Soul Searching Audacious Podcasts

Water. It’s a scarce commodity in many parts of the world. Growing populations, pollution and drought put pressure on this precious resource and some experts fear that the next World War will be fought over water rights. Water has some quirky scientific properties too, making it a unique and intriguing substance. Join me as I peek into some of water’s scientific craziness and examine its spiritual...

This is the second and concluding half of this topic. I accepted an invitation by the South African Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, better known as the CRL Commission, and agreed to participate in their very interesting dialogue on 15th March. They needed to understand: the phenomena of prophecy, healing, miracles, magic...

Weight gain is often the physical manifestation of some deeper, unresolved emotional stuff lying in your subconscious mind, and to solve it, you might need to dig deep into your emotional archives and core belief systems. Naturally, you eat to sustain life, giving your body the nutrients it needs to maintain health. However, you also eat, not necessarily to nourish your body, but as a core part of...

Do you still carry around painful memories from long ago? Unhappy childhoods happen to many people, touching on such issues as trust, denial, self-acceptance, forgiveness, and faith, they account for a lot of the difficulties people experience as adults. Some sufferers feel compelled to hide their childhood adversities while others choose to disclose them to others. A third of the children who exp...

This show is for parents. It’s possibly one of the hardest things for you, as a parent, to hear your child utter these three little words, “I am gay.” It is also one of the most difficult confessions any child might have to make to his or her parents as the risks are enormous in your child’s mind. You could do one of several things when he or she comes out: you could either be loving, understandin...

Is it conceivable that you could form intimate relationships with a limited number of other people? That’s called polyamory. In conservative worlds, this kind of sexual expression seems limited, debauched or may even hint at a mental disorder but research psychologists are noticing an increasing openness to alternative sexual lifestyles – at least in the more progressive corners of the modern-day...

Just as Neuro-Linguistic Programming [NLP] is built around a collection of presuppositions (or foundational statements), hypnosis, and more specifically hypnotherapy, emanates from eight pivotal Rules. They are collectively known as the Eight Rules of the Mind and every hypnosis student learns them. They are obvious assumptions that explain the workings of your subconscious mind and the way it int...

Invited by the South African Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, better known as the CRL Commission, I agreed to participate in a dialogue on 15th March 2017, the aim of which was to understand: the phenomena of prophecy, healing, miracles, magic and deliverance; how it might affect religious followers; whether it is used as...

If you attended a Christian school, you’ll probably remember singing the Lord’s Prayer in the classrooms or in the main assembly hall each day. You might even recall those words now – I can. The Lord’s Prayer is a seven petition Prayer prescribed by Jesus. By offering it as a part of our daily spiritual practices, we affirm God’s superiority in contrast to our human frailties, leaving us no other...

The waters are a bit murky when it comes to Political Correctness [being PC]. Although it doesn’t change reality, softer phrases like ‘same-sex relationships’ are far more sensitive than the offensive terms like faggots, poofters or moffies. Now, political correctness uses the abbreviation LGBTI as an umbrella term to describe what others might consider as sexual deviance. We will of course risk s...

People of the world seem to be slipping away from the belief that God is our Father, sitting on His Heavenly throne, somewhere up there in space, taking punitive measures against anyone who doesn’t worship Him properly. It sounds narcissistic, tyrannical, divisive and illogical. After all, He is the Almighty, the epitome of Love, glory and fullness but this side of Him is only exposed to those who...

If Theism is belief in the existence of a god or gods. What Is Atheism? No one asks this question enough, yet people have some very strong preconceived ideas and notions about what an Atheist is and is not. Most people’s opinions about atheism tend to evolve from theistic influences which often distort matters by adding derogatory adjectives, like: “wicked” and “sinful.” But, is this so? It is inc...

If somebody pulled out a gun on a crowded train you were riding on, would you notice? People in San Francisco didn't. Why? Because they were too into their smartphones. Smartphones run people’s lives at every level. But unless you exercise restraint and caution and become a responsible digital citizen, the convenience of modern technology may be far less rewarding than the trouble it causes. Indis...

There is a very important question and one that has been asked for millennia, “What is suffering?” We delve into this in detail in this show and we’ll try to find ways to change suffering. We cannot easily duck the stream of hardships the world flings at us, not unless we hermit ourselves away in a cave and get right off the grid, but even then, life tends to throw curved balls. However, if we can...

There are fewer crimes in society that trigger greater public outrage than the sexual exploitation of children. For some, it conjures up memories of horrific television documentaries showing how children are sexually trafficked for commercial gain; for others, it brings back childhood events of shameful sexual conduct with much older persons. Race, gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic standing does...

It’s that time of the year again! With tiny traces of remorse lingering for having wildly indulged over the Festive Season and a hint of embarrassment at your lack of restraint, having done things you normally wouldn’t want to have done, have you already decided on your New Year’s resolutions? Shell-shocked from your year-end break, you slowly emerge from this festive haze as part of your brain sl...

All who celebrate Christmas, do so on the 25th December each year. This date marks Jesus’ birth in a manger somewhere in Bethlehem. It was a major event, prophesied and expected for a long time and it had a profound effect on the way the modern world unfolded. For one, Jesus birth gave rise to the Julian and Gregorian calendars, the primary system of global timekeeping today. But the big question...

The epic 1956 movie, the Ten Commandments, directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter and Charlton Heston in the leading role of Moses depicts the Israelite’s Exodus out of Egypt. En route to the Promised Land, Moses climbs Mount Sinai where God gives him the 10 Commandments. These sacred tablets were placed inside the Arc of the Covenant, carried all the way to Jerusalem a...

11 Khayelitsha men burst into the home of 22-year old, Noluvo Swelindawo, dragged her away, murdered her and left her body alongside the highway. The alleged motive: homophobia. Of 2,130 LGBTI South Africans surveyed, 41% responded that they knew of someone who was murdered due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. African leaders have, in various statements, implied that homosexuality w...

We investigate an observation made by Bluma Zeigarnik after she carefully watched how Viennese waiters were incredibly adept at remembering orders but how they quickly they forgot them once the patron had left the coffee shop. Her colleague, Maria Ovsiankina further noted that incomplete actions create a gentle motivation that spurs a person to get the job done. The conclusions these women publish...

A daughter has a drugtaking problem and has been clean for a while but her mom is stricken with fear and won’t give her the freedom her daughter seeks. Mother mollycoddles the young woman by micro-managing her daughter’s life. This podcast lets you peek into the method I used to help Mom to establish trust again. It’s a demonstration of therapeutic metaphor. Be warned, this podcast contains an hyp...

In recent shows (episodes 14 and 15), we looked into various ideas and notions around truth. In this episode, we investigate what motivates people to lie. With a lot of our attention focused on lies within relationships, we find out if there are any benefits to making a commitment to truth. Do you know the history and implication of the phrase, “I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothi...

In episode 13, we took a tongue-in-cheek look at some of the very literal ways in which people interpret the Bible. Philosophy and Law say that it is your personal right to have any belief system and to act it out as if it were true, given that the enactment does not impinge on the rights of others. However, last week’s show ended without resolving a particular issue: is there an absolute truth, o...

With so many religions and sects claiming sole mandate to truth through their interpretation of scripture, what is true and what isn’t and how do we tell the difference? Would it even matter? For any interpretation of Scripture to be true, it needs to be part of a coherent system of truths. Anyone is free to propose any idea but it could not be accepted as being the absolute truth unless its prove...

Most of us have a morbid fear of our own mortality – we are generally petrified to die. Most of this fear about death is admitting that science might be right when it suggests that there is only total oblivion after death. Science requires greater scepticism than is found amongst religions regarding the belief in the continuity of consciousness after death. In this episode, we investigate several...