Show notes
Are you allergic to the ancients? What images do the words ‘wisdom’ and ‘participation’ evoke for you? What’s at stake in our models of truth?This month’s episode of Samsara Audio sees your host Matthew in a reflective conversation with Jonatan Anabalon, a Norwegian middle school teacher with a Master's in Anthropology from the University of Bergen. Matthew and Jonatan met through Samsara Study Group's ongoing Kyoto School reading group, which lead to this conversation about the tensions in various models and analogies for how we approach truth. This dialogue delves into modern versus ancient philosophical outlooks, the concerns with conceptualizing truth as "beyond," the process of seeking and participating in truth, and much more. Matthew and Jonatan devote time to an exploration of the metaphorical imagery of the ox-herding pictures in Zen Buddhism as a framework for understanding personal and educational growth, trying to read this sequence from both Hegelian and Platonic angles. This discussion seeks to work through some tensions in Matthew and Jonatan’s perspectives, and taps into some of the reasons why we might be allergic to the ancients and their conception of truth as a higher wisdom to be pursued. However, Jonatan also challenges Matthew and the listener to grapple afresh with the call of truth, goodness, and beauty in light of modern developments in critical philosophy.Time stamps00:00 Welcome00:51 Purpose of the conversation02:29 Diving into the Ox Herding Pictures33:43 The Power of Myths and Symbolism in Understanding Reality42:08 Energy as the intersection of Spirit and Technology42:56 The Mystery of Brain Entrainment and Energy Transfer43:54 The Unique Contribution of the Subject in Networked Realities48:52 Navigating Ethical Dilemmas in a Complex World 51:05 Seeking Agency and Goodness Amidst Global Systems52:55 Participating in the Good, True, and Beautiful55:06 The Challenge of Truth in a Postmodern World01:01:17 Comparing Buddhism and Christianity on Suffering and Emptiness01:09:24 The Historical Development of Religious Toleration01:20:06 Embracing a Participatory Conceptualization of Truth 01:24:22 Encouragement and Future CollaborationsSubscribe to Samsara Audio: https://samsara.substack.com Learn more about Samsara Study Groups: https://www.samsara.clinic/introducing-samsara-study-groups/ Follow Matthew's writing at Samsara Diagnostics: https://samsara.clinic Order Matthew's book: https://www.samsara.clinic/ideology-and-christan-freedom-is-live/ Get full access to Moloch Theory at samsara.substack.com/subscribe
