The Symbolic World

Kintore College invited me to give a talk on love as the driving force of human existence as part of their Philosophy and Literature program. Since many found it useful I decided to repost it on my podcast, now also including the Q&A section at the end. In this talk I discuss love within the frame of Dante's Divine Comedy, C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce and Plato's Symposium. Original video: ht...

This podcast was developed from my monthly YouTube Q&A livestream, where I answer questions that patrons of $10/month or more submit on my website, Subscribestar and Patreon. The livestream was exclusive to patrons. Original stream: https://youtu.be/YqjRLKlfoI8 The Symbolic World website and blog: http://www.thesymbolicworld.com Merch: http://www.thesymbolicworld.store Language of Creation, by...

We look at how Christmas changes the functions and orientation of the heavenly beings, both in the gospel story and in the way we celebrate Christmas in the Nativity Troparion. Original video: https://youtu.be/MlTMtupiSsI The Symbolic World website and blog: http://www.thesymbolicworld.com Merch: http://www.thesymbolicworld.store Language of Creation, by Matthieu Pageau: https://www.amazon.com/Lan...

This is the second part of my Universal History exploration of the Holy Grail with Richard Rohlin. In Part 1 (episode 200) we gave background context for understanding the meaning of the Grail and how it’s part of the story of the West. In this episode we discuss the story of Perceval in the Arthurian Legends. The general consensus has been that in this poem Perceval failed in his quest for the Ho...

This is a repost of a discussion I had on the Symbols Patterns Hierarchies YouTube channel. Jakub is Polish and has made a series of excellent videos on symbolism in anime. My brother Matthieu and I really enjoyed his videos and I decided to contact him for a discussion. We talk about my time in Africa, Moana and ambiguity in symbolism, seeing symbols in context, monsters and waters above and belo...

Fr. Maximos Constas is Professor of Patristics and Orthodox Spirituality at the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. He is one of the most renowned scholars on St. Maximus the Confessor. He was a professor at Harvard and a monk for many years and is now the director at the Pappas Patristic Institute. In this interview we talk about St. Maximos the Confessor, seeing his work in perspective...

I look at the symbolism of NFTs, how they are related to the margin and chaos, what dangers and opportunities does this offer, and how does this relate to the symbolism of the monster in general. - Don't forget to back God's'Dog: https://www.godsdog.com - If you're interested in the NFT project, contact us on The Symbolic World website: https://thesymbolicworld.com/contact/ ================== Orig...

Vin Armani (Cyprian) is a philosopher, entrepreneur, author and recently converted Orthodox Christian. He’s a Bitcoin developer and the author of a book called “Render Unto Caesar: Prophecy, Profit, and Proof of Work in the Dim Age”: https://www.amazon.com/Render-Unto-Caesar-Prophecy-Profit/dp/B08WZMB83J In this interview we go more in depth about what makes Bitcoin unique, its metaphysical underp...

Patrons can submit questions in advance at $10/month or more through The Symbolic World website, SubscribeStar and Patreon. Questions are selected by moderators due to time constraints. Support & submit your questions: - Website: https://thesymbolicworld.com/support/ - Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/pageauvideos - Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/jonathan-pageau - Carving workshop...

John Vervaeke, PhD, is an award-winning lecturer at the University of Toronto in the departments of psychology, cognitive science and Buddhist psychology. This conversation between us happened in the wake of the Four Horsemen of Meaning discussion we had that also included Jordan Peterson and Bishop Barron (linked below). We continue the discussion, trying to bridge my symbolic worldview with John...

Most listeners would need no introduction to Bishop Robert Barron. He is the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in the Catholic Church. He's also an author, speaker, theologian, and founder of Word on Fire, a global media ministry. I finally had the opportunity to talk with him in the wake of the recent "Four Horsemen of Meaning" discussion published on Jordan Peterson's YouTube ch...

Christopher Kaczor and Matthew Petrusek are two Catholic scholars and Word on Fire fellows who wrote a book about Jordan Peterson, titled "Jordan Peterson, God, and Christianity: The Search for a Meaningful Life". Here we discuss their book, the impact Jordan Peterson has made and how some of his core ideas relate to Christianity and the world right now. Christopher and Matthew's book, Jordan Pete...

Neil DeGraide is head of the band Dirt Poor Robins and “Queen of the Night" is their latest concept record. The story is a modern aged fairytale shown in the style of a silent film era motion picture, reinforced by new music. To help complete the post production required for all 5 episodes and for future projects, Dirt Poor Robins is looking for support through Patreon. Patreon supporters will be...

This is our first Universal History episode on the legend of the Holy Grail. Richard Rohlin and I take a deep dive into the origin of the Holy Grail, how relics convey power and how the Grail forms an integral part of the story of the West. To build this thread Richard explores 3 sources: the Celtic tradition and particularly their understanding of relics (pt.1), what we'll call the Iberian Virgin...

I interview American cartoonist and children’s book illustrator Ben Hatke about storytelling and graphic novels. We talk about the evolution of stories, how we make them our own, how modern superhero comics compare with ancient mythology, whether the story of Christ stands apart and above other stories, and whether it has a monopoly on certain storytelling tropes. Support the God's'Dog graphic nov...

Based on an article I published in 2013, I show how the shadow of St Christopher appears in Scripture in ways that will surprise many. Original article: https://orthodoxartsjournal.org/the-icon-of-st-christopher/ Back our current attempt to tell a legendary version of this story as a graphic novel: https://www.godsdog.com Original video: https://youtu.be/ReZvkYp-CG0 Support this podcast: Website:...

I had an interview with Nicholas Kotar and his patron community where we discussed the new graphic novel, God's'Dog, written by me and my brother Matthieu Pageau and illustrated by Cord Nielson. To exercise full autonomy and draw in listener participation, God’s’Dog will rely entirely on crowdfunding. We have a lot in store since this is only the first book of a whole series. In our interview Nich...

This is the monthly YouTube Q&A livestream, where I answer questions that patrons of $10/month or more submit on my website, Subscribestar and Patreon. Original video: https://youtu.be/Y5bzYGnryNc Support this podcast: Website: https://thesymbolicworld.com/support/ Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/pageauvideos Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/jonathan-pageau Paypal: http://www.paypa...

Aidan Hart is a writer, iconographer and liturgical designer. I’m very excited to have him on the podcast as he’s been an inspiration in the world of iconography and to me personally since I started carving icons. Today we of course talk about his work, not just in iconography but also in liturgical design more generally. We also discuss the difficulty of novelty in the modern world, the artist vs...

In this episode of the Universal History series, Richard Rohlin and I discuss the tradition of the Nine Worthies. We’ve been talking a lot about sacred history and how these religious patterns manifested themselves in how people understood their own identities. But now we move to a more secular Western Europe, where even here there was still a desire people had to connect their own society, throug...

This is a repost of an interview I had on the Your Mate Tom podcast. Tom and I talked frankly about our current political situation in the world, the Book of Revelation, power and safety and what the future holds. We also discussed symbolism more broadly, spirituality, the consequences of the disintegration of Christianity, spiritual war and deception, how Christianity approaches “integrating the...

This is the monthly Q&A livestream on YouTube, where I answer questions that patrons of $10/month or more submit on my website, Subscribestar and Patreon. Original video: https://youtu.be/83EYS82PsjI Support this podcast: Website: https://thesymbolicworld.com/support/ Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/pageauvideos Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/jonathan-pageau Paypal: http://www.pa...

In this episode I interview Gauthier Pierozak about the amazing work he’s done to rediscover and share the lost work of the 20th century French symbolist, Louis Charbonneau-Lassay. Charbonneau was a Catholic archaeologist who also collaborated with René Guénon, but remained dedicated to approaching symbolism through primarily a Christian lens. He was particularly interested in how all of the natur...

Dn. Henok Elias is an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian and has a YouTube channel called Philosophy of Art & Science. Many listeners recommended I talk with him for an insider perspective on the particulars of Ethiopian Orthodox traditions. Dn. Henok and I discuss his place in the church, training and poetry in the Ethiopian tradition, what his perspective is on the discussions about Ethiopia on th...

Taken from my supporter only videos, this episode looks at what it is about the inverted pentagram which has made it associated with Satanism, but also why we find it in some churches. Original video: https://youtu.be/xvwdqaCg-Zg Support this podcast: Website: https://thesymbolicworld.com/support/ Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/pageauvideos Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/jonathan-pa...