Shows / Podcast Benomtad
Podcast Benomtad
Open, friendly, philosophical discussions about folktales, society, culture, and wisdom.
Episodes
- Podcast Benomtad
The Brothers Grimm's "The Knapsack, the Hat, and the Horn" Summary and Discussion
Three brothers, tired of poverty, go out into the world. In the forest, they come to a hill of silver and the first brother decides to load his pockets and…
- Podcast Benomtad
Attention is Your Light onto the World and How You See It (Clip)
Attention is your light, and that can build if you can keep your attention on it. It can grow, and we can see it more truly. Instead of increasing our…
- Podcast Benomtad
Von Schonwerth’s “Anna Mayala:” Forbidden Love and Time Forever Lost
The beautiful Veri and Anna Mayala were in love, but she was poor, and her many suitors were grievous to them. But finally, they were to be married, and on…
- Podcast Benomtad
Is the King of the Golden Mountain Ruling in the Land of the Dead? (Clip)
About the Merchant’s son’s character: Early in life he showed faith in his father, himself, the world… How did he change? When he goes back home he is not…
- Podcast Benomtad
Grimm's “The Three Little Birds” Summary and Discussion
Back in the time of small kings, one was riding forth with his retinue from the castle to go hunting. Three sisters who were watching their cows saw them, and…
- Podcast Benomtad
Bearskin Walks the Earth, a Living Hell (Clip)
The character of Bearskin: courage, but then he learns perseverance with his seven years of living Hell. He must live truly wretchedly; he cannot even pray…
- Podcast Benomtad
Rousseau, Happiness & Modernity
JJ Rousseau wrote in “Emile” that his principle aim in teaching his student is to feel the beautiful of all sorts to fix his tastes on it and prevent his…
- Podcast Benomtad
The Brothers Grimm’s “The King of the Golden Mountain”
A wealthy merchant loses his ships, and a dwarf appears to him with an offer: sacrifice the first thing that touches you when you come home, and I will help…
- Podcast Benomtad
Various Strands of Buddhism and the Meaning Crisis (Clip)
Ian talks about various strands of Buddhism, including Tibet and its philosopher rule, and Zen’s founder’s saying a lot of words about the problems with…
- Podcast Benomtad
The Brothers Grimm's "Bearskin"
A soldier returns from the wars, and now that his parents have died, he seeks shelter with his brothers. But they reject him, and he wanders, penniless and…
- Podcast Benomtad
Going the Right Way Without Knowing It (Clip)
The story teaches that one wants to find the good-hearted, but hard-working parts, and bring in the creative magic, and over time, alchemize the tyrannical…
- Podcast Benomtad
The Brothers Grimm’s “The Fisherman and His Wife”
The Brothers Grimm’s “The Fisherman and His Wife” A fisherman lived with his wife in a miserable pigsty by the sea. When he went fishing, he pulled up a large…
- Podcast Benomtad
Two Passive Brothers Mindlessly Moving Through Life (Clip)
The first two sons of the king’s gardener are passive, choosing the pleasure inn over the shabby one, and they end up as condemned robbers. These hedonistic…
- Podcast Benomtad
Vervaeke Buddhism & Parasitic Processing
In “Awakening from the Meaning Crisis,” Ep. 13, “Buddhism and Parasitic Processing,” John Vervaeke, based in Stephen Batchelor’s idea that we’ve gravely…
- Podcast Benomtad
Unconcerned with Outward Glory (Clip)
On appearances: Robin Hood voluntarily descends in society. That way, he can see what is happening on the ground. Perhaps those who truly speak to the people…
- Podcast Benomtad
The Witch’s Unchanging Having of Beauty in Jonathan Pageau’s “Rapunzel” (Clip)
Did the evil stepmother queen in “Snow White” grow a bit from then to this story? Well, she is still trying for unchanging beautiful perfection. She does not…
- Podcast Benomtad
Go to the Verge of Destruction and Bring Back Shmat-Razum
The king’s best hunter shoots a bird, wounding it, and it begs him to not kill it, instructing him to bring it home, put it on a window sill, and strike it…
- Podcast Benomtad
The Brothers Grimm’s “The Golden Bird”
The Brothers Grimm’s “The Golden Bird” A king’s garden is robbed of a golden apple, and he sends his three sons, one at a time, to discover the culprit. The…
- Podcast Benomtad
Howard Pyle’s Robin Hood, Part I
Robin Hood & the Tinker: The Sheriff of Nottingham sends out a warrant for Robin Hood’s arrest. Local men don’t want to take it up, but a Tinker from out of…
- Podcast Benomtad
Authoritarian Regimes Don’t Take in Feedback from Below (Clip)
The lack of taking in feedback of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. With many adherents of these ideologies, anything is justified. We are reflecting on…
- Podcast Benomtad
Jonathan Pageau's "Rapunzel," Summary and Discussion
An old woman lives alone in a small cottage in the woods, with bitterness and her rapunzel cabbages as companions. She prizes the plants, however, attending…
- Podcast Benomtad
Hoarding Your Inner Gold, or Knowing How to Use It: “Spirit in the Bottle” (Clip)
Going into wholeness or connection, on the one hand, or solipsism and individualism, on the other hand. It seems one can find one’s way to solipsism if one…
- Podcast Benomtad
The Brothers Grimm’s “The Golden Goose”
LL and I read and discuss this lovely folktale. A man had three sons, the youngest called Dummling (Simpleton), who was mocked and sneered at. The eldest son…
- Podcast Benomtad
Robin Hood’s Origins, Little John & The Trickster
We summarize Howard Pyle’s Robin Hood’s Prologue, on the green-clad Robbing man’s origins and his meeting, being beat by, and joining forces with Little John…
- Podcast Benomtad
Awakening and the Need for Some Kind of Grounding (Clip)
Robert Pirsig, of “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” also had an awakening experience, where he said he was in touch with “quality,” the key concept…
- Podcast Benomtad
“The Spirit in the Bottle” from The Brothers Grimm
A poor woodcutter sends his son to the high school to have a better lot in life, but the money runs out before the son can complete his studies. He returns…
- Podcast Benomtad
Mystical and Awakening Experiences
We discuss mystical experiences and higher states of consciousness. We start with an awakening account of a Japanese business executive and Zen student…
- Podcast Benomtad
The Brothers Grimm’s "Rapunzel:" Tears Wash Away Grief
A man and a woman long for a child. The woman looks out of her back window into the walled garden of an enchantress and desperately desires the Rampion…
- Podcast Benomtad
A Part of Your Soul Leaves When You Give Up on Getting Better (Clip)
The image of the dark, ruined castle as the unconscious mind. Then there is a series of steps going deeper and deeper, and silent. And after Hans' repeated…
- Podcast Benomtad
Von Schonwerth’s “The Iron Shoes”
The king’s groundskeeper doesn’t know what to do with his son so he kicks him off the farm with anger. Hans goes out into the world and encounters a dark…
- Podcast Benomtad
The Loneliness of the Tyrant (Clip)
The loneliness of the tyrant. Swiveling head, eyes leery of plots real and chimerical. Ian: the need for power to that degree can only come from a…
- Podcast Benomtad
Aristotle, Character, Wisdom and Foolishness, Part 2
Ian and I continue our discussion on Aristotle’s idea of Character and the Golden Mean, bringing in other ideas from wisdom traditions and our experiences…
- Podcast Benomtad
Realizing What You’ve Done, and Changing Your Life (Clip)
To free yourself, some people probably have to change their lives. Tony Soprano or an oppressive dictator cannot grow spiritually and stay in their positions…
- Podcast Benomtad
Aristotle, Character, Wisdom and Foolishness, Part 1
Aristotle, Character, Wisdom and Foolishness, Part 1 Plato gave us an early psychological theory, that the mind has three parts: a man (rationality), a monster…
- Podcast Benomtad
Creating Rituals is Easy, but Be Very Careful (Clip)
Creating rituals is not difficult, but they have to come from a need, and you have to be careful about what the purpose is. If it is egoistic, self-serving…
- Podcast Benomtad
Ritual
Ritual Ian talks with me about his knowledge and experience with ritual, which is informed by Malidoma Somé. This is a fascinating topic, both personally and…
- Podcast Benomtad
Evil Within Even in Desperate Times in the Brothers Grimm’s “The Singing Bone” (Clip)
I question the seemingly pure motive of the younger brother, who takes on the destructive boar seemingly purely out of selflessness. LL posits he could be a…
- Podcast Benomtad
The Brothers Grimm: “The Singing Bone”
A demonic boar ravages the land, destroying crops and livestock, and ripping up the bodies of people. The king offers a large reward, but no one dared go into…
- Podcast Benomtad
Von Schonwerth’s “The Scorned Princess”
Von Schonwerth’s “The Scorned Princess” Three soldiers are finished with their tour of duty, and they are camping in the forest on their way home. Having built…
- Podcast Benomtad
Grimm’s “Cinderella:” Feminine Work and Shaping the Masculine (Clip)
Grimm’s “Cinderella:” Feminine Work and Shaping the Masculine (Clip) Why does Cinderella run from the prince at the end of the dance? Is she trying to get the…
- Podcast Benomtad
“The Water of Life” by The Brothers Grimm
A king is very sick and this distresses his three sons. In a palace garden an old man tells them the water of life can save him, but it is very dangerous to…
- Podcast Benomtad
The Poor Brother Gives All in The Grimm Brothers’ “The Turnip” (Clip)
At the story’s beginning, the poor brother throws off his red coat of soldiering and becomes a farmer, a major life transformation that makes him his brother’s…
- Podcast Benomtad
The Brothers Grimm’s “Cinderella”
A daughter promises her dying mother she’ll remain good and pious, and does so. Her father remarries and his stepdaughters consign Cinderella to housework. She…
- Podcast Benomtad
The Turnip as the Prince’s Soul in Von Schonwerth's "The Turnip Princess" Pt. 2 (Clip)
The turnip, grown underground, could symbolize the soul, and the prince, whose task is to combine the nail from the cave wall, would recover his self. “He has…
- Podcast Benomtad
The Brothers Grimm’s “The Riddle”
The Brothers Grimm’s “The Riddle” A king’s son goes off into the world with only his trusted servant and encounters three deadly places to sleep, wandering in…
- Podcast Benomtad
Grimm's "The Turnip:” Getting Not What You Seek, but What You Need
Grimm's "The Turnip:” Getting Not What You Seek, but What You Need There are two brothers – one rich, the other poor. The poor one wants to better himself so…
- Podcast Benomtad
Love, Governance and Civilization in Von Schonwerth’s “The Sun’s Shadow” (Clip)
When the Titans’ Committee is trying to figure out what to do with Death, a white weasel comes and licks their eyes. Was it sent by Death? What does it mean?…
- Podcast Benomtad
Von Schonwerth's "The Turnip Princess," Pt. 2
We discuss the turnip as Jungian symbol of the soul and continue our analysis of this fascinating, fecund folktale. For the first “Turnip” episode, go to…
- Podcast Benomtad
“The Sun's Shadow” by Von Schonwerth, from The Turnip Princess
“The Sun's Shadow” by Von Schonwerth, from The Turnip Princess Death ruled the world, but when the Sun and Moon grew up, they banished death, who killed…
- Podcast Benomtad
True Wealth in The Brothers Grimm’s “Iron John” (Clip)
What freed Iron John? LL wonders if doing good, helping the prince fulfill his fate frees him from his curse. I look at the effects of the enchantment, which…
- Podcast Benomtad
“Prince Dung Beetle” by Franz Xaver Von Schonwerth, from The Turnip Princess
“Prince Dung Beetle” by Franz Xaver Von Schonwerth, from The Turnip Princess A poor girl, Barbara, went out to find medicine for her sick mother. Leaping over…
- Podcast Benomtad
The Brothers Grimm’s “Iron John”
A hunter, and then another, disappear in the forest, as do those sent to find them, so the forest is left untouched for years. A mysterious fearless hunter…
- Podcast Benomtad
Instruction, Sleep, and Wisdom (“The Turnip Princess”) (Clip)
The prince passes out and wakes up after a long time, and tries to search for turnips again. This part of the story may resemble being asleep in life to a true…
- Podcast Benomtad
“The Turnip Princess” by FXV Schonwerth, with Ian Reclusado
My friend IR and I discuss the titular story from The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales. Summary: A prince lost in the forest takes…
- Podcast Benomtad
A Bad Guest Tests the Man of the House in the Brother’s Grimm’s “The Gnome” (Clip)
LL asks what is with the gnome dropping the bread donation at the door? Is it a test? Maybe only the youngest hunter shows himself to be strong enough to…
- Podcast Benomtad
Bros. Grimm "The Gnome"
A king who was a lover of the variety of his trees forbids anyone from eating of any of them, lest they be buried 100 fathoms deep. His three beautiful…
- Podcast Benomtad
Nothing Alien to the Mind (Clip)
I speculate about aliens as a cultural, psychological or possibly real phenomena, expressing my openness to whatever it is. Belief is less interesting to me…
- Podcast Benomtad
A UFO Convention, Aliens & Belief
A UFO Convention, Aliens & Belief LL talks about things she learned at a UFO Convention and I talk about the nature of experience and belief. Please like…
- Podcast Benomtad
Rings in this Story (Clip)
(From a discussion on Grimm’s “The White Snake”) We discuss the role of the ring in this story. At the beginning, a queen’s ring is lost from a water animal…