On this, our 50th episode (enter fanfare) we discuss the nature of sanity and insanity. Wait, before you think that this is a highfalutin' philosophical show (well, it does have some philosophy) we came to this show by way of a question we asked ourselves: who is the sanest person we know?
This lead us down a rabbit hole for a week as we tried to put together a composite of the "sanest person" we know. Perhaps, sanity is illusive. Perhaps we are all insane. Or, like most things... it's complicated and we're not quite sure. But, join us as we discuss Dan's adventure with his two boys and missing cat, Jeff's new bike, and we think out loud through the thought of G.K. Chesterton, Soren Kierkegaard and others. We play some Old 97's and Beastie Boys and get around to making a little more sense of the world, our collective selves, and what it means to be sane.  The closing song is a cover of "Crazy Train" by the Denver country band The Railbenders.

We share things we wish were true but probably aren't.  We share things we are pretty darn sure aren't true are not true.  

We discuss conspiracy theories, the Melanchthon Circle, Santiago Sam, kambucha, alchemy, neoplatonism, St. Augustine's Confessions, Masonry, Airborne, occult philosophy, esoterica, the JFK assasination, Ethiopia's claim to have the Ark of the Covenant, and postmodernity.

We talk about several recent scandals and leaders who have fallen from cultural grace.  Then, we call Jeff's old friend Chris to talk about his experience with the movement led by Bill Gothard. We discuss authoritarianism, spiritual abuse, Woody Allen, Ted Haggard, Anthony Weiner, and Lance Armstrong.  

With Jeff Macaré, a favorite Lutheran hippy.  We talk about music,  the nature of digital and analog sound, Dan's diet of caffeine, nicotine and prozac and more importantly: the ambiguity of the word "nature" and Jaff Macare on his vocation of filtering water (that's right! water filtering! Seriously, hear what he has to say about that bottled water you're drinking)

We move from individuals to society in our quest to understand narcissism.  Sociologists, Dr. Kristen Koenig (B.A., Occidental College, M.Sc., University of Oxford, D.Phil., University of York) joins us to make sense of it all.  This is one of our favorite conversations yet.  We find out what the "i" in "iPhone" means.  You are going to dig Dr. Koenig! Has narcissism as a trait (not the disorder per se), including vanity and selfishness been on the rise over the last several decades?  Listen to find out.

Dr. John Lu, social psychologist, joins us for a discussion of the nature of the DSM (a tool for diagnosing psychological disorders), the nature of narcissism, and the concept of an operational definition.  This is the second of several episodes planned for spring on the topic of narcissism. 

The hosts play with some initial ideas related to art and why we like what we like.  Dan explains some of the background behind conversations about art and beauty we will have over the coming months.  Don't expect a full and comprehensive lecture.  Expect the opening volley in a larger discussion about beauty (since we've talked a bit more about goodness and truth in our first six months).  Dan gives some art history background.  Jeff talks about beauty in the Bible.  We share our top guilty aesthetic pleasures and guilty aesthetic displeasures.

The myth of Narcissus with classicist and Faithful Masks Fellow Dr. C. J. Armstrong.  We each take an online narcissism test and share the results.  Stories about Dan's kids.

Stories about snags over the winter vacation, things we learned from vocation fails in our own lives, and historical vocation fails.  Thanks for checking out the first podcast of 2014.

Topics include:

Epic of Gilgamesh

Householder Yogi

Drinking your own urine for health benefits

Upgrade to Garage Band

The Big Lebowski

One Week

Wundermann

Norton Motorcycles

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Sucker Punch

Jerry Garcia Senior

Bob Dylan Senior

Young Life

Paul Fairweather, Symbolic Regression Therapy

Dr. Bruce Gordon

HD DVD

Crystal Pepsi

Arch Delux

47 Ronin

Don't be that guy.