TheSecularHeretic

Readings from The Narrow Cabinet: A Zombie Chronicle by author, Asa Boxer.

The Daymakers continue their discussion of Göbekli Tepe based on The Secular Heretic article by Martin Sweatman, "Mother of Invention: Decoding Göbekli Tepe." This time, the focus is on the unavoidable implication that it could not have been a spontaneous undertaking, but instead, must have been grounded in knowledge from a previous civilisation. Atlantis? Another subject of interest is how belief colours technology and what we might be able to deduce from the ancient, megalithic ruins. Given our society's priorities and beliefs, what are we likely to invent. . . and what are we likely not to invent? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

The Daymakers take a break from creative writing-tips and literary discussions to consider an article written by Dr. Martin Sweatman for The Secular Heretic magazine on the topic of Göbekli Tepe and the origins of civilisation. According to Sweatman, the doctrine of gradualism "stretches back several hundred years—to at least the time of Hutton and Lyell—and until recently formed the foundation of geology. Championed by Darwin, gradualism has infected all academia. And yet it is actually a crazy extrapolation. No scientist today would dare to propose it." Let us know what you think in the comments!

The Daymakers found Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poetry so beautiful and compelling, they couldn’t help doing another episode on her work. Here’s more in-depth biographical information and three more poems. Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

The Daymakers discuss the rudiments of the sonnet form and pay particular attention to the work of Edna St. Vincent Millay. Let us know the title of your favourite sonnet.

The Daymakers engage in an adults only conversation regarding what constitutes risk in the field of literary writing. They read poems by Ezra Pound and Leonard Cohen and discuss formerly controversial writers like Isaac Babel, Aleksander Wat and Pablo Neruda. Buckle up, folks! This one’s heavy. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

The Daymakers discuss the creative writing tip: Write What You Know and complicate the idea. Does one really need to have direct experience of something to be able to write about it? What kind of living is important to developing empathy? The Daymakers look at a clip from Wim Wender’s genius film Wings of Desire. This is a complex subject: let us know what you think in the comments.

The Daymakers consider the problems that arise when a writer encounters various pressures--some internal, some external--to publish. In some cases, this pressure can be useful to the writer, while in others, it can undermine the writer's integrity. When looking at some of the most influential writers, it becomes clear that quality is far more important than quantity. On the other hand, plenty of great books have been written by those who have over-published. What do you think? Let us know in the comments!

This is the final episode on the subject of John Stuart Mill’s autobiographical account describing how his engagement with the arts helped cure his depression. Mill considered his formative education flawed for focusing exclusively on training his analytical abilities and for neglecting to cultivate his emotional life. He believed that his depression was owing to this gap, and he turned to the arts in search of a cure. Ultimately, the medicine that permanently alleviated him of this dejected state of mind was the poetry of William Wordsworth. The Daymakers consider how exactly this might have worked.

The Daymakers read a passage from John Stuart Mill's Autobiography in which the author discusses a period of severe depression in his life and how his education, steeped in rationalism, lacked any training of the passions and, more broadly, of his inner world. Ironic that in his pursuit of happiness, happiness itself evaded him, in fact, abandoned him, and this set him seeking both the cause of his emotional trouble and its cure.

The Daymakers explore the theme of liberty in Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. How does the poet embody the spirit of liberty and become the age transfigured? Let us know what you think in the comments.

The Daymakers explore the theme of "integrity" in the Preface to Walt Whitman's book, Leaves of Grass. What do you think of his idea of candour? Let us know in the comments.

The Daymakers read three fine and beautiful poems and discuss briefly: W. H. Auden's "In Memory of W. B. Yeats"; two excerpts from Ezra Pound's "Hugh Selwyn Mauberly"; and W. B. Yeats's "Adam's Curse."

The Daymakers read some poems by William McGonagall, the worst poet ever to have written. This is a journey down the via negativa of poetics, seeking insights regarding how not to write poetry.

The Daymakers wrap up their discussion of T. S. Eliot’s famous essay, “Tradition and the Individual Talent.” If it’s impossible to extricate one’s personality from one’s art, and if it isn’t even desirable, then how can we understand what Eliot might mean when he tells us that the work of great poets is an escape from personality? Is it that in attempting to escape one’s personality, one discovers communion—whether social or cosmic? This is a short one, but it packs a punch, and hopefully makes your day!

This week, the Daymakers continue their discussion on the true poet, springboarding from ideas expressed by Robert Graves in his tour de force book, The White Goddess. Graves expresses a commitment to the ancient poetic theme of dedication to the Supreme Goddess and to the creative spirit of nature. Poems that manage to evoke this theme most successfully have an actual physical impact on the audience. Watch the video to discover more on this subject.

This week, the Daymakers discuss what it means to be a poet. There's a pretentious, shallow way of being a poet, by dressing and acting the part; and there's truly being a poet with one's soul. But what does that mean? The Daymakers look at some historical and anthropological materials on the subject and consider a number of poetic role models along the way.

T. S. Eliot’s famous essay, “Tradition and the Individual Talent,” gets very cumbersome and confusing in the second half when the poet attempts to distinguish “feelings” from “emotions.” The Daymakers wonder what Eliot might be on about. Are the feelings we experience in poetry the effects of imagery? Perhaps this is what Eliot meant when he spoke of “the objective correlative.” And what of the emotions we experience through poetry? Do these have anything to do with the emotions we experience in the world? Or are these art-produced emotions entirely their own thing? Food for thought. Let us know what you think in the comments below.

As the Daymakers continue to discuss T. S. Eliot’s famous essay “Tradition and the Individual Talent,” they question the author’s injunction to remove all trace of personality from the writing. Is this possible? And if so, is it truly desirable? What does poetry without personality look like? Wouldn’t it be flavourless and boring? So what might Eliot be trying to get at here? Check out the video and tell us what you think of these matters.

In part 7 of this 7-part interview with Stephen E. Robbins, the Daymakers pry open a Bergsonism: “The more consciousness is intellectualised, the more is matter spacialised. “Marko asks whether this means that intellection creates space, implying that the more intellect is exercised, the more distance appears between objects. He wonders whether Bergson’s use of the word intellect is equivalent to what Robbins calls an “accelerated energy state.” If we consider the slowing of time in a heightened neurological energy state (see Daymakers 17), would time dilation dilate our sense of space or contract it? If virtual action is the filter of perception, space ought to contract because we can act more quickly. On the other hand, if the universe contracts, we’d lose the time advantage. Makes more sense if this model is asymmetric. As Robbins says, we can’t yet answer this question without research. Emerging from these considerations, Robbins raises the subject of Bergson’s differentiation between intellect and intuition, and how each must serve each other if we hope to produce any breakthrough thinking. Marc asks Robbins: “If Bergson’s ideas became mainstream, how would the world likely change?” THE END You made it this far! We trust you’ve enjoyed Steve Robbins interview series. Make sure you Subscribe to our channel, click Like on each video, and perhaps consider becoming a patron of ours on patrion.com/thesecularheretic. Help us keep this series going! This interview series is meant to be a companion to Robbins's article Welcome to the Holofield: Rethinking Time & Consciousness, which you can find here: https://thesecularheretic.com/welcome-to-the-holofield-rethinking-time-consciousness-the-hard-problem/ If you enjoyed this, you may want to check out Robbins's YouTube series on Henri Bergson (and much, much more): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkj-ob9OuaMhRIDqfvnBxoQ And here's Steve's website: http://www.stephenerobbins.com

In part 2 of this interview with Steve Robbins, we deepen our ability to answer The Hard Problem by discussing Henri Bergson's idea of "the photograph. . .developed in the very heart of things and at all the points of space;" in other words, we consider the holographic model of the cosmos. Where does consciousness fit in? What is the role of the brain in this model? Visit our website for Robbins's article on this subject, Welcome to the Holofield: Rethinking Time and Consciousness: https://thesecularheretic.com/welcome-to-the-holofield-rethinking-time-consciousness-the-hard-problem/ If you enjoyed Stephen Robbins's ideas, be sure to catch his YouTube series here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkj-ob9OuaMhRIDqfvnBxoQ And his website here: http://www.stephenerobbins.com

Meet Stephen Robbins for a discussion on metaphysics and consciousness. In part 1 of this interview, Robbins introduces himself and considers the difficulties surrounding conceptualizations of what David Chalmers has termed "The Hard Problem." According to Robbins, the problem ought to be defined by posing the question as follows: how is it that the world around us becomes manifest to our senses? As Chalmers has it, however, the question is, How is it that objective physical processes culminate in subjective experiences? Robbins says Chalmers is getting the question wrong and locates the origin of the philosophical trouble in Galileo's instantiation of "the classic metaphysic": the idea that there's an objective, measurable world that exists apart from the qualities (or qualia) that our senses impose upon it. To put the problem poetically, you might wonder, as Thomas Nagel did, "What is it like to be a bat?"

Continuing with Ted Hughes’s essay “Myth & Education,” the Daymakers consider the limits and dangers of the objective imagination, the potential hollowing out effect it has upon the psyche, the dehumanising effect it inflicts on the human heart. Want to understand how our society has arrived at a moment in which it despises the human body, in which we fear our own breath? Watch this episode. Let us know what you think about objectivity in the comments below.

This week, the Daymakers continue discussing Ted Hughes’s essay “Myth & Education,” specifically focusing on the trouble with objectivity when it is not balanced with considerations of the inner world, the psychological dimensions of our lives. The morality of the camera leads to a form of brutality, but how? Isn’t being objective a way of bringing order to our relationships? Why does a rejection of religion and a turn to pure objectivity turn us into lunatics? Contrary to the dominant values of present times, the Daymakers explain how the stories and myths conveyed by religion helped civilise us. Whether one believes in a God or not, surely we can all agree that the chief danger of godlessness is a hubristic belief in one’s own supernal powers, one’s own (or the government’s) ability to establish a perfect and safe society by policing thought, speech and all human activity.

This episode of Daymakers is a synopsis and brief analysis of the 1988 film The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, directed and cowritten by Terry Gilliam. This film is a masterpiece worthy of much discussion, and it is our intention to spend several episodes exploring it. In other words, this video is a cornerstone for future conversation. Don't miss it!