Podcast Benomtad

These rational characters do not accept what others say, in their fear, and go forth.  Hamlet's story continues with his indecision, but this boy is oriented to action.
 
(From a discussion on the Brothers Grimm’s “The Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was”)
 
Thank you for watching!  Please see below for the full conversation:
 
If you’re interested, please enjoy–by yourself or with your children–this comedic story with a powerful, yet light ending.
 
Full Texts of the Story:
https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm004.html
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2591/pg2591-images.html#link2H_4_0060
 
Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_the_Youth_Who_Went_Forth_to_Learn_What_Fear_Was
 
The full video episode:
https://youtu.be/LfftGkZOJyw
 
Audio episode:
https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/grimm-s-the-youth-who-went-forth-to-learn-what-fear-was/?token=b1497cc5135ac68b6450557c266e14ef
 
The Podcast Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIlJwXEK2vqfEOVgfclRgZNXO4boyP3T
 
The Episode Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIzpG3to882A
 
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
 
About our guest:
Ian Reclusado offers guidance services for those interested in facing and befriending their inner monsters:
 https://thekindknife.substack.com/p/guidance-services
 
Image Source:
Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
Originally from Grimm’s Household Tales (1910)
 
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

Choosing to be Oblivious: Zombies may be a warning from our unconscious.  "The danger of the zombie is the danger of unconsciousness to life's problems." --Jordan Peterson
 
The etymology of monster is "omen, divine portent," and the fact that zombies are a monster of our time must be reflected on.
 
(From a discussion on Vervaeke’s “Zombies in Western Culture,” Meaning, and Ritual)
 
Thank you for watching!  Please see below for the full conversation:
 
Vervaeke et. al.’s book:
 
“Zombies in Western Culture: A Twenty-First Century Crisis,” by John Vervaeke, Christopher Mastropietro, and Filip Miscevic:
http://dx.doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0113
The full video episode:
https://youtu.be/faT09EsCOzk
 
Audio episode:
https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/zombies-meaning-and-ritual/?token=6cd071c0a6e3f2de9cd8af38150177ae
 
The Podcast Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIlJwXEK2vqfEOVgfclRgZNXO4boyP3T
 
The Episode Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB0_2IilULR4
 
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
 
About our guest:
Ian Reclusado offers guidance services for those interested in facing and befriending their inner monsters:
 https://thekindknife.substack.com/p/guidance-services
 
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

Who Do You Think You Are?   Anyone interested in the education of the individual might enjoy a few minutes with this light, yet important tale.  There is a folktale trope of the dummling who, useless at home, ventures forth to find his fate.  This story’s idiot seems to lack something fundamental–the ability to shudder at ghost stories or at fearful experiences–but he knows this, and reminds himself continually that he wants to learn.  
 
A waggoner who was striding behind him heard this and asked, “Who are you?” 
“I don’t know,” answered the youth. 
Then the waggoner asked, “From whence do you come?” 
“I know not.” 
 
The anonymous protagonist is contrasted with established figures all around him that act and react normally.  And yet it is his lack–a kind of ignorance–that is the key to his journey through many frightening experiences, and when he overcomes those, he is able to rid his country of the multifarious evils that are barely contained in its castle.
Enjoy the story summary and discussion with us of this surprising tale!
 
Chapters: 
 
00:00 Introduction
00:31 Story Summary
18:48 The Stubborn Idiot Becomes King
26:34 Hamlet and the Boy Who Could Not Shudder
30:24 The Older, Mature Self and the Younger
38:16 The Boy Knows He’s Incomplete
44:08 The Boy’s Mysterious Fault is His Gift
50:40 Every Gift Needs its Inhibiting Energy
52:56 Hair of the Dog that Bit You  
58:04 The Sibling Split
1:00:17 Authentic but Incomplete
1:06:02 Now He Has Beautiful Eyes
1:09:54 The Anonymous Hero Become King
1:15:44 The Lost Psyche in Modern Times
1:23:55 The Prestige of Neuroticism
1:33:01 Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah 
 
Thank you for watching!  Please see below for more:
If you’re interested, please enjoy–by yourself or with your children–this comedic story with a powerful, yet light ending.
 
Full Texts of the Story:
https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm004.html
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2591/pg2591-images.html#link2H_4_0060
 
Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_the_Youth_Who_Went_Forth_to_Learn_What_Fear_Was
 
The Podcast Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIlJwXEK2vqfEOVgfclRgZNXO4boyP3T
 
The Episode Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIzpG3to882A
 
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
 
About our guest:
Ian Reclusado offers guidance services for those interested in facing and befriending their inner monsters:
 https://thekindknife.substack.com/p/guidance-services
 
Image Source:
Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
Originally from Grimm’s Household Tales (1910)
 
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

The zombie might be a sign that people feel a lack of purpose in the world.  Ian and I discuss this idea from John Vervaeke et. al. in their book.  We go on to talk about developing meaning in life through getting back to one’s true nature, as we discuss the aspects of the zombie and its story.
 
“Zombies in Western Culture: A Twenty-First Century Crisis,” by John Vervaeke, Christopher Mastropietro, and Filip Miscevic (Chapter 3):
http://dx.doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0113
 
(From a discussion on “Zombies in Western Culture: A 21st Century Crisis,” Chapter 3)
 
Thank you for watching!  Please see below for the full conversation:
 
The Podcast Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIlJwXEK2vqfEOVgfclRgZNXO4boyP3T
 
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
 
Thumbnail Photo Credit: 
Photo by ActionVance on Unsplash
 
About our guest:
Ian Reclusado offers guidance services for those interested in facing and befriending their inner monsters:
 https://thekindknife.substack.com/p/guidance-services
 
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

In the Brothers Grimm’s “Fur-of-All-Kinds,” the princess demands a fur made of all the kingdom’s animals for a marriage gift from her widowed father.  It doesn’t prevent his wicked proposal, but she takes it with her on her escape.  We see this as psychological protection from trauma.
 
Later in the story, the neighboring kingdom’s king rips the fur off, and we talk about the reason for this.
 
(From a discussion on the Grimm’s “Fur-of-All-Kinds (Allerleirauh)”)
 
Thank you for watching!  Please see below for the full conversation:
 
A Summary of the Story:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allerleirauh
 
The Story’s Full Text:
https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm065.html
 
The full video episode:
https://youtu.be/Tgb98hCPvMA
 
Audio episode:
https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/grimms-fur-of-all-kinds-allerleirauh/?token=20bdb9a95dac2d9296787ba60430da79
 
The Podcast Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIlJwXEK2vqfEOVgfclRgZNXO4boyP3T
 
The Episode Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKCJ0vjS4OcM
 
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
 
About our guest:
Ian Reclusado offers guidance services for those interested in facing and befriending their inner monsters:
 https://thekindknife.substack.com/p/guidance-services
 
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

A wealthy, childless peasant feels something is missing and is mocked for not having a child.  He wishes, “I wish to have a child, even if it is a hedgehog!”  He and his wife are given one, and they have it baptised but do not give it a godfather.  The priest says its quills prevent its sleeping in a bed, and they put it behind the stove for several years. Father is going to the fair and asks people what they want.  Hans asks for bagpipes.  He soon asks to have the cock-rooster shod, and promises to go away and never return.  
 
In the forest, they fly up into a tree and he plays his bagpipes, and the donkeys and pigs he’s brought with him multiply.  A lost king comes to him and Hans leads him out, agreeing that the king will give him the first thing that comes to him when he returns to his palace, but the king wrote in the contract that he would NOT give it to him.  Hans plays his bagpipes merrily, watching over his asses and pigs.  Another lost king comes to him, and he helps him likewise, with the same agreement, although without chicanery on the part of the second king.
 
Hans’ pigs fill the forest and he returns home, filling the town with meat.  He has his father have the blacksmith shod his cock-rooster again and promises again to never return.  
 
Hans now goes to the first kingdom and is met with hostility.  He flies over their defenses, forces the king and his daughter to honor their marriage agreement, but then quills the daughter all over and sends her home in disgrace.  At the second kingdom, the reluctant daughter honors her father’s agreement, and Hans has his skin burned on their wedding night.  He is scrubbed, and is now a handsome young prince.  They return to his father and he announces his identity, and his father is now glad to see him, and they all return to the kingdom, happy and whole.
 
"The stone that was rejected has become the cornerstone"--from Psalm 118:22
 
00:00 Introduction
00:45 Summary of the Story
13:18 Hans, Rejected from Birth, Fulfills His Father’s Wish -16:45
17:37 The Hedgehog is what the Father Lacks
 24:40 Hans the Hedgehog is Indefatigable
27:45 Hans at Home Behind the Stove
30:20 Hans is asked a Life-Changing Question
34:58 Our Own Hedgehogs
36:18 Hans Asks for His Bagpipes -38:40
40:15 Now the Ball Keeps Rolling
41:25 The Hedgehog and the Hidden Creative Gift
50:25 The Two Kings’ Different Reactions to Being Lost and Helped Out
52:31 The Second King Equivocates
55:48 Hans’ Wounding the Princess and Trauma Work
59:09 The Instincts Come Through, Despite Society
1:04:17 The Barren Father 
1:08:30 The Reluctant Second King and Princess
1:12:00 The Burning of the Hedgehog Skin
1:15:20 Hans Can Finally Rest, and Rule
1:18:40 “I am the one!” Reclaiming Rejected Parts of the Self 
 
(From a discussion on The Brothers Grimm’s “Hans My Hedgehog”)
 
Thank you for watching!  Please see below for the full conversation:
 
The full video episode:
https://youtu.be/BJ-PNzn37Ns
 
The Podcast Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIlJwXEK2vqfEOVgfclRgZNXO4boyP3T
 
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
 
About our guest:
Ian Reclusado offers guidance services for those interested in facing and befriending their inner monsters:
 https://thekindknife.substack.com/p/guidance-services
 
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

Zombies are everywhere in our culture, in movies and shows, and even in real life (on zombie walks).  They’ve gone from being an object of horror to one of fascination, one that seems to reflect something back to us.  In “Zombies in Western Culture,” Ch. 2, Vervaeke et. al. discuss the change from aliens to zombies as the preeminent monster, and how this reflects the meaning crisis from the loss of the sacred canopy of Christianity.  Ian and I discuss the meaning of zombies as a symbol of mindlessness, and of solutions of meaning, community, and especially mindfulness.  We also discuss the false solutions of fanatical politics or religion, and of course consumerism or living life going through the motions. 
Chapters:
 
00:00 Introduction: Zombies are a Metaphor for Our Meaning
Crisis 
02:00 Zombies are Us
05:19 Zombies are the Stranger in the Absence of Christian 
Culture
11:00 Choosing to be Oblivious
15:50 Powering Through Life with a Singular Hunger
23:50 Incredible Life Meaning from Fanaticism
29:04 Mouth Feel and Roussean Virtue
32:30 99% of the Journey You’re not Pointing Straight
37:15 Meaning, “Fight Club,” and Initiation by Suffering
41:55 Initiation into Suffering
51:19 Initiation in Our Own Culture
54:09 Growing Mindful and Serious Play
1:01:15 Serious Play as Adults
1:05:58 Ritual is a Container with Space for Spirit
1:09:25 Meaning and Structure, the Zombie Antidote
 
Thank you for watching!  Please see below for more:
 
Vervaeke et. al.’s book:
 
“Zombies in Western Culture: A Twenty-First Century Crisis,” by John Vervaeke, Christopher Mastropietro, and Filip Miscevic:
http://dx.doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0113
 
The Podcast Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIlJwXEK2vqfEOVgfclRgZNXO4boyP3T
 
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
 
About our guest:
Ian Reclusado offers guidance services for those interested in facing and befriending their inner monsters:
 https://thekindknife.substack.com/p/guidance-services
 
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

In Grimm’s Fur-of-All-Kinds, the beautiful, dying queen makes her king promise that he will only remarry another as fair as she.  Why does she do this?  She wants to live on in his memory, and this desire powers an image that with the king becomes an obsession.  An obsession that darkens the whole kingdom.
 
(From a discussion on the Grimm’s “Fur-of-All-Kinds (Allerleirauh)”)
 
Thank you for watching!  Please see below for the full conversation:
 
A Summary of the Story:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allerleirauh
 
Our Video Summary:
 
The Story’s Full Text:
https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm065.html
 
The full video episode:
https://youtu.be/Tgb98hCPvMA
 
Audio episode:
https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/grimms-fur-of-all-kinds-allerleirauh/?token=20bdb9a95dac2d9296787ba60430da79
 
The Podcast Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIlJwXEK2vqfEOVgfclRgZNXO4boyP3T
 
The Episode Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKCJ0vjS4OcM
 
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
 
About our guest:
Ian Reclusado offers guidance services for those interested in facing and befriending their inner monsters:
 https://thekindknife.substack.com/p/guidance-services
 
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

This ancient Greek concept was a big part of their culture as well as Homer’s “Odyssey,” and according to translator Emily Wilson, the poem can be treated as a study in xenia.  It facilitated travel in a time with far less safety, no hotels, etc.  There was a series of actions to the custom:
 
Welcome
Wash
Food
Guest gives identity
Guest given gifts to help him on his way
 
The suitors back at Odysseus' home horribly violate this value.
 
(From the episode “Xenia: Odysseus’ Blessing and Curse”)
 
Thank you for watching!  Please see below for the full conversation:
 
The full video episode:
https://youtu.be/0b5yLnBz7e4
 
Audio episode:
https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/xenia-odysseus-blessing-and-curse/?token=53ae6153dd40c724465f3a9e26d0e0cd
 
The Podcast Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIlJwXEK2vqfEOVgfclRgZNXO4boyP3T
 
The Episode Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBXC0eYK6zoc
 
The Odyssey’s translations we used:
https://a.co/d/04Ud8j0d
https://a.co/d/0dd7Svhh
 
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
 
About our guest:
Ian Reclusado offers guidance services for those interested in facing and befriending their inner monsters:
 https://thekindknife.substack.com/p/guidance-services
 
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.
 
Thumbnail Painting:
Odysseus before Alcinous, King of the Phaeacians
Malmström 1853 (Wikimedia Commons, Swedish National Museum)

Humans participate both in the animal and the divine nature, and I think this is behind much of the culture wars.  We veer between overemphasizing the divine or, especially, our immanent nature.  This reminds Ian of Odysseus’ need to bear his sufferings.  We, on the other hand, often try to find the easy way out.
 
(From the episode “Xenia: Odysseus’ Blessing and Curse”)
 
Thank you for watching!  Please see below for the full conversation:
 
The full video episode:
https://youtu.be/0b5yLnBz7e4
 
Audio episode:
https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/xenia-odysseus-blessing-and-curse/?token=53ae6153dd40c724465f3a9e26d0e0cd
 
The Podcast Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIlJwXEK2vqfEOVgfclRgZNXO4boyP3T
 
The Episode Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBXC0eYK6zoc
 
The Odyssey’s translations we used:
https://a.co/d/04Ud8j0d
https://a.co/d/0dd7Svhh
 
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
 
About our guest:
Ian Reclusado offers guidance services for those interested in facing and befriending their inner monsters:
 https://thekindknife.substack.com/p/guidance-services
 
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.
 
Thumbnail Painting:
Odysseus before Alcinous, King of the Phaeacians
Malmström 1853 (Wikimedia Commons, Swedish National Museum)