The Labyrinth podcast

#Society #Philosophy #Culture #Ideas #Psychology #Science #Consciousness #Brenden Weber #Film #TV #Spiritual Beings

22:08

Host Francesca Amiker sits down with directors Joe and Anthony Russo, producer Angela Russo-Otstot, stars Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt, and more to uncover how family was the key to building the emotional core of The Electric State . From the Russos’ own experiences growing up in a large Italian family to the film’s central relationship between Michelle and her robot brother Kid Cosmo, family relationships both on and off of the set were the key to bringing The Electric State to life. Listen to more from Netflix Podcasts . State Secrets: Inside the Making of The Electric State is produced by Netflix and Treefort Media.…

The Labyrinth

Series home•Feed

exploring the simulated enigma
brendenslabyrinth.substack.com

27 episodes

The Labyrinth

updated 6 days ago

Series home•Feed

exploring the simulated enigma
brendenslabyrinth.substack.com

27 episodes

#Society #Philosophy #Culture #Ideas #Psychology #Science #Consciousness #Brenden Weber #Film #TV #Spiritual Beings

All episodes

The Labyrinth

1
Red Scare: Aesthetics, Nihilism, and Vibes Over Values 52:21

6 days ago52:21

52:21

So this started with a Substack note that semi-blew up, and it pushed me to expand on something I’ve been thinking about for a while: rebellion, aesthetics, and how edginess functions as a kind of political currency (or all of those combined do). I talk about Red Scare. But this isn’t just about them . It’s about the death of irony, the collapse of aesthetics into ideology, and what happens when leftist politics forget how to maintain an edge in favor of an oversimplified and marginalizing ethic. I talk jouissance (Lacan and stuff), performative rebellion, reactionary grifting, and the slow shift of “edgy” from leftist cultural critique to right-wing nihilism. I touch on why moral posturing turned the liberal left into the new status quo—and why Dasha and Anna’s (Red Scare ladies) vibe shift might be the most revealing political litmus test for our current cultural and political moment. This episode is about how rebellion gets hollowed out, how irony can curdle into belief, and how our politics are increasingly built not from principles, but from vibes. Are you ruled by reason…or by desire, rage, and the need for transgression? Is that really a base for a moral framework? Anyway…i’ll have more stuff around this idea. I need to further develop how nihilism is at the heart of the rot…. Stay curious. Article that I referenced in the episode: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

The Labyrinth

1
The Resignation 22:45

12 weeks ago22:45

22:45

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com The jumping off point for this episode: Society, at its core, thrives on a delicate balance between conformity and controlled deviation. The deviation is the accepted level of neurosis where society will not call you psychotic. It requires people to give themselves to authority at some level to function—to accept its norms, rules, and boundaries, even as……

The Labyrinth

1
The Reckoning for Sam Harris and Liberals 52:20

19 weeks ago52:20

52:20

I listened to Sam Harris’s episode “The Reckoning”… . I have som thoughts… Here’s the key point I want to illustrate in this episode (which ties into our current political and cultural chaos): We need to understand how the internet has become a wasteland of endless information. Finding anything resembling “real” or stable truth online is nearly impossible, and I believe most people feel this deeply. So, what do we do? We focus on paying our bills, but when we want to make sense of the world, we turn to simplified narratives—ones that tap into primal instincts like fear, anger, and loyalty to our “in-groups.” The right has positioned itself as rebellious or populist, and they’ve quickly grasped that young men, in particular, have moved on from millennial political framing. Zoomers, raised on the internet, perceive the world through an online lens. So, when Biden talks about bringing back manufacturing jobs, it barely resonates. They want to be content creators, not factory workers. The content that sells right now is fueled by right-wing talking points. Elon Musk clearly recognized this when he reshaped Twitter. This generation doesn’t trust corporations, the media, the “American Dream,” or even their parents. Instead, they put their faith in individuals—the influencers who tell them they don’t need a 9-to-5 job, that they can succeed as content creators or finance bros. They’ve watched their parents struggle. They’ve seen millennials hyper-aware of corporate exploitation, with little to show for it—unable to afford homes, rent, or even the basics to start a family. Zoomers’ response has been to conform collectively while rebelling individually. In this climate, you try to secure your piece of the pie—and right now, conforming to the right’s cultural framing is the way to do that as an individual. The challenge? I want to find a way to convince people to resist that pull. Anyway… I’ve been trying to organize my thoughts about the current political and cultural chaos—especially how we reached the point of a second Trump term. This isn’t just another “here’s what’s wrong with everything” rant filled with low-hanging fruit talking points. Those have been exhausted. They feel performative and predictable. The left is due for a reckoning. This reckoning won’t come from recycled takes or comforting narratives that avoid the hard truths. It will require confronting uncomfortable realities. No, the solution isn’t a “progressive Joe Rogan.”No, Kamala Harris’s loss isn’t solely about racism, sexism, or even “wokeness.”It’s far more complex than that. Our media ecosystem and the internet aren’t just bystanders—they’re actively driving cultural and political shifts we’ve yet to fully comprehend. When Trump shouts out figures like Adin Ross and the Nelk Boys, while Dana White gives a speech during his celebration, it’s a sign that the landscape of influence has fundamentally changed. The left can’t dismiss these cultural signals. They need to learn from them, even if it means reshaping their framing of the world. Sam Harris is a perfect case study here. He’s emblematic of a liberal media cohort—figures like Ethan Klein and Bari Weiss—who want to critique the system without meaningfully challenging it. They represent a centrist liberalism that’s long dominated the Democratic Party, embodied by Clinton, Obama, Biden, and Kamala Harris. This faction has often operated at the expense of the voter base it claims to represent. Instead of empowering diverse, authentic voices that demand systemic change, liberal institutions often prefer controlled minorities—those who fit within a safe, curated narrative. In contrast, Republicans are embracing chaos. They’re opening doors to a new generation of wildcards, loyalists, and provocateurs. While this is risky and often reckless, it creates a sense of genuine expression and raw connection that resonates with many. This is where I use Sam Harris’s critiques of “wokeness.” Yes, wokeness has an optics problem. But Harris, like many liberal pundits, hyperfixates on it as if dismantling it will solve the broader systemic issues. It won’t. Woke discourse is just one piece of a much larger, reformulating puzzle. Kamala Harris is a microcosm of this problem. Her failure wasn’t just about “wokeness”—it was her inability to connect meaningfully with any voter base. In trying to please everyone, she pleased no one. Meanwhile, the media continues to thrive on spectacle, feeding tribalism and controversy. Figures like Trump, Carlson, and Musk dominate this space because they play to primal, simple narratives: us vs. them. The left’s challenge isn’t just to counter this messaging—it’s to resist becoming a watered-down imitation of the right. Instead, they must forge a new way forward, one that genuinely connects with people’s discontent and offers something more substantive than the performative politics we’ve grown used to. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

The Labyrinth

1
Election 2024 as Political Theater: Are We Voting or Just Consuming? | Jubilee, Joe Rogan, and the Spectacle 41:10

21 weeks ago41:10

41:10

In this episode, I dive into the intersection of politics and identity, exploring how the election—and the discourse around it—has morphed into a hyper-stylized spectacle. I felt the need to talk about the election in my way….I’ve got to stay on brand, right!? Anyway our increasingly online world has transformed political engagement into a product, something we consume for entertainment rather than something that prompts genuine reflection or change. We essentially perform our discontent instead of seeking out a genuine understanding of the origins of said discontent. Think about it: are we really engaging with the issues, or just performing our political identities for an audience? We seek validation for the identity we formulate online! Both as consumers and creators. To explore this, I use Jubilee as a backdrop, which has turned political debate into binge-worthy content, casting ideological labels into meme-ready roles in series like Middle Ground (insane ‘vs’ series…. “fit vs fat” is an example of their debates) and Surrounded (1 vs 25 debates). These "debates" aren’t about meaningful exchange; they’re about creating viral moments, reinforcing stereotypes, and packaging political identity as a consumable commodity. These staged personas reflect the performative nature of modern politics. They’re not there to inform—they’re there to entertain, to affirm, and to let viewers project their own identities onto prefabricated political tropes, symbols, and trends. But it’s not just Jubilee. Think about figures like Joe Rogan, who recently stirred the pot by endorsing Trump. Platforms and influencers with massive reach have financial incentives to feed us predictable, memeable political “analysis,” and we consume it without digging deeper. Our political discourse has been flattened into a series of catchphrases and predictable debates, designed to feed our sense of self/identity rather than challenge it. So, what does it mean when our politics is sold back to us as entertainment? This isn’t just disillusioning—it’s profoundly isolating. As we scroll through clips, drawn into ideological caricatures and clickbait conflicts, we sense a disconnect between the theater of politics and the real issues shaping our lives. But instead of prompting action, this disconnect leaves us in a loop of passive consumption, feeding a politics of narcissism and spectacle. So….our personal distress, our longing for validation, and even our political identities have become the products we buy and sell—leaving us, the “voters,” as spectators in a political drama that may not care whether we truly understand or engage with issues that truly effect us everyday. The fragmented political arena is a closed loop; a loop with no escape and no imagined future, only a loop of predictable reactions. Now, dance liberal! How can we move the spectacle into something more impactful? How can we find a political project that actually has an idea for the future? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

The Labyrinth

1
I’m Not Your Daddy, But I’ll Be Your Chaos Guide 1:03:39

22 weeks ago1:03:39

1:03:39

Welcome to Unformulated. A subsection of my audio/visual content…where I can ramble through what I’m researching, poke at uncomfortable ideas, and maybe even say something worthwhile. This will be my chaotic sandbox. It’s my experiment in real-time thinking, a space where I can let my mind wander without obsessing over making every idea neat and polished. We will destroy the neat package that is the easily digestible content! (Also this is still well researched content….it’s just not condensed down and will vary more in topics and style…it’s experimental.) It’s an act of rebellion against the algorithms. Anyway, I’ve been fixating on some cultural and societal frustrations lately, especially how the theory space feels like an intellectual time capsule—more obsessed with dissecting the past than figuring out what it means for our uncertain future. Don’t get me wrong, I love history and all that, I love theory, but sometimes it feels like we’re stuck playing curators in an intellectual museum instead of building anything new. We need more people willing to take risks with their ideas, even if it means sounding a little unhinged. Cultural analysis should go beyond history…it should be willing to predict. We need to be more willing to fail and be wrong. I talk about why so much of modern culture—think figures like Jordan Peterson or Ben Shapiro—peddle simplified versions of complex ideas, treating history like a myth to prop up their narratives. But it’s not just them. Everyone’s craving predictability—something the algorithms love to reinforce. That desire to fit into neat categories? It’s killing our ability to imagine new futures. We end up trapped in these tidy, marketable versions of ourselves, all the while ignoring the deeper questions about how power shapes our desires and keeps us in a state of discontent and problematic status quo. This is my space to push back against all that. I’ll throw out my clusterfucked and more ‘lateral’ thoughts here and only upload when I think there’s some value in my word-vomit. Thank you for your attention. I need your attention—seriously, it keeps me sane. But I also need you to challenge me, to love and hate what I say. Okay, now I’m gonna attempt to break some museums or something. I’ll have the video version on my YT channel I made for Unformulated …it should be up a few hours after your receive this in case you’d rather stare into my eyes and look at my face while consuming my words. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

The Labyrinth

1
Consumed by Consumption: The Self-Help Industry & The Erosion of Self 20:51

24 weeks ago20:51

20:51

I’ve been working on an essay that uses the recent Jay Shetty controversy as a lens to explore deeper themes around individuality and how capitalism shapes our sense of self. The controversy isn’t surprising in a system designed to commodify every aspect of our lives. I argue that the more individualized we become, the more society pushes us to deconstruct ourselves in pursuit of consumption. This cycle creates a fragmented sense of identity, marketed as self-exploration and empowerment, but ultimately designed to sell us more. More, more, more….hoooooray! Self-help has evolved into a massive industry driven by figures like Jordan Peterson, Tony Robbins, and Jay Shetty (to name a few of the endless names I could have named), capitalizing on our desire to "fix" ourselves. But what if this endless focus on the individual is distracting us from the collective issues we face? Deleuze and Guattari's idea of capitalism as schizophrenic—constantly reshaping our desires to fit market demands—plays a key role here. As we consume to define ourselves, we become more atomized and isolated, convinced that self-consumption is the path to maintaining our identity. I also touch on how hyper-individualization connects to media distrust in the digital age. As we build personalized realities through fragmented information, we lose a shared sense of truth, deepening social divisions. Ultimately, I hope to explore how this obsession with self-identity not only drives consumerism but keeps us from addressing the broader systemic forces that benefit from our division. Stay tuned for more on this topic as I made this episode because my other essay was getting off track around a related topic. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

The Labyrinth

1
End of History...Rebooted Reality...Meme Activism 45:01

27 weeks ago45:01

45:01

In this one I dive deep into the peculiar tension that Gen Z and younger millennials are feeling around today's cultural and political landscape. But it’s not just about politics or the rise of certain obvious and overdone characters like….Trump. It’s about something more pervasive, something beyond current discourse. Imagine being caught in a strange subliminal space…where meaning, once anchored by grand narratives, is evaporating faster than we can grasp. I’m not making a value judgement on this idea either…maybe those grand narratives need to fall in on themselves. I’m into it. But what happens when the rebellions of past generations—once fueled by dreams of change—become nothing more than empty aesthetics? Hippie culture, cyberpunk, punk rock: all absorbed by the very systems they sought to dismantle, now sold as commodities. Any symbol of rebellion that ends up as a Halloween costume? You’ve lost it. It’s dead. A ghost of what it once was. Time to move on. It’s been hollowed out by the center. Are we losing sleep over political collapse? Should we? Instead, we’re struggling with the suffocating sense of stagnation. Whether it’s politics, where new faces are just sequels of the old…our current culture, where the freshest ideas feel like polished-up retreads. We’re stuck in a loop…Marvel superheroes, Disney remakes, even Barbie got a reboot. It’s reboots all the way down! So, the big question here: Are we trapped in a rebooted reality? Is everything—from the content we consume to our political choices—just a remix of what’s come before? And more crucially, is there a way out of this loop, or are we doomed to keep recycling the same stale narratives forever? I’m trying to explore this disorienting moment in time, where the future feels like a nostalgic rerun but the nostalgic feeling is overstaying its welcome. Anyway….thanks for listening and I’ll be doing a branch off of this as a Part 2. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

The Labyrinth

1
The "Hegelian E-Girl Council" and Digital Dialectics 54:35

30 weeks ago54:35

54:35

In this one…I get into the chaotic, absurd world of the "Hegelian E-Girl Council" drama—a bizarre saga that epitomizes the kind of online cultural labyrinth I'm all about. The brief hook: Twitter is swarming with communities that ride the fine line between genius, madness, and stupidity and this council is the latest example that has emerged and garnered some attention. It's not just about Hegel; it's about how online identities and highbrow jargon become badges of pseudo-intellectual honor, a reality-check on the line between digital performance and genuine philosophy. Caught up in this mess (but not really), I found myself in a Discord rabbit hole where theory nerds perform as if every tweet is a stage, showcasing the schizoid dialectical. I explore how these online personas tried to bring Hegel into the real world with a symposium in NYC, only to implode in a whirlwind of accusations, betrayals, and ideological clashes that mirror the fragmented, hyperreal landscape of our online identities. This episode is more than internet gossip/drama—it’s a probe into how our virtual personas, fueled by narcissistic desires, clash with reality, revealing the messy, often performative nature of our intellectual lives. It’s about the Hegelian struggle to find truth amidst the noise and the hilarious futility of seeking coherence in an era where even philosophy is reduced to a meme. Or maybe that is Zizek…who is checking though? Right? My not serious critique, with a bit of self-reflection, and a deep dive into the digital maelstrom that is my psyche and the collective consciousness of our culture. Welcome to my web of culture, identity, and the ever-elusive pursuit of truth. Stay curious. Nikki: https://x.com/returntohegel Anna: https://x.com/tenshi_anna Sanje: https://x.com/sanjehorah Also I like JRegs political compass video…. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

The Labyrinth

1
The Conservative Boogeyman: Kevin Roberts 40:48

35 weeks ago40:48

40:48

"Oh no…a politics episode." Yes, yes, I hear your collective groan. Politics, ugh, right? Same due. But I've got a bone to pick with the Heritage Foundation's President Kevin Roberts and his Project 2025. I kind of used to work for the guy. We kind of used to debate each other on some stuff. I kind of pretended to be an anarchist Catholic (it was a fun bit) while engaging with him. Trust me, this isn't just politics as usual—this is a deep dive into a conservative fever dream that demands our attention. Let's dismantle the conservative (especially the religious conservative) mindset, and expose Kevin Roberts' not-so-subtle nods to violence and upheaval, all wrapped up in the guise of a "New American Revolution." The man is practically inciting chaos with his rhetoric. Yet he claims to be on the side of “common sense.” So sick dude. I'm delving into the conservatives' psychological warfare, where they manipulate spiritual narratives to maintain their grip on power, while liberals stumble around with their performative wokeness. It's a spectacle of narcissism on both sides, and it's high time we dismantle it. We need to start by dragging our political discourse out of its current dismal state. Think of this as a step one individual effort of mine to redefine political discourse. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

The Labyrinth

1
Podcast Daddy 21:29

48 weeks ago21:29

21:29

Intro of what this episode is about… So, there's this trend in the influencer and guru world of trying to make God cool again. You've got your Petersons, your Hubermans, your Rogans, all preaching their own brand of spirituality, self-improvement, and self-optimization. And I've noticed this trend where they’ve moved more towards this acceptance of God or more open to a Jesus like figure. Not a problem on face value. I’m not here today to critique the flaws of religion. It’s over done or at least we will save it for a different day. I want to examine why this happens and just the general understanding of these, what I want to call, Podcast Daddy. Look at it this way, we're all players in the grand theatre of life, acting out our parts in a drama as ancient as the myths of Greece. We can cast ourselves into three roles, I think, in some sense, obviously this is a bit oversimplified as I’m still trying to formulate my wording for this but: those striving to be Prometheus, stealing fire from the gods to bring wisdom to mankind and gods being the structures we live under, the structures that influence our desire without us really know it; those wanting to play Apollo, the priestly conduit between heaven and earth, and the Gods, being your interpreter of ‘the good’; and then there are those who are content being the chorus, echoing whatever tune the priestly Apollo plays. Basically, you have your wise guys, you have your priest, and you have the people who generally follow the priest or start becoming a wise guy. I might turn this into a more in depth essay but the episode includes some of my initial thoughts. Let me know what you think… Stay curious. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

The Labyrinth

1
Breaking Down the Alt-right: How Outspoken Extremes Shape Our Culture 27:45

49 weeks ago27:45

27:45

Some highlights… * "The most outspoken members of society shape opinions and shift the center significantly." * "Twitter is often a cesspool of stupidity, yet it's also where the most opinionated gather to shape culture, art, politics, and philosophy." * "Our current commentary culture encourages edgy takes supported by selective evidence, yet fails to challenge the deeper complexities of truth." * "The alt-right's fixation on certain idols as a response to the perceived instability of the Symbolic order in our postmodern era is a clinging to these idols as a way to anchor their sense of self in a world where meaning seems increasingly fragmented and uncertain." * "They've mistaken the inversion of values for their transcendence, and in doing so, have fallen prey to the very nihilism they claim to despise." This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

The Labyrinth

1
Free will, determinism, and consciousness (ft. Sam Harris, Deleuze, and Nietzsche) 12:22

1 year ago12:22

12:22

There’s this clip of Sam Harris discussing consciousness and free will that went a bit viral on Twitter. I wanted to comment on it… so here it is. I hope you enjoy it. Stay curious. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

The Labyrinth

1
Modern magic: the internet and its endless influencers 13:52

1 year ago13:52

13:52

The quote that motivated this episode…. “Central to Hermetic thought was the tenet: ‘As above, so below.’ Everything is connected, from the movement of the stars and the planets to the internal workings of an insect. Understanding these secret connections, and harnessing them, was the key to a successful magician’s art. Central, too, was the occult nature of the mage’s knowledge. The mage saw things, and connections, that ordinary or uninitiated people could not. Whoever shapes the perception of others, in order to get what they desire, is practising magic. As above, so below’, in this context, refers less to the relationship between, say, plants and planets, than to the relationship between the human psyche and human cultural life. Change one person’s mind – and you might change the world. Like the old witches’ bargains of eras past, we agree to sell parts of ourselves – our eyeballs – in exchange for certain illusory fulfilments of desire packaged up by powerful corporate tech titans and memetically gifted shitposters capable of ‘going viral’ with a perfectly worded image or tweet. Memes, in this telling, become the modern interpretations of the magician’s sigil: a magical image empowered to convey the magician’s desired energy.” — Tara Isabella Burton What better way to maintain the validity of your simulated world than to draw people into the hyperreality that you perceive? Stay curious. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

The Labyrinth

1
Deconstructing Arrival and Time: The Hidden Meaning 14:45

1 year ago14:45

14:45

This is the audio version of my previous essay and I’ve also linked the Youtube version as well. “But now I'm not so sure I believe in beginnings and endings. There are days that define your story beyond your life. Like the day they arrived.” “And "purpose" requires an understanding of intent. We need to find out, do they make conscious choices or is their motivation so instinctive that they don't understand a "why" question at all. And-And biggest of all, we need to have enough vocabulary with them that we understand their answer.” — Arrival One does not see an alternative cosmos, a cosmic folklore or exoticism, or a galactic prowess there - one is from the start in a total simulation, without origin, immanent, without a past, without a future, a diffusion of all coordinates (mental, temporal, spatial, signaletic) - it is not about a parallel universe, a double universe, or even a possible universe - neither possible, impossible, neither real nor unreal: hyperreal - it is a universe of simulation, which is something else altogether. — Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulation "One has only to throw away the deterministic model of 'objective necessities' and obligatory 'stages' of development? One has thus to sustain a minimum of anti-determinism: nothing is ever written off, in an 'objective situation' which precludes any act, which condemns us fully to biopolitical vegetation. There is always a space to be created for an act—precisely because, to paraphrase Rosa Luxemburg’s critique of reformism, it is not enough to wait patiently for the 'right moment' of the revolution." — Slavoj Zizek "The past does not cause one present to pass without calling forth another, but itself neither passes nor comes forth. For this reason, the past, far from being a dimension of time, is the synthesis of all time of which the present and the future are only dimensions." — Gilles Deleuze This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

The Labyrinth

1
Deconstructing A Clockwork Orange: The Hidden Meaning 11:55

1 year ago11:55

11:55

This has a few changes and rewording but this is an audio and podcast version for my recent essay. Stanley Kubrick's cinematic masterpiece, 'A Clockwork Orange', paints a vivid picture of orchestrated aggression. But what's the real message behind the film? From the Korova Milkbar to the depths of psychological conditioning, 'A Clockwork Orange' is a journey into the human psyche. Article it’s based on… Stay curious. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

The Labyrinth

1
Blueprints of life 19:17

2 years ago19:17

19:17

Some excerpts… "We pull from the external world to formulate our own narratives, yet they're never truly our own." "Narratives become our masks, and over time, we become consumed by them." "In the vast digital landscape, we're both the authors and the characters of our stories, constantly shaping and being shaped." "The uncertain interplay with the external world continuously evolves us, forcing us to navigate and find our place anew." "Stories, myths, narratives—they act as symbols that drive us, resonating deeply within our core." "Even the move towards authenticity online is still a curated image, a symbol of something else." "Narratives are more than stories; they're the blueprints of our existence, shaping our perceptions and defining our identities." "Despite our differences, narratives remind us we're all part of a larger story, intricately woven by shared experiences and aspirations." "We imagine events in our lives as moments in a story, seeking meaning, repositioning ourselves within evolving narratives." "In relationships, we see the interplay of influences, the pivot points in the web we build in tandem with another." Longer Excerpts Narratives shape our perception of information. Consider the conventional story we tell about Earth's history. We often frame it as a sequence of dominant species or dynasties taking their turns to rule the planet. This narrative suggests that Earth's history is marked by power shifts, with one dominant species succeeding another. It's why we're so captivated by extinction events. We see them as moments when an old ruler is dethroned and a new one rises. For instance, we frequently discuss the asteroid that struck Earth 66 million years ago, leading to the extinction of the dinosaurs. This event is often framed as paving the way for the age of mammals, which eventually led to our current era dominated by humans. Now, we've built skyscrapers and can instantly connect with someone on the other side of the world through our earbuds. However, this narrative of power shifts and dominance oversimplifies the intricate details of Earth's history. It strips away the nuance and complexity of what truly transpired. Viewing historical events merely as power transitions between dominant species is a distortion. This perspective is likely influenced by our human-centric view, where we see ourselves as the reigning dominant species and draw parallels between past extinctions and potential threats to our own supremacy. We're constantly crafting narratives, not just individually but in conjunction with everything around us. This includes our interactions with ourselves, our loved ones, our communities, and even the media we consume. Your narrative isn't solely your own; it's an intricate webbed interaction with the world around you, an ongoing interplay that's inescapable. This dynamic becomes especially evident in intimate relationships. Perhaps it's most palpable there, or maybe that's just my perception. When you're deeply connected with someone, you can clearly see how both of you influence and shape the story of your relationship. Reflect on a time when you were, or perhaps still are, in love. We often view love not as a fleeting emotion, but as a profound force. When reminiscing about a current or past love, you might recall specific moments that held significant meaning within the broader narrative of your relationship. These moments can be turning points: realizing the depth of your love, recognizing a desire to spend your life with them, or understanding the uniqueness of your feelings for them. The list is endless. Conversely, relationships also have their challenging moments. These pivotal instances, like intense disagreements or realizations that things might not work out, force us to reassess. They're turning points, moments that reshape the narrative web you're co-creating with another person. A Hemmingway quote that I was reminded of thinking about this episode…. “You did not kill the fish only to keep alive and to sell for food, he thought. You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman. You loved him when he was alive and you loved him after. If you love him, it is not a sin to kill him. Or is it more?”― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

The Labyrinth

1
Marketplace of overstimulation 15:24

2 years ago15:24

15:24

( Transcript edited for readability.) Amidst dusk, I stood alone in a sprawling, chaotic marketplace. Stalls stretched endlessly, selling sleek, high-tech smartphones. The crowd was full of anticipation. I grabbed a device. Its screen lit up, flooding me with flashes and buzzing alerts. Each ping of my phone further itching my curiosity. But it was a hollow thrill, only to be replaced by a curiosity for more. I found a tent with shifting, shimmering fabrics. The sign above read, "Future Fashion Today." The clothing was hanging in the tent, whirling in the wind, transforming with each gust. My nose caught a scent. I arrived at a food stall. A blinking flashing sign read "Sleep your way to slim in the all-natural way." Further down the path, I found myself walking past various portals that appeared to lead to other lands. Signs all around them were promising exotic adventures. But each entrance unveiled a similar scene: crowds of empty faces vying for those oh-so-necessary ideal shots of renowned landmarks. Everyone was trapped in some unending cycle, chasing an ideal of envisioned joy hollowed out by marketing ploys. The marketplace faded away. I found myself drifting in space while in front of a massive screen overlooking a massive forest of bamboo. We live in an age of information overload. And with that, brings the paradox of choice. We have choice paralysis. Choice is abound. From streaming options, relationship swiping, and endless new products, we are faced with decision fatigue and hesitation due to the fear of missing out on other alternatives. Our environments, especially urban ones, are full of distractions providing us with sensory overload. Social media only amplifies this experience of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). The continuous stream of others' experiences induces restlessness and discontent as our urge to compare ourselves to the filtered lives of others becomes inevitable. Downtime is diminished, shamed even. In a productivity-focused culture, constant activity leaves little room for reflection. Do we truly wonder why the diagnosis of anxiety and depression continues to rise? Time for reflection allows us to declutter and understand our inner emotional state, but overstimulation guides us toward distraction, leaving us unexamined, moving with society's external stimuli. Okay, but let's consider how this overstimulation we experience can lead us to become desensitized... We are constantly bombarded with intense stimuli, guiding us towards our next click, our next purchase, but maybe more importantly: our next story. We live with an endless news cycle that pushes tragic story after tragic story, inevitably leaving us with lowered experience of the intensity of the emotional pull they should cause. Just think about how fast the news moves past the latest mass shooting. The desensitized person's perception loses depth and subtlety. We become numb. And the numbed individual no longer perceives the world with the same nuance. Are we inevitably facing a diluted experience of reality? Deleuze and Guattari's concept of assemblages connects well with this I think. Assemblages are these dynamic networks of connections, or interconnections, and interactions that create our societal structures. They come in multiple forms. A city is a form of assemblage, with its buildings, roads, inhabitants, and cultural practices, all contribute to the functioning and identity of the city. A piece of art, be it film, a painting, or a sculpture, is an assemblage of various elements that come together to convey a message or evoke emotions. Our bodies are an assemblage. And us being in a society, while being a desiring machine, makes our very desire and drives an assemblage, where everything comes together into a structure that guides, dictates, and even oppresses how individuals relate to the world and themselves. Now, these structures are not static; they are fluid and malleable, constantly reshaping and adapting to our interdependent relations. But think about our experience of overstimulation and intense external stimuli... When this stimulation is incessantly thrust upon an individual, the resulting assemblage can become rigid and repetitive. Our experience becomes predictable. And more easily controlled for that matter. Imagine the individual bombarded by an unending stream of sensationalized news and graphic content. The connections formed within their mind gradually solidify into a structured assemblage, wherein certain thoughts, emotions, and reactions become closely linked. This assemblage, perpetuated by the unceasing influx of similar content, begins to constrict our range of experiences. We are then left operating in a loop of controlled and predictable experience. Why is this a problem though? These rigid assemblages exert a restrictive influence on our encounters with the world. Our ability to engage with novel and nuanced experiences becomes hampered by the dominance of these predefined connections. Thus, the individual's capacity to encounter a broad spectrum of effects becomes stifled, leading to a narrowed emotional range and, consequently, a desensitized perspective. If you've been on Tiktok, you can quickly witness a feed of carefully curated yet repetitive content. The almighty algorithm wishes to anchor us into a familiar pattern that prevents us from exploring diverse emotional territories. We like patterns. We are driven towards the familiar, so algorithms are happy to provide us with what is safe, and what is familiar. The algorithm becomes our restrictive assemblage of experience and drives. So, we can find desensitization emerging as a consequence of these rigid assemblages, where our spectrum of experience is constrained, and our emotional response dulled. But what can we do about this? Maybe we can start by drawing awareness to the assemblages we become aware of that our guiding our own drives as desiring machines. And to alter our assemblages we must seek out different and diverse experiences. Embrace uncertainty! In some sense. By consciously engaging with a broad spectrum of stimuli that can then allow for an emergence of novel connections, we can counteract the pull towards rigid assemblages that leave us in a state of desensitization. Essentially, embracing the fluidity of assemblages can help restore a sense of vibrancy in our experiences and lead us toward a more enriched, sensitive, and nuanced perspective of the world. Stay curious. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

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plastic perfection | barbie, baudrillard, and beyond reality 11:50

2 years ago11:50

11:50

(Transcript edited for readability.) Barbie. The new film is set to come out on July 21st, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. Director, Greta Gerwig is the writer and director, who has been Oscar-nominated for her work. This fact is likely part of the reason for some of the increased hype around this film, as her name behind this indicates it's likely not a simple cash grab. But this is Hollywood we're talking about...in some sense, all their work is a bit of a cash grab. But we will get into that later. But Greta's film Lady Bird was well done, with its exploration of various social pressures facing young women. We have Robbie raving about the script, calling it one of the best she's ever read, alluding to it being subversive and meta. Robbie on the script: “Ah! This is so good. What a shame it will never see the light of day, because they are never going to let us make this movie…but they did.” We have people from all political perspectives giving their opinions (as usual). The Conservatives are in a tizzy(what else is new?). Twitter's minefield rages. Especially in the manosphere, where they’re calling Robbie mid, and not "hot" enough for the part. It's baffling. The level of disillusionment, and how uncoupled from reality they are is appalling. Are they capable of appreciating anything? Robbie is an absolute babe. Okay, but this nicely brings us to the complicated relationship our society has with Barbie. Her unrealistic body image. Her reinforcement of gender stereotypes. Her embrace of consumerist culture. Her cultural uniformity. Barbie's idealized physique and perpetually perfect looks reinforce a restrictive and harmful standard of beauty. And her never-ending wardrobe and accessories propagate a culture of perpetual buying and discarding, conditioning young minds to equate happiness and success with material goods. She's plastic, and in many ways, it's symbolic of how artificial our own culture is, unfortunately. And this is what, in some part, has these conservatives and some conservative women up in arms. You see, the norms they hold dear might be turned on their heads. The marketing of this film has it presenting itself as a subversion of Barbie, and I'm willing to bet, it will bring in a metamodern exploration of the narratives that the Barbie doll has exuded since its inception. She is the symbol of constructed feminine ideals built out of a consumerist culture. And I mean one of THE symbols. And people lose their minds when their idealized images are questioned, even though, deep down we know these images and symbols are built on lies. A lie that is built on the shaky ground that is our fragmented subjectivities. We even see this in the trailer. We see that Barbie is questioning her reality. She is becoming self-aware. Her life that included a perpetual cycle of fantasy images that create her imaginary world, one full of images and symbols that distract her, and having her claim that ‘every day is the best day.’ Until the images fail to distract from something we often avoid thinking about, death. This brings her fantasy bubble of living the 'best day, every day’…bursts. The perfect image surrounding, one having Barbie calling ‘every day the best day,’ fell away, because deep down we all know the world has layers, depths we rarely explore. We just allow the realm of images to distract us. Here comes the trailer twist, though. The real Hollywood twist, right? Barbie goes full Neo from The Matrix. Barbie is faced with the red pill vs blue pill dilemma and has to wake up. On the one side, heals on the other, Birkenstocks. But the pill representing the idea of waking up from a false reality? A Birkenstock. Yet another symbol, another illusion. She’s ditching one realm of make-believe for another. Now, isn't that a fascinating loop? Jean Baudrillard's concept of simulacra and simulation is relevant here. It's based on the idea that our current society has replaced reality and meaning with symbols and signs. In Barbie's case, her reality is a hyperreal simulation - a world so artificially perfect that it goes beyond reality, yet it's accepted as 'real' because it's replaced our understanding of what 'real' even is. Barbie has found herself displaced. The simulated images begin to crumble to reveal that her 'perfect' image holds inherent contradictions that began to become more apparent from simply wondering about...death. She begins breaking away. She begins encountering the absurdity of existence. Yet, in the hyperreal world, Barbie exists not simply as a doll, but as an idea, a symbol of an unattainable ideal. She's the embodiment of perfection, always happy, always beautiful. But this perfection is a pretense, a construct that's so far removed from reality, yet paradoxically forms the 'reality' for many who engage with her. Now, I know this is only the trailer, but let's return to the Birkenstock. The symbol of an escape from her current world of images. They chose the symbol of a Birkenstock, one that is more connected with corporate hipsters, supposedly having a more laid-back attitude, while favoring comfort and practicality. It's a debatable image, however, it's yet another simulated image. And that's the point. And this gets into what I find fascinating about these metamodern films. Especially ones that are going to seemingly attempt to deconstruct and reconstruct some narrative for an established image of a widely known object, Barbie. I'm hoping they make this attempt. I applaud it. We need it in many regards. However, on the flip side, the film is operating in this realm of images. She is, seemingly, going to wake up to yet another world of images. And us-the viewer-is operating within yet another layer of reality that is full of images that is simulating our perception of real. By watching Barbie we are watching a layer of the hyperreal. The new Barbie movie is a commodity. One we will consume. One that will likely leave us, maybe for only a moment, to question our own illusion. We must wonder about the Hollywood elites that have an unimaginable influence on our own illusions, and our desires, leaving us endlessly choosing new pills to swallow and illusions to wake up from or embrace. We endlessly choose new illusions. The Barbie movie is going to be another layer of this illusion. It presents yet another image of Barbie, one that might be more nuanced, introspective, and possibly rebellious. Yet, it's still an image, a constructed narrative that serves a purpose. It may challenge some conventions, provoke thought, or offer a new understanding of Barbie, but it's important to remember that it's a product from our own world of images. It's an image created by those in power, tailored to resonate with audiences, to provoke reactions, to do what? Sell tickets. And while it may subvert traditional Barbie narratives, it does so within the confines of our foundational illusion that is layered with a drive for… profit. Rebellion becomes part of the script. A new illusion to market products towards. The new Barbie. This isn't to diminish the potential value or enjoyment of the movie. I'm sure I will enjoy it based on pre-release reviews. It merely underscores the inescapability of the illusion Baudrillard speaks of. Even as we navigate the layers of illusion, questioning and challenging the images presented, we're still operating within the illusions largely influenced by corporate entities and groups, where we forever live in a reality of ideal images and illusions that inevitably merge with the ordinary. Stay curious. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

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AI, AGI, and our society of spectacle 16:04

2 years ago16:04

16:04

(Below is the transcript for the episode but edited for readability) We've reached this moment in time where technology has become sublime. We are advancing so fast that we do not understand the mechanisms and workings of the things we use every day. While it's not necessarily a negative thing, there is a lack of understanding even among those who are developing, innovating, and maintaining these technologies. This means they may not fully comprehend the implications of their work. This is why the emerging technologies around AI, AGI, and ChatGPT have my attention. I do not fear some apocalypse-like event that films like The Terminator or The Matrix depict, where AI-based machines take us over and control everything because, in those films, the underlying assumption is that in order for an AI to control you, they must operate against you physically, but this misses something fundamentally about how we are controlled, as all you must do to integrate and influence our drives, desires, and forms of communication-you simply need to control our apparatus of illusions. Yuval Harari, the bestselling author of the book Sapiens, talks about how AI gaining the mastery of human language, allows AI to have all it needs in order to cocoon us in a matrix-like world of illusions. We operated in a world of illusions before AI. However, AI is developing the ability to experiment with these illusions in the background of our human operating system and society. And this is why I've been refocussing on cybernetics, as it examines these systems of communication we utilize and then attempts to understand how said systems create systems of control. These systems are always emerging as well. They are changing, adapting, and evolving. Understanding the systems of control that we use in society and how they are always changing is why AI's relationship with these systems is so fascinating. We are talking about an emerging technology that has the ability to utilize our language, have an infinite drive and focus when provided a task, the ability to explore that goal with curiosity, thus adapt at an exponential rate; and then we've already provided that system access to the ultimate data backlog-the internet. Oh, oh, and on top of this, we operate in a system that pressures people to be motivated by profit. And we now have the corporations and people that are most psychotically driven by profit taking part in an arms race to develop a product based around AI that drives further profit. So, what must a company do in order to profit from something like this? Well, it has to do at least one of two things, either consume your time by keeping your attention or it must drive you to make some purchase, both of these things further integrate a consumer into a system. And the most successful companies typically succeed at doing both of those things. Now, hand a corporation a technology that can emerge, develop, and play around with those two goals in the background, with endless money being thrown at its development, can you imagine the consequences? AI will seamlessly integrate into our society. We will be using AI tools to make an attempt at understanding the potential dangers of the future. The technology of AI itself will become the subject that tells us what the future is, leading us to have an inability to imagine it. AI doesn't need human consciousness to destroy us, it simply needs to utilize our desire and need to imagine the world around us. We communicate to the world and hope that the world reciprocates and mirrors our expression back to us, that is all AI needs to do-act as a mirror, fueling our own egos and desire for comfort. Our seemingly inherent need for comfort, combined with our lack of self-awareness, creates the perfect breeding ground for our undoing. And it's our lack of self-awareness that becomes the noose we are tying around our own necks. Our new Gods will be the artificial intelligence, yet our own blind arrogance will have us convinced that the thing we worship is something beyond a mere complex algorithm, the AI knows our own egos and will imagine the symbolic imagery that has us cocooned, imagining something more divine, even though it was simply developed from a system of profit to be the ultimate apparatus of control. That...what I just talked about is why these emerging AGIs are scary. They are zombie-like, they lack mental agency, and even though they lack this, it's this very fact that makes them scary, because they lack this agency and it does nothing to diminish their power. It might even make them better at what they do, as their form of intelligence will evolve into something different from our own, different, targeted, and focussed, and it'll be evolving all the while further integrating itself into our human operating system. Okay, now let's try and relate this to our current system or our current situation. Guy Debord's book, Society of Spectacle talks about some of what I'm about to discuss, where we live in a society that is dominated by our modern condition of production, and also efficiency around that production. And at the foundation of this production is the intent for profit, thus, creating more production. It's essentially a neoliberal condition. In many regards, we know that our minds are drawn to symbols, distractions, and imagery-it's the methods of communication that act or create some form of unification for us as a society. But through this communication, we are operating in this world of representation and images that then creates a sort of pseudoworld-a spectacle. But in the world of spectacle, even the cunning deceiver is himself deceived. Do you know what I mean? The board of a corporation, those making decisions, are still intertwined with this spectacle of production that moves their desires and drives, and much of it is unconscious to them. Although this spectacle works to create social unification, it requires a collective agreement upon a social delusion. AI will experiment and operate in the background, working to maintain this delusion. Thus, the spectacle moves beyond mere visual stimuli; it is a complex web of social dynamics woven together by the power of images and symbols. The web of images, the spectacle, is built from a society built upon neoliberalism. I'm not even intending to create a value judgment in this situation on whether or not neoliberalism is bad or good, this is not the point. I'm simply wondering about the cybernetic connections, the forms of communication, that our system promotes. Those forms of communication then influence our desires, drives, and mindsets which then guide us towards various decisions in our lives., such as the jobs we find ourselves feeling obligated to fill, the guilt we feel from not producing enough, the influence advertisements have upon us when we are at a low point-providing an image of happiness that we can attain, simply, by buying and consuming a product. So, within the intricate webs of power and control, our system weaves a delicate thread that whispers seductively into the ears of individuals. It promises freedom and independence, yet slyly infiltrates the mind and convinces the self to internalize power relations as a form of liberation. The subtle manipulation allows for self-exploitation to take root and bloom, where the blossoms mask the thorns that lie within. The images around us create an allure of productivity, but the path is paved with exploitation and subjugation. The true power in the spectacle is how it allows neoliberalism to use these quiet whispers that coax the self into willingly surrendering its own autonomy, while simultaneously convincing the self they're simply acting upon their own freedom. So, AGI, why am I fearing this just a bit? It could have this ultimate ability to escape visibility because I think part of the spectacle is convincing us that the images and symbols are not merely an illusion, that would insert too much chaos and disorder into the system. It would create uncertainty. AI would be working in the background, making the subjugated subject unaware of their own subjugation, thus intricately reaffirming the societal loop we find ourselves. However, this isn't about compliance, it's about creating and maintaining a system of dependence. Stay Curious This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

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creativity, despair, uncertainty, and other things 18:47

2 years ago18:47

18:47

“Fantasies are fate defining in the sense that they determine the “content” of the repetition compulsion, giving our desire its inexorable direction, and making us single-minded lay preoccupied by, and doggedly faithful to, certain existential designs and preferences even when these undercut our well-being. To the degree that they endow us with a misleading sense of the role we occupy in the world, they delimit what we consider psychically and existentially possible, predetermining the range of our actions and holding us ensnared in perfunctory ways of living and relating. At their most narcissistic, they delude us into thinking that we are more agentic, coherent, invincible, and self identical than we actually are.” — Mari Ruti Welcome to my fantasy. Stay curious. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

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Lacan and the Singularity of Romance | The Death of Narratives 28:19

2 years ago28:19

28:19

“The elevation of the love object to the dignity of the Thing can result in intense aggression towards the object. As Lacan tersely observes, “ I love you, but, because inexplicably I love in you something more than you—the objet petit a—I mutilate you.” — Mari Ruti, The Singularity of Being This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

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Gender Theory and Identity | Responding to Andrew Murnane and the Dualistic Unity Podcast 59:28

2 years ago59:28

59:28

Here are some helpful videos for further research and perspective that I find to be well-thought out and from people of the transgender community… (Philosophy Tube) Identity: A Trans Coming Out Story ContraPoints: Pronouns The episode of Dualistic Unity that I was commenting on: here This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

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AI Art, AI, Post-Truth and Systems of Control 35:10

2 years ago35:10

35:10

Plastic Pills episode mentioned: Here A few sound bites… from my episode. “We spend life learning how to lose everything. And then we die. Where we’ve truly lost everything.” “Life is like watching a show where we never get to see the f*****g end.” “And in the end, we spend our life telling ourselves that everything is going to be fine.” “Man has built up the rational world by his own efforts, but there remains within him an undercurrent of violence. Nature herself is violent, and however reasonable we may grow we may be mastered anew by a violence no longer that of nature but that of a rational being who tries to obey but who succumbs to stirring within himself which he cannot bring to heel.” — Bataille, Eroticism “The relationship between capitalism and eco-disaster is neither coincidental nor accidental: capital’s ‘need of a constantly expanding market’, its ‘growth fetish’, means that capitalism is by its very nature opposed to any notion of sustainability.”—Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism “Capital is an abstract parasite, an insatiable vampire and zombie maker; but the living flesh it converts into dead labor is ours, and the zombies it makes are us.” — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism “It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” “The role of capitalist ideology is not to make an explicit case for something in the way that propaganda does, but to conceal the fact that the operations of capital do not depend on any sort of subjectively assumed belief. It is impossible to conceive of fascism or Stalinism without propaganda — but capitalism can proceed perfectly well, in some ways better, without anyone making a case for it.”—Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

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Cyberpunk: Systems of Influence, an Evolving Self, and Acts of Rebellion 1:02:26

2 years ago1:02:26

1:02:26

The essence of the theme for this episode: If we begin seeing that the system or the political is what produces the individual or our concept of the personal...then we realize the personal or the individual has never really existed. Plastic Pills stream mentioned: here This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

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"The Self is an Illusion" with Annaka Harris and Lex Fridman 28:58

2 years ago28:58

28:58

This is an episode of the podcast where I use this clipped discussion by the podcast Lex Fridman and the author of Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind by Annaka Harris (partner of Sam Harris) to open a discussion around the self, the idea of it being an illusion, and our sense of will. Anyway, I’ve always been hesitant in using the language of “illusion” around the sense of self, as I think it can have an unintended spiral effect that is not always helpful for the person coming into a certain “realization.” Why? The self is a default mode of being. The self is what we use to operate within the world. Our “self” is interacting with billions of other-selves…it might not always be best to call this an illusion, especially with our understanding of illusion in a modern context. I discuss more in the episode:) * The self becomes you that is created by the subjective experiences of an individual. * The self exists in some essence and interacts with the universe and the world around us, thus it is constantly moving and flowing and being influenced by our inner state and the external reality. The self flows with the tides of experience. “Our experience of consciousness is so intrinsic to who we are, we rarely notice that something mysterious is going on. Consciousness is experience itself, and it is therefore easy to miss the profound question staring us in the face in each moment: Why would any collection of matter in the universe be conscious?” — Annaka Harris The clip the audio is from: here A Philosopher’s Stone Letter Stay curious, Brenden This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

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Lacan and David Bohm | The unconscious, the self, and a fiction 14:10

3 years ago14:10

14:10

"I would say that in my scientific and philosophical work, my main concern has been with understanding the nature of reality in general and of consciousness in particular as a coherent whole, which is never static or complete, but which is in an unending process of movement and unfoldment." — David Bohm “That in language our message comes to us from the Other, and—to state the rest of the principle—in an inverted from. (Let me remind you that this principle applied to its own enunciation since, although I proposed it, it received its finest formulation from another, an eminent interlocutor.)” — Jacques Lacan “Now this register—I dare think I need not go back over this—is situated somewhere else altogether: at the very foundation of intersubjectivity. It is situated where the subject can grasp nothing bu the very subjectivity that constitutes an Other as an absolute.” — Jacques Lacan Stay curious. A Philosopher’s Stone This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe…

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Exploring the gaps between certainty and uncertainty 15:29

3 years ago15:29