Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Mythic Mind, where we pursue wisdom
Speaker 1: on the past between primary secondary worlds. I'm doctor Andrew Snyder,
Speaker 1: and I'm glad that you're here. Hey, there, and welcome back.
Speaker 1: Today was originally supposed to be another book Club episode
Speaker 1: as we worked through Augustin's Confessions, but we had to
Speaker 1: delay the most recent scheduled meeting for that because well,
Speaker 1: I mean, it was scheduled on Memorial Day. That's just
Speaker 1: kind of how our regular rhythm was running, and it
Speaker 1: just didn't really work out scheduling wise, and so we
Speaker 1: decided to postpone that one, and so instead I thought
Speaker 1: that this would be a good opportunity to provide you
Speaker 1: with some updates regarding what's happening in Mythic Mind, because well,
Speaker 1: there's a lot happening in Mythic Mind, a lot of developments,
Speaker 1: a lot of things that are moving behind the scenes,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to let you know a little bit
Speaker 1: about what is going on here. Obviously, we have so
Speaker 1: many interests, you know, I have so many personal interests.
Speaker 1: Everything is so interesting, which which makes things kind of
Speaker 1: difficult to stay on a singular path. But you know,
Speaker 1: I don't really call myself a scholar in any particular field. Now,
Speaker 1: I mean, there's certainly some things that I know more
Speaker 1: about than others. There are certain fields that I definitely
Speaker 1: know more about than most people, just as I'm sure
Speaker 1: there are things that you know about that you know
Speaker 1: more about than most people do. And so, you know,
Speaker 1: I have the things that I tend to focus on,
Speaker 1: but I'm very much a generalist in that I like
Speaker 1: to read and study well everything, especially within the realm
Speaker 1: of the humanities, history, philosophy, theology, political science, you know whatever,
Speaker 1: literature obviously, and so I really believe that all of
Speaker 1: these fields ultimately are they're connected to what it means
Speaker 1: to be human, and what it means to be human
Speaker 1: is directly tied to how we're put together, why we're
Speaker 1: put together, and what we are for, or rather who
Speaker 1: we are for. And that's really what I mean when
Speaker 1: I talk about approaching things from a Christian humanities perspective
Speaker 1: that we have within this fellowship, we have within my
Speaker 1: own interest in kind of the areas that I'm working in,
Speaker 1: we have a vast array of pursuits that relate to
Speaker 1: the humanities in general, literature, philosophy, government, et cetera, et cetera,
Speaker 1: storytelling in various forms. But these aren't really separate branches,
Speaker 1: and that they all find their unity. All knowledge, especially
Speaker 1: knowledge out what it means to be human. All these
Speaker 1: discordant elements are apparently discordant elements. They find their unity
Speaker 1: in the lagosts of God. And so even when we're
Speaker 1: moving in different directions, at least ideally, we're ultimately moving
Speaker 1: in one direction, right. I mean, you could think about
Speaker 1: Saraman when he breaks the white light. Instead of being
Speaker 1: Solamon the white, he decides to become sour Amund of
Speaker 1: many colors, and he has that exchange with Gandalf, and
Speaker 1: Gandolf says that you know, he prefers white, and that's
Speaker 1: because white is the unity from which all the other
Speaker 1: colors of light spring. You can picture a white beam
Speaker 1: of light hitting a prism and then refracting out into
Speaker 1: the various elements, that as they move further away from
Speaker 1: that point of unity, they move further and further apart. Well,
Speaker 1: that's the path of corruption, right, that's the path of
Speaker 1: degradation of meaning and even of our meaning. Whereas the
Speaker 1: path of sanctification, the path of putting things back into
Speaker 1: proper order means that we recognize all of these these
Speaker 1: different rays of light representing different aspects of the light spectrum.
Speaker 1: And obviously, like red is not green, right, However, as
Speaker 1: you better understand what red is, better understand what green is,
Speaker 1: you're actually gonna move closer and closer and closer to
Speaker 1: that point of unity on the other side of the prism.
Speaker 1: And so that's what it means. That's what I mean
Speaker 1: when I talk about taking a Christian humanity to respective.
Speaker 1: We've had all the different domains of knowledge regarding things
Speaker 1: like what it means to be human, and as we
Speaker 1: look at all these different areas of specialization, we're doing
Speaker 1: so in a way that actually moves closer and closer
Speaker 1: and closer to a point of unity. And in turn,
Speaker 1: we aspire to look from that point of unity in
Speaker 1: seeing the unity behind all fields of knowledge. And so
Speaker 1: you may notice that even just within the podcast alone
Speaker 1: the larger fellowship, but just within the main Mythic Mind podcast,
Speaker 1: you know, we've been branching out a little bit more.
Speaker 1: We started off with philosophy back at the very beginning,
Speaker 1: as I went through some things on Soar and Kirkey Guard,
Speaker 1: especially looking at his the concept of anxiety and sick
Speaker 1: descent to death. Then we really moved into a Tolkien
Speaker 1: Lewis focus for a while. We've done some bey Wolf,
Speaker 1: We've done some Norse mythology and legends. We're currently doing
Speaker 1: a book study on Augustin's Confession. But we're also doing
Speaker 1: some Star Wars stuff, like with movies and with video games.
Speaker 1: And even though all of these things are that are
Speaker 1: obviously somewhat different, it's a matter of different focus that
Speaker 1: our orientation is meant to point all of what we
Speaker 1: do in the same direction. Whether we're engaging with literature,
Speaker 1: whether engaging with storytelling various forums and movies and video
Speaker 1: games and shows, whether we're dealing with philosophy, whether we're
Speaker 1: dealing with the life and theology of Saint Augustine. Our
Speaker 1: intention is to bring all these in a common direction,
Speaker 1: while also just experiencing the joy of good fellowship around
Speaker 1: important ideas, good ideas, and just fun mediums. Not everything
Speaker 1: has to be super serious, and in fact, if you
Speaker 1: take the most serious things seriously, then everything actually gains
Speaker 1: a certain degree of levity. As GK. Chesterton said, angels
Speaker 1: can fly because they take themselves lightly. I think that
Speaker 1: there's actually something fairly profound about that. I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't know if I would take that as metaphysically accurate.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know, but I think that the
Speaker 1: point that he's making is valid. I think it's significant.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I recognize that not everybody
Speaker 1: who engages with Mythic Mind is going to enjoy or
Speaker 1: is going to naturally connect with everything that we're doing,
Speaker 1: and so that's why we're branching off into some separate
Speaker 1: podcast for now. The plan is this show right here
Speaker 1: is going to be our main hub and is going
Speaker 1: to take a maintain a mostly literary kind of focus.
Speaker 1: But we recently launched our first Splinter show, which is
Speaker 1: called Mythic Mind Games, which deals with, you know, how
Speaker 1: do we take a Christian humanity's perspective to the medium
Speaker 1: of video games, especially with storytelling and various other ways
Speaker 1: that video games might engage with us. And you can,
Speaker 1: I mean, as far as my defense of what we're
Speaker 1: doing there, you can go over to the Mythic Mind
Speaker 1: Games podcast listen the first episode. I get into a
Speaker 1: little bit of that. I mean, obviously, I'm not saying
Speaker 1: that everyone has to play video games, or even that
Speaker 1: video games are good for everybody. Right, if you're honest
Speaker 1: with yourself, you know what's going to be upbuilding to
Speaker 1: you and what's not. But I'm convinced that there actually
Speaker 1: is a lot of potential there for video games to
Speaker 1: engage with people with significant topics when the writing is
Speaker 1: good in a way that appeals to a popular audience
Speaker 1: and taking important ideas to a popular audience. And I
Speaker 1: don't mean that in a disparaging term at all. I
Speaker 1: simply mean, you know, people who haven't necessarily actively studied philosophy,
Speaker 1: that I think that that is actually very significant. I mean,
Speaker 1: looking back at my own life as a kid, as
Speaker 1: a teenager, I didn't read nearly as much as I
Speaker 1: wish that I did looking back, but games provided a
Speaker 1: kind of popular level storytelling vehicle for me. And that
Speaker 1: is actually significant, more significant than I even realized at
Speaker 1: the time, in the way that certain stories, certain worlds,
Speaker 1: certain aesthetics influenced my imagination, influence the way that I
Speaker 1: view the world generally for the better. And I think
Speaker 1: that if that's done intentionally, it can actually be something
Speaker 1: really powerful and so and so that's why we splintered
Speaker 1: off into this Mythic Mind Games podcast. Now there is
Speaker 1: already in the very near future going to be a
Speaker 1: third Mythic Mind podcast coming up, and that's gonna come
Speaker 1: out of our Star Wars series. And so in what
Speaker 1: I believe is gonna be our next episode, we're going
Speaker 1: to have our discussion of a New Hope as we
Speaker 1: work through all the Star Wars movies, and maybe we
Speaker 1: do some other things along the way. And we've already
Speaker 1: done Nights to the Old Republic partially here, partially over
Speaker 1: on the Games podcast, but maybe we'll do some shows,
Speaker 1: maybe we'll do some other things. I'm not really sure
Speaker 1: what's gonna lead, but what at the very least going
Speaker 1: to go through all the movies, beginning with the original trilogy,
Speaker 1: beginning with a New Hope. Now, after the episode on
Speaker 1: a New Hope, we're gonna splinter off to a Mythic
Speaker 1: Mind Movies and Shows podcast where we're going to continue
Speaker 1: with our Star Wars and then after that we'll just
Speaker 1: we'll go on to other movies and other shows dealing
Speaker 1: with kind of like the Game's podcast, dealing with storytelling
Speaker 1: in more of a popular level than books. I mean,
Speaker 1: I wish books were more popular, but to be fair,
Speaker 1: I mean movies and games actually do I believe have
Speaker 1: their own value that I wouldn't say surpasses books by
Speaker 1: any means, but it is different than books and it
Speaker 1: can have certain benefits of its own. And so that'll
Speaker 1: be our third podcast that's coming up soon. So obviously
Speaker 1: there's a lot going on with Mythic Mind Fellowship, not
Speaker 1: to mention even some other things that are happening behind
Speaker 1: the scene. We have our ongoing discord conversations for patrons.
Speaker 1: We have three courses that are running right now. I'm
Speaker 1: running a philosophy course, history of Ideas course. We've got
Speaker 1: Josh Trailer's course on Paradise Lost and Hannah Gilmour's course
Speaker 1: on Introductory Latin. And so we have so much happening here.
Speaker 1: And as far as the podcast goes, all of these
Speaker 1: different podcast avenues right now are are really becoming increasingly
Speaker 1: community events. But obviously I'm taking a leading role in
Speaker 1: making all of them happen. Eventually I might hand off
Speaker 1: the reins on that, but for now I'm obviously doing
Speaker 1: a lot. And the reason for that is because I
Speaker 1: believe in what we're doing. As somebody who has experiences
Speaker 1: teaching with Christian universities as well as state universities. I
Speaker 1: have a strong heart for the humanities, and specifically the
Speaker 1: Christian humanities, despite the fact that institutional humanities are largely
Speaker 1: off the rails, theirs shelves of what they once were.
Speaker 1: They've been plagued by the forces of deconstructionism and radical
Speaker 1: postmodernism to the point where nothing really means anything anymore,
Speaker 1: which is why I find it is so refreshing to
Speaker 1: deal with the pre moderns. Like, for example, in our
Speaker 1: brief History of by Ideas course, we just wrapped up
Speaker 1: a unit on Aristotle and specifically looking at his Nikomaki
Speaker 1: and Ethics in book two. Near the beginning of book
Speaker 1: two of the Nicomaky and Ethics, Aristotle makes the point
Speaker 1: that in our study of ethics, our goal is not
Speaker 1: to know more about ethics, to like establish a well
Speaker 1: articulated ethical theory. I mean, hopefully we can do that,
Speaker 1: but that's not the point. He says that the point
Speaker 1: of pursuing ethics is to be good, and that right
Speaker 1: there is a strong contrast to what you find today
Speaker 1: where if you in order to tell somebody any kind
Speaker 1: of academic setting, like my goal is to be good. Then,
Speaker 1: assuming they took you seriously at all, people would immediately
Speaker 1: start to kind of get on edge, like what you
Speaker 1: actually believe? There's something like goodness, and if it's evident
Speaker 1: that's what you mean by goodness, not just like your
Speaker 1: subjective goodness, but like what is actually good? Well, that's
Speaker 1: going to well, it's gonna get some pushback, to say
Speaker 1: the least. Whereas you read the pre moderns, you read Play,
Speaker 1: or you read Aristotle, and it's very clear that you
Speaker 1: know when they talk about engaging in philosophy, they actually
Speaker 1: mean the love of wisdom. To be a good philosopher
Speaker 1: isn't just to think well, although you should think well
Speaker 1: along the way, and if you're being good philosopheric you
Speaker 1: will think well. But the main purpose of philosophy is
Speaker 1: to better love wisdom, and love is something that shapes
Speaker 1: your soul. It's not just something you do in your speculation,
Speaker 1: in your abstraction. It's something that you are concretely. So
Speaker 1: what Lewis talks about when he says that you know,
Speaker 1: these people who deny truth, who step outside of natural law,
Speaker 1: that they're men without chess because they have nothing to be.
Speaker 1: Their heart has been removed voluntarily. And so I think
Speaker 1: that it's very important that we regain a substantial, in
Speaker 1: a substantially Christian way of understanding what does it mean
Speaker 1: to be human? What does it mean to engage with stories,
Speaker 1: to engage with reason as we relate to the divine
Speaker 1: reason by which we reason, as a psalm say, in
Speaker 1: his light, do we see light? And I think that
Speaker 1: it's important that we recover that, not just in the
Speaker 1: institutionally academic world, but even in just the popular understanding,
Speaker 1: like people today need to be minded of what it
Speaker 1: means to be human, especially as we are lost in
Speaker 1: this in this postmodern hyper subjectivist philosophy coupled with the
Speaker 1: rise of AI, as people are writing books produced by AI,
Speaker 1: and they're reading AI summaries of the books, like you know,
Speaker 1: working in UH with college students like AI is just
Speaker 1: it's a major problem that. Don't get me wrong. I
Speaker 1: get that there can be you know, certain targeted benefits
Speaker 1: of using AI, but as far as outsourcing our entire
Speaker 1: thought process to artificial intelligence, like this is a major
Speaker 1: existential human crisis regarding what it means to be human.
Speaker 1: And this is exactly why I very much enjoy doing
Speaker 1: this sort of work outside of formal academia, because when
Speaker 1: or when I or another member of our fellowship is
Speaker 1: teaching a course, when people enroll in that course, it's
Speaker 1: because they're doing so voluntarily, because they recognize the value
Speaker 1: of wisdom, and they recognize the value of education. They
Speaker 1: recognize the value of reading good books and engaging with
Speaker 1: significant ideas so that they in turn can be the
Speaker 1: more grounded people, that they can be more substantial people
Speaker 1: equipped to engage with the phantoms of our time. I
Speaker 1: knew that. That's why I like to read good books.
Speaker 1: That's why I like to engage in important and significant storytelling.
Speaker 1: It's why I like to fellowship with the people in
Speaker 1: this mythic mind community, because it makes me more grounded
Speaker 1: that as I look to significant things, I in turn
Speaker 1: start to live more significantly. I don't just want to
Speaker 1: know what ethics is. I want to be good as
Speaker 1: my thought patterns and as my life patterns conform to
Speaker 1: the logofs of God. So, with all of that being said,
Speaker 1: and with all the different directions that I'm moving and
Speaker 1: that we're moving as a fellowship, it really is my
Speaker 1: to eventually get to the point where I can do
Speaker 1: this sort of thing full time that I can, as
Speaker 1: a real person, can engage with real people regarding real
Speaker 1: and significant ideas and stories and enchantment right that the
Speaker 1: right kind of enchantment that helps us to recognize the
Speaker 1: wonder of this life, this reality that we live in,
Speaker 1: upheld by the being and the will of God. And again,
Speaker 1: as Chesterton says, that we aren't for lack of wonders,
Speaker 1: we're only for lack of wonder, or as Thomas Aquinas says,
Speaker 1: with all the efforts, that the human mind cannot exhaust
Speaker 1: the essence of a single fly. When you recognize how
Speaker 1: deep and magnificent the smallest grain of this reality is,
Speaker 1: the more that you are going to be enchanted with
Speaker 1: wonder and you're going to have reverence toward the glory
Speaker 1: that is beneath all things. And so if you would
Speaker 1: like to help me continue to develop what we're doing
Speaker 1: here to offer more of it, you know, I would
Speaker 1: love to for all these podcasts who are doing to
Speaker 1: happen once a week, which is just not tenable right
Speaker 1: now with all my other work obligations. But I would
Speaker 1: love for all these podcasts, but once a week. I
Speaker 1: have more that I want to spin off. I would
Speaker 1: love to spin off one that's just devoted to fiction,
Speaker 1: one that's just devoted to philosophy. There are a lot
Speaker 1: of different things that I want to spin off here.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of courses that I want to
Speaker 1: be able to offer, a lot, a lot of ways
Speaker 1: that I would like for us to just continue to
Speaker 1: go further up and further into these great things that
Speaker 1: we are moving toward. But here's the thing. Right now,
Speaker 1: I have to teach a lot. I have the sole
Speaker 1: income for our family of five, and that's not always easy,
Speaker 1: and so I have to teach a lot in order
Speaker 1: to pay all the bills and kind of get us
Speaker 1: where we need to be financially. And so if I'm
Speaker 1: going to continue at the pace I'm currently going, let
Speaker 1: alone continue to go further, I'm really going to need
Speaker 1: your support. And so if you believe in what we're doing,
Speaker 1: if you want to see a vibrant, strong Christian Humanity's
Speaker 1: fellowship flourish and leave it a lasting impact on this
Speaker 1: world around us, this world is desperate for the hope
Speaker 1: of a capital r reality, then the number one way
Speaker 1: you can help me is go over to patreon dot com,
Speaker 1: slash mythic Mind and become a patron. Whether you can
Speaker 1: only throw five dollars a month our way, or you're
Speaker 1: able to do substantially more than that, every financial contribution
Speaker 1: helps to bring me closer to a point where I
Speaker 1: can start to pare down some of my other works
Speaker 1: from my institutional work and do more of this. And
Speaker 1: if you sign on as a Tier three annual patron,
Speaker 1: then you'll get just about everything we have to offer here.
Speaker 1: You'll get access to any of my courses that begin
Speaker 1: within that year's term, and so right now that would
Speaker 1: be Plato Stoicism until we have Faces the Elder Scrolls
Speaker 1: in Philosophy, and then at the beginning of twenty twenty
Speaker 1: six we have the Summarillion. There may be another course
Speaker 1: after that within this term, I'm not sure, but at
Speaker 1: the very least you'll have those three courses. Level of
Speaker 1: patronage will give you early and ad free episodes of
Speaker 1: all of our podcasts, all delivered into a singular patron feed,
Speaker 1: as well as full discord access. So again, Patreon is
Speaker 1: going to be a great way to be able to
Speaker 1: support me on a regular basis. Also, you can find
Speaker 1: in the show notes addition to that Patreon link, you
Speaker 1: can find a buy me a coffee link. If you
Speaker 1: don't want to become a recurring patron, but you do
Speaker 1: want to support me with a one time donation kind
Speaker 1: of like a tip, then you can use that that
Speaker 1: buy me a coffee link, and you know, leave a
Speaker 1: tip for whatever it is that you are interested and
Speaker 1: able to provide. Any bit of support is appreciated and things.
Speaker 1: I really don't have a problem asking for money on
Speaker 1: a fairly regular basis, and that's only because I believe
Speaker 1: in what we're doing and I want us to be
Speaker 1: able to do more of it. And not only is
Speaker 1: it something that I enjoy, even though I very much
Speaker 1: enjoy it, and as do I believe our patrons. You know,
Speaker 1: right now we've got over fifty patrons, and several of
Speaker 1: which are deeply invested, and you've heard them on a
Speaker 1: number of different podcast episodes, and there are a number
Speaker 1: of others that are involved attleit more behind the scenes.
Speaker 1: But this is a rich community, and I very much
Speaker 1: enjoy our work. But I enjoy it precisely because it's
Speaker 1: significant and there's nothing quite like growing as a fellowship
Speaker 1: around significant things. And so again, Patreon dot com, slash
Speaker 1: Mythic mind or that buy me a copy link in
Speaker 1: the show notes is going to be really helpful in
Speaker 1: helping us move closer toward our goals. That will allow
Speaker 1: us to have more frequent podcasts, more podcasts, more events,
Speaker 1: more videos, all sorts of things that we would love
Speaker 1: to do again if I had the if I could
Speaker 1: afford the time to do it, and so hopefully you
Speaker 1: can help me afford some of that time. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: that's where we will end for now. Next time of
Speaker 1: this podcast, we'll be discussing a new hope and over
Speaker 1: on the Games podcast. Next time we'll be finishing up
Speaker 1: our Star Wars Old Republic series. But that's it for
Speaker 1: now until next time, godspeed. I have always, at least
Speaker 1: ever since I can remember, had a kind of longing
Speaker 1: for death. It was when I was happiest that I
Speaker 1: longed most. It was on happy days when we were
Speaker 1: up in the hills, the three of us, with the
Speaker 1: wind and the sunshine, where you couldn't see Gloam or
Speaker 1: the palace. Do you remember the color and the smell,
Speaker 1: and looking across at the gray mountain in the distance,
Speaker 1: And because it was so beautiful, it set me longing,
Speaker 1: always longing somewhere else. There must be more of it.
Speaker 1: Everything seemed to be saying, Psyche, come, but I couldn't come,
Speaker 1: and I didn't know where I was to come to.
Speaker 1: It almost hurt me. I felt like a bird in
Speaker 1: a cage when the other birds of its kind are
Speaker 1: flying home. And now I will make answer to you,
Speaker 1: oh my judges, and show that he who has lived
Speaker 1: as a true philosopher has reason to be of good
Speaker 1: cheer when he is about to die, that after death
Speaker 1: he may hope to receive the greatest good in the
Speaker 1: other world. For I deem that the true disciple of
Speaker 1: philosophy is likely to be misunderstood by other men. They
Speaker 1: do not perceive that he is ever pursuing death and dying.
Speaker 1: And if this is true, why, having had the desire
Speaker 1: of death all his life long, should he regret the
Speaker 1: arrival of that which he has always been pursuing and desiring.
Speaker 1: The longing of Plato and the control of the Stoics
Speaker 1: pervades Lewis's retelling of the Cupid and Psyche Myth until
Speaker 1: we have faces with this incredible novel, which he believed
Speaker 1: to be his best. Lewis demonstrates the tensions and ancient thought,
Speaker 1: and even more significantly, the limits of rational philosophy, which
Speaker 1: can only go as deep as the foxes can dig.
Speaker 1: Beyond that, under that and providing the life of that thought,
Speaker 1: we find the dark and holy places that blind our
Speaker 1: faculties of reason. What, then, shall we do? This is
Speaker 1: a topic that we will explore after first surveying some
Speaker 1: important philosophical contributions in the ancient world that have had
Speaker 1: some significant bearing on Lewis's great novel. To this end,
Speaker 1: we will begin with Plato's Phato, which discusses the immortality
Speaker 1: of the soul and what those who love wisdom might
Speaker 1: expect in the life to come. And then we'll spend
Speaker 1: four weeks with some of the great stoics, including Epictetus, Emperor, Marcus, Aurelius,
Speaker 1: and Seneca. Finally, we will turn our attention to till
Speaker 1: we have faces for the final two weeks with original content,
Speaker 1: and so this will not be the same as what
Speaker 1: you may have seen in the fiction and philosophy of CS.
Speaker 1: Lewis course. Each week of this eight week study will
Speaker 1: include readings from primary sources that will be provided as PDFs.
Speaker 1: Although these are all texts that belong in your personal library.
Speaker 1: You'll be provided with recommendations for secondary readings. You'll have
Speaker 1: recorded presentations for you to watch at your leisure, ongoing
Speaker 1: discord chats, and weekly life meetings to discuss the readings
Speaker 1: enrolled today by going to patreon dot com slash Mythic
Speaker 1: Mind and checking out the job or, you can gain
Speaker 1: access to all courses, past, present and future this year
Speaker 1: by purchasing a Tier three annual subscription. I hope to
Speaker 1: see you there.