Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, it's a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that at some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right?

It's like the podcast version of telling your kids

the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream.

Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds.

This is a special download from the BBC Free Thinking Festival.

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I've spent the last year researching the history of ecstatic experiences.

This might seem like a strange way to spend a year. Don't worry, it's not taxpayer-funded.

Here's why I think ecstasy is interesting and important.

Lots of people have ecstatic experiences in their lives, and they're

often life-changing moments. They can be profoundly healing moments when a prison door swings open

and was suddenly released from destructive habits, narratives and lifestyles. The search for

ecstasy can also be dangerous. We can seek it in

inappropriate ways through extreme violence, extreme drug abuse, extreme sex, extremist politics.

And what makes ecstasy so interesting to me is that it's profoundly uncertain, particularly

in our postmodern, post-religious era.

Are we really connecting to something or someone out there, or is it just a nice feeling?

I'd like to compare the modern self to a rickety old shed in a forest.

Sometimes we seem to hear or see or connect with things beyond or beneath that

shed and how we interpret those liminal experiences has a huge impact on our worldview and our life.

But our interpretations are ultimately uncertain. We can't be sure if there really is something out there, what it is,

what it wants with us, and whether it was just the wind in the trees. So what is ecstasy?

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