Shores Of Ignorance

We close out 2025 examining regret, success, and service—why failure is human, death is the cost of life, and how serving others reveals who we truly are. The Abolition of Man - https://a.co/d/j7kjtIK Steve Jobs on Failure - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkTf0LmDqKI Find us here: x.com/mattmccloskey x.com/michaelvaclav All Matt’s Links - https://solo.to/mattmccloskey All Michael’s Links - https:...

The internet often makes us feel like non-player characters in the world. We explore this phenomenon and what correctives might look like. Things as simple as a compliment or an acknowledgment can transform an NPC into a main character, like the black and white changes to color in the Wizard of Oz. References: Michael at Bitcoin Park - https://youtu.be/JjVazsu0RCw?si=GNkX8ugE3wUfupBW 55 things at...

Alison Vaclav joins us to discuss:
 Language as a parasite Language is the barrier to all knowledge Naming things How do we learn to trust someone? Empathy management Trauma tourism First thoughts Breaking expectations Pain is mostly fear What is fear? How do you let go of fear? Death Where do ideas, questions, and answers come from? Find us here: Alison Vaclav - https://www.pagemageworkshops.com...

It’s easy to see when something holy or sacred is violated, it’s harder to say what holiness and the sacred are. An AI representation of dead relatives leads to a conversation about specifying and naming that which is ultimately sacred and good. The AI video and tweet referenced in the conversation - https://x.com/BretWeinstein/status/1989413085753577593?s=20 Darkhorse episode about AI facsimiles...

We discuss Chase Hughes’ concept of frames and scripts, using personas in design, and beauty in art and the concept of Deathworks developed by Philip Rieff. Chase Hughes - https://www.instagram.com/chasehughesofficial/?hl=en Frames, scripts, and personas Intent is required for beauty to exist Philip glass, Tacit (Matt got it wrong, it’s John Cage and the piece is called 4’33”) - https://en.wikiped...

This week on SOI: The brokenness of the world Finding hope after you’ve lost it Asking your real questions Falling short of the law Remembering to play You are not Christ You are called to participate in the mystery of God Find us here: x.com/mattmccloskey x.com/michaelvaclav All Matt’s Links - https://solo.to/mattmccloskey All Michael’s Links - https://solo.to/michaelvaclav Sovereign Goods - www....

We compare ourselves both to other people, and to the “inner possibilities” of the life we’re meant to live. In this episode we draw wisdom from Carl Jung and Theodore Roosevelt, and discuss social media, identity, AI, and Cain and Able. "The world is full of people suffering from the effects of their own unlived life. They become bitter, critical, or rigid, not because the world is cruel to them,...

Identity is relational, to love is to will the good of the other, relationship requires submission, and the loss of humility and forgiveness in modern culture. Find us here: x.com/mattmccloskey x.com/michaelvaclav All Matt’s Links - https://solo.to/mattmccloskey All Michael’s Links - https://solo.to/michaelvaclav Sovereign Goods - www.etsy.com/shop/SovereignThreadGoods Cafe Medici - mediciroasting...

There is only one self-justifying thing, and without it, claims of good and bad, right and wrong, are simply the expressions of personal preference. Find us here: x.com/mattmccloskey x.com/michaelvaclav All Matt’s Links - https://solo.to/mattmccloskey All Michael’s Links - https://solo.to/michaelvaclav Sovereign Goods - www.etsy.com/shop/SovereignThreadGoods Cafe Medici - mediciroasting.com/?srslt...

This week on SOI: How’s it going? Is there a true answer to that? Some people like to stay in suffering Political (Oppositional validation) Personal (fear of tradeoffs) Intellectual (Falling in love with it - Gollum, Notes from Underground) Death, grief, and the ways Michael and Matt process emotions. Find us here: x.com/mattmccloskey x.com/michaelvaclav All Matt’s Links - https://solo.to/mattmccl...

This week on SOI: - Will we ever know the reality of what’s happened? - Reality isn’t a team sport - What does it mean to pursue truth? - What’s in between the fool and the prideful intellectual? - Recursive injury - Are humans purposefully diabolical? - How does one become a monster? - Forgiveness, and it’s rarity in our culture - If he really knew what he was doing he wouldn’t have done it Find...

Remembering Charlie Kirk: The reverberations of his life and assassination in our culture. “When people stop talking, really bad stuff starts” - Charlie Kirk https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0vL5uZBLk7s Charlie Kirk - https://x.com/charliekirk11 The rise of the Modern Self - https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Triumph-Modern-Self-Individualism/dp/1433556332 Cliffe knechtle - https://x.com/askcliffe?s=11 Col...

- Isaac Asimov, Fiction, and the Future of AI - How is trust built? - How can we live in a world where we don’t know what’s true? - Can robots feel pain? - What is heartbreak? - You need the Divine to functional experience anything - Pretending to be good always deteriorates - Astrology as a replacement for spirituality - Paradox: He who will save his life will lose it Find us here: x.com/mattmccl...

How can we protect ourselves from doing evil in the name of good? “Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.” ― Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov This week on SOI: - AI v...

This week on SOI: - Life from entropy - Love your neighbor as yourself - Drifting away from revelation - Perception of tools and objects - Your aim defines how you perceive your life - Marriage, dating, and a culture of disposable things - The Ouroboros - The feminine is what is, the masculine is what becomes - Have kids young - give your parents to your kids Referenced links: Richard Feynman (htt...

This week on SOI: - Life itself is an act of faith - If we ask for what we want, will God give it to us? - Opting into personal responsibility in the modern age - Could we make parenting decisions without privation? - Can you make art with out restraints? - Writing in genres - What will you sacrifice your life for? Find us here: x.com/mattmccloskey x.com/michaelvaclav All Matt’s Links - https://so...

Why is reality preferable to a dream? Vanilla Sky and The Matrix reflect our innate desire to be awake rather than asleep, despite the obvious appeal of the dream like state. This week on SOI: Europe and Trump Vanilla Sky The Matrix What is real and what is not real? Death and mourning, relationships don’t die The bastardization of Truth The Lord of the Rings Why sacrifice and faith as necessary t...

This week on SOI: - Matt’s mom Jeanenne joins the Shores - Jeanenne’s journal that Mike read, and then named her “Poetgirl.” - We are each an I, not a we. Gollam is a we. - Poetgirl, poema - We are either a male soul or a female soul - We are each a poem written by God - What has caused the revolt against sexuality - What makes your life force increase, and what makes it decrease Find us here: Jea...

This week on SOI: - AI can’t do what humans do because humans aren’t reasonable (Rick Rubin) - https://www.instagram.com/p/DK4isVTz93G/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== - AI turns data into a conversation. - Storytelling is our native language. - Hollow vs. Hallow - What does it mean to feel good or bad - T.S. Eliot, Hemingway, Fitzgerald - We are a collection of identities, respo...

This week on SOI: - Is this WWIII? - How does the death of God effect the news and reporting of what’s true? - Iran, Israel, Covid, etc - how do you know what’s true? Who can we trust to tell us the truth? - Without God, narrative allegiances become rigid - A functional story requires honesty - Being who we are is relational - How does tolerance become intolerant? Find us here: x.com/mattmccloskey...

This week on SOI: - The voice of failure - Love vs. death - The unifying spirit - The LA riots - The spirit of Love helps you see clearly - The spirit of evil is self extinguishing - Can you negotiate with evil? Find us here: x.com/mattmccloskey x.com/michaelvaclav All Matt’s Links - https://solo.to/mattmccloskey All Michael’s Links - https://solo.to/michaelvaclav Sovereign Goods - www.etsy.com/sh...

This week on SOI: - The trouble of belief - Is reality a fact or a story? - How can we tell what’s true in the age of AI - The paradox of the information age - Truth requires faith - AI religions - Transhumanism - How we use pronouns - Respect for what is external vs what is internal - Redefining words to control the world Bill Maher’s Monologue on Trump dinner - https://youtu.be/RxlopbcfXpQ?si=kC...

* Two movies one screen (Scott Adams) * Our perceptions are faulty * What do you sacrifice to? * The only way to move forward is to admit you’re wrong * You “grasp” ideas the same way you “grasp” objects with your hand * To be ultimately permissive turns to totalitarian exclusion * Work will set you free * Are you worshiping life or worshiping death? Find us here: x.com/mattmccloskey x.com/michael...

“Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering.” - C.G. Jung MSTR True North - https://www.mstrtruenorth.com Peter Thiel interview - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast/id1184022695?i=1000704801264 Find us here: x.com/mattmccloskey x.com/michaelvaclav All Matt’s Links - https://solo.to/mattmccloskey All Michael’s Links - https://solo.to/michaelvaclav Sove...

"Here then is my plea to my fellow Americans. Do not take the bait. Do not feel it necessary to come to a conclusion. Do not even feel that it is your job to follow all the news. Many who think that they follow all the news follow only one slant, and so are more misinformed than those who intentionally look away from the entire circus. Try to observe without interpretation, avoid certainty, and as...