Speaker 1: Before we get started, I want to let you know
Speaker 1: that I'm going to start consistently cross posting the podcast
Speaker 1: to YouTube. An actual video component will always be available
Speaker 1: whenever I have guests and sometimes when it's just me,
Speaker 1: but sometimes the shows that are just me will be
Speaker 1: audio only because that's a little bit easier for me
Speaker 1: to do well and officially, but for the sake of consistency,
Speaker 1: I'll be fraudening that as well over on YouTube, and
Speaker 1: so if you aren't already subscribed on both platforms, so
Speaker 1: you can find the YouTube link in the podcast show notes,
Speaker 1: and you can subscribe to Mythic Mind wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcast. Hello, and welcome to Mythic Mind or Pursue
Speaker 1: Wisdom on the Path between Primary secondary worlds. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Andrew Snyder, and I am always glad that you're here.
Speaker 1: As I often do, I've really been daydreaming a lot
Speaker 1: lately about what I would like the Mythic Mind Fellowship
Speaker 1: to look like if it were fully funded. I'd like
Speaker 1: to share some of that vision with you, But first,
Speaker 1: let's start at the beginning. When I first started the
Speaker 1: Mythic Mind podcast back in twenty twenty one, I was
Speaker 1: making some generally short episodes related to the dissertation that
Speaker 1: I was writing on krekycard at the time. Now, before
Speaker 1: I got started, I had one patron and the thanks
Speaker 1: Joe if you're still out there, and I cannot imagine
Speaker 1: at that time what this would become. I've since taken
Speaker 1: the show in a number of different directions, including with
Speaker 1: talkien Beowulf and the inclusion of the Mythic Mind Fellowship,
Speaker 1: chats on the poetic Ada and other topics. Also, we've
Speaker 1: established a really fun discord server for patrons. I've started
Speaker 1: to independently lead some courses on things that interest me
Speaker 1: and that I believe that I have some worthwhile things
Speaker 1: to say about. And this started with the Fiction and
Speaker 1: Philosophy of C. S. Lewis course last year, which had
Speaker 1: about sixty participants initially and several more that have purchased
Speaker 1: the course since it finished. We then moved into Life,
Speaker 1: Death and Meaning with Beowolf and Boethius, and we're currently
Speaker 1: in the Wisdom of Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings,
Speaker 1: and of course I've recently announced three more courses that
Speaker 1: are coming up this year. A Brief History of Ideas,
Speaker 1: which is like a broad scale Survey of Philosophy. We've
Speaker 1: got a course on Plato Stoicism and C. S. Lewis's
Speaker 1: till we have Faces and the Elder Scrolls and philosophy.
Speaker 1: The truth is that I enjoy these courses more than
Speaker 1: I do my university work. Now, don't get me wrong,
Speaker 1: I'm really grateful for my university work. I'm really grateful
Speaker 1: for those opportunities. But there's something special about building communities
Speaker 1: around significant topics that are entirely made out of people
Speaker 1: who truly want to be there outside of the institutional walls.
Speaker 1: And if I could put full time hours into this,
Speaker 1: then there would be so many of these courses going
Speaker 1: on on a regular basis. Now looking at the broader
Speaker 1: group dynamics here, the Mythic Mind Fellowship is now made
Speaker 1: of almost fifty active patrons, along with another one hundred
Speaker 1: or so free patrons who are following along. We've established
Speaker 1: a community subseect page, we have monthly patron chats on
Speaker 1: some really good material, and we have our first member
Speaker 1: created courses starting to come together. Hannah gille More is
Speaker 1: teaching introductory Latin this year, and I'm in conversation with
Speaker 1: a few more potential creators about their initial ideas. The
Speaker 1: current plan is have anyone who creates under the Mythic
Speaker 1: Mind banner to keep all the income that they earn
Speaker 1: as I do what I can to drive people their way,
Speaker 1: people who can really benefit from what they have to offer.
Speaker 1: My goal is for Mythic Mind to become a robust
Speaker 1: humanities fellowship that operates outside of institutional academia, to provide
Speaker 1: high quality content to the public without the high tuition
Speaker 1: in ideological baggage as often associated with the modern university,
Speaker 1: while also being as financially rewarding as possible to creators.
Speaker 1: If you would like to discuss this opportunity further, if
Speaker 1: you want to lead a course with Mythic Mind, then
Speaker 1: you can reach out to me on discord if you
Speaker 1: are a patron, or you can email me at Mythic
Speaker 1: Mind podcast at gmail dot com or reach out to
Speaker 1: me on x at andrew In Snyder. Well, that's a
Speaker 1: bit about where we've been. Now let's return to my
Speaker 1: initial idea of discussing what I would like to do
Speaker 1: if I were fully funded. If you've been following me
Speaker 1: for a while, you likely know that I have a
Speaker 1: great many interests, including Polkien and Lewis, of course, but
Speaker 1: also myths and legends, classical and medieval philosophy and theology,
Speaker 1: various components of history, and media like shows and movies
Speaker 1: and video games, and so with that in mind, I
Speaker 1: would love to get a few different podcasts running simultaneously.
Speaker 1: The already established Mythic Mind podcast would be the flagship show,
Speaker 1: a place for patron chats and interviews and sort of
Speaker 1: generalist kind of wherever I want to go with that
Speaker 1: type of show as it is right now. But I
Speaker 1: would also like to have separate shows specifically devoted to
Speaker 1: things like philosophy, history, missing legends, media discussion, so again
Speaker 1: like shows, movies, video games and such, and potentially more.
Speaker 1: And whether I end up running all of these personally
Speaker 1: or if I just play a leading role in helping
Speaker 1: others to do so, I believe that these would all
Speaker 1: be things worth doing. I would also like to lead
Speaker 1: more courses and to help Bellowship members lead more courses,
Speaker 1: and in addition to purchasing individual courses, I like the
Speaker 1: idea of giving all patrons of a certain tier access
Speaker 1: to all courses with a yearly membership, like I'm currently
Speaker 1: doing with Tier three patrons, So that way you can
Speaker 1: access all the material, but then you can particularly engage
Speaker 1: with the ones that most interest you. I would also
Speaker 1: like to write more, both short form with the substack
Speaker 1: and long form with books. I'm currently writing a book
Speaker 1: tentatively titled Divine Honor in the Lord of the Rings,
Speaker 1: which is due to my publisher the end of June,
Speaker 1: and with the right funding, I would love to write
Speaker 1: one or two books every year. Also, I would like
Speaker 1: to increase the frequency of patron chats. We have a
Speaker 1: large number of members with various interests, and so I'd
Speaker 1: like to have two different series going simultaneously, maybe something
Speaker 1: like on one hand, we've got something that's like heavy
Speaker 1: literature focus, but then we also have something a little
Speaker 1: bit lighter, maybe something media focused, And so overall you
Speaker 1: have at least a couple of patron chats going on
Speaker 1: every month with whoever happens to be interested in whatever topic. Now.
Speaker 1: In the end, what this comes down to is a
Speaker 1: desire to provide in a ray of entry points for
Speaker 1: dealing with the humanities through a broadly Christian lens that
Speaker 1: takes seriously the idea of myth of true myth as
Speaker 1: an entry point into reality from the beginning. We've been
Speaker 1: taking slow steps in the direction of doing this full time,
Speaker 1: and I don't suppose that this is going to happen overnight,
Speaker 1: but we are moving closer through incremental steps that are
Speaker 1: becoming steeper and steeper over time. During year one, I
Speaker 1: earned probably like a couple hundred dollars through somewhat irregular
Speaker 1: podcast posting. Last year, however, I made well considerably more
Speaker 1: than that, but still not nearly enough to even consider
Speaker 1: supporting my family on it alone, especially as we're adding
Speaker 1: one more to the mix any day now. And so
Speaker 1: if you like what we do here and you want
Speaker 1: to see more of it, I welcome your support to
Speaker 1: make that happen. And there are two main ways that
Speaker 1: you can do that. First, you can become a patron
Speaker 1: of Mythic Mind at any level. Any support at all
Speaker 1: is helpful, although of course higher levels help me to
Speaker 1: reach these goals faster. Next, you can purchase a course
Speaker 1: through the shop at patreon dot com slash Mythic Mind.
Speaker 1: This includes courses, past, present, and future. I just dropped
Speaker 1: the Lewis course down to fifty as that was my
Speaker 1: first course and while I believe that the content is
Speaker 1: certainly Worthwhile I stand by the content, it does have
Speaker 1: the lowest production value regarding esthetics, since I'm sort of
Speaker 1: getting things figured out, and also I've started to release
Speaker 1: some of those videos to YouTube. However, purchasing the course
Speaker 1: gives you immediate access to all the material, including what
Speaker 1: is otherwise always going to be unavailable, such as recordings
Speaker 1: of the zoom chats from the live run and PDFs
Speaker 1: of many of the secondary readings. You can also find
Speaker 1: the completed Life, Death and Meaning with Bewolf and Boethis course,
Speaker 1: the current Lord of the Rings course, and you can
Speaker 1: enroll in any of the three upcoming courses. And you
Speaker 1: can also get the best of both worlds here by
Speaker 1: purchasing an annual Tier three membership or higher. This gives
Speaker 1: you access to all Mythic Mind material, including all courses
Speaker 1: that are currently on the books, including those that have
Speaker 1: already happened, the one that is happening, and those that
Speaker 1: are already scheduled to happen for this year, and Mythic
Speaker 1: Mind Patronage also gives you half priced discount for courses
Speaker 1: led by other Mythic Mind creators, such as Hannah's introductory
Speaker 1: Latin course. Now to take the leap to really start
Speaker 1: working on mythic mind full time, supplementing with my online
Speaker 1: university teaching. I really need to bring in another like
Speaker 1: thousand dollars a month or so on a consistent basis,
Speaker 1: and given the progress we've made over the last year,
Speaker 1: this is very doable. But of course I can't do
Speaker 1: it without you, And so thank you current patrons and
Speaker 1: those of you who have taken or are taking some
Speaker 1: of my courses, and ask for the rest of you.
Speaker 1: I welcome you to come aboard and to help us
Speaker 1: actualize this vision. Next time I'm going to have another
Speaker 1: good conversation for you, but until then, godspeed. When you
Speaker 1: go to the roots of the word philosophy, you find
Speaker 1: the love of wisdom, which unfortunately is not what you
Speaker 1: find at the root of all who call themselves philosophers. Now,
Speaker 1: how do we get here? What are the ideas that
Speaker 1: shape our world? And what can the old world tell
Speaker 1: us in response to the perennial questions of what it
Speaker 1: means to be human, what is our purpose? And what,
Speaker 1: if anything, ought we aspire to? In a brief history
Speaker 1: of ideas, we will navigate major epics of thought and
Speaker 1: survey some of the most important figures in the Western canon,
Speaker 1: including Plato, Aristotle, Boethius, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes, Nietzsche, Sart
Speaker 1: and Carekegard. And of course we will consider even more names.
Speaker 1: But these are the thinkers that will supply our primary readings.
Speaker 1: Each week will include primary sources that will be provided
Speaker 1: as PDFs. Although these are all texts that do belong
Speaker 1: in your personal library. You will be recommended some secondary texts.
Speaker 1: You'll be provided with some recorded presentations for you to
Speaker 1: watch at your leisure, ongoing discord chats, and weekly life
Speaker 1: meetings to discuss their readings. I've been teaching philosophy for
Speaker 1: many years, and I can say with confidence that you
Speaker 1: will leave this six weeks course with a better understanding
Speaker 1: of the foundation to Western thought than most contemporary philosophy
Speaker 1: majors enrolled today. By going to patreon dot com slash
Speaker 1: Mythic Mind and checking out the shop, or you can
Speaker 1: gain access to all courses past present in any course
Speaker 1: that begins during the term of your subscription by purchasing
Speaker 1: a Tier three annual subscription. So again, purchase a Tier
Speaker 1: three annual subscription, and I will give you a special
Speaker 1: code that gives you access to all courses that either
Speaker 1: have taken place or do start in this term, and
Speaker 1: I sincerely hope to see you there