The Lenny and Tyler Show: Recent Episodes
Tyler Murphy
In this episode I interview Andrew Luber who I have gotten to know through O.G. Rose (Daniel and Michelle Garner) and their weekly “The Net” zoom gathering. Andrew and I discuss his interest and emphasis on Theme and how it arises from stories and conversations.
Some of this was admittedly over my head, but I feel a certain theme has arisen after the fact and it is just that: Theme always arises unconsciously and is recognized only after the fact — apre coup.
As with many of my conversations on here, I love revisiting them months down the road and hearing and understanding so much more than I did at the time of the recording.
Thank you Andrew. And thank you to anyone that tunes in.
Dr. Richard Boothby is professor of philosophy at Loyola University Maryland. He is the author of a handful of books on Freud and Lacan and Philosophy. I have been obsessively reading his latest two books: Embracing the Void: Rethinking the Origin of the Sacred and Blown Away: Refinding Life after My Son’s Suicide.
In our talk we lay out how Lacan theorizes anxiety and its relation to das Ding: the enigmatic, unknown zone of the other. Richard shows how this theory of anxiety differs from those put forth by Heidegger and Sartre. For Sartre anxiety was linked to the radical dizzying, nausea inducing freedom that we as humans essentially are. It's not just that we fear falling off a cliff when standing next to its edge, we fear that we ourselves might throw ourselves off. It's our freedom to do so or not. There's no one stopping you from doing it except you. However, Lacan complicates anxiety one step further. Yes, it is eventually linked with one’s existential freedom, but Lacan crucially first locates the primary source of anxiety somewhere else—within the neighbor, indeed the first neighbor: the mOther.
Boothby explains how Lacan reframed Freud’s Oedipus Complex insisting that it’s actually the infant, not the father, that weans itself and argues that it’s the the name of the father: the function of language, rituals, symbolic gestures and identities that helps to allay the infant’s anxiety in face of das Ding.
For Boothby, these Lacanian concepts ultimately help us to rethink the origin of the sacred, and they shed light on how we might better understand why we continually in the terrifying confrontation with das Ding tend towards forms of tribalism.
In the end, Boothby’s challenge is for us to remain open to das Ding. In a similar manner, every effective analyst must undergo a transformation in their desire. One that becomes directed to the unconscious in the other. In the face of the das Ding of the other, the monstrousness of the neighbor, the analyst like the saint courageously welcomes what others have at best only ever tolerated. The analyst with a sincere and gentle curiosity, without judgment welcomes das Ding's arrival. This openness to the otherness of the other and even to the otherness in oneself, is what Boothby sees as the injunction of Christ: to love not only the neighbor, but also the enemy.
My dear friends it’s my privilege to introduce to you the one and only Matt Blakeslee. He has been such a wonderful friend to me for many years. He’s the guy that’s responsible for so many great things Billings including the Art House Cinema and Pub, CMYK (back in the day), multiple albums by some of Billings’ best musicians and his own album: Fare Thee Well — which we talk about a bit during this interview.
He has over the years courageously, publicly shared his struggles with faith, belief, doubt, complexity, ambiguity and has been gracious to me and others even when we at times opposed him — often to later realize one day that we needed his friendship as we too entered our struggles with faith.
Thanks Matt!
We’re back! I’m hoping to record and publish more conversations with friends once again on a more consistent basis. Kole is one such friend that I hope to record regular chats with.
In this episode we learn a little about Kole’s faith, his studies in Bible School, how it related to CrossFit, and then we end up talking a little about the Brother K by Dostoyevsky.
This week I had the privilege of speaking with Dr. Jamieson Webster.
I have recently been reading her book: Disorganization and Sex and highly recommend reading it as well as her recent article in the New York Times entitled I Don't Need to Be a 'Good Person.' Neither Do You.
I was thrilled to get to hear Jamieson's thoughts on the unconcious, superego, guilt, transgression, and how psychoanalysis might help to give desire back to the subject and also how we might alleviate anxiety and guilt on a more collective level.
You can find many fascinating interviews with Jamieson on Youtube as well!
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Jamieson Webster is a psychoanalyst in New York City. She is the author of The Life and Death of Psychoanalysis (Karnac, 2011) and Conversion Disorder (Columbia University Press, 2018); she also co-wrote, with Simon Critchley, Stay, Illusion! The Hamlet Doctrine (Pantheon, 2013). She contributes regularly to Artforum, Spike Art Magazine, Apology and the New York Review of Books.
Ideal Ego: who we desire to become (curated Instagram image of self)
Ego Ideal: that for whom we wish to become our Ideal Ego (the person whose ‘like’ or ‘view’ on Instagram matters most, however the Ego Ideal can also be broader and more vague than one person. It can be rooted in what a given society deems important or the values of one’s family. For me, “The Murphy Way” can function as an Ego Ideal.) When we are released from a "givens" I believe this has occurred because of an intrusion from the real and that this intrusion forces us to reconsider the goodness or validity or substantiality of our Ego Ideal — the object cause of our desire. Losing the object cause of desire can lead to existential anxiety, nihilism, a sense of being unmoored and that we don’t belong anywhere, and depression. If having an Ego Ideal — an other in whose goodness you trust and whose goodness and pleasure you seek to invoke — is necessary for human flourishing, then how do we conciously and wisely choose an ego ideal that will not let us down like the last one did? Is it even possible to conciously choose our Ego Ideal? I kind of don’t think so. Instead I think that the kind of Ego Ideal that won’t break our hearts is the kind that chooses us. Mari Ruti often emphasizes the idea that as we live life we will find that we are at times summoned by people, places, events, areas of study and any number of various activities and that as we remain faithful to the things we feel compelled to follow — as we heed the summons eminating from certain objects we will find a peculiar kind of freedom. It’s in a sense a paradoxical freedom, because it’s as if we have no say in the matter. Here I stand. I can do no other. Todd McGowan makes a similar point in a talk entitled Capitalist Subjectivity and Unconcious Freedom: "The unconcious acts freely prior to the intrusion of conciousness which is always kind of lagging behind and so concious will is never free in the way the unconcious is, but if we're unconciously free this means that freedom is also radically opposed to free will. So whenever anybody says to me, "Do you believe in free will?" I say, "No, but I believe in freedom." And, "The most that conciousness can do in the face of our unconcious freedom is to acknowledge its priority and identify the unconcious act as an expression of the subject's desire." In other words, freedom is concious only in so far as it cosigns the check its unconcious already wrote. And in my experience this feels quite true. Never am I more alive, more guilt free, than when I have remained faithful to the singularity of my desire. I am most myself when I have followed what I know in my heart I have to do even when such a stance is indefensible to others and even to my concious, rational self. Isn’t remaining faithful to one’s singular desire just hedonism? This is a very difficult question, but ultimately I don’t think it is. Let me see if I can argue for why it isn’t ultimately hedonistic … Throughout McGowan’s work he argues that we achieve unconcious satisfaction through sacrifice. When we over eat or drink excessively or even workout excessively to the point of injury we sacrifice our future health. There is an undeniable satisfaction in creating problems for ourselves. Life is always at least psychically more interesting, though usually more painful, when it’s imploding. Racking up debt, procrastinating what you really shouldn’t procrastinate, making oneself more machine than man, hitting the “self destruct” button on a relationship by saying the one thing that would cause it to all fall apart — these are all various ways we get unconcious satisfaction. What’s common to all these scenarios is that we in some way are sacrificing what would be our own good. In the same way, remaining faithful to the summons of love sacrifices one’s own good. Often the summons of love calls us to act a fool or destroy our symbolic identities. As Zizek says, “Love is a catastrophe!” It’s not hedonistic because it sacrifices one’s own good. So what have we learned? I’d argue that a 'release' occurs when an Ego Ideal is revealed as insubstantial. But without an Ego Ideal we are prone to nihilism and depression. Painful though these moments are, confrontation with this negativity is the necessary condition to experience something like a summons in which a new sort of Ego Ideal begins to emerge.
Daniel Garner returns for another wonderful conversation. Daniel explains in more depth terms like "givens" and "releases". From there we touch on Lacan's Ego Ideal and the Ideal Ego and how the loss of faith in the substantiality of an Ego Ideal may lead to the experience of a release. This then brings us to thinking of C.S. Lewis and his conception of Glory as fame/acknowledgement/recognition with God and how love actually does involve desiring the desire and praise of an other. After a release has occurred the question becomes who or what will occupy the position of the Ego Ideal... ?
We also talk a good deal about leisure and how it differs from toil, laziness, and sloth. Daniel brings out an important distinction between toil and work and how as a parent he loves finding that his kids are at times lost in their play and work.
We finish the conversation with some great thoughts on the skills of community building. How consistency is key and how a home is place where the door is always open.
Alyse, Josh, and I discuss Barbie! I loved the film and started to immediately write an essay on it which I have attached below. I still have lots more to add to it. Alyse and Josh really helped to shed new perspective on the film for me as well!
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Barbie Starts out with homage to 2001 Space Oddysee ... the girls only have baby dolls and therefore only ever play and dream about being mothers and housewives. But then The Barbie, a giant monolithic Margot Robbie, is introduced and suddenly a new form of play, a new way to dream, a new horizon of possibility becomes available. The girls destroy their baby dolls. This act symbolizes the growing dissatisfaction of women being relegated to the scripts of mother and housewife. The film then goes into idyllic Barbieland where the Barbies rule the supreme court and white house. They can be any occupation. We see Barbie as doctor, president, journalist, author, even construction worker. It's a utopia where everyday is positive, beautiful, and fun. Barbie hosts a dance party at her dream house. All the sudden, in the middle of dancing, out of no where Barbie blurts, "You guys ever think about dieing?!" The record screeches, the party comes to a halt ... Barbie is confused, uncertain of why she's said that. She recovers with a, "I mean you guys ever think about how much your dieing to dance?!" The outburst brings to mind the Lacanian understanding of the unconcious: a nothing that becomes a something through slips of the tongue, dreams, nightmares and jokes ...these all point to the ways our symbolic and imaginary identities do not correspond one to one with our actualities. In other words the unconcious makes itself known through the difference between the map and the territory. For Freud such outbursts point to an unconcious desire or uncognized traumatic past event that conciousness is not yet ready to fully confront and take ownership of. Barbie seeks to repress the intrusive thought of death. She covers over the slip with a, "You guys ever think about how much your dieing to dance?!" Which alows the party to resume. We engage in similar acts of repression anytime we shrug off intrusive thoughts that may cause us to challenge our given status quo when we utter thought terminating cliches like, "it is what it is," or, "boys will be boys," or, "just trust the plan." Such phrases stave off for the moment cognitive dissonance and allow for the continuation of the functioning of a given structure. However, for Freud, what we repress always returns through symptoms -- sometimes bodily symptoms as seen with Barbie after she tries the repress the intrusive thoughts but finds that her feet have inexplicably flattened. (It should be noted that Freud eventually came to believe that repression is necessary ... for example its necessary that the ceaselessly questioning child eventually is stopped by the thought terminating cliche, "Because I said so." Such a statement is a necessary tautology. For more on the necessity of Law as form see Todd McGowan's video.) Barbie's friends tell her that she must go to Weird Barbie to be fixed. Just as the children of Israel had to return to the wilderness and to their prophets when things went wrong so too must Barbie venture to the outskirts of Barbieland. Weird Barbie, a kind of John the Baptist type figure is the only one who can help Barbie ... to be continued...
Daniel Garner and I today got to discuss a wide range of topics. We discuss the possibility of relating to the Lacanian lack in a positive way that helps lift such a concept out of nihilistic tendencies. We talk about das ding, the other of the other, and its seeming similarities to the Holy Spirit in Christianity. We touch on relational or communal ontology and we talk a bit about understanding Paul and his writings in light of some of these ideas.
I had the privilege to interview my friend Michelle Garner of the writing duo OG Rose. I've been enjoying and learning from their book "Belonging Again" and their Youtube channel. So check em out! The breadth and depth of their work is astonishing.
Michelle and I got to briefly touch on their work as it relates to "givens" and "releases" and how these states of being coincide with a sense of belonging. We then touched on paranoia and how philosophy can potentially rescue us from crippling anxiety that is connected with our sense of certainty. Lastly, we briefly touch on Das Ding ... if that's even possible ... pretty sure we nailed it and there's nothing more for anyone to need to say on the matter.
In this episode I try to give my zoomed out understanding of the movement of concepts I see over and over in various Psychoanalytic theorists' work.
Fall - (Mirror Stage - Imaginary - Symbolic - Real. Law - Castration - Loss of Imagined Unfettered Jouissance, ie. the Lost Object)
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Lack - (1. Constitutive Lack: Inherent, Necessary ... Restlessness, Hungry Hearts | 2. Contingent Lack: traumas that are particular to you like say a car accident that changes your life ... but contingent lack is also to do with your gender, skin color, and class and how the society of your time relates to those contingencies)
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Call - (Echo of Das Ding: The experiences when we feel we've found "IT" ... the sense of feeling haunted by something ... the sense of being summoned by something in the world ... inexplicably drawn to x ... objet a ...)
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The struggle for Fidelity to the Call - (the struggle to manage and direct Jouissance in the midst of a world that constantly wants you to give your time/passion/attention over to its ends ... this is where we could talk about Neoliberal tendencies in society today, the Superego, and the pressure to Enjoy every minute of your life.)
In the preface to the Call of Character Mari Ruti introduces what she'll cover over the expanse of her book. That while many self help authors and gurus advocate for streamlined approaches (do these 12 things to attain or achieve x) to living the good life, she intends to show that a big part of life is realizing that struggle and hardship are to some degree necessary. And that, counterintuitive though it may seem, we wouldn't actually even want a life without some degree of lack.
Though trauma and lack can wound us greatly -- that these lack shouldn't be overlooked or minimized but rather metabolized ... and in a strangely hopeful way these injuries can also be sites that open us up to the possibility to hear a call that when heeded can usher us into new forms of being that can be emancipatory not only for us as individuals but for our communities as well.
She'll argue against essentialism and advocates instead for a way of dwelling or being toward the world that has made peace with the fact that we never completely attain equilibrium ... or that if we do, we do for relatively brief moments.
She believes that instead of pursuing an authentic core or kernel within the self, that one can alternatively attune oneself to the call of character -- that we become our most authentic selves when we remain faithful to the specificity of our desire and that this specificity can free us from the herd mentality that stifles the idiosyncratic spirit that resides within every person.
My ol' pal and ol' roommate Josh L ... his last name is too complicated to spell ... helps me test online podcast recording services as I prepare for an upcoming interview with Mari Ruti. We talk about some of Ruti's concepts (following and remaining faith to the specificity of desire ... the summons of love) as well as how do we tarry with the ethical (if it is so) component of sharing "I reckon" modalities of discourse with the necessity of coming to know what we believe through simply giving it our best shot.
If you're interested in attending an upcoming Theory Night here in Billings ... email tylermurphyart@gmail.com.
In this episode I am trying to briefly cover the concept of lack and the two ways in which it insists in every human being. I am using the work of Mari Ruti, especially her book Penis Envy and Other Bad Feelings ... an alternative title could be (if I'm understanding this correctly) Castration and other forms of Lack ... or Ontological Lack and Contingent Lack.
I plan to interview Professor Ruti in the coming weeks and will record episodes leading up to the interview in the attempt to make sure I am grasping as well as possible her work.
Thanks,
Tyler
Jaxi, Lenny, Macy, Gus, and Tyler talk about therapy and the benefits of being vulnerable as well as being there for one another.
Lenny and Tyler catch up and touch on the categorical imperative, the Rock, and interpassivity. If you love this podcast maybe give it a shout out on social media and/or support it at patreon.com/lennyandtyler
Thanks!
Jaxi pops in on this one bro! A little Trump, a little truth, and a little prayer time bro
I think the common reading of the new Joker film is, “Look how society grinds down a person and eventually causes some to snap.” But the better question is - why do some snap and others don’t? It should be noted that when Arthur kills the 3 men who attack him on the subway, he does it in self defense and rage. It’s only later that he begins to buy into the larger poetic causal narrative that others concoct in an attempt to make sense of the killings. In this sense what creates the Joker is not the contingent circumstances of his life, but rather his interpolation into an ideological structure or meta narrative. In the same way Hitler had lots of bad things happen to him and we say, “If only he had not been rejected from art school…” "If only he had a better upbringing…" and so on. But we could make that argument for anyone -- everyone faces hardships and rejection. It was rather Hitler’s fascination with a poetic vision of a non antagonistic whole, unified society that drove him. That vision (of a unified society, obviously not his other goals) should inspire us as well -- we should strive to bring about a future in which the poor are not forgotten and overlooked, but we should always be on the lookout for rationalizing the existence of problems within our society as the effect of a cause that stems from a particular people group as Nazis did with the Jews. We must be careful not to scapegoat. Our fight is not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities.
Whether in this presidency or the last, we easily think, “If only this administration were out, then we could set things straight.” But what if the antagonism is not contingent to the current “bad actors” but rather is constitutive of human life itself? Again my point is, we shouldn’t merely critique the person in power (though we should call a spade a spade, we should oppose oppressive speech and acts, and there are better and worse ways of governing), but rather we should each think hard about the underlying narratives that drive us. The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves are usually not true.
As Slavoj Zizek contends: it's false to think that without God, bad people would not do good things. On the contrary, it's actually only something like God or some other poetic meta narrative that can make good people do bad things. This is what we saw on 9/11. If you perceive yourself as an instrument of God, then of course you can employ whatever means necessary to reach the end you feel called towards. This is what Kierkegaard referred to as the teleological suspension of the ethical -- that God's plan trumps human morality. In other words, it's possible that God could call you to do something that you would never be able to reconcile with humanity's notion of right and wrong, like being called to sacrifice one's own son. Therefore a leap of faith is required.
Personally, I’m more and more convinced that the underlying temptation and super-egoic imperative for each of us is: To have it all. We run ourselves ragged fearing we'll miss out. Fearing we'll be seen as less than. Fearing we'll let others down. We see this temptation (to have it all) in the biblical garden story. We desire to be like God. That is: we desire a non antagonistic existence. We desire to lack nothing.
I pray that we might each take a second to stop, breathe, and experience grace for who we already are -- lacking, imperfect beings -- remembering that Jesus himself did not count equality with God as something to be grasped. We need communities in which we can lay bare our struggles and imperfections with others. I'd argue that Story Night is one such community. AA is another.
My fear is this: now that this Joker movie exists -- if poorly understood -- it may become the poetic narrative which downtrodden citizens may find themselves in the grips of and will use to justify acts of violence.
We too must be very careful in the way we see ourselves as instruments of some higher vision. Ultimately, I am for giving one’s self to a higher goal, but we must take extremely seriously what that higher goal is.
We should search earnestly, just as Soren Kierkegaard did, for, "the idea for which I can live and die." And if we find it, pursue it with fear and trembling -- seeking justice, loving truth, and walking humbly with our G(g)od.
Pure, infectious joy -- that's how I'd describe Brett Alexander. Listening through this old episode that I never got around to publishing makes me so happy. I hope you enjoy it too!
I think we should pursue things that bring us into deeper and higher love. And when we do fall, and our lives are in pieces perhaps we can remember that though we will never have the power to speak light into existence as God did when he said, “Let there be light,” may we be reminded in those most trying and downtrodden times and when we’re tempted by that next thing that we fantasize will take away all our longings and problems we say what is fully in our power to say: “Let there be lack.”
Why do we fall so far short of human fulfillment?
"We fall away from what we could be, namely united in love through justice and truth, because we want to draw the whole world into ourselves and our finite reality. And this is the old doctrine of the paradise story, '...you will be like God,' that’s the temptation."
-- Paul Tillich
"Wisdom is pagan!" -- Slavoj Zizek
Why I am opposed to wisdom teachers
The apostle Paul’s writings are, according to most scholars, the closest we get to the historical Jesus. Paul writes that he preaches only Christ crucified. It’s as if what Jesus the man said and did while alive was of little interest to Paul. Paul never knew Jesus in the flesh like the disciples and others did, and so I can’t help but wonder why he’s not interested in the words and actions of this man whom Paul had come to believe was the Christ. Based upon his writings, I can’t help but think that for Paul there must have been something far more profound in what the notion of Christ crucified means for humanity -- that this act was far more important than Jesus’ words and miracles. Why?
I hear friends that are worn down in the grind of life express how burnt out they are. The words, “I kill myself, and kill myself, and kill myself,” are suspect to me lately. For I have a sneaking suspicion: What if the point of the bible, God’s covenant with Israel, Christianity, and the idea of Christ crucified is to show us the impotence of our sacrificing and it’s inability to bring about the arrival of whatever ideal future we strive for and always miss? What if the point of Christianity is to break this frenetic obsession and belief in this form of destructive sacrifice? We think “if only this thing were different, if only they weren’t here, if only I had this one thing … then everything would be great.” ... “I’ll be happy when...” Such thoughts fail to recognize the radical saving grace of Christ crucified.
The reality and insistent nature of death was once felt far more than we now experience. “...Here hung the lips that I have kissed I know not how oft.” - Hamlet says while holding the skull of Yorick, his father’s old court jester. It’s been a while since I’ve held the skull of someone I once knew. The people of old experienced the wonders and horrors of nature and felt the anxiety of fate and death. They lived pondering the enigmatic nature of their world. Floods, droughts, disease, heartache, and inexplicable calamities of all kinds cause humans to ask, “why?” We seek meaning from such incomprehensible effects, and in this unknowing we look around for a cause. We offload, finger point, analyze, project, scapegoat and kill something or someone in the hopes that a better future is just around the corner. It is for us most difficult to abide God’s silence.
Fearing God’s wrath, the people of old sacrificed goats and slaves, and virgins, and children desperately seeking to appease God for hope of better days to come. Have we in 2019 come any further? Or do we throw ourselves and others against the sacrificial wall, seeing what latest diet, guru, and wisdom sticks around the longest? Do we not still point to various groups of people believing everything would be better if they weren’t here … or everything would be great if they could just see things the way I see things ... if they’d just believe how I believe? Despite the insistence upon meditation or the newest fad in self help the words, “I kill myself, and kill myself, and kill myself,” ring on.
Christ crucified breaks apart the need for scapegoats, gurus, and rules for life and thus is radically anti wisdom. Any prescription that overlooks this beautiful gift and sends a person on a path to self fulfillment by way of additional striving is idolatrous and is akin to the serpent’s lie and our subsequent temptation to be like God.
“It is by grace you have been saved.” -- Though I saw these words written by the apostle Paul long ago, I only just now feel their vibration within me. I contend that regardless of whether or not one believes in God or an afterlife, it is possible to experience the truth of these words. Setting aside any hope of future heavenly treasures or fear of condemnation and the agony of eternal torment, I believe the existential power, thunder, and life giving meaning of these words can be brought into this life here and now.
Because of the work of the great 20th century theologian Paul Tillich, I’ve come to understand sin in a new way. Tillich defines sin as separation -- separation from God, from self, from our neighbor. Because some of us do not believe in the existence of the divine, I won’t write of the notion of separation from God but will instead focus on separation from self and separation from others and then will return to the apostle Paul’s words that I’ve included above.
That we feel separation from our own selves at first seems nonsensical. How can I be separate from myself? But upon second consideration I realize that so often I do in fact feel separation between who I am and who I wish was. I wish I was taller. I wish I was in better shape. I wish I was richer. I wish I was in a loving, exciting, romantic relationship. I wish I was bigger, better, and stronger at just about anything I can imagine. The distance between these two selves: my actual self, and my idealized self creates within me sadness and guilt for having fallen short. (Sin also translates: to miss the mark) The distance between my present self and my future self that will one day face death, and the fact that I lack the knowledge of what death will be like, how it will happen, whether or not loved ones will hold my hand as I pass, and the enigma of what lies beyond produces in me anxiety. I’m worried by the questions: Am I living up to my potential? Will I ever find love? Does painting or anything even matter? The separation I’ve felt at times from my friends, my mother, my father, my brother, and ex-girlfriends has led to the most torturous days and sleepless nights -- the grinding of teeth and the wishing that I or they hadn’t said what was said or done what was done fills me with longing and regret.
But when I return to those words, “It is by grace you have been saved,” and read Tillich’s definition of grace as acceptance, and then ask myself: can I accept that I am not who I wish I was? Can I be okay with being misunderstood? Can I be okay being alone? Can I be okay with the fact that there is separation between they and I? Can I be okay with not having certainty in the midst of life’s unceasing questions? I take in a deep breath, and a ‘yes’ rises within me and the guilt of having missed the mark and having fallen short of my ideal self melts away. And so if the power of grace is, as Tillich claims, the acceptance of acceptance, and if sin is separation -- I can thus say it truly is by grace that I am saved from this lonely, separated, sinful heart of mine.
When thought of in these terms, I see the radical saving power of acceptance at every Story Night when someone -- in vitality of spirit and with the courage to be -- steps forth and shares. It's one thing to be in a room of acceptance, it's another to find oneself having accepted that acceptance. I see it in every love-filled conversation between two or more people. I know it’s present when two heartbroken friends find consolation in the warm embrace of the other. To witness someone accept the acceptance is nothing short of a miracle and is, I believe, the manifestation of the Kingdom of God and the joy of my heart.
Tyler
This week I just barely dip my toe into exploring the difference between Jung and Freud. With the upcoming Peterson vs Zizek debate, I'm interested in unpacking what I've learned so far ... which admittedly isn't much. Any input is much appreciated.
I don't really have much to share this week. But nonetheless, I'm gonna publish something ... my happiness depends upon it!!!!!
This week I sat back and ate pizza while my friend Claire Overholt talked with Daniel Keys about childhood interests, a career in art, and how art and design touches each of our lives everyday.
This week Parker Brown swung by the house for some coffee, some good conversation, and to share a couple tunes as he and I prepare for the opening of Portal at Montana Gallery.
This week we touch on Lacan's notion of objet petit a. For me this is an important concept and can be partly understood through studying Rene Magritte's painting, "The Son of Man."
I plan to give a talk on this at the gallery in the coming weeks. This episode was a way for me to think out loud so that I can come to know whether I'm making any sense or not.
Here's a quick reflection on Paul Tillich's Courage to Be and his distinction between anxiety and fear.
The rose is without why; it blossoms because it blossoms;
It cares not for itself, asks not if it's seen.
This week my roommate and I shoot the breeze and discuss Hegel and other things we have surface level understandings of.
Thank God, at times I’m graciously reminded that I’m small, not by cause of other people’s belittling remarks or actions, but because I see the stars above, the mountains before me, the mass of humanity to my back and those unborn that have already and will one day turn to dust. In these ways I remember I’m small. The universe refuses to let us make sense of it. Quantum mechanics can’t be reconciled with Einstein’s theory of relativity. In my own life, every-time I think I’ve got things figured out I’m up-ended. Explanations of the horrors of this life fall flat, and yet this is all so indescribably beautiful! It inspires poets and painters to take up the never-ending task of trying to tell us about it.
It's easy to get so caught up in the day to day demands on our lives and I often forget what it feels like to sense that life is meaningful. But then I think back on times I'm connected with others ... times when they and I could naturally be our authentic, lonely, insecure selves with no fear of judgment. In these moments I sense that my very presence increases delight and decreases suffering for others and they're presence does the same for me. I marvel at these moments and long for them.
Jean Paul Sartre, was a somewhat controversial 20th century thinker. He claimed that "being precedes essence" which means we are all "condemned to freedom" ... In this episode I try to my best to explain what the heck that means and what value these ideas may have today.
I changed the name of the podcast from "The Montana Gallery Podcast" to ... "The Lonely Painter Podcast" ... I did this for a handful of reasons. Mainly, I want to do what I can to help make the world a little less lonely for others. I think one way we can accomplish this is by admitting to our own loneliness, our uncertainties, insecurities, and our mistakes.
This week my friend and Billings based photographer, cinematographer, artist, poet Mary Kate Teske and I catch up.
This week I tried my best to answer a few emailed in questions and then went over a few more with Ken and Richie as we sat in Chico Hotsprings...hotsprings sound so nice right now, especially after having just fallen down my studio stairs.
Like the title says, this week it's mostly nonsensical ramblings. There might be one or two halfway decent thoughts in this somewhere.
My friend Garth swung by to use my internet, little did he know he'd have to defend his love of Jordan Peterson to me...
Whether you like him or not, Peterson is making huge differences in the lives of so many people today. Thank you Garth for taking time out of your work day to engage with me and help me to understand why so many people do find him very helpful to their lives.
In this episode I share a couple stories about times I felt humiliated or really awkward or small and how sharing stories like this can help us bear the hard parts of life -- that in sharing about the wounds of our past, they are in some way robbed of their sting.
This morning Lenny and Jaxi, the owners of Ebon Coffee Collective -- which is connected to the gallery, swung by my place for coffee. Jaxi recently attended the Global Leadership Summit and has some new ideas she's excited to implement into their business.
I love this conversation with my buddy Grant! If I remember correctly, we covered a lot of good stuff about the creative process, coping with insecurities -- how they can fuel us at times and how we can perhaps set them aside and just live life.
If you haven't already, checkout Grant's kickstarter at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2038353113/grant-jones-debut-album-nighttime-friends
This week I'm getting ready for the Yellowstone show! But I thought I'd share a few more thoughts on lack and how we cope with it. Also I share a few emails from listeners.
This week I want to share a little about Story Night and how it orriginated, why I think it's special, and then I want to tell you guys my story about my recent struggle with anxiety.
Coila Evans helps answer a couple emailed in questions relating to finding community in the art world.
Monday July 23rd - We're trying our best to understand modernism, post modernism... I may be way off in my comprehension of it all, so please feel free to email in with comments, questions, concerns, and corrections.
I'm trying something new for at least the next month. I'm going to try to put out one episode each week.
Four great contemporary artists share their near immediate reaction to paintings by Emil Carlsen.
Come hang out with Josh and I in his studio as he shares story after story -- each full levity and profound insight.
Join us in Albin Veselka's studio as he shares his thoughts on art, perserverance, and future plans.
Daniel Keys just won the grand prize at Portrait Society! Hear what this huge accomplishment means to him and what it felt like to hear his name called! Thank you to those that wrote in with questions! Daniel was able to answer many of them.
Kenneth Yarus, Richie Carter, Nate Closson, and I went down to Scottsdale, AZ for the opening of Daniel's solo exhibition: "Opus" at Legacy Gallery...and we recorded a little bit of the madness. So pull up a chair, and join the five of us at this hexagonal table.
Parker Brown shares his thoughts and stories about his music, specifically his new LIVE album.
Richie Carter the artist/musician delivers hilarious stories and honest insight into the highs and lows of creativity. He shares his thoughts on composition, finding your own artistic voice, and he let us include one of his original songs. Easily one of my favorite pieces of media I've been a part of. Enjoy!
Episode 5: Daniel Keys talks about his pursuit of art, the importance of mentors, the false narratives surrounding a career in art, and a few thoughts on navigating the art waters.
Gail Luhman is the owner of Cool Water Jewelry of Montana, but I know her as Mom. When it comes to making art and running a business, she's a pretty smart cookie. I made this episode so that 30 years from now, I'd have it. But artists of any background will appreciate her insight. Enjoy...
Kristen tells us about her life as a gallery owner and author, the wonderful artists she's worked along side, her relationship with her late husband Tim, and some practical advice for artists everywhere.
In this episode you'll hear my essay on something life changing. It's followed up with a lovely chat with the wonderful Molly Fedje.
Josh and I grab breakfast and talk about art and life, and ... Josh shares a sweet extra little something at the end.