Thanks for this post. I definitely get your point. I imagine myself as a Skeptiko listener and I think it would have been hard for me to sort some of this stuff out a few years ago.Hello Alex and Skeptiko world!
A few times on recent shows you've had deep dives / 'level 3' conversations, which are great, yet they're always tagged with 'level 1~2' caveats during the show to ease some folks in ("let's go back for some listeners and just explain the basics of 'X").
Sometimes though I notice Alex is just saying 'sorry, if you're lost go and read~check out ref "X" to get up to speed' etc; why such mixing and messing?
I thought to suggest that you could start putting out shows that are clearly marked 'L3' conversations and even add some warning and background reading links for anyone a bit lost with the conversation.
I'm just being totally selfish here, and the Sk. forum probably is going to have a sKewed view on this (maybe you have some independent listener data on this), but I think we're at the stage now where L3+ conversations without any hand holding are needed.
Often I come to a new subject and encounter things I'm not familiar with, so I go off and check it out a little on my own time, I hate to think I'm bringing the group down to my level just to keep me feeling comfortable! And with this show, it's even easier because you just go back through the episode archive!!
I think you'd get a lot more out of the guests that way, the short time we have on the episodes can be more fruitful and hopefully it inspires any newbies to get a sense of how far the topic goes.
For me at least, when one is pushed to check into something myself and come to find conclusions, they tend to stick rather than a talking head saying 'it is so'.
It's how I came to the position on why 'materialism is dead', folks like yourself and on Rune Soup, AEWCH podcasts etc saying the same thing but never holding my hand to really explain why, it lead me off on a road that has me arrived at ..well, here :)
Thanks and apologies if this was posted elsewhere (ironically? I didn't find it lol;) !
The 10 principles discussed in his book The Light After Death are:
1. Be authentic - Let go of your different personas you take on in different situations. Learn to accept your real self, you won't believe anyone else can love you if you don't love yourself.
2. The purpose of life (is to learn and develop).
3. Love everyone
4. Listen to your inner voice
5. Use technology responsibly (don't use it it drag yourself into negativity or negative places)
6. Release prejudice
7. The power of creation (Fill your mind with positive thoughts because you create what you think of. If you want to fix something, think of what you want to replace it with.)
8. Avoid negative influences (The news media and political parties are a big source of negativity.)
9. The purpose of evil - is to strengthen our spirit (like weights strengthen our muscles)
10. We are all one