Podcast Benomtad

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 Naus...

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....

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 pr...

The Virtue of Beauty, the Beauty of Virtue: A king is cursed to live as an old man with his servant– now animal attendants–until they are saved by one with kindness for all life.  A poor woodcutter goes hungry while his three daughters get lost in the wood.  The birds of the forest bewilder them to save the kingdom from darkness.   Plot Synopsis of the Story:    A poor woodcutter, his wife, and th...

In “Fight Club,” the protagonist tries to find meaning in life through filling his life with purchases.  But that doesn’t give him fullness–he feels dead.  So he goes to cancer support groups, and then group violence in fight clubs.   The zombie culture is a feverish emptiness eating itself.  It has no depth and builds nothing. Everything is seen as a commodity.   (From a discussion on “Zombies in...

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,” zombies are analyzed as a myth of Western culture and a symbol of the meaning crisis.  In this episode, we discuss chapter one, where Vervaeke and his...

At the beginning of the story, the man has had his 13th child, and in a panic he runs out into the street looking for a godfather, and God shows up.  He turns him down, pontificating to the Almighty, and showing the creator his puny reasoning and narrow focus.   (From a discussion on the Brothers’ Grimm’s “Godfather Death”)   Thank you for watching!  If you’re interested in the full discussion, se...

A man works very hard but there is no one left to ask to be the godfather as his 13th child is on the way.  He rushes out into the street and is approached by three prospects.  The first is God, whom he rejects because of the unfair assortment of lots, the second, the Devil, he rejects because of his trickery.  The third, however, he accepts because he treats everyone equally: Death.   The boy sta...

The queen bathes in the stream in the garden with her angelic babe, a scene of pure life and innocence.  Into this scene slinks the power-hungry cook, who manipulates the scene to look like that of a beastly killing, leading to the imprisonment of the mother and his absconding with the young princeling.     The story goes from one of God's grace to one of greed and justice.   (From a discussion on...

A queen was without child, and an angel came to her and told her she would have a child who would have the power of wishing.  After she had the child, the cook, who knew of the son’s ability, staged the son’s death and blamed the queen, who was imprisoned by the king for seven years.  The cook, who was afraid the son would have him discovered, had the boy wish for a palace to live in, and then a b...

When the false bride finally arrives, the true bride again almost dies.  Ian sees this as a kind of initiation, a test to see if he will finally know who she is and remember his promise--and who he really is. (From a discussion on the Brothers’ Grimm’s “The Twelve Huntsmen”)   Thank you for watching!  If you’re interested in the full discussion, plese see below:   The full video episode: https://y...

Death of the King A Prince, betrothed to his Beloved, is called away, for his father the King is dying.  He gives his ring to his love and says he will marry her when he is king.   The Promise At his father’s deathbed, bereaved, he promises to marry the King’s chosen bride for him.  He forgets his previous promise.   The Disguise The princess almost dies of sadness, and her father says he will do...

I summarize John Vervaeke (& Allan Bloom) on problems of religion in modernism.  They often focus on identity, dogma, or stand for nothing.     People don't go to it because it does not speak to them.  So why are people turning more to Orthodox Christianity?   (From a discussion on Religious Revival and Renewal)   Pew Article: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/12/08/religion-holds-stea...

Is there a religious revival in America?  We used data from Pew to answer this question, and we talk about cultural malaise and how religion falls on deaf ears, and how it may speak to us again.   Chapters:   00:00 Introduction 00:30 Meditation & Contemplation 10:09 Key Questions about the Religious Revival 12:46 Religious Decline Has Stopped 15:40 Why are People Turning Away from Religion? 24...

The Carnation is the Prince: The carnation the heroine burns at the beginning of the story IS the prince at the end.  He requires her to speak, but she freezes up, so he has to go into a stone... So she has to go through trials until she can freely express.  But he is always there when she is ready to speak.   (Discussion on “The Carnation Youth;” A Clip from the Episode “Perfectionism, Tragedy, a...

The Echo of Orpheus: Narcissus' repulse of Echo reminds me of another vain god, Orpheus, master of music.  Both end up being served by poetic justice.   We see perfectionism in this, and in the refusal to join in, to dance in life, leads to destruction.   (A Clip from the Episode “The Myth of Narcissus: Seeing Only Oneself”)   Thank you for watching!  Please check out:   Audio episode: https://ben...

We read and discuss the Spanish Folktale “The Carnation Youth,” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s tragedy both in life and in “The Great Gatsby,” and Ian’s struggles with the creative writing process.     Chapters:   00:00 Introduction 00:12 Reading of “The Carnation Youth” 10:05 Letting the Perfect be the Enemy of the Good 14:25 Why Does She Burn the Carnation in the Fire? 24:33 The Carnation is the Prince 2...

This pool is a metaphor for the mind.  But there is a "healthy narcissism" that is developmentally-appropriate.   (A Clip from the Episode “The Myth of Narcissus: Seeing Only Oneself”)   Thank you for watching!  Please check out:   Audio episode: https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/the-myth-of-narcissus-seeing-only-oneself/   The Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIlJwXEK2vqfEOV...

When you lack a feeling of substance, you need to be propped up by others.   (A Clip from the Episode “The Myth of Narcissus: Seeing Only Oneself”)   Thank you for watching!  Please check out:   Audio episode: https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/the-myth-of-narcissus-seeing-only-oneself/   The Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIlJwXEK2vqfEOVgfclRgZNXO4boyP3T   The Episode Playl...

Echo was cursed to only repeat what others had said, and fell in love with Narcissus, who shunned her.  She wasn’t the only one Narcissus treated coldly.  He found himself in a grove with a pool of water, and, falling deeply in love with what he saw when he bent over it, he was mesmerized until he died.   We discuss this myth, using Bulfinch’s version, and go on to discuss psychology, philosophy a...

A father had seven sons, but no daughters, and wished for and finally got one.  His sons went to get water for the Christening, but dropped the bucket into it.  They did not know what to do, so they stayed out, and the father in his frustration wished them to become ravens, and so they did, and flew away.  Now the daughter grew to be healthy and beautiful, and did not know of her brothers.  But on...

When you've  got your basic needs met, like the father does when he takes shelter in Beast's castle, one looks for transcendence, including beauty.   This is another story of the emptiness of the palace symbol.   (A Clip from the Episode “Beauty and the Beast: The Need for Beauty”)   Thank you for watching!  Please check out:   The full video episode: https://youtu.be/G3AhWHN4Gyc?si=kJxXDtlQT7Q3rv...

A rich merchant with three sons and three daughters– the eldest daughters hold out on marriage to a Duke or Earl, but the youngest, aptly-named Beauty, does so to stay with her father a few more years.  The merchant falls in his fortunes, and they have to move to the country.  The men apply themselves to husbandry and tillage, and Beauty to housework, but the eldest stay lazy.   One day, the merch...

Hans, beset from childhood with violence from his parents, finally makes it in life, and is to be the king of his wife’s town.  However, the people riot when the learn he is blind, and he and the princess are banished.  Only when they come to a stream and learn from a blind mouse how to cure his sightlessness do they return to fanfare.     Are the people right?  They did not want a king who could...

VonSchönwerth’s “The Knight’s Sash” is a story about an intrepid son without a father, who continually does his duty, eventually wins love and devotion.  We summarize and then discuss the story. A hunter’s widow and her son, Hans, were always wandering around, but they espied a castle in the forest, and the giant living there eventually married his mother.  He loved hunting, and one day he saw a t...