PZ's Podcast

Here is a two-parter concerning your inward voice: What is it, and how do you find it? From a Romans 7 point of view, the inward voice (and voices) is almost all that matters. Now get it down! Write it down! Put it on paper, or else it'll probably just "Fade Away" (Rolling Stones). This is personal archaeology, yours and mine, and it involves digging, and lifting.

Here is a two-parter concerning your inward voice: What is it, and how do you find it? From a Romans 7 point of view, the inward voice (and voices) is almost all that matters. Now get it down! Write it down! Put it on paper, or else it'll probably just "Fade Away" (Rolling Stones). This is personal archaeology, yours and mine, and it involves digging, and lifting.

Now here's a find: a passage in the novel "Revolution in Tanner's Lane" (1890) by 'Mark Rutherford' (aka William Hale White), in which the author answers the question I set in the previous cast. If there is a word from religion to the middle-aged and "mature" -- i.e., a word of humbled acquiescence to the disillusioned and shaken -- what is religion's word to the young? Can the same message of experienced wisdom and non-identification, which seems able to communicate with immediacy to the shattered, have something to say to the young and engaged, to the active members of this world, all "wishin' and hopin'" and working and fretting? The Rev. Thomas Bradshaw, the genuine-article preacher in Mark Rutherford's great book, offers a word to "My young friends" (p. 268) that is a mighty dart to the young but shot from an old man's quiver. In this cast, let me read you what Mr. Bradshaw has to say, then you tell me whether it answers the practical question.

Now here's a find: a passage in the novel "Revolution in Tanner's Lane" (1890) by 'Mark Rutherford' (aka William Hale White), in which the author answers the question I set in the previous cast. If there is a word from religion to the middle-aged and "mature" -- i.e., a word of humbled acquiescence to the disillusioned and shaken -- what is religion's word to the young? Can the same message of experienced wisdom and non-identification, which seems able to communicate with immediacy to the shattered, have something to say to the young and engaged, to the active members of this world, all "wishin' and hopin'" and working and fretting? The Rev. Thomas Bradshaw, the genuine-article preacher in Mark Rutherford's great book, offers a word to "My young friends" (p. 268) that is a mighty dart to the young but shot from an old man's quiver. In this cast, let me read you what Mr. Bradshaw has to say, then you tell me whether it answers the practical question.

Does life-wisdom offer the same message to the non-disillusioned, who are often on the younger side, as it does to the disillusioned, who are often over-50? It's a live issue for me, since a gospel of hope to the shattered can sound depressing to people who are working on wresting something like success from life. Interestingly, many religious pioneers, from Pachomius to Zwingli, from Clare to the "Little Flower", were young when they received a message of negation, but also a new and different theme of affirmation. Is there a philosophical link between "Build Me Up, Buttercup" (The Foundations) and "The Levee's Gonna Break" (Dylan)? That's the subject of this podcast.

Does life-wisdom offer the same message to the non-disillusioned, who are often on the younger side, as it does to the disillusioned, who are often over-50? It's a live issue for me, since a gospel of hope to the shattered can sound depressing to people who are working on wresting something like success from life. Interestingly, many religious pioneers, from Pachomius to Zwingli, from Clare to the "Little Flower", were young when they received a message of negation, but also a new and different theme of affirmation. Is there a philosophical link between "Build Me Up, Buttercup" (The Foundations) and "The Levee's Gonna Break" (Dylan)? That's the subject of this podcast.

My new law firm is called "Scrambling, Rattled, and Bracing, P.A.". It is a firm devoted to the project of complete control. It helps me "scramble" to contain unexpected problems; prevents me from getting "rattled" by unexpected threats; and gets me "braced" in anticipation of feared outcomes. In other words -- you guessed it -- my new law firm helps me get control of my life. I pay it to get me ready for every eventuality. Oddly, though, it hasn't worked as well as I had hoped. I'm still scrambling, I still get rattled, and I spend every weekend bracing for Monday. But hey ! : I've got hopes. If I can just get a little control ...

My new law firm is called "Scrambling, Rattled, and Bracing, P.A.". It is a firm devoted to the project of complete control. It helps me "scramble" to contain unexpected problems; prevents me from getting "rattled" by unexpected threats; and gets me "braced" in anticipation of feared outcomes. In other words -- you guessed it -- my new law firm helps me get control of my life. I pay it to get me ready for every eventuality. Oddly, though, it hasn't worked as well as I had hoped. I'm still scrambling, I still get rattled, and I spend every weekend bracing for Monday. But hey ! : I've got hopes. If I can just get a little control ...

This ancient show, much of which is now richly available on YouTube, let alone DVD, understood something important. It understood about the "collective unconscious" and the nature of the Love that exists underneath human loves. The several great episodes in this terse ancient treasure, from 1959 to 1961, depict reality so unflinchingly that you can barely look --- and, the underlying reality of God. I actually think "One Step Beyond" is a profounder prototype for "Touched by an Angel". Plus, the music! -- especially Harry Lubin's theme entitled "Weird". Not his "Fear", which you've heard a hundred times; but his "Weird". And here's the 'Dean's Question' for this podcast: How did William James decide to define God?

This ancient show, much of which is now richly available on YouTube, let alone DVD, understood something important. It understood about the "collective unconscious" and the nature of the Love that exists underneath human loves. The several great episodes in this terse ancient treasure, from 1959 to 1961, depict reality so unflinchingly that you can barely look --- and, the underlying reality of God. I actually think "One Step Beyond" is a profounder prototype for "Touched by an Angel". Plus, the music! -- especially Harry Lubin's theme entitled "Weird". Not his "Fear", which you've heard a hundred times; but his "Weird". And here's the 'Dean's Question' for this podcast: How did William James decide to define God?

Anger -- it's everywhere. The question is, at whom or at what are you NOT angry? Well, you can't be angry at anyone or anything you love. Or rather, you can't be angry at that part of anyone or anything that you love. This podcast is about seismic anger -- into which the internet is just a current window. Every age has its window. This podcast hunts for an answer.

Anger -- it's everywhere. The question is, at whom or at what are you NOT angry? Well, you can't be angry at anyone or anything you love. Or rather, you can't be angry at that part of anyone or anything that you love. This podcast is about seismic anger -- into which the internet is just a current window. Every age has its window. This podcast hunts for an answer.

This gorgeous 1964 film is everything people say it is, and makes you wonder sometimes whether its director and writer, Jacques Demy, was too good for this world. Let's also hear it for Michel Legrand, who wrote the score. What I wish to eyeball, and what this podcast is about, is its vision of romance, for "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" is about first love, lost love, best love, et enfin, true love. The hero's "Je crois que tu peux partir" ("It's time for you to go.") is so wonderfully masculine, and faithful, and cognizant but 'he's not buying', that I truly wish every woman in the world who has lost faith in men could see this movie. My podcast is about True Love. It is dedicated to Nick Greenwood.

This gorgeous 1964 film is everything people say it is, and makes you wonder sometimes whether its director and writer, Jacques Demy, was too good for this world. Let's also hear it for Michel Legrand, who wrote the score. What I wish to eyeball, and what this podcast is about, is its vision of romance, for "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" is about first love, lost love, best love, et enfin, true love. The hero's "Je crois que tu peux partir" ("It's time for you to go.") is so wonderfully masculine, and faithful, and cognizant but 'he's not buying', that I truly wish every woman in the world who has lost faith in men could see this movie. My podcast is about True Love. It is dedicated to Nick Greenwood.

Lord Buckley broke down a barrier that is exceptionally hard to break down. He broke down the barrier between the Sacred and the Profane. Several of his 'hipsemantic' monologues, once you begin to study them, are fascinating expressions of Christian ideas, but expressed in the terms of an offbeat and wacky nightclub personality. I don't know of anything like them. In this second and concluding podcast on a genuine comic genius, I read, sitting on my white azz, Lord Buckley's riff on "Quo Vadis", entitled "Nero". Once again, My Lords and Ladies of the Court, I give you Richard Myrle Buckley , together with his affecting 'familiar', OO-Bop-A-Lap.