the paradise paradox – Page 19 – worldliness & spirituality

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:

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”.

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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”.

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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.

Captains of our own destinies

by Kurt Robinson on October 26, 2016 in Best Bits • 0 Comments

With most of the world raving about the presidential election in the US, it can seem that your fate rests in the hands of a sociopath who thousands of miles away. The truth is, unless you’re being harassed by bureaucrats or police officers every day, you probably still have a lot of freedom in your life. Every breath and every step is an act of liberty, so choose them wisely.

Watch the full episode here: 2016 election: The two clown show.

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

Deciding to Bug In: The Australian Experience – Episode 132

by Aaron Battle on October 16, 2016 in Podcast • 0 Comments

Australian Return: Deciding to Bug-in

This is the rehash episode where I (Aaron) wanted to talk about ‘bugging in’, this episode also continues with the interesting adventures of returning to Australian life.

‘Bugging in’ is similar to the term ‘bugging-out’, it is the term commonly used by many preppers and military personnel when they find themselves in a undesired location and need to quickly vacate. Preppers are people which are preparing for the end of days mega event, or any situation where they may need to defend their survival. Plans need to be made for extreme situations, like where everyone looses the plot, turns crazy and start killing themselves or mass zombie attacks. Either way, you and perhaps a small team are the only ones who are now ready to save the planet and continue the human race.

Roughly two years ago I relocated to Mexico, which was suppose to be the key part of my planned bug-out mission. Other key factors in consideration were, a location on high ground, abundance of fresh food, preferably local farming, resistant population with traditional skills and a society with a high percentage of physical cash. Guadalajara, Mexico – Perfect!

Now having returned to Australia after an extended time in Mexico, its almost like the execution of my doomsday prepper’s plan to leave Australia didn’t happen at all. So here is where I was suppose to talk about the master bug-in plan. ‘Bugging-in’ is what happens when a prepper is unable to leave an undesired location, or when their location becomes the safest option, perhaps from a lack of local knowledge or planning. Usually this means boarding up the windows of your house or apartment and bunkering down. Of course a prepper would have this all organised, bug out bag packed (Bug in bag in this case), survival supplies, long-life food and weapons.

However with Australia being the extreme country it is, everyone should be prepared to be bugging in or bugging out on a weekend basis. By the way camping and outdoor life is the favourite Aussie pass time, so I guess most of us already do that.

The Eps:

Ayzee Returns to Australia

Opting Out

Bonus – Our ideas

The Links:

Million Dollar Baby – Trailer

South Australias worst Storm in 50 yrs

The Cash:

If you enjoy our posts, please have a look at our page on Steemit where you can join and upvote our posts to help support the show!

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.

What drugs do you use to contact aliens? – Episode 131

by Kurt Robinson on October 11, 2016 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Story: Using psychedelics to contact extraterrestrials

Many people believe that it’s possible, and even likely, that intelligent life exists outside of our little planet. However, when it comes looking at potential evidence, many would prefer to dismiss it. To find evidence of something which, to us, might be bizarre, we have to look at the bizarre, diving in to the unexpected. We have to consider evidence of UFOs, strange structures on Mars, and mediums channelling interstellar communciations – and, we should consider that maybe, they might contact us even more directly, by telepathic communication instigated by powerful hallucinogenic drugs. Could peyote or LSD help you to receive such a communication? In this video I make the case that, maybe they could.

The Links:

Aliens and Drugs: Can psychedelics be used to contact beings from out of this world?

UFOS: Generals, pilots and government officials go on the record by Leslie Kean

Symmetry and geometry of the face on Mars revealed

Aliens could be staring us in the face – Royal astronomer

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.

Psychedelic Che Guevara Mandela Effect – Episode 130

by Kurt Robinson on October 7, 2016 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Story: A Che Guevara T-Shirt and questions about his past

Che Guevara is a very controversial figure. Many idolise him, many detest him, and many are left confused about the wide gap between these two points of view. Of course, many people had the incentive to lie about Che. The Cuban government wanted to present him as a hero, a warrior who fought against the oppression of foreign interests, and as a gentle soul, a doctor who wanted to heal people. The US government wanted to present him as “The Butcher of La Cabaña”, an evil, twisted, sadistic man, a fraud posing as a fighter, a heartless murderer and rapist who valued nothing more than the blood of his enemies, and his allies.

Some say that destroying the symbols of a good thing, such as hope or fortune, can have a kind of magical or psychological effect – something like the “Newspeak” discussed in George Orwell’s famous book, “1984”. If you remove the ability to discuss a certain thing, that can make it harder to think that thought. If you take a symbol such as a swastika, which was known almost all over the world as a symbol of good luck, fortune, and even God Itself, and change it to a symbol of hatred, murder, and even pure evil, how much will that serve to confuse people? And to those who still believe that Che’s was a symbol of hope, of revolution, of better things to come, if you wanted to destroy their future, would it be enough to destroy the symbol? As the saying goes, the winners write the history books. Are they still rewriting them?

In this episode we talk about Che Guevara as an icon, and discuss whether it’s possible that governments may still want to destroy it, how a Che T-shirt can apparently appear out of nowhere, and how governments may take the time to rewrite history. We also discuss Kurt’s ideas of continuing to take psychedelics, pushing the mind to new frontiers, and about bargaining in life and death situations.

Join us in the next time-shifting episode of … The Paradise Paradox!