Skeptiko – Science at the Tipping Point

Seriah Azkath and  Joshua Cutchin explore all manner of paranormal phenomena in a very sharp, insightful way.  photo by: WhereDidTheRoadGo Alex Tsakiris: As those of you listening probably know by now, I am a fan of podcasting, as well as being a podcaster, and when I find a show I like, I feel obligated to pass it along, and that’s certainly the case with wheredidtheroadgo.com, a show that explores all manner of paranormal phenomena and other weirdness we’re a part of… and does it in a very sharp, insightful and unique way. And that’s largely due to the show’s creator and host Seriah Azkath, who joins us today… Let’s also introduce the other person we have with us today, because joining us is another guy who is responsible for some of the cool stuff, and some of the ways you’ve taken the show Seriah, Joshua Cutchin, a guy who really burst onto the scene in 2015 with his acclaimed book, A Trojan Feast: The Food and Drink Offerings Of Aliens, Faeries, and Sasquatch, which is really a serious, well-researched book and like I said, just was acclaimed by everyone in this field for exploring these unexplored connections between food and food offerings and various kinds of paranormal accounts. Then Josh followed it up, just this last year, with a book, The Brimstone Deceit: An In-Depth Examination of Supernatural Scents, Otherworldly Odors and Monstrous Miasmas… Seriah Azkath: We can’t understand these things for what they are, because our brains are limited and even though mind may not equal brain, the brain is what we have to use to interpret our reality and a lot of this stuff may just be beyond the capability of our brain to actually faithfully interpret. Joshua Cutchin: Yeah, I know, I agree, you’ve got a 12 inch, black and wide, tube television, you’re not going to be able to see some of the detail in a film that was released last year. I think the way to really sell is to sort of just beat them at their own game and I think that, if we can keep on, you know, knocking at the door of what consciousness really is, it isn’t the end game, because I think it’s going to open up a lot more stuff after that, but if we can just undermine that one thing, it really does make everything fall down like a house of cards. Seriah Azkath: Now, it’s entirely possible the UFO phenomenon has something to do with extra-terrestrials, but not in the materialistic way that’s always pushed. So that materialistic model isn’t just with science but it’s also in so many people studying the paranormal, that they just, everything has to be nuts and bolts and the facts do not support that nuts and bolts scenario. Click here for forum discussion Click here for the WhereDidTheRoadGo website Call Skeptiko (858) 876-4505 Read Excerpts: Alex Tsakiris: I started with a straight forward approach to the question of “consciousness”, “Okay, go and talk to the best people and they’ll know the answers. You’ll talk to the scientists,

Seriah Azkath and  Joshua Cutchin explore all manner of paranormal phenomena in a very sharp, insightful way.  photo by: WhereDidTheRoadGo Alex Tsakiris: As those of you listening probably know by now, I am a fan of podcasting, as well as being a podcaster, and when I find a show I like, I feel obligated to pass it along, and that’s certainly the case with wheredidtheroadgo.com, a show that explores all manner of paranormal phenomena and other weirdness we’re a part of… and does it in a very sharp, insightful and unique way. And that’s largely due to the show’s creator and host Seriah Azkath, who joins us today… Let’s also introduce the other person we have with us today, because joining us is another guy who is responsible for some of the cool stuff, and some of the ways you’ve taken the show Seriah, Joshua Cutchin, a guy who really burst onto the scene in 2015 with his acclaimed book, A Trojan Feast: The Food and Drink Offerings Of Aliens, Faeries, and Sasquatch, which is really a serious, well-researched book and like I said, just was acclaimed by everyone in this field for exploring these unexplored connections between food and food offerings and various kinds of paranormal accounts. Then Josh followed it up, just this last year, with a book, The Brimstone Deceit: An In-Depth Examination of Supernatural Scents, Otherworldly Odors and Monstrous Miasmas… Seriah Azkath: We can’t understand these things for what they are, because our brains are limited and even though mind may not equal brain, the brain is what we have to use to interpret our reality and a lot of this stuff may just be beyond the capability of our brain to actually faithfully interpret. Joshua Cutchin: Yeah, I know, I agree, you’ve got a 12 inch, black and wide, tube television, you’re not going to be able to see some of the detail in a film that was released last year. I think the way to really sell is to sort of just beat them at their own game and I think that, if we can keep on, you know, knocking at the door of what consciousness really is, it isn’t the end game, because I think it’s going to open up a lot more stuff after that, but if we can just undermine that one thing, it really does make everything fall down like a house of cards. Seriah Azkath: Now, it’s entirely possible the UFO phenomenon has something to do with extra-terrestrials, but not in the materialistic way that’s always pushed. So that materialistic model isn’t just with science but it’s also in so many people studying the paranormal, that they just, everything has to be nuts and bolts and the facts do not support that nuts and bolts scenario. Click here for forum discussion Click here for the WhereDidTheRoadGo website Call Skeptiko (858) 876-4505 Read Excerpts: Alex Tsakiris: I started with a straight forward approach to the question of “consciousness”, “Okay, go and talk to the best people and they’ll know the answers. You’ll talk to the scientists,

For 10 years Miguel Conner has been a leading voice for Gnosticism, so why the sudden interest in his ideas? photo by: Skeptiko Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome Miguel Conner to Skeptiko. Miguel is the creator of Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio, an entertaining and influential podcast that’s become part of this resurging interest in Gnosticism that seems to be seeping deeper and deeper into our collective consciousness. Miguel’s the author of several fine books, and he’s here today to talk about, Other Voices of Gnosticism, which is a follow-up to his acclaimed book Voices of Gnosticism, published just a few years back. Miguel Conner: …It seems ten years ago when I was talking about how reality is an illusion, and don’t trust any sort of reality you see in front of you, and everything is ruled by powers, principalities and wickedness in high places and how paranoia actually might be a good thing and alienation is something people should accept. That was pretty radical ten years ago, but I’m finding people are just kind of nodding their heads after they after they look at their Facebook feeds, the news and saying, “You know what… the Gnostic sensibility, the Phillip K. Dick world and all that… it’s a powerful thing.” Click here for forum discussion Click here for Miguel’s website Call Skeptiko (858) 876-4505 Read Excerpts: Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome Miguel Conner to Skeptiko. Miguel is the creator of Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio, an entertaining and influential podcast that’s become part of this resurging interest in Gnosticism that seems to be seeping deeper and deeper into our collective consciousness. Miguel’s also the author of several fine books, including a couple of novels that are probably ripe for a movie deal about now, I don’t know Miguel? Miguel Conner: No, I hear you. Keep saying that! Alex Tsakiris: But he’s here today to talk mainly about his new book Other Voices of Gnosticism, which is a follow-up to his acclaimed book Voices of Gnosticism, published just a few years back. He’s a great friend to the show. You’ve heard me mention his show many times because I think it’s really just a top-notch podcast. It’s always on my playlist. Miguel, it’s great to have you here. Thanks for joining me. Miguel Conner: Oh, it’s a pleasure to be with you, Alex. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Alex Tsakiris: Okay, great. Now, we’ll see how you feel at the end. I told you just a minute ago, you know, I am going to have to do a little bit of the Skeptiko thing on you because well, it’s what I do, man. Miguel Conner: Oh, yeah. I hear you, man. I was thinking today, “God, if Alex doesn’t go off on me, then I have failed.” I mean, that’s my favorite part of the show when you go, “What are you doing?” Alex Tsakiris: Well, I hope I don’t go too far. You know what I really wanted to do, because the book is terrific and I really hope people check it out, especially if they’re a little bit unsure of the whole Gnostic...

For 10 years Miguel Conner has been a leading voice for Gnosticism, so why the sudden interest in his ideas? photo by: Skeptiko Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome Miguel Conner to Skeptiko. Miguel is the creator of Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio, an entertaining and influential podcast that’s become part of this resurging interest in Gnosticism that seems to be seeping deeper and deeper into our collective consciousness. Miguel’s the author of several fine books, and he’s here today to talk about, Other Voices of Gnosticism, which is a follow-up to his acclaimed book Voices of Gnosticism, published just a few years back. Miguel Conner: …It seems ten years ago when I was talking about how reality is an illusion, and don’t trust any sort of reality you see in front of you, and everything is ruled by powers, principalities and wickedness in high places and how paranoia actually might be a good thing and alienation is something people should accept. That was pretty radical ten years ago, but I’m finding people are just kind of nodding their heads after they after they look at their Facebook feeds, the news and saying, “You know what… the Gnostic sensibility, the Phillip K. Dick world and all that… it’s a powerful thing.” Click here for forum discussion Click here for Miguel’s website Call Skeptiko (858) 876-4505 Read Excerpts: Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome Miguel Conner to Skeptiko. Miguel is the creator of Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio, an entertaining and influential podcast that’s become part of this resurging interest in Gnosticism that seems to be seeping deeper and deeper into our collective consciousness. Miguel’s also the author of several fine books, including a couple of novels that are probably ripe for a movie deal about now, I don’t know Miguel? Miguel Conner: No, I hear you. Keep saying that! Alex Tsakiris: But he’s here today to talk mainly about his new book Other Voices of Gnosticism, which is a follow-up to his acclaimed book Voices of Gnosticism, published just a few years back. He’s a great friend to the show. You’ve heard me mention his show many times because I think it’s really just a top-notch podcast. It’s always on my playlist. Miguel, it’s great to have you here. Thanks for joining me. Miguel Conner: Oh, it’s a pleasure to be with you, Alex. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Alex Tsakiris: Okay, great. Now, we’ll see how you feel at the end. I told you just a minute ago, you know, I am going to have to do a little bit of the Skeptiko thing on you because well, it’s what I do, man. Miguel Conner: Oh, yeah. I hear you, man. I was thinking today, “God, if Alex doesn’t go off on me, then I have failed.” I mean, that’s my favorite part of the show when you go, “What are you doing?” Alex Tsakiris: Well, I hope I don’t go too far. You know what I really wanted to do, because the book is terrific and I really hope people check it out, especially if they’re a little bit unsure of the whole Gnostic...

David Mathisen has discovered an ancient, language told through the constellations of the night’s sky. photo by: Skeptiko Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome David Mathisen to Skeptiko. David is the author of Star Myths of the World, Volume One, Two and Three, along with several other books we might talk about. But those Star Myths books I was just alluding to are quite amazing. I mean, here’s a collection of over 2,000 pages of diagrams, illustrations and analysis of the stars, the constellations and the myths surrounding them… Alex Tsakiris: …we all know about these constellations. And we a lot of these myths. But explanation you get in Astronomy 101 is very different from what you’re saying. If someone’s going to school right now, what are they learning about the constellations and these myths? David Mathisen: …if a connection between the myths and the constellation is alleged or acknowledged, it is commonly explained away as primitive early humans looking at the world around them, awesome forces, thunderstorms, earthquakes, volcanoes, had to explain it. They didn’t have science, so they said well, there’s a God in the volcano and he or she is mad right now.  And so it’s like these primitive gropings became more and more sophisticated as we moved along… Finally, we had time to look at the stars and do science and primitive science and then it got it better and better, and at the same time, the myths are getting a little bit smoother and smoother… What I was trying to kind of say at the beginning is these myths are evidence of incredible spiritual sophistication because I believe—I’ve got a lot of reasons for believing this—that they are being used as an incredible spiritual metaphor. Click here for forum discussion Click here for David’s website Call Skeptiko (858) 876-4505 Read Excerpts: Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome David Mathisen to Skeptiko. David is the author of Star Myths of the World, Volume One, Two and Three, along with several other books we might talk about. But those Star Myths books I was just alluding to are quite amazing. I mean, here’s a collection of over 2,000 pages of diagrams, illustrations and analysis of the stars, the constellations and the myths surrounding those constellations, and also, just our enduring fascination with the night sky. David is a graduate of West Point. He also has a Master’s Degree in Literature from Texas A&M and it’s really quite wonderful to have him on. I’m looking forward to this conversation. David, welcome to Skeptiko. David Mathisen: Thanks so much, Alex. I’m really looking forward to the conversation as well, and hope that listeners enjoy it. Alex Tsakiris: So, let me interrupt again, because this is one of those things—so, the logic flow for you, and I think this would be for kind of a lot of people, is Samson is in the Bible, so this is scriptural, it’s wisdom passed down from God. David Mathisen: And he was a real character. Alex Tsakiris: He’s a real character, all this stuff, and then you go over and say, “Wait, a minute. Samson is also portrayed in the stars and the constellations.” Moreover, I can go cross-culturally and read about all these people who...

David Mathisen has discovered an ancient, language told through the constellations of the night’s sky. photo by: Skeptiko Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome David Mathisen to Skeptiko. David is the author of Star Myths of the World, Volume One, Two and Three, along with several other books we might talk about. But those Star Myths books I was just alluding to are quite amazing. I mean, here’s a collection of over 2,000 pages of diagrams, illustrations and analysis of the stars, the constellations and the myths surrounding them… Alex Tsakiris: …we all know about these constellations. And we a lot of these myths. But explanation you get in Astronomy 101 is very different from what you’re saying. If someone’s going to school right now, what are they learning about the constellations and these myths? David Mathisen: …if a connection between the myths and the constellation is alleged or acknowledged, it is commonly explained away as primitive early humans looking at the world around them, awesome forces, thunderstorms, earthquakes, volcanoes, had to explain it. They didn’t have science, so they said well, there’s a God in the volcano and he or she is mad right now.  And so it’s like these primitive gropings became more and more sophisticated as we moved along… Finally, we had time to look at the stars and do science and primitive science and then it got it better and better, and at the same time, the myths are getting a little bit smoother and smoother… What I was trying to kind of say at the beginning is these myths are evidence of incredible spiritual sophistication because I believe—I’ve got a lot of reasons for believing this—that they are being used as an incredible spiritual metaphor. Click here for forum discussion Click here for David’s website Call Skeptiko (858) 876-4505 Read Excerpts: Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome David Mathisen to Skeptiko. David is the author of Star Myths of the World, Volume One, Two and Three, along with several other books we might talk about. But those Star Myths books I was just alluding to are quite amazing. I mean, here’s a collection of over 2,000 pages of diagrams, illustrations and analysis of the stars, the constellations and the myths surrounding those constellations, and also, just our enduring fascination with the night sky. David is a graduate of West Point. He also has a Master’s Degree in Literature from Texas A&M and it’s really quite wonderful to have him on. I’m looking forward to this conversation. David, welcome to Skeptiko. David Mathisen: Thanks so much, Alex. I’m really looking forward to the conversation as well, and hope that listeners enjoy it. Alex Tsakiris: So, let me interrupt again, because this is one of those things—so, the logic flow for you, and I think this would be for kind of a lot of people, is Samson is in the Bible, so this is scriptural, it’s wisdom passed down from God. David Mathisen: And he was a real character. Alex Tsakiris: He’s a real character, all this stuff, and then you go over and say, “Wait, a minute. Samson is also portrayed in the stars and the constellations.” Moreover, I can go cross-culturally and read about all these people who...

Robert Bonomo is a Gnostic 9-11 Truther who reads Tarot and writes for “deplorable” websites — my kind of alt-media journalist. photo by: Skeptiko Alex Tsakiris: Today’s guest is a blogger, novelist, a anarcho-capitalist—we’ll have to ask him about that one— and a part-time Tarot reader with a Gnostic bent… sounds like a great Skeptiko guest already, hey? Now, if you visit Robert Bonomo’s excellent website, The Cactus Land, you’ll be introduced to the wide ranging interest he has and a lot of his writings, which we’re going to talk about today, but you won’t quite be prepared for today’s interview because we are going to take it in a slightly different direction…. Alex Tsakiris: …I mean, for people who weren’t following it, or are outside the United States, this was not an election of Donald Trump, this was a repudiation of Hillary Clinton and The Establishment… Robert Bonomo: Oh, yeah. I think totally, it was a vote against mainstream media. It was a vote for a lot of skeptical views, even conspiracy views. Alex Tsakiris: Exactly. Robert Bonomo: How many Trump voters do you think are skeptical of the official version of 9/11, for example? Something nobody talks about. Nobody talks about that. Click here for forum discussion Click here for Robert’s website Call Skeptiko (858) 876-4505 Read Excerpts: Alex Tsakiris: Today’s guest is a blogger, novelist, an Anarcho-capitalist—we’ll have to ask him about that one—and a part-time Tarot reader with a Gnostic bent… sounds like a great Skeptiko guess already, hey? Now, if you visit Robert Bonomo’s excellent website, The Cactus Land, you’ll be introduced to the wide ranging interest he has and a lot of his writings, which we’re going to talk about today, but you won’t quite be prepared for today’s interview because we are going to take it in a slightly different direction. But, more on that in one second. First off, Robert, welcome to Skeptiko. Thanks so much for joining me. Robert Bonomo: Oh, hi Alex. It’s great to be on the show. I’m a big fan. Alex Tsakiris: Well, thanks. I think we’re going to have an interesting discussion because as I just mentioned a minute ago, we scheduled this interview a little while ago, and I wasn’t really thinking about politics and current events when I did it, but then as the whole world knows, we had this kind of stunning presidential election here in the U.S. — stunning, no matter what you thought of it, good or bad. And then I started digging into some of the stuff you’ve written and I thought, “Wow. Here’s an opportunity to talk about this election, this historic election, in some new and different ways that I haven’t really heard anyone else talk about.” So, at the last minute I said, “Hey, Robert, do you want to do this kind of election political thing? And I’m not really exactly sure it’s going to go.” And you’re totally down with it, so that’s great. Robert Bonomo: Yeah, I mean, this election was just fascinating. I mean, it was fun too. I have to say I enjoyed it. I really did enjoy it. A lot of people complained, but I think it’s a key moment in our history, that election night. Alex Tsakiris: I agree. And before I get into that,

Robert Bonomo is a Gnostic 9-11 Truther who reads Tarot and writes for “deplorable” websites — my kind of alt-media journalist. photo by: Skeptiko Alex Tsakiris: Today’s guest is a blogger, novelist, a anarcho-capitalist—we’ll have to ask him about that one— and a part-time Tarot reader with a Gnostic bent… sounds like a great Skeptiko guest already, hey? Now, if you visit Robert Bonomo’s excellent website, The Cactus Land, you’ll be introduced to the wide ranging interest he has and a lot of his writings, which we’re going to talk about today, but you won’t quite be prepared for today’s interview because we are going to take it in a slightly different direction…. Alex Tsakiris: …I mean, for people who weren’t following it, or are outside the United States, this was not an election of Donald Trump, this was a repudiation of Hillary Clinton and The Establishment… Robert Bonomo: Oh, yeah. I think totally, it was a vote against mainstream media. It was a vote for a lot of skeptical views, even conspiracy views. Alex Tsakiris: Exactly. Robert Bonomo: How many Trump voters do you think are skeptical of the official version of 9/11, for example? Something nobody talks about. Nobody talks about that. Click here for forum discussion Click here for Robert’s website Call Skeptiko (858) 876-4505 Read Excerpts: Alex Tsakiris: Today’s guest is a blogger, novelist, an Anarcho-capitalist—we’ll have to ask him about that one—and a part-time Tarot reader with a Gnostic bent… sounds like a great Skeptiko guess already, hey? Now, if you visit Robert Bonomo’s excellent website, The Cactus Land, you’ll be introduced to the wide ranging interest he has and a lot of his writings, which we’re going to talk about today, but you won’t quite be prepared for today’s interview because we are going to take it in a slightly different direction. But, more on that in one second. First off, Robert, welcome to Skeptiko. Thanks so much for joining me. Robert Bonomo: Oh, hi Alex. It’s great to be on the show. I’m a big fan. Alex Tsakiris: Well, thanks. I think we’re going to have an interesting discussion because as I just mentioned a minute ago, we scheduled this interview a little while ago, and I wasn’t really thinking about politics and current events when I did it, but then as the whole world knows, we had this kind of stunning presidential election here in the U.S. — stunning, no matter what you thought of it, good or bad. And then I started digging into some of the stuff you’ve written and I thought, “Wow. Here’s an opportunity to talk about this election, this historic election, in some new and different ways that I haven’t really heard anyone else talk about.” So, at the last minute I said, “Hey, Robert, do you want to do this kind of election political thing? And I’m not really exactly sure it’s going to go.” And you’re totally down with it, so that’s great. Robert Bonomo: Yeah, I mean, this election was just fascinating. I mean, it was fun too. I have to say I enjoyed it. I really did enjoy it. A lot of people complained, but I think it’s a key moment in our history, that election night. Alex Tsakiris: I agree. And before I get into that,

Dr. Dana Sawyer’s career studying religion and transcendence made him the perfect biographer of Huston Smith.  photo by: Skeptiko Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome Dr. Dana Sawyer to Skeptiko. Dana is a professor of religion and philosophy at the Maine College of Art and the author of Huston Smith: Wisdomkeeper: Living the World’s Religions: The Authorized Biography of a 21st Century Spiritual Giant. Dana, it’s great to have you here. Thanks so much for joining me on Skeptiko. Dr. Dana Sawyer: Thanks for inviting. Great to be here. Alex Tsakiris: So on the back of this book cover, people are going to find a blurb of the Dalai Lama. First of all, I don’t imagine that the Dalai Lama gives out a lot of book blurbs, but he did for this one, and what he wrote is really, I think, interesting. He said, “Huston Smith is an outstanding authority on the world’s religions because he has put so many of them into practice and discovered their real taste.” Who is Huston Smith? Dr. Dana Sawyer: Well, one time the Christian Science Monitor referred to him as religion’s rock star, and he was certainly that. For more than 50 years, Huston Smith was the most renowned scholar of the world’s religions in the world. He had written a book in 1958 called the Religions of Man, that’s now called the World’s Religions, to correct that mistake of non-inclusive language, but that book has never been out of print since 1958. The vast majority of college students or people who went to college and have ever taken a course on world religions read that book; that was the textbook. That was a breakthrough kind of book for Huston, but it was also a breakthrough book in the academic study of religion because prior to that book, most people felt like the job of an academic was to deconstruct religion, and explain to us in modernist terms why religion was over with and why we are better off without all that silly superstition. Huston started in a very different place, which was rather than judging the religions, he simply wanted to be a good academic and describe them and that’s what he did. In that book, each chapter is written in such a way that a believer of that particular tradition would be nodding their head yes like […] Hinduism he is describing currently. This is what I feel.” And then in the next chapter he does that for Buddhism, et cetera, so that’s one of the answers you can give… Click here for forum discussion Click here for Dana Sawyer’s website Call Skeptiko (858) 876-4505 Read Excerpts: Alex Tsakiris: Before you give another one because the whole book that you’ve done here is really a broader look at all the answers to that question —  which I think is wonderful —  tell folks a little bit about how you came to write this biography. Dr. Dana Sawyer: Well, maybe about 14 years ago, I wrote a biography of Aldous Huxley. Alex Tsakiris: A very critically, well received biography of Aldous Huxley, we should say, but go ahead. Dr. Dana Sawyer: That’s right. That’s right. In fact, his wife, Laura Huxley,

Dr. Dana Sawyer’s career studying religion and transcendence made him the perfect biographer of Huston Smith.  photo by: Skeptiko Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome Dr. Dana Sawyer to Skeptiko. Dana is a professor of religion and philosophy at the Maine College of Art and the author of Huston Smith: Wisdomkeeper: Living the World’s Religions: The Authorized Biography of a 21st Century Spiritual Giant. Dana, it’s great to have you here. Thanks so much for joining me on Skeptiko. Dr. Dana Sawyer: Thanks for inviting. Great to be here. Alex Tsakiris: So on the back of this book cover, people are going to find a blurb of the Dalai Lama. First of all, I don’t imagine that the Dalai Lama gives out a lot of book blurbs, but he did for this one, and what he wrote is really, I think, interesting. He said, “Huston Smith is an outstanding authority on the world’s religions because he has put so many of them into practice and discovered their real taste.” Who is Huston Smith? Dr. Dana Sawyer: Well, one time the Christian Science Monitor referred to him as religion’s rock star, and he was certainly that. For more than 50 years, Huston Smith was the most renowned scholar of the world’s religions in the world. He had written a book in 1958 called the Religions of Man, that’s now called the World’s Religions, to correct that mistake of non-inclusive language, but that book has never been out of print since 1958. The vast majority of college students or people who went to college and have ever taken a course on world religions read that book; that was the textbook. That was a breakthrough kind of book for Huston, but it was also a breakthrough book in the academic study of religion because prior to that book, most people felt like the job of an academic was to deconstruct religion, and explain to us in modernist terms why religion was over with and why we are better off without all that silly superstition. Huston started in a very different place, which was rather than judging the religions, he simply wanted to be a good academic and describe them and that’s what he did. In that book, each chapter is written in such a way that a believer of that particular tradition would be nodding their head yes like […] Hinduism he is describing currently. This is what I feel.” And then in the next chapter he does that for Buddhism, et cetera, so that’s one of the answers you can give… Click here for forum discussion Click here for Dana Sawyer’s website Call Skeptiko (858) 876-4505 Read Excerpts: Alex Tsakiris: Before you give another one because the whole book that you’ve done here is really a broader look at all the answers to that question —  which I think is wonderful —  tell folks a little bit about how you came to write this biography. Dr. Dana Sawyer: Well, maybe about 14 years ago, I wrote a biography of Aldous Huxley. Alex Tsakiris: A very critically, well received biography of Aldous Huxley, we should say, but go ahead. Dr. Dana Sawyer: That’s right. That’s right. In fact, his wife, Laura Huxley,

Suzanne Giesemann traded a career in the Navy for a life as a psychic medium.  photo by: Skeptiko Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome Suzanne Giesemann to Skeptiko. Suzanne is a retired U.S. Navy Commander turned — get ready for this — evidential medium, and apparently, she’s quite good at being a medium. Her work has been praised by medium researchers like former Skeptiko guest, Dr. Gary Schwartz, and other notable figures in this small but growing field of after-death communication research that we’ve talked so much about. She’s also the author of 11 popular books, including Messages of Hope and Where Two Worlds Meet.   She’s a great speaker, as you’ll hear in a minute and quite an inspirational person, in general. Suzanne, it’s great to have you here. Thanks so much for joining me on Skeptiko. Suzanne Giesemann: Thanks, Alex. It’s so good to be here. Alex Tsakiris: Well, like I said, I’m really delighted and excited to have you here. Let’s start with the very basics. Your story is really quite remarkable. Tell folks, briefly, how you got started as a medium. Suzanne Giesemann: Well, Alex, it’s really important that people understand that I was not even aware there was a greater reality during the 20 years that I served in the Navy. My last job in the Navy, I was aid to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the head of the whole military, and I think now if anybody knew that I was a working medium, they would have yanked my security clearance, but that was even kept hidden from me. I had no idea I could communicate with those on the other side, but unfortunately, it was a family tragedy that led me to that discovery, the death of my stepdaughter when struck by lightning ten years ago. Alex Tsakiris: It’s really a tragic story, but it is obviously relevant to the larger story of what’s happened in your life. Tell folks, briefly, what happened. Suzanne Giesemann: Well, she was a Marine, a Sergeant crossing the flight line on active duty and a bolt out of the blue struck her down. She was six months pregnant. And when I went to her viewing and saw her body in her Marine Corps dress blues laid out there in the coffin, that was a pivotal point in my life because I looked at that body and I said, “That’s not Susan.” I said it over and over like a mantra, as if I was in shock, but the shock was that the body could look so different when not animated by whatever it was that was her spark, and I now know, of course, that’s the spirit and the spirit survives death. I didn’t know that at the time, but being very mission-oriented, I made it my mission to find out if it was true what I had heard over the years, that there were certain people who could tune into the souls of those who had passed, so that was step one. Click here for forum discussion Click here for Suzanne Giesemann’s website Call Skeptiko (858) 876-4505 Read Excerpts: Alex Tsakiris: Now, many people — and I’ve spoken to many mediums, psychics and people who have this ability to access these other realms — many, many of them say even though they have that transitional experience where aha, they realized something was going on.

Suzanne Giesemann traded a career in the Navy for a life as a psychic medium.  photo by: Skeptiko Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome Suzanne Giesemann to Skeptiko. Suzanne is a retired U.S. Navy Commander turned — get ready for this — evidential medium, and apparently, she’s quite good at being a medium. Her work has been praised by medium researchers like former Skeptiko guest, Dr. Gary Schwartz, and other notable figures in this small but growing field of after-death communication research that we’ve talked so much about. She’s also the author of 11 popular books, including Messages of Hope and Where Two Worlds Meet.   She’s a great speaker, as you’ll hear in a minute and quite an inspirational person, in general. Suzanne, it’s great to have you here. Thanks so much for joining me on Skeptiko. Suzanne Giesemann: Thanks, Alex. It’s so good to be here. Alex Tsakiris: Well, like I said, I’m really delighted and excited to have you here. Let’s start with the very basics. Your story is really quite remarkable. Tell folks, briefly, how you got started as a medium. Suzanne Giesemann: Well, Alex, it’s really important that people understand that I was not even aware there was a greater reality during the 20 years that I served in the Navy. My last job in the Navy, I was aid to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the head of the whole military, and I think now if anybody knew that I was a working medium, they would have yanked my security clearance, but that was even kept hidden from me. I had no idea I could communicate with those on the other side, but unfortunately, it was a family tragedy that led me to that discovery, the death of my stepdaughter when struck by lightning ten years ago. Alex Tsakiris: It’s really a tragic story, but it is obviously relevant to the larger story of what’s happened in your life. Tell folks, briefly, what happened. Suzanne Giesemann: Well, she was a Marine, a Sergeant crossing the flight line on active duty and a bolt out of the blue struck her down. She was six months pregnant. And when I went to her viewing and saw her body in her Marine Corps dress blues laid out there in the coffin, that was a pivotal point in my life because I looked at that body and I said, “That’s not Susan.” I said it over and over like a mantra, as if I was in shock, but the shock was that the body could look so different when not animated by whatever it was that was her spark, and I now know, of course, that’s the spirit and the spirit survives death. I didn’t know that at the time, but being very mission-oriented, I made it my mission to find out if it was true what I had heard over the years, that there were certain people who could tune into the souls of those who had passed, so that was step one. Click here for forum discussion Click here for Suzanne Giesemann’s website Call Skeptiko (858) 876-4505 Read Excerpts: Alex Tsakiris: Now, many people — and I’ve spoken to many mediums, psychics and people who have this ability to access these other realms — many, many of them say even though they have that transitional experience where aha, they realized something was going on.

Gordon White wrestles looks at morality from a Magical perspective. photo by: Skeptiko Gordon White’s new book Pieces of Eight: Chaos Magic Essays and Enchantments stirred up a lot of questions that I posed in part 1; now here are the answers: Alex Tsakiris: …for example, the evidence from the near death experience science that I’m so fond of because it gives us a pretty clean set of data to look at… I hear love and light being what it’s really about. I hear it being moralistic, and being hierarchical, and that materialism, even  spiritual materialism of trying to get something out of an enchantment or a spell is really, at the very least, treading water. It’s not  moving you towards this spiritual growth that ultimately it is what it’s all about. What do you make of that as a general idea? Gordon White: I think I know exactly what you mean… the question is philosophical in the human sense, which is, is morality an objective category of the universe like spin or something in physics? …Is morality an inherent category in the universe? And as a result, should that shape your actions in this life? Probably… but it’s an eternal question. Click here for forum discussion Click here for Gordon’s RuneSoup.com website NEW: leave a message on the call in number (858) 876-4505 Read Excerpts: Alex Tsakiris: In the last episode of Skeptiko, I played a clip from the excellent interview you did with Miguel Conner, where you talk about materialism and consciousness research basically, that we talk so much about on this show. I think people will be a little bit off when they hear this guy’s talking about chaos magic and then what’s this clip we heard about on consciousness research? So your understanding of a magical world view and how that intersects with science and how that intersects with culture, I think is a lot broader than most people, if they’re not familiar with your work, would appreciate. What are some of the areas that you touch on in pieces of it? Gordon White: Well, it certainly opens with kind of “Goldilocks-ing” our way through different models of reality, the main ones being materialism, which doesn’t work and then we start to move onto ones that I like less, but are slightly better than materialism. We have panpsychism, which is essentially a fudge to kind of keep materialism in the game, and then we have idealism, sort of the idea that everything is kind of one mind; that’s in there and I like that well enough. I think it describes reality certainly better than panpsychism or materialism, but it’s in that Goldilocks sense, not quite right. It bends rather than breaks a model when you come to deal with high strange phenomena, magic, UFOs and so on. And so it then explores this idea of return of animism to what I call the philosophical big table where it… animism has been a very popular idea for the last 20 years within ecological circles or post-...

Gordon White wrestles looks at morality from a Magical perspective. photo by: Skeptiko Gordon White’s new book Pieces of Eight: Chaos Magic Essays and Enchantments stirred up a lot of questions that I posed in part 1; now here are the answers: Alex Tsakiris: …for example, the evidence from the near death experience science that I’m so fond of because it gives us a pretty clean set of data to look at… I hear love and light being what it’s really about. I hear it being moralistic, and being hierarchical, and that materialism, even  spiritual materialism of trying to get something out of an enchantment or a spell is really, at the very least, treading water. It’s not  moving you towards this spiritual growth that ultimately it is what it’s all about. What do you make of that as a general idea? Gordon White: I think I know exactly what you mean… the question is philosophical in the human sense, which is, is morality an objective category of the universe like spin or something in physics? …Is morality an inherent category in the universe? And as a result, should that shape your actions in this life? Probably… but it’s an eternal question. Click here for forum discussion Click here for Gordon’s RuneSoup.com website NEW: leave a message on the call in number (858) 876-4505 Read Excerpts: Alex Tsakiris: In the last episode of Skeptiko, I played a clip from the excellent interview you did with Miguel Conner, where you talk about materialism and consciousness research basically, that we talk so much about on this show. I think people will be a little bit off when they hear this guy’s talking about chaos magic and then what’s this clip we heard about on consciousness research? So your understanding of a magical world view and how that intersects with science and how that intersects with culture, I think is a lot broader than most people, if they’re not familiar with your work, would appreciate. What are some of the areas that you touch on in pieces of it? Gordon White: Well, it certainly opens with kind of “Goldilocks-ing” our way through different models of reality, the main ones being materialism, which doesn’t work and then we start to move onto ones that I like less, but are slightly better than materialism. We have panpsychism, which is essentially a fudge to kind of keep materialism in the game, and then we have idealism, sort of the idea that everything is kind of one mind; that’s in there and I like that well enough. I think it describes reality certainly better than panpsychism or materialism, but it’s in that Goldilocks sense, not quite right. It bends rather than breaks a model when you come to deal with high strange phenomena, magic, UFOs and so on. And so it then explores this idea of return of animism to what I call the philosophical big table where it… animism has been a very popular idea for the last 20 years within ecological circles or post-colonial in...

Gordon White’s new book challenges our understanding of Chaos Magic and religion. photo by: Skeptiko Gordon White’s new book Pieces of Eight: Chaos Magic Essays and Enchantments stirred up a lot of questions for me. Gordon not only tackles materialism, panpsychism, idealism and animism (his preferred harbor in the storm), but also the role Chaos Magic might play in understanding and navigating this “spirit haunted world.” In fact, I had so many questions for Gordon I’ve prepared this episode of Skeptiko in order to lay them out before he joins me to hammer out the finer details of life’s deepest mysteries. Click here for forum discussion Click here for Gordon’s RuneSoup.com website NEW: leave a message on the call in number (858) 876-4505