The beautiful Veri and Anna Mayala were in love, but she was poor, and her many suitors were grievous to them.  But finally, they were to be married, and on that date imaginative “Crazy Veri” got a roebuck from the woods for the feast and was walking back to the village.   At a footbridge, his mind wandering, he noticed the moon had already risen, and its reflection shone in the water.  He grew melancholy, and was drawn by sweet melodies.  He saw a beautiful pair of legs, and a woman plopped on his shoulder.  She looked into his eyes, saying he would forget his bride, but he went with her.   Some time later, Anna Mayala was to be married.  She walked with her mother of the same name, and a wild man ran up to them, trying to take the bride, saying he’d been gone but he was the rightful groom.  He was pushed away, and then seen in the town from time to time, until he was seen in the parson’s house, and then no more.     More time passed, and a Franciscan monk would come to the town occasionally, liking especially to stay with Anna Mayala and her husband.  When her husband died, she realized who Veri was, and he told her his story.  Down below, he’d had several children with his wife, but her feet were bound with ribbons, as were the childrens.’  He eventually discovered their webbed, clawed feet and wished for a normal child, and when it came it horrified the mermaids and they devoured it.  At this, he cried out and was sent back to our world.   Later, when Anna Mayala died, Veri passed away kneeling at her bedside.  Two white doves flew out of the window.  When Anna’s daughter grieved out loud at the stream, the waters overflowed into the house and did not stop roiling until the priest sprinkled holy water.  Receding, child corpses were left behind.     Every anniversary of Crazy Veri’s death, the stream overflows its banks, and the moon is no longer reflected in its waters.   Join us for this summary and discussion of the German tale of wildness, forbidden love, longing and lost time! (From a discussion on Von Schönwerth’s “Anna Mayala”)   Thank you for the likes! A comment and a subscribe really helps us out!     For the full video episode: https://youtu.be/ZGx8Odijcvo   Audio episode: https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/von-schonwerth-s-anna-mayala-forbidden-love-and-time-forever-lost/   For more in this podcast, please go to: Podbean: https://benomtad.podbean.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863 YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ X: https://x.com/Benomtad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benomtad   I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

About the Merchant’s son’s character: Early in life he showed faith in his father, himself, the world… How did he change?  When he goes back home he is not recognized by the sentries of his hometown.  Then he changes into the shepherd’s garb.  Perhaps there is something of another world to him, and he isn’t to return to this world?    (From a discussion of “The King of the Golden Mountain,” by the Brothers Grimm)   Thank you for the likes! A comment and a subscribe really helps us out!     For the full video episode: https://youtu.be/lwZ6kpPHHlk   Audio episode: https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/the-brothers-grimm-s-the-king-of-the-golden-mountain/   Compare: Von Schonwerth’s “The Scorned Princess:” https://youtu.be/F6gC0Sk9qJQ   For more in this podcast, please go to: Podbean: https://benomtad.podbean.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863 YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ X: https://x.com/Benomtad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benomtad   I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

Back in the time of small kings, one was riding forth with his retinue from the castle to go hunting.  Three sisters who were watching their cows saw them, and the eldest pointed to the king and said she would marry him, or none.  The second girl answered from the other side of the hill, pointing to the one on the right and saying the same thing.  The king had the three sisters brought to him and confirmed what they had said, and he married the eldest and two ministers married the other two of the beautiful sisters.   Now when the king was to go away, he asked the two sisters to watch his wife, who was about to give birth.  They were without child, and when the King’s son was born, they took it and threw it into the river.  A bird flew up, scaring them away and singing about the baby’s tomb until God’s word comes.  The sisters do this with the next son and daughter over a few years, telling the king that the children were dogs and a cat.   On the last word, the king angrily has his wife thrown in prison.  Meanwhile, in the country a fisherman and his barren wife have raised the three children.  The eldest son is rejected by the other boys as a foundling, and when he is of age, he pesters the fisherman until he lets the boy seek his real father.  The prince comes to an old fisher lady at a great body of water, and says she won’t have much luck.  She carries him over the water to search for his father, but he becomes lost in the land beyond.  Next year, the same happens with the 2nd son when he goes to find his brother.  Finally, the daughter goes out to search, but she wishes the fisher lady good luck, and she is given a wand and told what to do: she is to walk on the road past a great dog she is to ignore, through a castle, where she is to drop the wand, then go to the tree growing from a spring beyond.  She is to take back a glass of the water and the caged bird and strike the dog with the wand.     Now on the way back, the princess finds her brothers and when she strikes the dog it becomes a handsome prince.  They all go back to the fisherman’s house and hang the caged bird on the wall.  Eventually, the second brother goes out hunting, and when he is tired he plays his flute.  The king finds him and asks who gave him permission to hunt there, and he says, “No one.”  The king learns of his supposed father, and they go back to the fisherman, for the king knows him to be childless.  There, the bird sings the truth of the perfidy of the sisters.  The king frees his wife, she is revived with the water from the spring, the false sisters are burned, and the daughter married the handsome prince.   (From a discussion on the Brothers Grimm’s “The Three Little Birds”)   Thank you for the likes! A comment and a subscribe really helps us out!     For the full video episode: https://youtu.be/Dn_-L4xDwh0   Audio episode: https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/grimms-the-three-little-birds-summary-and-discussion/   For more in this podcast, please go to: Podbean: https://benomtad.podbean.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863 YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ X: https://x.com/Benomtad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benomtad   I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

The character of Bearskin: courage, but then he learns perseverance with his seven years of living Hell.  He must live truly wretchedly; he cannot even pray.     (From a discussion on “Bearskin,” by the Brothers Grimm)   Thank you for the likes! A comment and a subscribe really helps us out!     For the full video episode: https://youtu.be/4oT1UC1ReKM   Audio episode: https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/the-brothers-grimms-bearskin/   Von Schonwerth’s “The Scorned Princess:” https://youtu.be/F6gC0Sk9qJQ   For more in this podcast, please go to: Podbean: https://benomtad.podbean.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863 YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ X: https://x.com/Benomtad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benomtad   I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

JJ Rousseau wrote in “Emile” that his principle aim in teaching his student is to feel the beautiful of all sorts to fix his tastes on it and prevent his natural appetites from corruption.  In this podcast I try to introduce Ian to Rousseau’s thought and we go off into the wilds of conversation.   Thank you for the likes! A comment and a subscribe really helps us out!     For the full video episode:   For more in this podcast, please go to: Podbean: https://benomtad.podbean.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863 YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ X: https://x.com/Benomtad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benomtad   I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

A wealthy merchant loses his ships, and a dwarf appears to him with an offer: sacrifice the first thing that touches you when you come home, and I will help you exceed your previous riches.  He is dismayed, however, when his son runs up to him, and twelve years later, that son belongs to the dwarf.   He is clever, however, and negotiates with the little man, who lets him be sent off into the river by his father.  The boat capsizes, and his father goes away, grieving.  The boy survived, however, and eventually makes his way to a dark castle, where he meets a princess in the form of a snake.  He endures torture a few nights and has his head cut off, and so frees her from her spell.  She gets the water of life and revives him, and he is now King of the Mountain.     He lives happily with her and has a son, but he desires to go back and visit her parents.  She gives him a ring that can whisk him anywhere, but she warns him not to transport her to his parents.’  When he goes home, he is unrecognized, first for his rich garments and then for his borrowed shepherd’s cloak.  He then brings his wife via magic to prove his story, but his wife leaves him with the child, and he only  has her slipper.   He makes his way to a mountain with three giants fighting over their magical inheritance: a sword, a cloak, and a pair of shoes.  He swindles the giants out of these items and makes his way back to the Golden Mountain, where he finds his wife is to be remarried.  Made invisible by the cloak, he takes his wife’s food before she can eat it at the banquet.  She leaves, and he curses her for her betrayal in her room, and going down to the hall, tells the assembled bigwigs to leave.  When they try to seize him, he decapitates them all with the sword.  He alone is now master, and again King of the Golden Mountain. (From a discussion on “The King of the Golden Mountain,” by the Brothers Grimm)   Thank you for the likes! A comment and a subscribe really helps us out!     For the full video episode: Audio episode: Compare: Von Schonwerth’s “The Scorned Princess:” https://youtu.be/F6gC0Sk9qJQ   For more in this podcast, please go to: Podbean: https://benomtad.podbean.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863 YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ X: https://x.com/Benomtad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benomtad   I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

Ian talks about various strands of Buddhism, including Tibet and its philosopher rule, and Zen’s founder’s saying a lot of words about the problems with expressing things with words.  This is within the larger context of Buddhism in the West and the Meaning Crisis.   (From a discussion on “Awakening from the Meaning Crisis, Ep. 13, Buddhism and Parasitic Processing”)   Thank you for the likes! A comment and a subscribe really helps us out!     For the full video episode: https://youtu.be/9TU3BUjLumw   Audio episode: https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/vervaeke-buddhism-parasitic-processing/   For more in this podcast, please go to: Podbean: https://benomtad.podbean.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863 YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ X: https://x.com/Benomtad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benomtad   About our guest: Ian Reclusado is currently off exploring the poetic wilds of psychology, neuroscience, and spirituality.  He also offers guidance services for those interested in delving into their own inner wilderness. You can find his weekly dispatches at www.thekindknife.com or follow him on Instagram: @ian_reclusado   I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

A soldier returns from the wars, and now that his parents have died, he seeks shelter with his brothers.  But they reject him, and he wanders, penniless and starving, into a field.  The wind shifts, and a sly man in a green coat appears.  The soldier is to kill a bear, and he does so unflinchingly, so the green frocked man offers him a deal: if he wears the bearskin, which is what he will be known by, for seven years, without washing or dying, he will have great fortune.  But if he fails, his soul will go to the devil.   Bearskin agrees, and wanders the world wearing the devil’s green coat with its unlimited gold underneath the beastial covering.  After some time, rejected by humanity, he despairs at an inn.  However, hearing the cries of another man, he asks what is wrong.  The man has debts he cannot pay to support his family.  Bearskin pays them and the man offers his daughter’s hand in return.   At the man’s house, Bearskin is surprised at the man’s three daughters’ comeliness.  However, the eldest two are shocked at his appearance and reject him outright.  The third, however, quietly assents to pay her father’s debt.  Bearskin takes a gold ring, breaks it in two, and inscribes her name on his half and his on hers.  He says if she can wait for him for three years and pray to God for his life, they can be married.   Bearskin then wanders the world, giving alms to the poor that they may pray for his soul.  At the end of the contractual term, he returns to the clearing.  The wind shifts and the Devil reappears, looking at Bearskin angrily.  He moves to re-exchange their coats, but Bearskin insists he cleans him first.  After, he disappears and Bearskin, handsomer than ever, acquires a velvet coat and white horses.   Riding to the father’s house, he is not recognized and taken for a great general.  The eldest daughters ply him with wine, and laughing, leave to put on their best dresses.  The youngest, silent, remains, and Bearskin pushes a wineglass to her with his half of the ring in the bottom.  Finishing the glass, she sees it and fits it perfectly to her own, hung around her neck with a ribbon.  They embrace, and the sisters, returning and realizing what happened, run out of the house in jealousy and rage.  One drowns herself and the other hangs herself.  The Devil in his green coat knocks on the door and thanks Bearskin, for he has gotten two souls instead of one.   Thank you for the likes! A comment and a subscribe really helps us out!     For the full video episode: https://youtu.be/4oT1UC1ReKM   Audio episode: https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/the-brothers-grimms-bearskin/ Von Schonwerth’s “The Scorned Princess:” https://youtu.be/F6gC0Sk9qJQ   For more in this podcast, please go to: Podbean: https://benomtad.podbean.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863 YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ X: https://x.com/Benomtad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benomtad   I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

The story teaches that one wants to find the good-hearted, but hard-working parts, and bring in the creative magic, and over time, alchemize the tyrannical ruler, and overcome him, without ruining its good nature.  The sharpshooter follows that way, not knowing exactly what is happening, to a place he does not understand that is said to be at the edge of destruction.   (From a discussion on “Go to the Verge of Destruction and Bring Back Shmat-Razum”)   Thank you for the likes! A comment and a subscribe really helps us out!     For the full video episode: https://youtu.be/NrumhRwhgvI   Audio episode: https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/go-to-the-verge-of-destruction-and-bring-back-shmat-razum/   A Video Reading of the Story: https://youtu.be/8rgwtL5amZM   Go to the Verge of Destruction and Bring Back Shmat-Razum: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/50011/50011-h/50011-h.htm#chap14   For more in this podcast, please go to: Podbean: https://benomtad.podbean.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863 YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ X: https://x.com/Benomtad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benomtad   About our guest: Ian Reclusado is currently off exploring the poetic wilds of psychology, neuroscience, and spirituality.  He also offers guidance services for those interested in delving into their own inner wilderness. You can find his weekly dispatches at www.thekindknife.com or follow him on Instagram: @ian_reclusado   Searching for the Search: https://zenyogagurdjieff.substack.com/p/searching-for-the-search?r=h5jz7&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=audio-player   Compare: “The Crane Wife,” a Japanese tale: https://youtu.be/etGR9Ir7rBM?si=thXvw8cnp3pJ_sMU   I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

A fisherman lived with his wife in a miserable pigsty by the sea.  When he went fishing, he pulled up a large flounder, a prince who began speaking with him and negotiated his release.  The fisherman simply let the talking fish go, leaving a trail of blood behind it.  Back home, his wife, surprised that he did not ask for anything, sends him back to wish for a nicer home.  He goes back, and the water is a bit murky now.  He sings a ditty, letting the flounder know this is against his wishes, and the fisherman and his wife’s house is a cottage with animals and a yard no sooner than the aquatic prince gives the word.   But the man’s wife increasingly hounds him to order better and better housing, and more and more power.  They ascend the social order, growing higher to the heavens, until the linear story becomes a circle.   Please join us for a reading-commentary on this story, followed by discussion! (From a discussion on “The Fisherman and His Wife,” by the Brothers Grimm)   Thank you for the likes! A comment and a subscribe really helps us out!     For the full video episode: Audio episode: For more in this podcast, please go to: Podbean: https://benomtad.podbean.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863 YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ X: https://x.com/Benomtad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benomtad   I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

The first two sons of the king’s gardener are passive, choosing the pleasure inn over the shabby one, and they end up as condemned robbers.  These hedonistic brothers ignore wise advice and go instead with their senses.  Their passivity may be rooted in their upbringing.  They may be like the pleasure-seeking erotic man who keeps expanding the outlets for his desire and eventually step on someone’s toes.    (From a discussion on the Grimm’s Bros.’ “The Golden Bird”)   Thank you for the likes! A comment and a subscribe really helps us out!     For the full video episode: https://youtu.be/2MNCaPiE9DE   Audio episode: https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/the-brothers-grimm-s-the-golden-bird/   For more in this podcast, please go to: Podbean: https://benomtad.podbean.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863 YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ X: https://x.com/Benomtad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benomtad   I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

In “Awakening from the Meaning Crisis,” Ep. 13, “Buddhism and Parasitic Processing,” John Vervaeke, based in Stephen Batchelor’s idea that we’ve gravely misinterpreted Buddhism in the West, outlines how we might understand core parts of the Buddha’s teachings.  For suffering, he interprets it as a form of parasitic processing, a reciprocal narrowing of the connection between oneself and the world.  And for moving towards enlightenment, he shows how it might be the opposite of that, a kind of Platonic ascent, famously outlined in “The Republic.”  Ian criticizes this, and we discuss how suffering and enlightenment might be different and how true Buddhism is alive and well in the West.  Both approaches may be useful in reducing suffering and increasing insight and wellbeing.   Thank you for the likes! A comment and a subscribe really helps us out!     For the full video episode: https://youtu.be/9TU3BUjLumw   Audio episode: https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/vervaeke-buddhism-parasitic-processing/   For more in this podcast, please go to: Podbean: https://benomtad.podbean.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863 YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ X: https://x.com/Benomtad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benomtad   About our guest: Ian Reclusado is currently off exploring the poetic wilds of psychology, neuroscience, and spirituality.  He also offers guidance services for those interested in delving into their own inner wilderness. You can find his weekly dispatches at www.thekindknife.com or follow him on Instagram: @ian_reclusado   I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

On appearances: Robin Hood voluntarily descends in society.  That way, he can see what is happening on the ground.  Perhaps those who truly speak to the people attract all sorts.    For the full video episode: https://youtu.be/vtACZtly05A   Audio episode: https://youtu.be/uslCz3O2V_k   For more in this podcast, please go to: Podbean: https://benomtad.podbean.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863 YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ X: https://x.com/Benomtad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benomtad   I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

Did the evil stepmother queen in “Snow White” grow a bit from then to this story?  Well, she is still trying for unchanging beautiful perfection.  She does not go the way of nature.  (From a discussion on Jonathan Pageau’s “Rapunzel.”)   Thank you for the likes! A comment and a subscribe really helps us out!     For the video episode: https://youtu.be/eX0YUp4bTn0   Audio episode: https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/jonathan-pageaus-rapunzel-summary-and-discussion/   For more in this podcast, please go to: Podbean: https://benomtad.podbean.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863 YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ X: https://x.com/Benomtad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benomtad   I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

The king’s best hunter shoots a bird, wounding it, and it begs him to not kill it, instructing him to bring it home, put it on a window sill, and strike it.  When he does so, it turns into a beautiful woman and they marry.  She sees that he is wearied by his daily hunting and instructs him to borrow money from everyone he knows to buy silk.  She summons two youthful magical helpers and they craft a tapestry of the whole kingdom, down to the smallest detail.  At her direction, he takes it to the marketplace to sell it for whatever is offered.  The merchants are struck dumb, but the mayor, traveling through, offers a very high price for it.   Back at the palace, the mayor shows it to the king, who is so impressed he forces him to sell it to him for a much higher price.  Wanting to commission another such work, the mayor goes to the hunter’s home but falls in love with his wife.  He tells the king, who then dispatches the mayor to get rid of the hunter.  Baba Yaga meets the mayor in a wasteland and tells him to send the hunter on a quest from which he’ll not return.  The king summons the wife to his castle, but she escapes him, flying through a window in bird form.   The hunter’s wife gives him a ball he is to follow on his way and a towel he is to use rather than any he is offered.  It brings him to a castle with women who recognize their sister’s towel, and they help him by summoning the animals of creation.  Only a lowly and old frog knows where to find the Shmat-Razum.  He is given a bowl of milk in which to carry the guide.  When they cross a river, the frog increases in size and the hunter rides him over it.   He hides in a cave where there is a table set, and spies on two old men who eat and are waited upon by a servant.  When the men leave, the hunter offers to be the new master of the servant, who is glad to have someone who is grateful for his help.  On their way back, Shmat-Razum begins to carry the hunter, and they fly fast as the wind.  In the middle of a large lake, they stop and are visited by three merchants, who exchange their magical gifts for the hunter’s servant.  On their way, though, the servant abandons them and returns to his grateful master.   Upon returning to his wife, the hunter uses the magical gifts to establish a beautiful castle and gardens on the shore.  The king, looking upon the success with envy, sends troops who are defeated by an army from one of the gifts.  The king is killed in the battle, and the hunter and his wife are free, prosperous, and unhounded by rivals.   We read and discuss this tale and related ideas.   Searching for the Search: https://zenyogagurdjieff.substack.com/p/searching-for-the-search?r=h5jz7&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=audio-player   Thank you for the likes! A comment and a subscribe really helps us out!     For the full video episode: https://youtu.be/NrumhRwhgvI Audio episode: https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/go-to-the-verge-of-destruction-and-bring-back-shmat-razum/   For more in this podcast, please go to: Podbean: https://benomtad.podbean.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863 YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ X: https://x.com/Benomtad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benomtad   About our guest: Ian Reclusado is currently off exploring the poetic wilds of psychology, neuroscience, and spirituality.  He also offers guidance services for those interested in delving into their own inner wilderness. You can find his weekly dispatches at www.thekindknife.com or follow him on Instagram: @ian_reclusado   I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

The Brothers Grimm’s “The Golden Bird”  A king’s garden is robbed of a golden apple, and he sends his three sons, one at a time, to discover the culprit.  The first two fall asleep, resulting in two more missing apples, but the youngest son shoots a feather off the thief–a golden bird–with an arrow on the third night.  The king finds it’s so valuable that he sends his sons, one at a time, after it.  On the way, they each meet a fox, and the eldest take aim at it, but only the third heeds his advice to steer clear of the exciting inn and instead stay in the humble tavern ahead.   The next morning, the fox rejoins the youngest son and tells him to go to the castle past the sleeping guards and into a chamber where he will find a golden bird.  He is not to take it out of its wooden cage and put it into the golden one.  But when the son arrives, he does just that and the bird sings, alerting the king, who has him arrested.  The only way to keep his life is to go on on his journey and capture a golden horse. His fox companion again rejoins him, ferrying him like lightning on his tail, and advises him not to outfit the horse with the golden saddle, but only the common leather and wood one.  At the stable, the horse neighs loudly, alerting the grooms after he went against the fox’s council.  The grooms seize him and the only way for the king of that castle to spare his life is for him to bring back the princess from the Golden Castle.   The fox, disdaining but pitying the poor boy, helps him again.  He is to not let the princess say goodbye to her parents.  He does so, however, and is made to dig away a hill that blocks the king’s windows.  The fox performs the impossible task overnight, and the hapless third son leaves with the princess.   The fox tells him the horse belongs to the princess, and tells him a ruse to get it.  After the rejoicing and feasting, he takes leave of the princess last while mounted on the golden horse, absconding with her.  Then, back at the first castle, with the princess in the fox’s care, he steals the golden bird while still mounted on the horse.  Now with the horse, bird, and princess, the fox warns him to not buy gallows flesh or sit by rivers. Back at the town of the two inns, he sees that his profligate brothers are set to hang.  He buys their freedom, and on the way home, before the river, they push him in and take his princess and animals.  Drowning, he is again saved by the fox, who warns him of his brothers’ spies and asks him to cut off his head and feet, but the prince refuses.  He walks on and exchanges clothes with a poor man on the road.  Upon his return home, no one knew him but the princess stops weeping, the bird begins to sing, and the horse begins to eat, and the king realizes he is the one who saved them.  The wicked brothers were seized and put to death, and the third son married the princess and was declared heir. A long time later, the King’s son was once again walking in the wood, and the fox again made his unusual request.  He did it and the animal was transformed into a prince, and none other than the princess’s brother.  They all lived happily ever after. Thank you for the likes! A comment and a subscribe really helps us out!     For the full video episode: https://youtu.be/2MNCaPiE9DE   Audio episode: https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/the-brothers-grimm-s-the-golden-bird/   For more in this podcast, please go to: Podbean: https://benomtad.podbean.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863 YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ X: https://x.com/Benomtad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benomtad   I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

Robin Hood & the Tinker: The Sheriff of Nottingham sends out a warrant for Robin Hood’s arrest.  Local men don’t want to take it up, but a Tinker from out of town brags he will serve it.  Robin Hood is able to get him drunk and avoid a fight, but then has to fight him down the road.  The Tinker breaks Hood’s staff but the outlaw calls his men, and they make him one of their own.   The Shooting Match at Nottingham Town: The shamed Sheriff gathers his men in newly-minted armor and marches into London to ask the king to help him with the outlaw.  The king admonishes him, and he returns with the idea of a ruse: surely a shooting match will ensnare the proud Hood.  All the best shooters compete, but a mysterious stranger comes away with the prize begrudgingly bestowed upon him by a seemingly suspicious Sheriff.  RH cannot resist, however, and has a note shot into the Sheriff’s Hall letting him know he has been bested by his nemesis yet again.   Will Stutely Rescued by his Good Companions: Now a merry man in friar disguise is discovered and captured by the Sheriff’s foresters.  Robin Hood and others go to rescue him from the gallows, and in the process they thoroughly bepate the Sheriff’s men and humiliate the clever leader.  The Sheriff departs Part I silently and thoroughly, and holes up in his hamlet for days.     Ian and I summarize and discuss these fine tales of the legendary hero of the people.     Thank you for the likes! A comment and a subscribe really helps us out!     For the full video episode: https://youtu.be/vtACZtly05A   Audio episode: https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/howard-pyle-s-robin-hood-part-i/   For more in this podcast, please go to: Podbean: https://benomtad.podbean.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863 YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ X: https://x.com/Benomtad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benomtad   About our guest: Ian Reclusado is currently off exploring the poetic wilds of psychology, neuroscience, and spirituality.  He also offers guidance services for those interested in delving into their own inner wilderness. You can find his weekly dispatches at www.thekindknife.com or follow him on Instagram: @ian_reclusado   I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

The lack of taking in feedback of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes.  With many adherents of these ideologies, anything is justified.  We are reflecting on Howard Pyle’s Robin Hood, where the outlaw hero gives feedback, often rough, to the leadership of an illegitimate and rapacious regime.   RH on Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/10148/10148-h/10148-h.htm   Jonathan Pageau’s Robin Hood: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7GLGQRr2BM8vHfUBy1BsbM?si=5b436210cd9e4891   The Emerald: Tricksters https://open.spotify.com/episode/23wxZblaSN2AGiySe94wJl?si=fedb567231c8473c   Thank you for the likes! A comment and a subscribe really helps us out!     For the video episode: https://youtu.be/WeKojww2hkk   For the audio episode: https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/robin-hood-s-origins-little-john-the-trickster/   For more in this podcast, please go to: Podbean: https://benomtad.podbean.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863 YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ X: https://x.com/Benomtad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benomtad   About our guest: Ian Reclusado is currently off exploring the poetic wilds of psychology, neuroscience, and spirituality.  He also offers guidance services for those interested in delving into their own inner wilderness. You can find his weekly dispatches at www.thekindknife.com or follow him on Instagram: @ian_reclusado   I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

An old woman lives alone in a small cottage in the woods, with bitterness and her rapunzel cabbages as companions.  She prizes the plants, however, attending them relentlessly.  Now a newly-married woodcutter and his pregnant wife live nearby, and the woodcutter eyes the greens in passing because his wife craves them.  The crone notices his taking one and says she’ll take what is most precious should he do that again.  He and his wife agonize over it, but she must have it, so he takes a bushel on his trip and brings peace to the house.  But after the baby is born, the witch steals into the house at night and absconds with their green-eyed daughter.   Twelve year-old Rapunzel lives deep in the woods, happy but lonely, with long flowing golden hair and bound by a magic circle.  One day Zoran calls to her from a tree outside, and she leaves the circle and joins him to view the heavens.  On the way down, her hair gets caught in the branches and she falls, bloodying herself a bit.  The witch screams at her in anger and fright, and Zoran flees.   Now her mother has a tower built for her and she wiles away the days singing.  When the witch visits she calls up to Rapunzel, who lets down her hair to climb up.  One day a prince was wandering in the woods and saw the visit, and when the old lady left he did the same.  The maiden was surprised to see a man, but he spoke kindly to her and they began regular visits.  But one day the witch saw a flower in her hair given to her by the prince, and her mother flew into a rage and cut her long locks.  Leading her down a hidden staircase and through a tunnel, she banished Rapunzel into the woods.   On the prince’s next visit, he was startled at who was in the tower and lost his trip and fell down it and into thorns which pierced his eyes.  He then wandered for years as a mendicant, being laughed at when he told his story.  He eventually came upon a crowd and learned that his father had died and that another was being crowned in his place.  His shame and anger were unbearable, and he stumbled out of town and fell, hurting himself.  A voice asked him about himself, and a hermit brought him to his hamlet.   Over the next days, the prince healed as the hermit spun flax, and he told the story to the old man.  The old man also told him stories, but distorted ones that the prince corrected, including his own story of losing his crown and that of Snow White, his mother.  When he left, the man reminded him to attend to his own story.   Soon after, in the silence after a loud cawing of a crow, he heard the faint singing of his beloved once again.  He followed the sound and, after days, went to the small, abandoned cabin she’d settled into to raise their children.  Upon reuniting, her tears washed away his blindness, and he decided to live a private life, knowing that contending for his crown could put his children into danger.     LL and I summarize and discuss this retelling of the Grimm’s folktale, and then discuss its meaning.  Please join our discussion in the comments!   Thank you for the likes! A comment and a subscribe really helps us out!     For the video episode: https://youtu.be/eX0YUp4bTn0 For more in this podcast, please go to: Podbean: https://benomtad.podbean.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863 YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ X: https://x.com/Benomtad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benomtad   I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

Going into wholeness or connection, on the one hand, or solipsism and individualism, on the other hand.  It seems one can find one’s way to solipsism if one does not “return to school,” and patiently gain virtue so that one can hold one’s gifts non-egotistically and share them with the world.  And where the world goes depends on how people use their gifts.  From a discussion on the Brothers Grimm’s story.   Project Gutenberg Free (from “Household Tales”): https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5314/5314-h/5314-h.htm#chap99   A Summary of the Story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_in_the_Bottle   The Spirit of Life Podcast Episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0WvSewpERjCyXPD4MdTi4V?si=6e6463c571d84992   Supplement: The Myth of Proteus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proteus   Thank you for the likes! A comment and a subscribe really helps us out!     For the full video episode: https://youtu.be/j479tvASC18   Audio episode: https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/the-spirit-in-the-bottle-from-the-brothers-grimm/   For more in this podcast, please go to: Podbean: https://benomtad.podbean.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863 YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ X: https://x.com/Benomtad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benomtad   About our guest: Ian Reclusado is currently off exploring the poetic wilds of psychology, neuroscience, and spirituality.  He also offers guidance services for those interested in delving into their own inner wilderness. You can find his weekly dispatches at www.thekindknife.com or follow him on Instagram: @ian_reclusado   I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.