Dinner with the Dead!

Why Personality Is a Verb: Jordan Peterson on Becoming Who You Could Be Personality isn’t just who you are—it’s who you’re becoming. In this episode, we explore the central ideas of Dr. Jordan B. Peterson’s Personality and Its Transformations course: how human character takes shape, why meaningful change can be painful, and what it takes to move beyond the patterns that keep us stuck. Drawing toge...

Why Secular Culture Still Acts Religious What happens when every generation tears down the traditions the next generation will long to recover? Drawing on a conversation featuring Paul VanderKlay and his collaborators, this episode explores America’s recurring cycle of religious rejection and rediscovery. People leave inherited Christianity behind, yet often continue judging the world through mora...

This text provides an overview of the spiritual teachings found in Polishing the Mirror , a book by Ram Dass that synthesizes his fifty years of wisdom on living from the spiritual heart . The core metaphor describes the human ego and mind as a dusty mirror that requires consistent cleaning through meditation, service, and devotion to reflect one's true, loving nature. By cultivating a witness...

This lecture focuses on  social influence , exploring how the fundamental human desires to  be right  and  be liked  drive our behavior within groups. Dr. Campbell details the mechanisms of  persuasion , contrasting the  central route  of logical arguments with the  peripheral route  of emotional and superficial cues. He further examines the pressures of  conformity, compliance, and obedience , hi...

PSYC 101: Introduction to PsychologyDr. W. Keith Campbell | Peterson Academy: This lecture provides a comprehensive introduction to  clinical psychology , framing  psychopathology  not merely as a series of sudden illnesses but as extreme, inflexible manifestations of underlying personality traits. The text begins by distinguishing between  academic psychologists  and  licensed clinicians , then t...

PSYC 101: Introduction to PsychologyDr. W. Keith Campbell | Peterson Academy : This lecture explores the complex psychology of  human relationships , transitioning from individual identity to the formation of a  dyadic unit . Dr. Campbell examines how couples develop  relational schemas  and  transactive memory systems , while navigating the fundamental tension between  individual autonomy and dee...

PSYC 101: Introduction to PsychologyDr. W. Keith Campbell | Peterson Academy In this class, I wanted to talk about personality psychology, and the nature of the self, which are—it's a lot of dissertations in this quick lecture, but I thought I'd hit some of the high parts and give you an overview.

This lecture explores the psychological landscape of  human motivation , defining motives as the internal energies that either pull individuals toward rewards or push them away from threats.

This lecture explores the landscape of  developmental psychology , tracing the ways humans transform across their entire lifespan from  infancy to old age .

In this lecture, Dr. W. Keith Campbell explores the  psychology of sense-making , arguing that humans are not recording devices but active creators of a  reduced mental model  used for survival. 

PSYC 101: Introduction to PsychologyDr. W. Keith Campbell | Peterson Academy: This lecture explores the  roots of modern psychology , tracing its transition from ancient  philosophical inquiry  into a massive, multifaceted  scientific discipline . The author uses classic metaphors like  Plato’s allegory of the cave  and the  chariot  to illustrate fundamental psychological concepts such as  human...

Join us for an extraordinary intellectual feast as we sit down with one of history's most influential philosophers—Plato. In this episode of  Dinner with the Dead , we explore the timeless wisdom of the man who shaped 2,500 years of Western thought. Discover why Alfred North Whitehead claimed that all of Western philosophy consists of "footnotes to Plato," and how this ancient Greek...

In this episode, I reflect on the major themes from Dr. Jordan Peterson’s eight-part Peterson Academy lecture series on The Sermon on the Mount. This discussion is intended as personal study preparation and commentary, not as a replacement for the original Peterson Academy course. The episode focuses on the central ideas explored across the lectures, including humility, responsibility, judgment, p...

Some people don't just play the victim -- they weaponize it. In this deep dive, we break down the psychology behind how toxic individuals flip the script, turning their own harmful behavior into a shield of manufactured suffering. From DARVO (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender) to covert narcissism, we examine the mechanics of how guilt is engineered, empathy is exploited, and accountab...

What happens when fathers disappear from the home -- and what are they actually building when they're present? This deep dive examines the boy crisis through hard data from the University of Guelph, the Department of Justice, and clinical research. We explore how dad's "why" questions wire a toddler's brain, why rough-and-tumble play is actually an emotional workshop, the sur...

Forget the dusty high school English class -- Julius Caesar is one of the greatest political thrillers ever written. In this deep dive, we crack open Shakespeare's text and examine it purely through the lens of modern democracy. From the fickle voters cheering whoever wins, to Caesar's masterful populist theater, to Brutus convicting a man for crimes he hasn't committed yet, to Mark An...

This text explores the  biblical narrative of the brazen serpent  as a profound psychological and spiritual blueprint for  human redemption

The Word that shaped galaxies entered the world as a child who needed to be held. This meditation reflects on Christ’s birth as a descent into love—where divine purpose is carried by human hands, and salvation begins in vulnerability.

Slide Presentation: In Lecture 9, we dive into the ancient mythological insight that renewal does not come from comfort, but from descent. As chaos emerges, the archetypal feminine and masculine split into their destructive and redemptive forms, threatening both individuals and societies. Using the Egyptian story of Horus, we explore how the hero confronts corruption, restores vision to tradition,...

In Lecture 9 (Peterson Academy - Maps of Meaning), we explore the archetypal structure of the hero’s descent and return. Drawing from Egyptian mythology, we examine how chaos gives rise to opposing masculine and feminine principles—destructive and benevolent, tyrannical and wise—and how these forces shape civilizations. Through the story of Horus, we see the hero confront corruption, descend into...

The single source, an essay by Thaddeus March titled "The Upside-Down Mirror," uses the news that  Netflix will screen the  Stranger Things  finale in theaters  as a launching point for a broad critique of modern Hollywood and its  perceived moral confusion . The author argues that contemporary entertainment prioritizes  "cultural compliance" and ideological alignment  over gen...

Jordan Peterson leads the way in his revealing 1 hour lecture that Google NotebookLM nicely packs into a 22 minute podcast that offers an expansive analysis of  archetypal concepts  like yin and yang, which Dr. Peterson interprets as representing  order and chaos  within the human psyche and the external world. The discussion connects these ancient symbols to  consciousness, possibility, and autom...

Peterson Academy - Maps of Meaning: Lecture #2 The provided text, excerpts from "The Mythology of Pathways and Transformation," explores the complex nature of the  human journey toward self-actualization and development , framing life as a series of nested "games" with  pathways, tools, and obstacles . It asserts that true progress requires  humility, investigation, and a willi...

The core argument presented is a challenge to the modern Western priority of materialist, objective reality. Instead, the author posits that action, perception, and experience (meaning) are primary for living beings.

Sharon and I kick back on the deck for another Sunday morning conversation, this time diving into the book of Revelation . As we read, we don’t just stick to the text — we bring in questions, insights, and ideas from all over, weaving them together to shape how we see it. What starts as a simple reading often grows into something surprising, thought-provoking, and deeply motivating.