Podcast Benomtad

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)

Homer’s second epic starts with an incantation of a man, a man who rejected godhood with alluring Calypso, a man who pined for years to be at home and hearth with his family.  This is in contrast to the rage of Achilles that begins the first epic.  Odysseus’ not forgetting through all the twists and turns of his journey and ruses reminds us of the concentration of the Buddha.
 
(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)

In Homer’s “Odyssey,” Book 7, Odysseus, who has at this point lost all his men and washes up alone on the Scherian beach, has through his wit and bearing, and with the goddess Athena’s help, been accepted into the royal Phaeacian court.  Here, he throws himself at the mercy of Queen Arete, and then settles himself in the ashes.  An elder at court reminds everyone of their duty under Zeus, Xenia–guest-friendship– and they honor Odysseus the wanderer.  In fact, they offer their beautiful daughter to Odysseus in marriage.  We discuss Xenia, this all-important custom in the ancient Greek world that allowed for people to trade and travel, and which was used and abused in so many ways in Homer’s epic poem.
 
00:00 Xenia (Hospitality & Guest-Friendship)
01:30 Book 7 Summary
20:02 Poseidon’s Wrath for Odysseus Falls on His Hosts
29:19 The Lost Paradise of Mythology (Utopia)
33:03 Royal Cousin Marriage Among the Phaeacians
38:13 The Humanity of Odysseus
44:43 The Man Who Rejected Godhood
52:16 Achilles’ Regret
54:27 Odysseus Learns from Achilles’ Regret
56:55 The Culture Wars and Our Divine & Emanant Nature
1:01:28 Why Odysseus and Penelope Suffer 
1:07:50 Xenia (Ancient Greek Guest-Friendship)
1:18:05 Giants are Precivilizational Primordials
1:19:40 What is Natural?
1:23:11 The Phaeacians and the Fear of the Stranger
1:31:06 The Gut Feeling
 
Thank you for watching!  Please see below for more Open-Minded content:
 
The full video episode:
https://youtu.be/0b5yLnBz7e4
 
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)

Modern German philosophers like Marx, Nietzsche and Freud have spread the "hermeneutics of suspicion" in our culture.  We have a deep suspicion of appearances and, therefore, beautiful things (the beauty of which is often seen as merely on the surface or subjective).  
 
This is connected to the ugliness of modern buildings. It seems we are blind to beauty around us.  
 
I think this has something about the values of society's elites.  They don't seem to believe in an edifying transcendent.  Instead, it's more about "edginess," transgression of some sort.
 
(From a discussion on Odysseus, Nausicaa, & Beauty’s Education)
 
Thank you for watching!  Please see below for the full conversation:
 
The full video episode:
https://youtu.be/WsujhE2muTQ
 
Audio episode:
https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/odysseus-nausicaa-beauty-s-education/?token=9ad8205849556b9910a95e0b5885fc5a
 
The Podcast Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIlJwXEK2vqfEOVgfclRgZNXO4boyP3T
 
The Episode Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIszqVpagDQ
 
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.
 
Sea Short Photo by Henrique Hanemann on Unsplash
Photo of Nausicaa by Leighton (1878), courtesy of picryl

Pornography participates in beauty, but also is consumptive, and especially, unappreciative.  This is contrasted to Odysseus' paise of Nausicaa in his speech to her, without the ritual supplication at her knees.
 
Perhaps in trying to own beauty, we lose it.
 
(From a discussion on Odysseus, Nausicaa, & Beauty’s Education)
 
Thank you for watching!  Please see below for the full conversation:
 
The full video episode:
https://youtu.be/WsujhE2muTQ
 
Audio episode:
https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/odysseus-nausicaa-beauty-s-education/?token=9ad8205849556b9910a95e0b5885fc5a
 
The Podcast Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIlJwXEK2vqfEOVgfclRgZNXO4boyP3T
 
The Episode Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIszqVpagDQ
 
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.
 
Sea Short Photo by Henrique Hanemann on Unsplash
Photo of Nausicaa by Leighton (1878), courtesy of picryl

Odysseus, when he sees nubile and beautiful Nausicaa when he washes up on shore at the beginning of Book 6, does not try to capture her in any way.  This in a time with raiding parties and the famous r*pes of ancient myths.
 
Ian links this true appreciation of her beauty to what he needs to go on on his journey.
 
(From a discussion on Odysseus, Nausicaa, & Beauty’s Education)
 
Thank you for watching!  Please see below for the full conversation:
 
The full video episode:
https://youtu.be/WsujhE2muTQ
 
Audio episode:
https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/odysseus-nausicaa-beauty-s-education/?token=9ad8205849556b9910a95e0b5885fc5a
 
The Podcast Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIlJwXEK2vqfEOVgfclRgZNXO4boyP3T
 
The Episode Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIszqVpagDQ
 
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.
 
Sea Short Photo by Henrique Hanemann on Unsplash
Photo of Nausicaa by Leighton (1878), courtesy of picryl

Man is he who suffers, and Odysseus is the man “of twists and turns,” the builder and destroyer, the journeyer trying to reach his beloved homeland.  Here Ian and I discuss what draws this man forward at his nadir in Book VI of Homer’s sequel epic.
 
Beauty, sing to me of that man of twists and turns!
He who washed up on shore, belched from the belly of the raging sea god.
Wisdom roused young Nausicaa, who stood rooted to the ground,
Odysseus’ welcome into the world.
 
This crusted roaming lion remembered her in a palm.
Eternal sun shimmering through its leaves near the navel of the world
Now the maw with guardian of Truth, the twinned virtue;
He sung her praises, and she acknowledged his manifold sufferings,
Counseled him to bear them silently.
 
He accompanied the retinue up to the haven, 
And prayed, waiting in Wisdom’s grove
For the right time.
 
Please join us for this discussion of “The Odyssey,” Book 6, and the discussion of beauty in Elaine Scarry’s wonderful exploration “On Beauty & Being Just.”
 
Chapters: 
 
00:00 Introduction & Summary of Book 6
16:00 Ancient Soap
17:40 Prepossessing Beauty
26:21 Beauty & Pornography
31:45 Beauty & Truth
36:37 Beauty and the Hermeneutics of Suspicion
40:04 The Ugliness of Our Buildings
47:39 Ian’s Photography
51:50 Calling all Artists
54:25 A Humble, Loose Call to the God
1:02:41 Beauty and Being Wrong
1:08:43 Beauty and Nature
1:09:50 Beauty and Relationality
1:15:30 Beauty is an Ally of Truth
1:24:46 You Forgot What Beauty Is
 
Thank you for watching!  Please see below for more on us:
 
The Odyssey’s translations we used:
https://a.co/d/04Ud8j0d
https://a.co/d/0dd7Svhh
 
The full video episode:
https://youtu.be/WsujhE2muTQ
 
The Podcast Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIlJwXEK2vqfEOVgfclRgZNXO4boyP3T
 
The Episode Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIszqVpagDQ
 
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 is currently off exploring the poetic wilds of psychology, neuroscience, and spirituality. 
He also offers guidance services for those interested in delving into their own inner wilderness.
You can find his weekly dispatches at www.thekindknife.com or follow him on Instagram: @ian_reclusado
 
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.
 
Sea Short Photo by Henrique Hanemann on Unsplash
Photo of Nausicaa by Leighton (1878), courtesy of picryl

A dying queen demands that her husband remarry only someone as beautiful as she.  After the mourning period, his advisors scramble around to find a new monarch, but the king’s eye alights on his very own daughter.  She demands abstrusse wedding gifts, but they are manufactured.  In desperation, she flees with her dowry, including a fur made from all the kingdom’s animals, and hides in the forest.
 
What can come from an impossible promise to a dying monarch, and how does one redeem oneself from a horrific crime by one’s own father?  Ian and I summarize and then discuss this tale that begins in tragedy, runs through trauma, butts up against cruelty and envy, and culminates in the tearing away of an old wound.  
 
00:00 Story Summary
08:04 This Story and Trauma
11:40 An Inability to Grieve
19:40 Why Did the Queen Demand Another Like Herself?
28:24 The Power of Images
35:25 Getting Lost in a Dying Wish
38:45 Three-Step Reveals
45:19 The Ripped Away Old Protective Persona
51:29 The Fur-of-All-Kinds
55:48 The King Rips off the Cloak
1:00:19 Only the King Recognizes Her
1:08:02 Working Mindfully for Personal Development
1:12:49 The Three Grand Balls
 
Thank you for watching!  
 
A Summary of the Story:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allerleirauh
 
The Story’s Full Text:
https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm065.html
 
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 is currently off exploring the poetic wilds of psychology, neuroscience, and spirituality. 
He also offers guidance services for those interested in delving into their own inner wilderness.
You can find his weekly dispatches at www.thekindknife.com or follow him on Instagram: @ian_reclusado
 
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

Why do we like folktales and myths?  I think one reason is that they help us learn to pay attention to instinct.  It’s not that I don’t think rationality is important–it is a key to a wise life.  But following John Vervaeke, who sees rationality as much larger than propositional logic, and more how, when, and how much to be logical, I see rationality and being wise as a larger and more embodied process.
 
Killing one’s lion is “self-castrating,” as Ian says, and the rationalistic knee-jerk rejection of many ways of thinking is not even real science.
 
(From a discussion on the Brothers’ Grimm’s “The Twelve Huntsmen”)
 
Thank you for watching!  I love and have faith in dialogue.  Please leave a suggestion for new guests, topics, or this conversation.  How I can expand this Open Minded Thought and Discussion?  And if you’re interested, please check out the following:
 
The full video episode:
https://youtu.be/-yZySp8Qshs?si=pDyETKJjS7546OZC
 
Audio episode:
https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/on-the-brothers-grimms-the-twelve-huntsmen-the-guys-of-truth/
 
The Podcast Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIlJwXEK2vqfEOVgfclRgZNXO4boyP3T
 
The Episode Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIlJwXEK2vr3DwaH1OZBg239-GJ7AE6x
 
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
 
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.