"The more you consume the less you live,” Guy Deboard on how our media-dominant modern life has us engaging with abstractions of what real people and relationships are. This episode touches on working-class images, images of time and history, and religion.

When Lacan says that "love is giving what you don't have to someone who doesn't want it," he is pointing to the paradoxical nature of love: that is that we are all fundamentally incomplete or lacking in some way, and we seek to fill this lack through our relationships with others. And the first relationship where this happens is in the family. Daddy issues and mommy issues are universally acknowledged for a reason.  In this episode, Michelle( Michie B as she's known on the streets she's the...

In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles,” with this Guy Debord begins his description of how with modern technology and media, we have created a virtuso world of images that dominate our view of reality  This is a highlight from every chapter of this classic text through the eyes of a timid observer

The obsession with masculinity is always a sign of impotence, a defensive reaction against the threat of castration. Symbolically of course. It is in this insecurity that we can find new strength, new ways of being that won't destroy us while claiming to liberate us 

"The biggest takeaway from Easter, from the crucifixion of the Political radical figure of Jesus, is that what looked like a failure was a successful upending of the hierarchical order- It went from us trusting God, to God trusting us by making the world more egalitarian. As a bearded man once said...Philosophers have interpreted the world, the point is to change it. "

The People that make me series will involve discussions with some of the people that make my life worth living and will explore our similarities and differences. Today's episode features Pumla and Primah, the best parts of what we call PPJ - Pumla, Primah and Joel, people who couldn't be more different and yet like different notes, make for a beautiful harmony That sentimental line would make P&P roll their eyes but they're stuck with me. Listen as we talk about love, religion,...

Christian atheism asks - What dies at the cross? Not a messenger, not an offspring but God himself. It is the radical reading of Faith in which God entrust's his spirit to the community of believers through his death. God is dead, and we are his spirit resurrected when we act as God in the world.  This is the first video explainer on the topic - We shall explore it further as an epistemology, why I believe nothingness and atheism are at the core of Christianity, and why it was made pagan...

"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried."   G.K. Chesterton   Today's episode is the first of many chats with Reverend Captain Gideon Mwesh, and we talk about what it means to have faith today.

The famous words of anarchist Pierre Joseph Proudhon can seem silky or reactionary at first glance, but in today's episode we examine his argument that asks us if it is really moral for individuals to take from the commons and deprive others of access to the means of existence It's a challenge to examine our ways of dealing with each other in the face of property rights that pit the individual against society.

Today's show is about Fashion ...which George Simmrl said shows our ". . tendency toward social equalization balanced against the desire for individual differentiation and change."Yvonne from Chic Moments talks about why clothes are anything but a frivolous thing

In this first episode of the year, Joel talks about the importance of the body and explores Nietzche's argument that the mind-body dualism is an illusion- you are your body. Which might be a little distressing for our guy Joel given that he got older on Monday.

Only Gods and beasts can live outside community, to paraphrase Aristotle. In this last episode of the exploration of Being and Nothingness, we dissect the importance of others in forming our identity and why recognition is crucial for us to feel adequate.Many thanks to the people that allow for me to get looked at by all of you barred subjects out there. Here's hoping the New Year brings with it a reminder that we can always start again.

Part 2 of Nothing at the Center is a discussion of Bad faith according to Sartre, which is when we deny either our transcendence or our facticity. In this episode we breakdown facticity, trancendence and the subtle difference between anguish and anxiety Fun times

"Carol is one of the few people in my life that I thought found both the humor and horror of life worth meditating over and not just glossing over "   This chat covers identity, isolation and intimacy.

"Nothingness lies coiled in the heart of being - like a worm." Evocative but what did Sarte mean by this and the rest of " Being and Nothingness"? In this short series, we'll try to unpack why the concept of "Nothingness" is central to what it means to be human...and also the paradox of trying to complete what we all agree I'd forever a work in progress.

Josey wears many hats - She's in PR and Marketing, owns her own agency, round a sickle cell warriors foundation, and somehow finds the time to help me run this podcast!! In the chat we explore what Public Relations means to her, the conflict between bring a " good friend and person" and being a good business leader, how she manages and navigates these worlds as a person with a chronic illness and lastly why she started her foundation.   My big takeaway from the chat rhymes with something...

The spectacle is the next stage of mediation of relations between people. Already commodities mediate our relationships(we are identified by what we consume and what we do to earn the ultimate commodity, money) - but now images become the new basis of relating with products and each other. Recommendations - Century of the self on Youtube; Society of the spectacle by Guy Debord Quote _Just as early industrial capitalism moved the focus of existence from being to having, post-industrial...

Commodity fetishism - The commodity appears to be at first sight to be a trivial thing, but observed again contains both material and immaterial force   On one hand it's use value and the other its exchange value, the first being the need or desire it directly meets, the second the signal, the identity marker that reveals something about u   Quote - "A commodity is therefore a mysterious thing, simply because in it the social character of men's labour appears to them as an objective...

Adam Smith spoke of the market operating as an invisible hand that guides the actions of producers and consumers to find each other and a reliable allocation of resources happening with each actor pursuing their ends   In this episode, we examine if that hand is benevolent or an iron hand that both gives and takes away and ultimately what logic that does it serve in the world. As we all know, like gravity, it is the invisible relations between things that have the greatest power.   This...

In the first on a series of Marxist critiques of modern life, I thought I'd start with something I am a part of.. the Middle class. And in particular, this is an examination of what exactly the middle class is and how Marxist theory sees it as an illusionary category, a managerial elite without awareness of their working-class status.

The management of time is the mark of modernity. And when we say Time is money, we mean that time is valuable when used for productivity. But as Switchfoot say " Time was never money" and our clocks do not tell us THE time, they give us a version of time. In today's episode we discuss the way our perception of time as a commodity reduces us to being productive and efficient only...Free time being seen as an embarrassment. Perhaps a rethink is needed. And I throw in my own conspiracy theory...

This is an introduction to Lacan's idea of the difference between Desire and the object cause of desire. Human beings are desiring beings and we desire things outside of ourselves, which means we long for something outside of us to make us whole. We are...incomplete subjects. Or at least that's how we feel Where does this desire come from and how do we see its effects on our psyche...Check out the video and like, share and subscribe if you found it worthwhile Stay curious, folks

This is a follow-up on the episode on Polyamory in which I respond to anonymous questions that came in on the topic. The biggest takeaway for me from this is even if you don't understand a lifestyle, it's important to speak to people that do, suspend judgment and later make up your mind. More than anything, what I've learnt from engaging with the literature and people living this way is that we stress communication a lot but seldom do we speak the truth to others and ourselves Check out the...

Polyamory began to capture popular discourse in the 90s, seemingly as an echo of the free love movements of the 1960's, another time when cultural norms were being questioned. Today, polyamory seems to be taking up attention as marriage and monogamy are increasingly being found to not satisfy. Some say we are naturally poly- looking to enjoy sexual relations with as many partners as possible, others say nature or God requires us to commit to one person; Each side utilising the " it's natural"...

Today's Sunday Chat is with Nelson Muhire, team lead for @The Collective UG , a movement that seeks to give young people a way to use their creativity, skills and energy to edify people and spread the love of God. Nelson and I, were part of a band , HOP , which eventually led to the creation of C19 Studios, @CtrlAD and now the collective. The discussion focuses on how Nelson chose to follow his passion for music and ministry , instead of the "safer" pathway he was on to becoming a civil...