Episode 106: The Wanderer: On Weird Studies

Weird Studies

Phil Ford and J. F. Martel

Society & Culture, Arts, Philosophy

4.8 • 688 Ratings

🗓️ 1 September 2021

⏱️ 87 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Weird Studies turns meta, reflecting on the peculiar medium that is podcasting, and how it has shaped the Weird Studies project itself. JF and Phil provide a glimpse into what it feels like to create the show from the inside, where each recording session is like a journey into an unknown Zone. The conversation also occasions sojourns into the flow state, or experience of pure durée, its implications for our conception of free will, and surprising parallels between modern materialists’ adherence to nihilism and ancient religious ascetic practices. Ultimately, JF and Phil explore the archetypal image of the wanderer as representative of Weird Studies’s existence so far, and of the kind of impact and legacy this project can have. N.B. Weird Studies will be on a haitus for the month of September, and will return on September 29. In the meantime: Support us on Patreon: Find us on Discord Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack References Robert Sapolsky, Interview with Pau Guinart Bruno Latour, French philosopher Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene Peter Sloterdijk, You Must Change Your Life Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith Nina Simone, “Feeling Good” Robert Anton Wilson, Illuminatus Richard Wagner, Siegfried Lewis Carol, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland John David Ebert, American cultural critic Patrick Harpur Daimonic Reality Marshall McLuhan, The Global Village Phil Ford, “What was Blogging?” Weird Studies, Episode 71 on Marshall McLuhan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Spectrevision Radio
0:02.0	Welcome to Weird Studies, an arts and philosophy podcast with hosts Phil Ford and J.F. Martel.
0:20.0	For more episodes or to support the podcast,
0:23.3	go to weirdst and J.F. are wandering. Well, Meredith Michael here. You might be wondering where Phil and J.F. are. Well, they're wandering.
0:58.0	If Weird Studies is a zone, then it is a place that can be visited but not inhabited.
1:03.0	And even the most dedicated and stalwart of explorers occasionally require respite.
1:08.0	Therefore, your trusted guides to the Weirdest Fear are scheduling
1:12.4	a short break from the show for the month of September, and will return with episode 107 on
1:18.3	September 29th. In what follows, they take a moment to survey the path that Weird Studies has taken
1:24.4	so far, reflecting on its place in their careers and lives, as well
1:29.0	as the podcasting medium itself.
1:32.1	In true wanderer fashion, the conversation takes some surprising turns before arriving at
1:36.9	its destination, which leads into territories nonetheless illuminating.
1:41.9	The first part of the episode explores the experience of the flow state,
1:45.9	in which one becomes so absorbed in a task as to almost forget oneself, and the resulting
1:51.1	questions about consciousness, agency, and free will. The flow state is sometimes called
1:57.4	being in the zone, which is fitting because it is also a kind of zone in the
2:01.9	weird study sense. Just as those in the zone have described the feeling of touching some kind of
2:07.9	larger emergent consciousness, as it turns out, being in the zone of weird studies too
2:13.4	means being part of a larger movement, a weird turn in our culture.
2:18.3	I, for one, am very grateful to have been part of the Agrigore that is Weird Studies for a year now,
2:24.3	and I am so glad that Phil and J.F introduced me to the Weird Community.
	...

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