I choose to call myself PhillyBluesFan out of a great appreciation for that earthy American musical tradition and because my wife and because I spent 15 good years living just on the edge of metropolitan Philadelphia. You could reach our former home by taking the second exit off I95 just across the Delaware state line. It is interesting that we were sandwiched between Chester, Pa on one side and Swarthmore, Pa on the other.

Among my fondest memories of that experience would have to be the evenings I spent teaching decision making to one inmate at a time inside a prison in Chester and the days I spent helping put together a small independent magazine that was published on a shoestring in what used to be a North Philly rowhouse ... the original location of THE SIMPLE WAY.

One of the other unique to Philadelphia paces I used to frequent was the Quaker retreat center at Pendle Hill. I'd sit in their quiet library, listening to a podcast on my smartphone or reading books from the stacks.

After this bit of personal introduction, I invite you to listen in on a recorded Zoom conversation with Shane Claiborne. He lives in the neighborhood where we assembled CONSPIRE

Joseph Campbell and the Myth of the Hero's Journey

We explore the relationship between mythology and the unconscious, and look at the monomyth Joseph Campbell called the myth of the hero's journey.

The Hero with a Thousand Faces (highlights reading)

“The agony of breaking through personal limitations is the agony of spiritual growth. Art, literature, myth and cult, philosophy, and ascetic disciplines are instruments to help the individual past his limiting horizons into spheres of ever-expanding realization. As he crosses threshold after threshold, conquering dragon after dragon, the stature of the divinity that he summons to his highest wish increases, until it subsumes the cosmos. Finally, the mind breaks the bounding sphere of the cosmos to a realization transcending all experiences of form - all symbolizations, all divinities: a realization of the ineluctable void.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces

Have you been having more vivid dreams lately? You’re not alone. EARSHOT delves into the collective unconscious to find out what’s behind these ‘quarantine dreams’.

During our dream states, stress sends the brain on a trip. The neurobiological signals and reactions that produce dreams are similar to those triggered by psychedelic drugs.

Since the Covid-19 crisis began, people around the world have reported that their dreams are more vivid and bizarre than usual: from nightmares about overcrowded trains or Donald Trump sneezing on them, to wistful dreams about their favourite restaurant. What can we learn from this strange new phenomenon?

Guests: Dr Kelly Bulkeley, psychologist of religion specializing in dream research, and the director of the Sleep and Dream Database ~ Dr Deirdre Barrett, author of The Committee of Sleep as well as a Harvard dream researcher. Her new book is Pandemic Dreams ~ Zara Haghpanah-Shirwan is one of the founders of Lockdown Dreams ~ Dr Julia Lockheart, artist and Professor Mark Blagrove, sleep scientist set up and run Dreams ID. Through the lockdown they’ve run online dream groups. inviting frontline and key workers to discuss a recent or important dream, while Julia creates an artwork that captures the dream.

Quarantine Dreams

A look at burning political issues and debates and their historical context within the US and worldwide, hosted by Mitch Jeserich.

[video:https://youtu.be/wPnhaGWBnys]

A story inspired by the Christmas truce of 1914, a miraculous occurrence of peace for two days when men laid down their arms, came out of their trenches, and celebrated the holiday together. The aftermath depicted in the film is also part of history. The German, French, and Scottish commanders were severely reprimanded for "fraternization with the enemy." New troops were brought in to replace those who had been tainted by the experience. After all, war depends upon seeing the other side as subhuman.

In a disturbing scene, Palmer, the Anglican priest, is harshly criticized by his bishop, who argues that Jesus did not come to bring peace but a sword. Later, we see the bishop telling the new recruits that they are in a crusade, a holy war for freedom. Hearing these words and realizing how far this view is from the teachings of Jesus, Palmer takes off his cross, leaves it on a bedpost, and walks away.

[video:https://youtu.be/-cSrqRdlFeo]

From Lexinton, Kentucky ....

WoodSongs is an ALL VOLUNTEER live audience celebration of grassroots music and the artists who make it. The show airs on 537 radio stations from Australia to Dublin, Ireland, on American Forces Radio Network twice each weekend in 177 nations, every military base and US Naval ship in the world, coast-to-coast in millions of TV homes as a public TV series. Now Friday and Wednesday’s on RFD-TV America’s Most Important Rural Network. WoodSongs is produced 44 Mondays a year.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzRIdbTgBME]

As with pubs and shoes, you know you’re reading a great book from the second you’re inside it.

In the right hands, a novel’s beginning alone can make you feel like you’ve just fallen into a fast-flowing river, snatched away from reality and hurtled downhill. They range from hard-boiled pulp fiction to classics to, well, The Bible; the only thing they have in common is that they’re so good it’s impossible not to read on.

Walter M. Miller Jr served as a radio operator and gunner in the US Army Air Corps during the Second World War. He was involved in the assault on the Benedictine abbey at Monte Cassino, the experience of which later led him to write his classic SF novel A Canticle For Leibowitz. Walter M. Miller Jr died in 2006.

Miller's 1959 novel follows the Monks of the Order of St. Leibowitz as they attempt to preserve the remnants of civilization after a nuclear war.