The Story: Bobaphet joins the navy, a Wiccan coven and Scientology
In this episode, Kurt interviews a good friend Bobaphet about the organisations he has been a member of across his lifetime, including the Australian navy, a large Australian church of Wicca, and the Church of Scientology, among others. We start by talking about his childhood, his unusual experiences as a child such as astral projection, and later his brainwashing during his time in the armed forces, and how that later helped him to see through the intentions of media influence. We talk about the valuable lessons he learned from being a high priest in a church of Wicca, about the egotism that can be common in certain magical orders, and about the techniques of auditing used in Scientology.
If you enjoy our posts, please like and follow 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.
In the USA, many children go to school and say a prayer to a piece of cloth, affirming their faith in a deity called a “nation”. Many of them will grow up to continue worshipping the flag, repeating the words of their pledge of allegiance impressed on them when they were too young to even sign a contract. If someone desecrates the flag, urinating on it or burning it, they will get angry, because they know it means something – in fact, in their minds, it’s very difficult to separate any flag from their god – their nation.
The American bald eagle is no longer endangered in the United States, but it’s still illegal to harm one. To the lawmakers, the bald eagle is also a sacred image, a totem that represents the unity of their tribe. If you question whether obedience to the state is really beneficial or necessary, it’s normal to hear the response “It’s the law!” as if just by virtue of being declared a law makes it worthy of reverence, deference, and subjugation. The code of the government is sacred, no matter what it says, no matter how absurd.
All around the world, people have similar practices, blurring the lines between government and religion. In fact, they may be the same thing. Worshipping the government is just a particular kind of religion, a “civil religion”. In this episode, Kurt interviews entrepreneur, traveller and thinker, Shamus Mac, as he presents his case that governments are imposing their own compulsory religions, convincing or brainwashing their subjects into believing that their government, their country, their symbols and the spirit of them are all identical. Join us on another deprogramming adventure on … The Paradise Paradox!
If you enjoy our posts, please like and follow 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.
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!
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 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!
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 Story: Secure investments to lock up crypto gains
Many people invested in cryptocurrencies are first-time investors, and seeing swings of 10% or 20% a day has created risk-tolerant beasts with intestines of pure tempered steel, willing to gamble on the latest ICO with the chance of 1000% gains. Some of them did indeed find those gains, but they don’t necessarily know how to hold onto them. If they get caught up in the hype of a crypto bubble without having locked up their gains, they might eventually see their net worth dwindling down to a percentage of its former glory. So, once you get the gains, how do you keep them?
Here are three investment vehicles that you might consider, which can significantly reduce the risk in your portfoilio:
1. Precious metals
Gold and silver have been used as money for thousands of years, because of their utility as a stable store of value. It’s likely that these precious metals will keep up with inflation, and it’s possible that they may even outpace it. The precious metals markets are flooded with gold and silver certificates, which are often sold without any real metal backing. That means that the prices might be much lower than if it reflected only the physical metal supply.
2. ETFs
“ETF” stands for “exchange traded fund”. ETFs are basically baskets of shares or bonds, sometimes encompassing an entire stockmarket or bond market. They tend to have very low fees compared to mutual funds, as low as 0.04%, and many of the best ones outperform actively managed mutual funds. That means you get a better return a a lower price. Some of them pay dividends, quarterly or even monthly, which is a great way to start building a passive income.
3. Insured peer-to-peer lending
Peer-to-peer lending can be risky, because you’re probably lending small amounts to each borrower, and in the case of default, it’s unlikely to be profitable to chase up each individual. However, some platforms will offer insurance to lenders, so even if the borrower defaults, your money is safe.
In this episode, Kurt runs through these investment vehicles with much lower risk profiles than crypto, explaining how you can use crypto gains to put yourself in a better position for your long-term goals. Join me on another wealth-creating, wealth-preserving episode of … The Paradise Paradox!
Disclaimer: I’m not telling you what to do with your money; I don’t know what you should do with your money. All I’m doing is presenting some of my own decision-making processes.
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 Story: The lessons learned from working on The Paradise Paradox
We live in the information age. Now it is possible for someone with a few hundred dollars to buy a smarthpone and start producing videos and podcasts, and with a few original ideas, some nowse and elbow grease, they can literally present a threat to multi-million dollar media organisations – challenging them to a battle of wits over who can hold the attention of the everyman.
Of course, for many content creators starting out, they don’t have such lofty goals of epic proportions. All they have is a tiny vision, the humble expectation that, there must be someone out there who would enjoy what I have to say, and so I will share it.
Once we were confined to a handful of symbols, a few TV and radio channels, stamping their brands into our brains. Now we literally have more channels than we could imagine watching. Millions of individuals, holding up their symbols to the world, projecting their hearts, their hopes, what limits them, and what sets them free. A worldwide conversation presents itself, sometimes civil, sometimes rowdy or even disrespectful, but almost always devoid of physical violence. What kind of neuron are you, in this international brain?
Once separate, now we are connected. Now, more than ever, your voice matters. Now, you are powerful. With enough intention, clarity and purpose, your words can change the course of lives – or even just a single life.
In this episode, Kurt explains how he and Aaron started The Paradise Paradox, with humble beginnings and humble goals, and some out of date AV equipment. Kurt tells some stories about where the project lead them, interviewing some fascinating people such as Andreas Antonopoulos, Amanda B. Johnson and Jeff Berwick, and being interviewed by some of them as well. He also explains some basic tips for getting started with a YouTube channel or podcast, and his plan for a new project, “Cryptonomics”.
Join me on a world-bending, symbol-shining, signal-boosting episode of … The Paradise Paradox!
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.
People think karma is a list of good and bad acts, each one of which will be ticked off as it is returned to you. What do Buddhist monks think of karma? Read more →
The Story: The four stages of the digital currency cycle
The crypto market reached 830 billion on January 8th 2018, and now by February 6th, it’s taken a sharp drop to 300 billion. Speculators all over the world are shaking their heads until they hold their heads and wondering why, what happened. Nobody has any clear answers, but it can be enlightening to look at the patterns that normally play out in this market.
The boring phase. Savvy investors are quitely putting their cash in, developers are plunking away at their keyboards in dark basements. On the surface, nobody really cares about crypto. The only news that reaches the mainstream is sensational pieces about future technology, or witchhunts for Satoshi Nakamoto. The total market cap goes down, or sideways.
The organic growth phase. New investors start getting involved, hobbyists and techies who see the potential of the technology. The media starts running some stories about the price action during the odd spike or drop. The market cap goes up, slowly and steadily.
The hype growth stage. The greater public start hearing more about it, and seeing the price action makes them start sweating. They feel the fear of missing out, and they decide to invest. The market gets into a feedback loop with big media – media notices the price action, hypes it, leading to more buying, leading to more more price action and media attention. At this stage, you’ll start to see people on social media saying how Bitcoin can only go up, saying it’s a new paradigm. The market cap might jump up more than 10% in a day.
The dead phase. Nobody knows exactly how it starts – perhaps a whale takes profits, and the price drops suddenly. Pretty quickly, all of the investors for the fear of missing out, decide they will exit based on the fear of loss. The media declares Bitcoin and digital currency dead once again, and slowly they lose interest.
Soon enough, the cycle restarts, and we enter a new 3 to 9 boring months where, from the outside, nothing seems to happen.
Of course, history never repeats exactly, but by being aware of these patterns we start to have an idea where things are headed, and wherever we are on the path we can learn to be grateful for the opportunities that we do have. Join Kurt on a roller-coaster ride of emotions from terror to gratitude in this spine-tingling, spine-rattling episode of… The Paradise Paradox!
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.
