The Wes Cecil Podcast

Taoism has been generally received in the West as a mystical, quasi-metaphysical philosophy. However, understanding its historical context and development helps place Taoism within its political and folk tradition. This series explores the complex and powerful vision of Taoism that may be more relevant today than ever before in its more than 2400 year tradition. Join Wes on Patreon for a deeper di...

The dynamic interplay between the external and internal world is the very core of being human. The degree to which we cultivate ourselves within an experience of the world is the degree to which we can evolve and deepen our sense of ourselves and our world. It is this growingness that gives meaning and impulse to lives that thrive. Lacking this, we feel shallow, detached and depressed. Join Wes on...

Congratulations, you’ve read the Gita. Ancient texts are often difficult and a bit offputting but they really help us discover the structures of our own thinking and how our culture has conditioned us to expect certain forms and arguments. While Krishna ends up arguing for acceptance of one’s place in society, he also argues that the way to truth is through inward searching and true dedication. Th...

Bizarrely, in a society that isolates people, we also don’t spend much time with ourselves. Consistently pulled from ourselves, striving for external standards and ignoring our bodies we lose track of the one thing that really makes us ourselves - ie ourselves. It is prosaic to say, but we need to spend some time with ourselves to actually be a person.  Join Wes on Patreon for a deeper dive i...

We move from the Metaphysical arguments about How the universe is to how we should translate that understanding into our lives. And we finally get the argument for why Arjuna must indeed ride forth to kill his family and, oddly, it makes a lot of sense. Join Wes on Patreon for a deeper dive into the ideas we explore on the podcast. It’s a space for lifelong learners — with bonus lectures, course m...

We receive endless messages about the importance of being independent, standing on our own, making something of ourselves and so forth that it is easy to forget this is all nonsense at best and life destroying lies at worst. Humans are, necessarily, social animals and can only achieve our potential within the context of being dependent. The question is not one of dependence vs. independence but ra...

The fascinating parallels with the Book of Job in Chapter 11 of the Gita helps to highlight the profound differences between the Hindu and Christian tradition and the concept of the divine at the center of each religion. Books 12 and 13 provide a subtle but powerful reconceptualization of Buddhist values that places Vishnu at the center of Transcendent Enlightenment. Join Wes on Patreon for a deep...

It is commonplace and true that we live in a consumer society. Less noticed is that being a consumer casts us in a role as passive non-makers who do not produce and participate but simply define ourselves by an association with objects or events. It is primarily by making that we can orient ourselves and escape a sense of meaninglessness in the world - which is why the notion of a consumer society...

The Atman, Brahman, and Karma are presented quite clearly in book 8 and the implications are then extrapolated in Nine and Ten. These are the key ideas at the heart of Hinduism. The Atman is a challenge for western audiences because it pre-supposes a very different concept of individuality and what constitutes a self. A powerfully metaphysical argument, it challenges quite directly the critiques o...

This series is a concrete extrapolation of the ideals of Humanism within the context of our contemporary society. While it might seem like we can’t help but know how to be human, the pressures and structure of our society are powerfully opposed to the expressions of the ideals of Humanism and, de facto, of our human potential. Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community  to get your questions an...

It sounds a lot like monotheism, and perhaps this is what Krishna is arguing, but it is a conceptual framework very much different than the Christian concept of monotheism (the Jewish people did not have a monotheistic view of the world btw). In Book Seven we get the very different Hindu framing of this question in which there is only one ‘god’, if Vishnu can be conceptualized in that category, in...

I want to share the live audio of the 2nd lecture I gave at The University of Maastricht, the Netherlands a month ago. This one is from Thursday, April 30. The focus of this lecture is the deep ontology—the how or why (instead of the what)—of our stories and discourse in the modern world. Here's the write-up for the lecture: We make sense of the world through our values. Unfortunately, we have bec...

While slightly repetitive, the importance of the idea of holy work and doing as superior to not doing is central to these two books. I spend extra time on the concept of ‘Sin’ and how this is a misleading word to use in translation from the Sanskrit and how Dharma, Karma and Kama are not just about the endless cycle of life but also about how we experience our lives in the moment. Sign-up for&nbsp...

In conclusion, I consider a few of the pitfalls one is likely to encounter if they decide to pursue new values. I also provide a few suggestions for some approaches that might be helpful in beginning the process of adopting a new set of beliefs. Mostly, though, I want to encourage anyone who might be interested in running a values experiment. Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community  to get y...

Krishna reveals the divine wisdom to Arjuna who is thoroughly confused by what Krishna says as you may have been as well. Some deep Hindu theology is working in the background of this passage that is difficult to pick up in translation. Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community  to get your questions answered by Wes! (Yes, Wes is very active on Patreon) Plus, gain access to bonus lectures, pee...

Money is, as I’ve mentioned, the core value in our societies today. Generally attacked throughout philosophical history, it is currently celebrated as THE value that answereth all other values. However, there might be just one or two very small problems with using money as a value to organize our lives and provide meaning on the way to achieving our goals. Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community...

Krishna introduces a series of key points that will be repeated throughout the rest of the Gita: Action is better than inaction, Sacrifice, and the renunciation of Ends. With these concepts, the Gita weaves key ideas from Buddhism back within the structure of Vedic Hinduism by re-imagining the foundations of the sacrificial economy. Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community  to get your questi...

Hello everyone! I want to share the audio of my live lecture from Maastricht, the Netherlands a couple Wednesdays ago, April 29. The lecture is on the phenomenology of AI in the mytho-poetic mind. Hope you enjoy. Here's the write-up: AI, in itself, may not actually be that interesting. However, the way we perceive and respond to the idea of AI marks a central tendency of human civilization, spanni...

Almost completely forgotten as a value today, it was THE central value of a series of different philosophical systems across several different civilizations over 1,000s of years. Without Wisdom as a value, we have less capacity to develop nobility, joy, or beauty as discussed in earlier episodes. Yet, we still seek to understand ourselves and our world and likely wisdom will never truly go away. S...

Krishna explains that the soul is immortal and that rebirth is unending so there is no need to worry about killing one’s family as you aren’t really doing anything that matters. Instead, focus on wisdom and duty to achieve one’s dharma and everything else that follows will be right. Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community  to get your questions answered by Wes! (Yes, Wes is very active on Pa...

Unlike the other values discussed, Heroism would seem to be a central value of contemporary society. However, upon closer inspection, it is clear that traditional notions of heroism - of which there are a range - are not all that represented. While the idea of suffering and sacrifice remain, the overall vision of transformation, agency and a transcendent goal seem to largely be ignored. While a pr...

A great opening! “Why, Krishna, should I kill my family and friends?” This question is the ethical question at the center of the work that allows for a complete re-imagining of Hinduism and the spiritual and social contract of ancient India. The layers of background that inform seemingly even simple passages is a bit overwhelming but hopefully this introduction will help out a little. Sign-up for&...

Who could be opposed to Joy? Well, it turns out that despite being a central value in several different philosophical systems for 1,000s of years, contemporary society has little use for the cultivation of Joy. A diffuse concept, I focus on providing several literary examples and suggestions for further study and reflection. Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community  to get your questions answ...

A few questions and my own musings on the latest Values episode about the nature of Nobility as seen through the eyes of T.S. Eliot. Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community  to get your questions answered by Wes! (Yes, Wes is very active on Patreon) Plus, gain access to bonus lectures, peer discussions, additional course materials, and audio diaries from France. Only $2 / month.  Hosted...

Not just a value that is out of fashion, but one that is actively and consistently attacked by our society. The notion of cultivating a noble self governed by humility, self-control, wisdom and uprightness seems both wildly out of fashion and arrogant. However, for millennia, this was a central goal of major philosophical systems. Contemporary culture sees any sense of nobility as a cover for some...