"When you encounter real beauty it's almost as if it picks you up, and it brings you down in another space so that you see the world in a completely new way." "When we realise the common humanity that we share, and how this incredible connection that we can make can so enhance our lives and our experience of one another, that can drive us forward to a really unified society."

Lloyd kindly agreed to chat about Raggy Charters, his marine eco-tour company that receives consistently great reviews over at tripadvisor. We venture into various thematic territory: welcoming the whales, shark cage diving, difficulties in the war against plastic, a tree society, Lloyd's time in the police, and more. You know the site to visit!  

"If you enjoy something, and you're passionate about it, you're going to make something happen with it". "If you break the wall of ignorance, then interest kicks in. And when interest kicks in, conservation kicks in." Mark Marshall is known in Port Elizabeth as the local snake handler, and he kindly agreed to have a chat with me in which he reveals a bit about what makes him tick.  Topics include:  A little bit about Mark, the PE snake park, Bayworld and dolphins, on Mark's fascination with snakes, Sandula Conservation, development, the relocation of sensitive fauna and flora due to the construction of the Bay West mall, conservation education, legislation and EIA, wind farms, Mark's time as a River Control Officer and thereafter as an Environmental Consultant, Sandula Conservation's Facebook page, the impact of fires on habitat, a glimpse at the Sandula Snake Handling course, a Rinkals story, other close shaves, what to do if bitten, on Mark not having a favourite snake, snake symbolism, Sandula donations, children's conservation books coming in 2020 (illustrators needed). Contact mark via Whatsapp: +27 82 261 9280 Sandula Conservation:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/178406597459/ Support the podcast in one of four ways: 1) Share links to episodes on your social media. 2) Become a patron over at patreon.com. 3) Visit www.perspectiveproject.co.za/consulting/ and see if a philosophical consultation could benefit you, and send the link to someone you think the process could benefit. 4) Record a short cell-phone audio recordings (1 minute to 1 min 30 seconds) where you speak about a perspective-broadening experience or topic. What happened (or what is the topic about), and how did it have an impact on your thinking? Send these to [email protected] and they may be incorporated into the start of the podcasts.

www.perspectiveproject.co.za "Gimme whiskey, gimme jamming, gimme blues." Kevin Abraham joined me on the podcast to chat about his approaches to his music and business, arenas in which he has had commendable success.  Opening song by Kevin's most recent music project, Folkify. Here's another good one on youtube: link.

...it's a very good idea to look at the idea of nihilism; and questioning values, I think, because that is at the core of what nihilism is about – re-evaluating our values and asking, what are the values that we want, are the values that we hold ideals that exist in some utopian realm or some transcendent realm that can never be realised, or are they things that we can realise. And then I think production will also work differently, because at the moment it's definitely focused on comfort. Most of it is about comfort and volume… Quantity! Quantity as opposed to quality. ...I believe that if you do start questioning the values, and you start questioning this idea of comfort and how important [comfort] should be, you won't necessarily be focused on [producing] as much red meat as you can. You will maybe start to think of the quality, and so on. Another one: [Play] is a vehicle to becoming. ...If you pick up a new form of play, or if you engage in any kind of play, you generally change your life, and who you are, how you think. You gain certain capacities; you might lose others! But the idea is that you change. Karen and Corné du Plessis kindly joined me on the podcast to chat about food and nihilism. Sub-topics include: What nihilism is, types of nihilism, Nietzsche, Deleuze, vegetarianism and veganism, food production, comfort and discomfort, the questioning of values, ART, art as an uncomfortable experience and the role this plays, art and the making of new connections, the phenomenon of picky eaters in a context of endless food choices, Play as a vehicle to Becoming, Heston Blumenthal, mock turtle soup, the philosophy of play, the riddle of the utopian society, the limitations of utility thinking, difference and individuality, the impossibility of knowing what the greatest good is, assemblages, soilents, the Tibetan practice of removing dead bodies to the outskirts of the city to be eaten by wolves, a reference to nutrition being today where surgery was 200 years ago, the Spinozean notion that nobody knows what a body can do, why experiment with diet, health as stasis, Nietzsche's illness, and acting the reactive. If you liked this episode, link a friend or foe to it!  

Jonathan and I met in his art studio and spoke about a lot! Electric peanuts, India, Temples, Shifting focus from bodies to nature, What is art?, The making of art and the appreciation of art, Psychedelic aesthetic as induced by non-psychedelic experience,  The places Jonathan lived and worked, Art and the blurry distinction between individual and social endeavours, Identity, Performance art, Art as a career, And that's where I'll stop! Check out Jonathan's work at www.jonathansilverman.info. His art needs to be seen in real-space-and-time too though, so contact him through his site to arrange a visit to his studio. An exhibition show-casing Jonathan's work, opening in Cape Town in January 2020: www.99loop.co.za/events/jonathan-silverman  Support this podcast by taking a click around at this site, taking me up on one of my offerings here, or sending appropriate links to friends or colleagues.  Quick request: I'm looking for short cell-phone audio recordings (1 minute to 1 min 30 seconds) where you speak about your perspective-broadening experiences. What happened, and how did it broaden your perspective? Send these to [email protected] and they may be incorporated into the start of the podcasts.   

In this episode of The Perspective Project Podcast, Das and Clara answer my questions about their respective backgrounds (Das was born in Scotland and moved to Dubai at a young age, while Clara was born in South Africa and lived in Spain as a young woman) and about how they found themselves on their different Shamanistic paths in South Africa. We cover a lot of thematic territory: initiations (what counts as an initiation), conscious and unconscious lifestyles, lineages, the questioning of everything, questions surrounding whether we self-direct in living consciously or are we tapping into something external to ourselves, personal epiphanies, the bolstering psychic abilities, ways of increasing our connection to all that is, connecting with 'heart', transformative experiences, starting with meditation and cultivating a practice... and more! Warning: there is a cell phone buzz near the hour mark that comes back a few more times to haunt the recording. Cell phones are herewith banished from the recording area!  Check out the work Das does at Instagram HERE and HERE Support the podcast by taking a click around at this site, taking me up on one of my offerings here, or sending appropriate links to friends or colleagues.  Quick request: I'm looking for short cell-phone audio recordings (1 minute to 1 min 30 seconds) where you speak about your perspective-broadening experiences. What happened, and how did it broaden your perspective? Send these to [email protected] and they may be incorporated into the start of the podcasts.   

Riley kindly agreed to have a recorded conversation with me about her gender transition. We cover quite a bit of thematic territory during the conversation, so it is not exclusively about gender transition. Sub-topics are the condition known as bipolar, as well as art and creativity.  Links to pages offering glimpses of some of Riley's work: Riley makes stuff and things Riley on Facebook Support the podcast by visiting www.perspectiveproject.co.za, having a click around, taking me up on one of my offerings there, or sending appropriate links to friends or colleagues.  Quick request: I'm looking for short cell-phone audio recordings (1 minute to 1 min 30 seconds) where you speak about your perspective-broadening stories. What happened, and how did it broaden your perspective? Send these to [email protected] and they may be incorporated into the start of the podcasts.     

Prof. Ian Buchanan is, among other things, a leading Deleuze scholar, and he kindly joined me to discuss various aspects of assemblage theory. Our conversation branches off towards various other (sub-)topics such as: political action versus individual action, cycling, mountain climbing, a housing project in Australia a few years ago, and more. The public lecture that Ian delivered at Nelson Mandela University on 5 November 2019 follows after our discussion - the lecture begins at approx. 1 hour 25 minutes.  Support the podcast by visiting www.perspectiveproject.co.za, having a click around, taking me up on one of my offerings there, or sending appropriate links to friends or colleagues. Patreon support or once-off donations are also options there.   Quick request: I'm looking for short cell-phone audio recordings (1 minute to 1 min 30 seconds) where you speak about your perspective-broadening stories. What happened, and how did it broaden your perspective? Send these to [email protected] and they may be incorporated into the start of the podcasts.      More about Ian from https://www.uow.edu.au/law-humanities-the-arts/schools-entities/hsi/our-people/ Ian Buchanan joined the University of Wollongong in 2011. His previous position was Professor of Critical and Cultural Theory at the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory at Cardiff University. Ian Buchanan has published on a wide variety of subjects across a range of disciplines, including literary studies, cultural studies, communications studies and philosophy. He has published on film, literature, music, space, the internet and war as well a number of other subjects. He is the author of the Oxford Dictionary of Critical Theory and the founding editor of the international journal Deleuze Studies. He is also the editor of four book series: Deleuze Connections (EUP), Critical Connections, Plateaus (EUP) and Deleuze Encounters (Continuum). 

"I don't even like to use the word 'festival'. Because what we're really trying to do is re-create a village and remember how to trade with each other without money, how to get and live off-grid, how to commune..." Angie Curtis and Rod Tritton are the brains behind the Learning Clan event. They kindly agreed to have a short conversation with me at the 2018 gathering. Learn more about Learning Clan here: Learning Clan The Nelson Mandela University, Bird Street Campus exhibition I mentioned in the introduction, will begin on Monday 18 November 2019. More comprehensive details will be posted here when they become available.  Quick request: I'm looking for short cell-phone audio recordings (1 minute to 1 min 30 seconds) where you speak about your perspective-broadening stories. What happened, and how did it broaden your perspective? Send these to [email protected] and they may be incorporated into the start of the podcasts.