, Fred Shuttlesworth, Frederick the Wise, Friedrich Nietzsche, Galen, George Barna, George Fox, George W. Bush, Gregory of Nyssa, Henry Clay, Henry David Thoreau, Henry James, H. P. Blavatsky, H. Richard Niebuhr, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harold Ockenga, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Helen Schucman, Hosea Ballou, J. Gresham Machen, Jacob Blake, James, James Comey, James Lindsay, James Russell Lowell, Jared Sparks, Jean H. Baker, Jenkin Lloyd Jones, Jesus Christ, Jim Lindsay, John, John Adams, John Bunyan, John D. Rockefeller, John Henry Barrows, John Locke, John Milton, John Murray, John Stott, Jonathan Edwards, Jordan Peterson, Joseph Priestly, Joseph Smith, Judith Skutch, Julius Dresser, Kant, Karl Menninger, Karlstadt, Kate Fox, Kenneth Minkema, Koot Hoomi, Kyle Rittenhouse, Lelio Socinus, Leonard Zusne, Lou Malnatis, Luke Thompson (  @WhiteStoneName  ), Lyman Beecher, Madame Blavatsky, Margaretta Fox, Marianne Williamson, Mark Parker (  @MarkDParker  ) , Mark Twain, Mary Baker Eddy, Mary Todd Lincoln, Matt Herman, Meister Eckhart, Melinda Lundquist Denton, Mesmer, Micah, Michael Bronky, Michael Servetus, Monophysite, Morya, Moses, Nancy Pelosi, Napoleon Bonaparte, Nettie Colburn Maynard, Newton, Niccolò Machiavelli, Nicholas of Cusa, Norman Vincent Peale, Oprah, Origen, Paul, Paul Tillich, Paul Vanderlay, Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, Plotinus, Proclus, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ramakrishna, Rick Warren, Robert Schuller, Robin D'Angelo, Rod Dreher, Ronald Reagan, Ross Douthat, Rowan Williams, Rudolf Steiner, Samuel Johnson, Septimus J. Hanna, Shailer Mathews, Shakers, Shadrach, Socrates, Soyen Shaku, Swami Vivekananda, Tad Lincoln, Tertullian, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Starr King, Tracy Herman, Virchand Gandhi, Victoria Woodhull, Warren Felt Evans, William Ellery Channing, William James, William Lloyd Garrison, William Newton Clarke, Willie Lincoln, Winthrop, Zwingli.

In this episode, we talk with Anna Viatkina about Plotinus's views on freedom and moral responsibility and how they relate to ancient Stoic and contemporary rational abilities views. Anna's Google Scholar page: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KJmxq2gAAAAJ&hl=ruTwitter: https://twitter.com/thefreewillshowInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefreewillshow/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Free-Will-Show-105535031200408/

Send us a textEpisode 37 — Is There an 80/20 Approach to Seduction?Note: Part 1 of this series called "Return to the Land of Women" premiered here: https://youtu.be/dqMT7HdqioM____________________________________________________Come join us! Sign up today and enjoy all the perks of the Amorati Membership, including live calls with Zan and his team. Go here: https://www.Amorati.net/____________________________________Need a gunslinger? Someone who rides into town, completely solves your problem, then rides off into the sunset. Contact Zan Perrion personally to inquire about his incredibly effective one-on-one Laser Coaching. Find him here: https://arsamorata.com/gunslinger/____________________________________Get a gifted copy of The Alabaster Girl, personally signed by Zan Perrion. Go to https://alabastergirl.com____________________________________Get instant access to our 4 part mini-course with Zan Perrion

Send us a textAbundance in the Land of WomenEpisode 33 — Building Community and Attracting People Into Your Circle____________________________________________________Come join us! Sign up today and enjoy all the perks of the Amorati Membership, including live calls with Zan and his team. Go here: https://www.Amorati.net/____________________________________Need a gunslinger? Someone who rides into town, completely solves your problem, then rides off into the sunset. Contact Zan Perrion personally to inquire about his incredibly effective one-on-one Laser Coaching. Find him here: https://arsamorata.com/gunslinger/____________________________________Get a gifted copy of The Alabaster Girl, personally signed by Zan Perrion. Go to https://alabastergirl.com____________________________________Get instant access to our 4 part mini-course with Zan Perrion

If you enjoy this episode, we're sure you will enjoy more content like this on The Occult Rejects.  In fact, we have curated playlists on occult topics like grimoires, esoteric concepts and phenomena, occult history, analyzing true crime and cults with an occult lens, Para politics, and occultism in music. Whether you enjoy consuming your content visually or via audio, we've got you covered - and it will always be provided free of charge.  So, if you enjoy what we do and want to support our work of providing accessible, free content on various platforms, please consider making a donation to the links provided below.  Thank you and enjoy the episode!Links For The Occult Rejects and The Spiritual Gangsters https://linktr.ee/theoccultrejectsOccult Research Institutehttps://www.occultresearchinstitute.org/Cash Apphttps://cash.app/$theoccultrejectsVenmo@TheOccultRejectsBuy Me A Coffeebuymeacoffee.com/TheOccultRejectsPatreonhttps://www.patreon.com/TheOccultRejectsEvents The Occult Rejects will be atSept. 26-27 - Bigfoot Comicon, Mt. Airy, GAOctober 4 - Bigfoot Comicon, Franklin, NCOctober 18th - Charlies Beyond Belief FT Myers FLOctober 25-26, UFO Comicon, Greenville, SCNovember 22 - UFO Comicon, Mooresville, NCDecember 5-6 - ArtComicon, Mt. Airy, GA (Authors, Artists, Filmmakers)Vanessa's Tie Dye stuffhttps://www.etsy.com/shop/TruthAndDyesInstagram @truthanddyestruthanddyes@gmail.comEvents The Occult Rejects will be atSept. 26-27 - Bigfoot Comicon, Mt. Airy, GAOctober 4 - Bigfoot Comicon, Franklin, NCOctober 18th - Charlies Beyond Belief FT Myers FLOctober 25-26, UFO Comicon, Greenville, SCNovember 22 - UFO Comicon, Mooresville, NCDecember 5-6 - ArtComicon, Mt. Airy, GA (Authors, Artists, Filmmakers)

In today's episode I want to talk about the curious case of Plotinus. The late ancient Greek philosopher who's views on God and the world had a massive influence on subsequent Western thought. I want to draw out some surprising insights and neglected criticisms that can be gained by considering Plotinus' story of God and the world.CreditsHost: R.T. Mullins (PhD, University of St Andrews; Dr. Habil. University of Helsinki) is a lecturer and researcher at the University of Lucerne, senior research fellow at the Polin Institute, and a docent of dogmatics at the University of Helsinki.Music by Rockandmetal_domination – Raising-questions.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠rtmullins.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Support the Show:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/user?u=66431474⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ko-fi.com/rtmullins⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Mari Otsu joins Stephen Blackwood for a deeply personal conversation about her journey through the wounds of materialism, ideology, and spiritual forgetting, and her return to the soul through the beauty of the humanities. Reflecting on her years at NYU and the Grand Central Atelier, Mari speaks of a longing that nothing in the modern, politicized worldview could satisfy, and how she found healing in therapy, classical painting, and, most profoundly, the living philosophical community of Ralston College. Engaging with the works of Plotinus, Boethius, and Dante, she discovered a path of purification and ascent that restored her sense of meaning and inspired her to share these treasures with others. This conversation explores the roots of today's meaning crisis and the redemptive power of beauty, thought, and imagination to heal the soul. Subscribe to receive the latest Ralston College updates at www.ralston.ac/sign-up. Authors and Works Mentioned in this Episode: Plotinus' Enneads Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy Augustine's Confessions Plato Dante's Divine Comedy Monique Wittig's The Straight Mind Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:29 - Conversation Begins 02:18 - About Mari 6:00 - Βrief Review of Mari's time at Ralston 8:00 - Mari's Descent into Anguish and Fragmentation 15:20 - The Ideological Component: NYU 23:30 - Leaving Blame Behind 27:20 - Fear as a Symptom of a Spiritual Pathology 29:00 - The Role of Therapy and Right Relationship 34:00 - The Power of Art 44:16 - Moving from Beauty to Contemplation 46:51 - Beginning at Ralston 1:00:00 - Plotinus Moving Beyond Beauty 1:08:00 - Wrapping It All Up 01:11:01 - Exit Music and Fade  

Send us a textAbundance in the Land of WomenEpisode 31 — How To Know if You Found a ‘One'?____________________________________________________Come join us! Sign up today and enjoy all the perks of the Amorati Membership, including live calls with Zan and his team. Go here: https://www.Amorati.net/____________________________________Need a gunslinger? Someone who rides into town, completely solves your problem, then rides off into the sunset. Contact Zan Perrion personally to inquire about his incredibly effective one-on-one Laser Coaching. Find him here: https://arsamorata.com/gunslinger/____________________________________Get a gifted copy of The Alabaster Girl, personally signed by Zan Perrion. Go to https://alabastergirl.com____________________________________Get instant access to our 4 part mini-course with Zan Perrion

I sit down with my old friend from the Paul VanderKlay discord days, Dave W., to discuss the upcoming South Estuary conference and dive deep into the differences between "Light Woo" and "Dark Woo." We explore the nature of evil as a parasitic force and contrast the path of self-empowerment with the Christian concept of Theosis.Register for Dave's conference, Southestuary, here: https://www.southeastuary.com/Midwestuary : https://www.midwestuary.com/Dave's convo with PVK - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnxGugpTJZg&t=1744sPeople MentionedPaul VanderKlay (  @PaulVanderKlay  ) , Jordan Hall, Jordan Daniel Wood, JD Lionheart, Michael Martin, Nate Hile (  @grailcountry  ) , Shari, Yoseph Razin, Chris Green, St. Maximus the Confessor, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Isaac the Syrian, Origen, St. Seraphim of Sarov, St. John Chrysostom, Rod Dreher, Vin Armani, John Vervaeke (  @johnvervaeke  ) , Ashley Lande, Scott Adams, Augustine, Plotinus.

Send us a textEpisode 29 — How To Recapture Your Mojo After a Break-up or Divorce____________________________________________________Come join us! Sign up today and enjoy all the perks of the Amorati Membership, including live calls with Zan and his team. Go here: https://www.Amorati.net/____________________________________Need a gunslinger? Someone who rides into town, completely solves your problem, then rides off into the sunset. Contact Zan Perrion personally to inquire about his incredibly effective one-on-one Laser Coaching. Find him here: https://arsamorata.com/gunslinger/____________________________________Get a gifted copy of The Alabaster Girl, personally signed by Zan Perrion. Go to https://alabastergirl.com____________________________________Get instant access to our 4 part mini-course with Zan Perrion

Send us a textEpisode 28 — Dealing With One-Sided Attraction? Here's Something To Consider____________________________________________________Zan famously writes in The Alabaster Girl, “Love is symmetrical…The ones you love are the ones who love you”. Many men (and women) have read and re-read this line, understanding it conceptually, yet fail to *know the experience of being symmetrically in love*.  Why? Zan and Jordan explore the answer in today's episode. Many men who experience feelings of limerence or ‘asymmetrical love', do so because something clouds their judgement. Seeking to fill an inherent feeling of lack with external stimuli, they pursue partners to cover up deep wounds like a band-aid, failing to experience mutual fulfillment on a heart level. It's often prescribed that lasting satisfaction comes when you fill your own voids, inwardly. What do you think? Have you ever experienced what you could call ‘fully reciprocal love'? If not, do you believe it's possible? And if so, what can you actually do about it? Send us your thoughts. ~Anthony____________________________________________________Come join us! Sign up today and enjoy all the perks of the Amorati Membership, including live calls with Zan and his team. Go here: https://www.Amorati.net/____________________________________Need a gunslinger? Someone who rides into town, completely solves your problem, then rides off into the sunset. Contact Zan Perrion personally to inquire about his incredibly effective one-on-one Laser Coaching. Find him here: https://arsamorata.com/gunslinger/____________________________________Get a gifted copy of The Alabaster Girl, personally signed by Zan Perrion. Go to https://alabastergirl.com____________________________________Get instant access to our 4 part mini-course with Zan Perrion

Send us a textEpsiode 26 — Build a Vision of Your Masculinity from a Blank CanvasToday's discussion starts in response to one viewer's comment on his perception of the use of “re-” in the messaging of last episode's ideas around men ‘reclaiming' and ‘restoring' their masculine essence. “Spaking in these terms, you're looking backwards…it's not forward-creating”, he commented. Zan tells us that what he champions is not a full pendulum swing back to anything. Rather, it's about marrying beauty that was present in the past with upgrades in our intellect and knowledge that we've gained since. Today's conversation is full of moments that spark contemplation.Towards the end of the episode, you'll hear the latest from Jordan and Zan on how they're seeing the Vita Amorata come into the world. Share your thoughts and questions in response to today's conversation in the comments section. We want to hear from you.____________________________________________________Come join us! Sign up today and enjoy all the perks of the Amorati Membership, including live calls with Zan and his team. Go here: https://www.Amorati.net/____________________________________Need a gunslinger? Someone who rides into town, completely solves your problem, then rides off into the sunset. Contact Zan Perrion personally to inquire about his incredibly effective one-on-one Laser Coaching. Find him here: https://arsamorata.com...____________________________________Get a gifted copy of The Alabaster Girl, personally signed by Zan Perrion. Go to https://alabastergirl.com____________________________________Get instant access to our 4 part mini-course with Zan Perrion

Send us a textThe Zan and Jordan Show — Episode 25 — Women Don't Desire You When You're Afraid of Your Own Masculine Essence____________________________________________________Women Don't Desire You When You're Afraid of Your Own Masculine EssenceToday, Jordan and Zan shed light on one of the most fundamental, core (literally) shortcomings that men who want to be able to turn women on, must resolve. Tune in and discover some very simple practices that will help you become more aware of the energy moving deep within your body that makes you desirable to women, and learn to enjoy, love and celebrate those parts of yourself so that they can too. Soon, Jordan will be running a coaching program that will help men integrate their masculine edge and express it freely, opening up worlds of possibilities for their dating lives, and beyond. See the top comment pinned for more info. Share what you think about today's discussion in the comments section. We want to hear from you.____________________________________________________Come join us! Sign up today and enjoy all the perks of the Amorati Membership, including live calls with Zan and his team. Go here: https://www.Amorati.net/____________________________________Awaken The Virtue Of Passion — Re-Ignite Your Aliveness, Your Creativity, Your Raw Sexual Power: https://arsamorata.com____________________________________Need a gunslinger? Someone who rides into town, completely solves your problem, then rides off into the sunset. Contact Zan Perrion personally to inquire about his incredibly effective one-on-one Laser Coaching. Find him here: https://arsamorata.com/gunslinger/____________________________________Get a gifted copy of The Alabaster Girl, personally signed by Zan Perrion. Go to https://alabastergirl.com____________________________________Get instant access to our 4 part mini-course with Zan Perrion

Ralston College presents a talk by Christopher Snook, Lecturer in the Department of Classics at Dalhousie University, on St. Augustine's great autobiographical text The Confessions. This talk offers a detailed walk through of Books VII and VIII of Augustine's text in light of Augustine's “abiding preoccupation with the nature of the created order.”  Snook explores how Augustine absorbed the  insights of Platonist philosophers like Plotinus and Porphyry but also moved beyond them as he sought a more embodied account of the nature of the human person. Augustine's own conversion stresses the importance of encountering models for life and reveals the centrality of the incarnate Logos to the Christian understandings of self-realization. This lecture was delivered on January 9th, 2025 at Ralston College's Savannah campus during the third term of the MA in the Humanities program. Support Ralston College's mission to revive the conditions of a free and flourishing culture. Authors and Works Mentioned in this Episode: Dante, The Divine Comedy Cicero, Hortensius T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock St. Ambrose Plotinus Porphyry Gaius Marius Victorinus Plato, The Republic Virgil, The Aeneid  Iamblichus Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol St. Anthony the Great John Scotus Eriugena Anselm of Canterbury Martin Luther Rene Decartes  

Episode 22 — Explore Your Relationship to Women and Step Into What's Beyond____________________________________________________On the heels of gathering in Bucharest for the Spring 2025 Amorati Conference, Jordan and Zan meet this week and reflect on the conversation had, discuss the true value of embracing the Ars Amorata philosophy, and answer the much-asked question, “How do I get more of ‘all this' where I am?” Philosophers and laymen alike have long contemplated life's great mysteries. What of Ars Amorata? What has been, is currently, and will be its contribution? Ultimately, it's a certain kind of man who seeks out answers to the questions we ask here.Follow today's discussion for how to live the beauty of this philosophy, and to better understand where you stand in life's most important journey: taking honest stock of your relationships. Keep the conversation going by sharing your thoughts with us.____________________________________________________Come join us! Sign up today and enjoy all the perks of the Amorati Membership, including live calls with Zan and his team. Go here: https://www.Amorati.net/____________________________________Need a gunslinger? Someone who rides into town, completely solves your problem, then rides off into the sunset. Contact Zan Perrion personally to inquire about his incredibly effective one-on-one Laser Coaching. Find him here: https://arsamorata.com/lifementoring/____________________________________Get a gifted copy of The Alabaster Girl, personally signed by Zan Perrion. Go to https://alabastergirl.com____________________________________Join our newsletter here & get all our latest: https://arsamorata.com____________________________________THE AMORATI is a close-knit fraternity of men from all over the world who have devoted their lives to the philosophy of The Ars Amorata.The Amorati are lovers of women. The Amorati are lovers of life. The Amorati are treasure hunters and raconteurs. The Amorati are on a lifelong quest for beauty and adventure.JOIN US in the AMORATI membership - Go to https://www.Amorati.net/. Talk to Anthony, our membership coordinator, here: https://cal.com/arsamorata. ____________________________________ARS AMORATA is a celebration of the art of seduction, the rebirth of romance, and a lifelong quest for beauty and adventure.Ars Amorata is a philosophy of beauty. It is a way of life. It is not a religion. It is a belief system, similar to the way one might call Stoicism a belief system or a way of life. It is a layer that exists (or not) below all religion and all social structures. And it belongs to all of you.Philosophers throughout the ages have argued whether beauty is objective or subjective, but in my view, beauty is neither. It is neither inherent as a property of the object (the objective view) nor is it in the eye of the beholder (the subjective view). Beauty is a third thing altogether.Beauty is prime. It stands alone. It is a thing apart, in Kant's words: a Thing-In-Itself (Ding an sich). Beauty emanates from what Aristotle called the Unmoved Mover, what Plotinus called The One, what scientists call the Big Bang, and what John in the New Testament called the Word or Logos.Ars Amorata is an attempt to lift Beauty to its rightful place as the primary guiding principle in our hearts and in the world.____________________________________Visit the Ars Amorata WEBSITE: http://www.ArsAmorata.comVisit the Zan Perrion WEBSITE: http://www.ZanPerrion.comSupport the show

In this talk I dive into an overview of the Enneads of Plotinus. We consider its similarity with the rest of so-called ‘perennial philosophy' and how this doctrine is not compatible with biblical theology and why Augustine was influenced by it in his filioquism. Full talk available in my archives for paid subs. Send Superchats at any time here: https://streamlabs.com/jaydyer/tip Get started with Bitcoin here: https://www.swanbitcoin.com/jaydyer/ The New Philosophy Course is here: https://marketplace.autonomyagora.com/philosophy101 Set up recurring Choq subscription with the discount code JAY44LIFE for 44% off now https://choq.com Lore coffee is here: https://www.patristicfaith.com/coffee/ Orders for the Red Book are here: https://jaysanalysis.com/product/the-red-book-essays-on-theology-philosophy-new-jay-dyer-book/ Subscribe to my site here: https://jaysanalysis.com/membership-account/membership-levels/ Follow me on R0kfin here: https://rokfin.com/jaydyernism, evangelicalism, Arianism, cults, Hebrew roots, JWs, etc. Subscribe to my site here: https://jaysanalysis.com/membership-account/membership-levels/ Follow me on R0kfin here: https://rokfin.com/jaydyerBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/jay-sanalysis--1423846/support.

Adversity and tragedy are one-two punches that often break a human being right down to the very core of her/his being, especially when he/she is young.Luke Storey describes how he survived his addictions and a cult meant to “reform” him, then found his way to healing through the process of surrender this week on Spirit Gym.Learn more about Luke, browse his favorite products and listen to his podcast, The Life Stylist Podcast With Luke Storey, on his website. Check him out on social media via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Telegram and Rumble.Sign up for your Spirit Gym podcast membership so you can access members-only extended versions of the podcast along with exclusive Q&A opportunities with Paul. Timestamps3:45 “In the case of my parents, what they didn't know, they didn't know.”9:05 Craving a warm blanket of safety but not knowing how to get that from people, Luke turned to drugs.18:02 Do you create chaos for yourself every day?23:13 Developing the witness-observer perspective.28:54 Be present for the feminine storm.36:20 Luke becomes a participant in the cult-like troubled teen industry.42:32 There were survivors, not graduates or alumni of Luke's days at the Rocky Mountain Academy.50:08 Can there be “good” brainwashing?1:00:13 The contagious nature of trauma.1:15:47 Is our society disempowering men?1:26:37 Creating micro-communities.1:32:18 “We have an opportunity to change the trajectory of the collective.”Resources The work of Plotinus, Dr. Leonard Sax and Steven TylerThe Sacred Art of Listening by Kay LindahlFreedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults and Beliefs by Steven HassanCEDUSynanonFind more resources for this episode on our website.Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz) by Brave as BearsAll Rights Reserved MusicFit Records 2024Thanks to our awesome sponsors:PaleovalleyBiOptimizers US and BiOptimizers UK PAUL10Organifi CHEK20Wild PasturesWe may earn commissions from qualifying purchases using affiliate links.