The Absurd World Podcast

I exist. I am a human being who exists. I know this. I feel this. But how do I actually describe it? Do I list my traits? My personality? My qualities? Do these things really explain my existence, or am I something more than all of them? In this weeks episode, I explore what it truly means to exist and how we might begin to understand ourselves beyond the labels we so often identify with. With the...

There are many things we question on this podcast. We challenge assumptions, call out ideas we take for granted, and examine the concepts we think we understand. But surely there are some things so fundamental to our existence that they are beyond questioning... Time, for example. In this weeks episode, we turn to Italian theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli, who argues that time is far less straig...

You hear about it all the time. People claim to have it, joke about it, and reduce it to a collection of quirky habits. But for those who actually live with OCD, there is nothing funny about it. So let us explore what it really is. In this weeks episode, I introduce obsessive compulsive disorder and the deeply existential nature of this widely misunderstood condition. Together, we explore the neur...

Are you tired of being a square? Tired of always doing what you are told? Tired of following the rules and seeing reality the same way everyone else seems to? Well... have you ever considered psychedelics? In this weeks episode, we swan dive into the world of reality altering substances as we explore whether there is really only one way to experience reality. Guided by journalist Michael Pollan an...

We hear so much about change. About finding ourselves, becoming authentic, and creating meaning in our lives. But would it not be nice if someone handed us a map? In this weeks episode, and the final installment in our three part series on Jungian psychology, we explore the possibility that such a map may already exist. With the help of American thinker and writer Joseph Campbell, and with an extr...

We know the absurd. By now, we are familiar with it. Heck, this podcast is named after it. But what if there is more to absurdity than randomness, contradiction, and chaos? What if there is something hidden within the paradox itself? In this weeks episode, and the second in our series exploring the work of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, we ask whether even the most absurd moments in life might hold...

We have all made countless choices in our lives. Some big, some small, some easily forgotten, and others that stay with us. Many of these decisions have shaped the course of our lives in ways we may never fully understand. But what if we are also shaped by the choices we did not make, the lives we did not choose to live. Our unlived lives. In this episode, we begin a series exploring the work and...

Life is ambiguous. There are no clear, cosmic rules handed down to guide us. The rules we follow are human made, shaped by culture, history, and belief. Without something claiming absolute certainty, it can be difficult to know what you should be doing at all. That uncertainty can feel terrifying. But what if it also opens a different possibility? What if you can create your own sense of direction...

I am tired. You are tired. We are all, collectively, tired. Some of us might call it burnout. Maybe all of us have felt it at some point. But what does that really mean, and how do we keep it from spreading any further? In this weeks episode, we explore burnout as something far more complex than simple exhaustion, depression, or weakness. With the help of South Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han, a...

Many of us spend a huge portion of our lives online. Scrolling, swiping, clicking through an endless stream of images and videos that claim to show us the world. But is that world actually reality, especially now that AI is part of the picture? And was it ever reality to begin with? In this episode, I explore how photography and video may have quietly reshaped the way we believe we experience real...

We talk about a lot of complex topics on this podcast. Confusing, shifting, and often elusive ideas, and the language we use to try to make sense of them. But if there were one concept we could all count on understanding, it would have to be evil... ... Right? In this weeks episode, I dive into why that is most definitely not the case as we explore what evil is, and more importantly, what it is no...

We’ve spent a lot of time exploring the world around us, how it works, how it misleads us, how it often feels indifferent to our existence. We’ve looked at the many ways we try to survive within it. But we keep returning to something deeper: not just surviving, but creating a place for ourselves and living authentically within it. And that raises a difficult question; how do we actually come to be...

Freedom matters, maybe more than anything else. To some more than life itself. It’s one of the central ideas this podcast has explored from an existential perspective. But have we ever stopped to ask whether freedom is really all it’s cracked up to be? Is it truly the ultimate goal of human life? In this week’s episode, I question whether our idea of freedom is overly idealistic and maybe even a k...

Do you feel like your mind never slows down? Dread, anxiety, aimlessness… a fear of being vulnerable enough to truly connect, paired with a deep longing for belonging and intimacy that only true vulnerability can bring? Sounds like you should talk to someone. In the final episode of this philosophical check-in series, we explore the role of psychotherapy; what it is, what it can offer, and why it...

I’ve shared a lot with you over the past year; ideas about money, ethics, morality, society, ideology, and how we treat each other and the world we live in. For some, these ideas spark a desire to take action. For others, they can feel overwhelming… like there’s nothing you can really do. Which makes me wonder… you mad bro? In the second part of this philosophical check-in series, we explore what...

It’s been a year of episodes, and it feels like the right time to ask a simple but important question… are you okay? We’ve covered a lot together, exploring existential crises, personal struggles, and the many ways the world can feel overwhelming. We’ve looked into some heavy, unsettling ideas. Maybe it’s time for a philosophical check-in. In this first episode of a short series focused on reflect...

It’s the beginning of the twentieth century. The founders of existentialism are gone, and Europe stands in a near-constant state of upheaval. The world is primed for a surge of thought, questions of purpose, meaning, and above all… freedom. In this episode, the second part of our one-year anniversary special, we turn to the thinkers who would carry existentialism into the modern era. Their ideas w...

Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote, “I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance.” For him, the actions we choose—those not born out of obligation but out of freedom—reveal who we truly are. In today’s episode, we explore that idea more closely. After a year of episodes, we finally pause to ask: who were the existentialists this podcast is built upon? How did they come to believe and teach w...

What does it truly mean to be an existentialist? To fully embrace the label, not just as an idea, but as a way of living. After everything we’ve explored on this podcast, what would it actually look like to let existential thought guide your life? And does such a thing even really exist? In this week’s episode, I take on a question that’s been a long time coming as we try to uncover what it truly...

What does it mean to be wrong about something? And maybe more importantly, what does it say about us to be the kind of person who can be wrong? In everyday life, people seem intensely convinced that they’re right, often in completely opposing ways. So should we begin questioning what it even means to be wrong in the first place? In this week’s episode, I dive into the ideas of right and wrong, tru...

Am I truly connected to my world? Do I feel a sense of belonging with the people and places around me? Do I engage with life in a way that brings unity, or am I simply moving through it on autopilot, barely noticing as it slips by? In this episode, we return to Transcendentalism to wrestle with one of its central questions: what does it mean to be genuinely connected to the world? With the guidanc...

What do I believe? What do I think? What are my opinions? In any given moment, how do I actually feel about myself and the world around me, apart from the constant influence of the society I live in? These can feel like impossibly difficult questions to answer, yet they may be among the most important. And perhaps the hardest question of all: if I truly knew the answers, would I embrace them… or r...

We all fail. It’s part of being human; trying, falling short of our own standards or those imposed on us by others. Most of us know this experience well, and for many it’s one of the most painful we face. Failure can bring shame, self-hatred, alienation, and the urge to disappear. But what if failure isn’t something to fear or avoid? What if it’s something we should actively seek? In this week’s e...

Minneapolis has me thinking, as I assume it has a lot of us. I reflect on the state of the world, my country, philosophy, and I ask myself and you all, what are we supposed to do?

We are self-aware to the point that some see it as a curse, the true source of human suffering. And yet we persist, searching for meaning and purpose in an existence that appears to offer neither inherently. But what happens when we grow tired of performing, of wearing masks, of playing the roles we think we must? What does it mean to live authentically in that raw, honest space? And what might it...