The Absurd World Podcast

In today’s world, we face fears, uncertainty, and living conditions that many have grown deeply tired of. Political terrors, social estrangement, and a good dose of paranoia — for many, it feels like the perfect time to rebel… or at least to demand serious change. In this episode, I focus on exactly how we can do that. People often find themselves lost at the starting line of what it takes to spar...

Mysticism… What is it, really? Is it tarot cards, crystals, and reading the stars? Potions, curses, and chatting with spirits? Magic spells? Or is it just some nerds hanging out in basements, eating mushrooms, and flipping through ancient books? In this episode, we wrap up our three-part series on spirituality by exploring these spiritually adventurous souls who exist on the fringes of religious i...

What does it mean to have a religious experience? Do I have to talk to God? Do I have to be touched by the divine? Or… could it be more than that? Maybe I’ve already had one and didn’t even realize it. In this episode, we dive into what it really means to be religious—and to be open to having a religious experience at all. With a little help from psychologist, philosopher, and father of pragmatism...

What does it mean to have faith? Is it something reserved for those who believe in a god (or gods)? For the religious only? Or is it something everyone takes part in, whether we realize it or not? In this week’s episode, we kick off the first in a three-part series on spirituality. I start us off with a headfirst dive into the meaning of faith. With the help of the great grandpapa of existentialis...

What’s right and what’s wrong? How do I know if I’m doing the right thing — or if I’m just being a bad person? Jesse told me morality is all human-made… but then why do I feel so bad when I do something I think is wrong? In today’s episode, we dive into the concept of morality — not to brush it off as just another social construct, but to explore the deeper, human side of ethics beneath all the ph...

What does it mean to have control—and to be under someone else’s? And do we really know how to tell the difference? In today’s episode, I dive into the elusive, slippery concept of control and how it shows up in our daily lives, often in ways we don’t even notice. Along the way, we’ll turn to one of the most celebrated psychotherapists of the 20th century—often mentioned alongside Freud and Adler—...

What’s true? What’s false? Who can I trust, and who should I question? Do I even know when I’m being lied to or fed misinformation? In this episode, I dive into the increasingly unsettling reality of our time: in a world where anyone can say anything and call it “truth,” how are we supposed to know what to believe? With the help of two major figures in the history of education and personal autonom...

We’ve got AI, electric cars, photos of black holes, and—most importantly—a runaway alarm clock named Clocky. We are officially living in the future. But despite all this progress… do we actually understand ourselves any better than we did centuries ago? In this episode, I dig into the big question: Can science really answer life’s biggest, most human questions? And is that even what science is mea...

Can I say that I’ve ever truly been heard—really understood? That when I speak, others are actually listening from my perspective? Can you say that? It might not be so simple. In this episode, I explore just how complicated—and downright competitively messy—communication can be when it comes to truly seeing from another person’s point of view. To help me out, I call on philosopher Ludwig Wittgenst...

What does it really mean to perceive something? How do I get someone to understand my point of view? And how do I even know if what I perceived was real? In this episode, I journey deep into the phenomenological roots of modern existentialism to explore what it actually means to experience anything—whether it's drinking a cup of coffee or genuinely seeing a unicorn. Along the way, I’ll touch on ps...

Is happiness something we create, something we chase, or something that sneaks up on us when we least expect it? In this episode, I dive into the tangled world of joy, pleasure, freedom... and suffering? With a little help from our Russian friend Fyodor Dostoevsky, maybe we can start to make some sense of it all. Side note: when’s the last time you went to the dentist?

What is love? How do I know if I am feeling it? How do I know if someone is truly in love with me? And more importantly, how do I find my soulmate in a sea of fish I don’t trust? In this episode I ask for help from mid 20th century psychotherapist, Erich Fromm, as I attempt to understand how love can be seen as an art form and not something you demand from others. Hopefully it won’t be too radical...

Am I a good friend? Are you? Would I even know one if I saw one—or is friendship just a feeling? In this episode, I dive into the mysterious and difficult process of forming and maintaining true friendships in a world so polarized that just meeting someone new can feel scary. With help from the philosophies (and complicated personal lives’) of Albert Camus and Simone Weil, I explore the existentia...

A career. A partner. A home. Goals to strive for and a life to live on top of it all. Sounds passionate, right? What could possibly be wrong with that? What if, however, individual passion isn’t all there is to life? In this last episode of the series on living a value driven life, I take a look at what it means to be too passionate. With Simone de Beauvoir’s help, I once again ask, “What’s missin...

What's the difference between living boldly and just running away from commitment? In this episode I explore Nietzsche, de Beauvoir, and the idea of the "adventurer" — the person who faces life's ambiguity with excitement, spontaneity, and a drive to create their own path. It sounds empowering, right? But there's a catch. Join us as I question if the thrill of adventure is a...

Nihilism has a reputation — a sad one. It's often associated with hopelessness, apathy, and a sense that nothing matters. But is that what nihilism really means? And more importantly, is it possible that you're a nihilist without even realizing it? In this episode, I ask the question “are you unknowingly embracing a nihilistic outlook, or are you wrestling with it in a way that could actua...

Is taking passions too seriously a sign of wisdom or a trap that keeps us from really living? Do we lean too heavily on one single answer? In this episode I dive into Simone de Beauvoir's concept of the "serious man"— the person who clings to rules, roles, and rigid beliefs to avoid facing the uncertainty and ambiguity of life. I explore the balance between having conviction and bein...

Is it possible to be too simple? In this first episode of a series on living a value driven life, I explore Simone de Beauvoir’s book, The Ethics of Ambiguity, and what it means to go through life without questioning, resisting, or truly engaging with the absurdity of existence. Is ignorance really bliss, or does avoiding complexity come at a cost? I dig into the tension between simplicity and aut...

Amazon, Starbucks... Whatever Temu is... In this episode, we dive into the struggle of maintaining our identity in a world that constantly pulls us in different directions. From the pressure to conform all the way to the struggles with just wanting ease, I explore why being true to yourself isn’t as simple as it sounds. Can we ever be fully consistent, or is conformity an inevitable part of life?...

Who am I? Who are you? And more importantly—are we even being authentic? In this episode, I tackle the existential crisis of self-identity and what it really means to be true to ourselves. Inspired by existentialist philosophy (and... Ted Bundy?), I’ll dig into the messy, complicated, and sometimes absurd pursuit of authenticity.

In this first episode, I dive into what absurdity really means, why it messes with us, why we aim for the goals without thinking them through, why we work so hard without an end in sight, and why I decided to even make a podcast to begin with. If you’ve ever struggled with the question, Why do anything at all? , this one’s for you. Let’s get absurd!

A quick welcome to the podcast!