Category: Podcast

The Road to Anarchapulco: Kenny Palurintano – Episode 140

by Kurt Robinson on November 18, 2016 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Story: Kenny travels from festival to festival

Kenny Palurintano is an anarchist, a traveller, and an all-round nice guy. For 16 months, he has been on a journey to “help build a new neural network for the Earth, connecting humans, communities, and organizations from all across the planet.” He has visited many festivals and events, cooked for many strangers, and distributed literature to get the cogs moving in people’s brains, to inspire them to think about liberty in new ways. Now Kenny is on a new leg of his journey, in preparation for Anarchapulco 2017, and he’s asking for your help to continue his work.

In this episode, Aaron and Kurt discuss many topics with Kenny, such as his trip around North America, or Turtle Island as it’s known more traditionally, the philanthropism of Manoj Bhargava, Kenny’s experience at rainbow gatherings and other events full of free spirits, the philosophical differences between anarcho-capitalism and other types of anarchism, and whether it’s necessary to bridge the gap between them.

If you like what Kenny is doing, please feel free to reach out to him or help him here: The Road to Anarchapulco!

The Eps:

Using sustainable agriculture to make a cooperative earth: Kenny Palurintano – Episode 96

Anarchist adventurer: Kenny Palurintano – Episode 73

The Links:

The Road to Anarchapulco announcement and crowdfunding

Kenny’s Conscious Kitchen

Kenny’s Conscious Kitchen on Facebook

Billions in Change film about Manoj Bhargava

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.

Code with intent: Rick Hernández – Episode 139

by Kurt Robinson on November 15, 2016 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Story: Entrepreneurship and coding with style

It’s been said that, within a few decades, humans will be divided into two categories: those who tell computers what to do, and those whom are told what to do by computers. Even today, learning to tell computers what to do can be a valuable skill, in monetary terms, and in terms of personal expression. For the nerds among us who have grown up using computers with enthusiasm and curiosity from a young age, learning to program can come quite naturally, but for the rest of us, it’s not so intuitive.

In this episode, Kurt interviews Rick Hernández about his business teaching people how to program, and giving them the tools they need to learn to talk to machines. We also discuss how Rick got started as an entrepreneur, machine learning, self-development and transforming from an introvert to an extrovert, and travelling around Mexico to get a different perspective on life and entrepreneurship.

Join us in the next exciting installment of The Paradise Paradox!

The Links:

Code with intent

The Cash:

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.

Education: Psychedelics Forever – Episode 138

by Aaron Battle on November 12, 2016 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Story: Psychedelics Forever

Learning should be considered a super power! Traditional schooling illustrates that the ability to absorb knowledge, duplicate skills and regurgitate information, is a sliding scale. However, what if everyone has equally ability to learn, grow ideas and apply knowledge. We are aware that people learn in different ways and that mainstream topics may not be interesting to all.

Almost the complete first world has accepted a generic, one size fits all schooling system. Children and young adults are forced to forfeit their innocent years for behavioural pruning, locked-in then routinely fed approved programming. The brain training is extensive (13 years and growing) for a long future of receiving instruction. This destructive habit building process of uniform activities, has high jacked a ‘valued education’ of critical thinking and stolen the imagination of generations.

The students are distracted during critical years of mental and physical brain development, while their parents have 100% of their trust in federal government bodies and corporate interests. The socially accepted education system is believed to serve families, while economic constraints hold mum and dad at work, while the children are being baby sat.

Machines have no mind, machines are also rated on output. Our children are taught performance from day one – A, B, we ‘C’ that you are average, ‘D’ and why are you such an F?

Now lets explore some ideas, in short – everyone has a preferred learning style, visual, aural, read/write and kinaesthetic. You don’t need to be a professor to realise that combinations of styles accompanied with targeted studies that align with individual interests will improve learning effectiveness. Expanding the experience by including multiple senses can be very useful in effective learning.

Now for those jumping ahead, I am not setting up an argument pro the introduction of psychedelics to the classroom. However, being able to cross wire the human brain and experience short periods of synesthesia (seeing sounds, hearing colours and tasting language) could potential have some positive application. From the perspective of a sensible adult studying a vast topic (the life experience) and with no prescribed curriculum, perhaps psychedelics have something to offer? New research in the area of micro-dosing psychedelic substances (LSD) have published positive results and illustrated extremely interesting effects on the brain.

In this episode, we discuss a new found benefit to homeschooling and a few personal views on living to expand your mind. Kurt outlines the philosophy of trip life, an option to pursue a career as a psychedelic adventurer – ‘If you’re not coming down from a trip, you are preparing for another’. This came from the concept of avoiding the cage of a small-town mindset and expanding it to universes and possibly dimensions, If you dare.

Prepare yourself to slip and trip into The Paradise Paradox, where there is no such thing as a bad trip!

The Eps:

What drugs do you use to contact aliens?
Peyote Trip Overview: San Luis Potosí
Ayahuasca Diaries 1

The Links:

Brains potential – Effect of LSD on the brain
VARK – Study
The Serious Limitation of Rote Memorisation You Probably Don’t Know About
Dayna Martin – Radical unschooling: Peaceful parenting and natural learning

The Cash:

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.

Discipline: Is harsh discipline necessary or beneficial in raising a child? Mr. J. & Link McElvenny Part 3 – Episode 137

by Kurt Robinson on November 8, 2016 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Story: What are the appropriate ways to teach a child?

There is a debate which has continued in recent decades on a topic which most feel strongly about one way or another – the disciplining of children, especially physical discipline. Is it moral? Is it necessary? And is it harmful, or beneficial?

One side claims that to strike an innocent child who has harmed no one can never be moral, that violence must only be reserved for those rare occasions where it is necessary to prevent more violence. The other side might claim that being an efficient teacher requires using all tools that are available, and if violence is necessary for a lesson, we shouldn’t withhold what might be the only useful method for communication.

If a child is too young to be capable of reason, then surely he is too young to understand the reason for the blows. However, even if the child does not understand, is it possible that he will learn to control his actions through conditioning? And if so, is it desirable?

In this episode, Mr. J. and Link McElvenny continue a very interesting discussion. Kurt assumes the negative position, arguing against the use of violence and negative reinforcement on children. Mr. J. takes the position that harsh discipline should be used, though with care and sparingly, and Link acts as an impromptu arbitrator.

Join us on the next child-rearing, brain-expanding episode of … The Paradise Paradox!

The Eps:

Integrity – A man’s gotta have a code part 1

Values – A man’s gotta have a code part 2

The Links:

The case against spanking

10 reasons not to hit your child

The facts about spanking

Dayna Martin – Radical unschooling: Peaceful parenting and natural learning

The Cash:

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.

Values: A man’s gotta have a code Part 2: Link McElvenny & Mr. J. – Episode 136

by Kurt Robinson on November 4, 2016 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Story: A hierarchy of values – which principle is more important?

There’s an old zen story about two monks travelling. They encounter a young lady who is having trouble crossing a river. One of the monks offers to help the woman, picks her up on his back and carries her across the river. A few miles down the road, the other monk turns to the first and says “Brother, you know we are not supposed to touch women. It is not appropriate for a monk.” The first monk says “I set her down on the river bank miles back – are you still carrying her?”

Most people have values that they try to live by, but most people also have situations in which they’re willing to overlook those values. Maybe it’s a case of them ignoring their principles to do indulge in something which they are tempted by in the moment… Or perhaps they are expressing a deeper need, a deeper value. Is it possible that our moments of perceived weakness, or deviation from our principles, may tell us more about us than we realise?

In this episode, Kurt continues the discussion about moral and ethical codes with Link McElvenny and Mr. J. We discuss the difference between technique and application, and the difference between technique and heart. We talk about being self-aware and empathetic while you’re creating art, and the possible pitfalls of that awareness. Other topics of conversation include the trolley problem, hypothetical philosophical questions in general, the value of abstract thinking, when principles must be ignored in favour of higher principles, reductionism and looking at people in their totality, and of course, the moral question of having consensual sex with dolphins.

Join us on a journey into a hypothetical dolphin-hugging artistic world of ideas in the next episode of … The Paradise Paradox!

The Eps:

A man’s gotta have a code Part 1

The Links:

Do people really screw dolphins

The Cash:

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.

Integrity – A Man’s Gotta Have a Code Part 1: Link McElvenny & Mr. J. – Episode 135

by Kurt Robinson on November 1, 2016 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Story: Values, principles and ideals

Many people go through this life without thinking too deeply about what it is they value, what they would be willing to die for, and what they would be willing to kill for. It takes an uncommon man to consider the question deeply, and an even rarer man to follow through with his decision when the chips are down. Undoubtedly, people fail in this process all the time, but when you see someone make one of those tough choices, putting his principles above his bank balance, or his integrity before gratification, it can inspire you, and make you wonder: if one soul can stand so firm, firmer than old concrete, what else might it be able to achieve?

In this episode, Kurt is joined by two friends and collaborators, Link McElvenny and Mr. J. to discuss their ideas on the codes, principles, values and frameworks which they use to make decisions, and guide themselves through interesting lives. We discuss liberty, the non-aggression principle, non-violence, masculine and feminine polarity, trying to help others to gain a more empowering perspective, open-mindedness, and the difference between eastern and western views of teaching and learning.

Join us in this next soul-challenging, introspective, middle-path-walking episode of The Paradise Paradox!

The Eps:

Down at the ashram: Link McElvenny

The Cash:

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.

A Psychotic Break or Shamanic Awakening?: The Andrarchy Show Episode 2

by Kurt Robinson on October 29, 2016 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Story: Is it mental illness or a spiritual experience?

If we take the psychiatric industry’s model of mental illness, we might be inclined to believe that these experiences are purely negative. But if we go too far the other way, speaking of neurodiversity, spiritual awakenings or shamanic experiences, we might be tempted into thinking that these experiences are wholly positive. It’s true that these experiences may involve a lot of suffering for the people whom they affect directly, and the people around them – however, it’s also true that people can learn a lot from these experiences, about themselves and the nature of the world they live in.

This is part 2 of Andrew “andrarchy” Levine’s interview with Kurt about having a psychotic break, or spiritual awakening. We discuss the terms used to describe these experiences, the change from linear to conceptual thinking that went on in Kurt’s brain, and possible explanations of what caused this spontaneous change from psychiatric and yogic perspectives.

The Eps:

Mental illness and hamanic experiences: The Andrarchy Show episode 1

The Links:

Andrarchy on Steemit

The Cash:

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.

Presidential election: Two party clown show – Episode 134

by Aaron Battle on October 25, 2016 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Story: 2016 Presidential election: Two party clown show

This is the weirdest election ever! It doesn’t represent the idea of a democracy at all. The idea of allowing the whole population to have a say and choose representatives, has been lost long ago and apparently to the people in power, it’s obsolete. The US ’two party system’ has nothing to do with finding the best head and body for a free country, but rather a distraction for the masses. This current US election has the taken form of a celebrity reality TV show – just with a bigger budget. Where the contestants fight their way through a series of social media obstacles to a final and super episode. The winner takes all! Payment in full of all capital invested and a director’s seat to the empire. Presidential perks accompanied with all tools of the trade, the oak Hollywood desk, a fancy white house and a panel of shiny red buttons – 50/50, ask the audience, phone a friend.

After scratching the surface, it was evident that Kurt and I shouldn’t even be talking about this – why pay attention to the charade – other than for entertainment value? But this is no joking matter. Many, many people have given their power and responsibility away to these clowns. Watching the show, believing the lies and even picking a side. Who is actually involved here? Are your bets in? Unfortunately many continue to waste their friends’ time by talking about such rubbish.

Here is the truth – if we actually lived in a civilised society, with sound values and respect for others, there would be no need to live in governed regions, where people are controlled and manipulated. In today’s situation we need to be individually micro-managed – told what to eat, told how many hours to sleep and how we should be living.

Thank God that they all have television, I would hate to see what would actually happen it they started thinking for themselves, say the ‘people in charge’.

In a civilised country, government should be quiet and gradually shrinking away. A small and productive government shouldn’t even be noticed. Honestly, I am not even sure why free and civilised people would need a government. What they might need more is the protection from the threat of government.

Take a break from the direct mind control and plug into something alternative… The Paradise Paradox!

The Eps:

Government is force
The system works
Peyote overview
Ayahuasca Diaries Part 1

The Links:

The Simpsons – Two party system
The US Elections Explained: The Two Party System
Putin warns Americans: You’re being distracted!
You Can Always Leave
How Government Works
Government explained by an alien
Freedom trumps fear: Everything you do is an act of liberty

The Cash:

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.

Skeptic meets ghost: Luke Petersen – Episode 133

by Kurt Robinson on October 22, 2016 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Story: A skeptic starts to wonder about supernatural events

On the Internet, it’s easy to find communities of skeptics who discuss the universe and debunk unusual occurrences, finding ways explain the world within our current understanding of it. They believe that there is little unknown to humans; that everything that we can perceive is more-or-less explainable by modern science. Yet, if you start with the assumption that you already know everything, it might be easy to overlook things which provide avenues to new knowledge – to ignore the gateways to the unknown – to new and exciting pursuits.

Some of these skeptics are willing to go to great lengths to dismiss strange events, even to dismiss events that are part of their direct experience. Yet occasionally, something happens to a skeptic which he is not able to ignore. What happens when a skeptic meets a ghost?

In this episode, Kurt has a conversation with Luke Petersen, a long-term skeptic who, after encountering unusual evidence, decided that, instead of dismissing it, he would begin to wonder. We talk about Luke’s experience with ghosts in his apartment building, about Kurt’s experiences with ghosts, weird dreams, psychological drives of hardcore skeptics, going to haunted houses, and the Mandela effect.

Join us on the next ghost-busting episode of … The Paradise Paradox!

The Eps:

The Links:

The Horton mine – encountering a ghost in abandoned mine

About the Mandela Effect

The Cash:

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.

Mental Illness & Shamanic Experiences: The Andrarchy Show Episode 1

by Kurt Robinson on October 20, 2016 in Best Bits, Podcast • 0 Comments

The Story – How to deal with a psychotic break

Psychology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis as schools of thought are less than 150 years old, and we shouldn’t be surprised if such young sciences have gaps of knowledge, questions that are still left open, or even questions that are outright ignored. It’s possible, even likely, that the modern psychiatric model of mental illness is incomplete, and could learn things from other schools of thought.

Many people have the conception that being diagnosed with a mental illness means that you have a chemical imbalance. However, such “illnesses” are normally diagnosed by looking at behaviour, rather than blood tests or other chemical tests to determine amounts of chemicals in one’s brain. So, at least in the majority of cases, the “chemical imbalance” idea is just an assumption.

In contrast, there are shamanistic traditions which stretch back hundreds or even thousands of years. Shamans have been helping people through the strange times in their lives even before recorded history. Is it possible that psychiatry and psychology still have a lot to learn from shamanistic methods?

This is a clip from an interview that Andrarchy (Andrew Levine) did with Kurt, and more clips will be coming over the next couple of weeks.

The Episode

To download this episode in audio, right click here and press ‘Save as’.

The links

“Mental Illness” – how and what to learn from your mind breaking

Andrarchy’s post on Steemit introducing his show

What a shaman sees in a mental hospital

A traditional approach to mental illness – Phil Borges TED talk

Healing with communication, conversation and love by Sterlin Luxan

What is a shaman by Terence McKenna