Tag: spirituality

Meditate with a monk in a Thai Buddhist temple – Episode 193

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The Story: Lessons from an expert meditator

If you’re an meditator, you’ve probably mentioned the practice to your friends and heard them say “Meditation isn’t for me. I can’t sit down and stay still for more than a minute. My mind just can’t stay quiet.” Then you yell at them “That’s the whole point of it!” And then you go and sit in meditation because you realise that you still haven’t learned to remain calm.

In this episode, I interview my friend who is a monk in the temple of Wat Tham Krabok in Thailand and an experienced meditator, asking him about why some people find meditation boring or frustrating to begin with, and what the experience is like once you reach a certain level, enjoying sitting with your own mind. We talk about different techniques, such as active and passive, mindfulness, mantra, and stacking layers of awareness, deliberately filling up your mind, and allowing it to be more empty.

Join us on a journey into your own mind on the next episode of … The Paradise Paradox!

The Eps:

Thai Temple Drug Detox – Episode 192

The Links:

The toughest rehab in the world – Vice

The Cash:

If you enjoy our posts, please become a patron on Patreon, or have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit.

We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.

The Episode:

To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.

Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.

If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.

Thai Temple Drug Detox: An interview with a Buddhist monk – Episode 192

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The Story: A monk tells the story of Wat Tham Krabok

Wat Tham Krabok is a fascinating place, home to scores of monks and nuns who practise an austere lifestyle, working patiently, making statues, sweeping paths, chanting and sitting for meditation three times a day. It’s also the home to a narcotics detox program for people looking to leave their bad habits behind. Vice once sensationally named their rehab program as “the world’s toughest”.

I had the opportunity to stay on the temple grounds for a few weeks, spending time with monks and others looking to improve their lives, trying the vomit-inducing medicine which officially contains 108 herbs, created by the temple’s founder, the mystic “Great Father” Yai.

There are many stories about the temple, and its founder, many of them contradictory. Luang Paw Yai was a mystic, illiterate, who gave lectures in a combination of Thai, the ancient tongue Bali, and a channelled language unknown to humans. Some say that Luang Paw Yai was ordained as a nun, others say she was a female monk. The detox program was started because a drug addict approached her two nephews and pleaded them to help, but it was also started because Luang Paw Yai predicted the problems that Thailand would have with drugs in the future.

In the Thai conception of history, there’s nothing unusual about these contradictions. Unlike in the west, Thai people aren’t hung up about discovering one true and factual version of the past. After all, in many cases, Buddhism is all about leaving the past alone, and focusing on what we can control – our mind, our speech, our actions.

In this episode, I interview my friend who has lived as a monk for some years in Wat Tham Krabok, talking about the reputation of the temple, the process of detoxification, the herbal medicine, the historical and religious context of its founding, and how drug addicts are actually excellent candidates to absorb the teachings of the Buddha.

Join us on another karma-cleansing episode of … The Paradise Paradox!

The Links:

I believe in holy things Part 1

I believe in holy things Part 2

I believe in holy things Part 3

I believe in holy things Part 4

The Cash:

If you enjoy our posts, please become a patron on Patreon, or have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit.

We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.

The Episode:

To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.

Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.

If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.

Put your worries in the hands of Providence – Episode 180

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The Story: Have a little faith that things will be okay

Many people have an aversion to the word “faith”, because they think it refers to a superstition. However, it’s perfectly rational to have faith – at least a little bit, and you will see for yourself if you look back over your life, examine your experiences, and project the likely future.

Every day of your life, or almost every day of your life, you have woken up once more. Every day of your life you have faced your challenges, in one way or another, by yourself or calling on the support of loved ones, and helping your loved ones face their challenges. I know this is true, because you wouldn’t be reading this if you hadn’t. You might not have always found a perfect solution, but without a doubt, you did find a solution.

You might have gone through dark times, and you might even be going through dark times. Even so, when you look you can find things to be grateful for. If you’ve lost your house, you may still have your family. If you’ve lost your family, you may still have your health. If you’ve lost your health, you still have your life, perhaps even surviving against terrible odds. So, in one way or another, things have worked out for you.

In all probability, your life is much better than that worst case scenario. You may even have had the fortune of finding a partner to share your life with, or been blessed with children whom you adore, who inspire you to previously unknown purpose and resolve, or perhaps you have found some wealth by well-timed investments, or even just managed to get by, day after day – even when it seemed that fate was against you.

Think about when you were a child of 5 or 10 years old. You probably had many ideas of how your life would turn out. Your life probably turned out very differently to how you expected, and when examined, you may well find that it turned out much better than expected – with intricacies finer than the finest painting, and details that you never anticipated which delight you. So, things generally do work out, and you can expect that things will continue to work out.

Whether you think of it as a metaphor or a literal expression, putting your worries in the hands of Providence, expecting things to work out – providing you take all reasonable steps to protect yourself  and your loved ones – makes sense. If you take that first step towards faith, opening the curtains just a chink to let some light shine in, who is to say exactly what it might illuminate, what courage it might grant, what change it might bring. Go ahead. Find out for yourself.

The Eps:

Being grateful in Bangladesh – Episode 178

Everyday existential crisis – Episode 176

The Links:

Ayahuasca Diaries – Why I believe in God by Macey Tomlin

The Cash:

If you enjoy our posts, please become a patron on Patreon, or have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit.

We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.

The Episode:

To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.

Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.

If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.

Kurt on Anarchast – Living Freely and Enjoying the Ride

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The Story: Kurt is interviewed by Jeff Berwick on Anarchast

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Jeff Berwick, known for his media outlet “The Dollar Vigilante” and his channel “Anarchast” in which he interviews notable anarchists, almost always beginning the interview with the question “How did you become an anarchist?”

I’ve been listening to the Anarchast for years, and hoping that one day I would be able to appear on it, so when Jeff asked me, my answer was an emphatic “Hell yes.”

I figured that, to make the interview entertaining for Jeff and for the thousands of listeners, I’d better prepare carefully, thinking about what would be engaging for them. So in the couple of weeks leading up to the interview, I wrote out many drafts thinking about how I would describe my journey of becoming an anarchist, “Free man on the land” type ideas and how they lead me to question authority, about the freedom that people enjoy in Mexico (despite its flaws), the anti-authoritarianism that exists here, spiritual experiences, and how life is full of wonders.

The Eps:

See the world with new eyes – Episode 147

Jeff Berwick: The Dollar Vigilante – Episode 77

Sterlin Lujan: Compassionate anarchy – Episode 156

The Links:

Anarchast on YouTube

The Dollar Vigilante on YouTube

The Cash:

If you enjoy our posts, please become a patron on Patreon, or have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit and Aaron’s posts on Steemit.

We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.

The Episode:

To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.

Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.

If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.

L-Dixon: Believer to Atheist to Wonderer – Episode 143

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The Story: Hardcore atheist goes on a spiritual quest

Many people in the world grow up with a religion, believing in a certain interpretation of God. When they get a little older and start asking questions, they might notice that those people who are supposed to be the authority on the subject don’t know quite as much as they pretended. This young truthseeker has to face the sad fact that he’s been tricked, that the world is a little different compared to what they told him in Sunday school.

Such a strong disappointment is hard to take, and may be a formative experience. Determined to avoid such feelings, he says “I’ll never be fooled again!” and, going a step further, he says “I’ll never believe in anything again!” He becomes a hardened atheist and skeptic, determined to make sure that everyone knows that magic and miracles are just for children’s stories.

The years pass by, and eventually he sees some strange things happen. He takes psychedelics, and within the course of a few hours, he sees his life from a completely different perspective. He begins to notice coincidences which make him start to question whether he’s been missing something. He’s no longer content to accept just anything, nor to reject everything. Instead, he keeps asking questions, thinking about “what if” and considering ideas “as if true”. He becomes a wonderer.

In this episode, Kurt interviews Leandrew Dixon, a man who has taken this path and enriched his life because of it. Join us both on the next paradigm-shattering episode of… The Paradise Paradox!

The Links:

Never Get Busted on Facebook

Never Get Busted website

L-Dixon on Anarchast with Jeff Berwick

L-Dixon on Soundcloud

L-Dixon on YouTube

The Cash:

If you enjoy our posts, please have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit and Aaron’s posts on Steemit.

We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.

The Episode:

To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.

Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.

If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.