198 - The Golden Mean - Aristotle's Guide to Modern Balance

200 - The Metanoia Block - Why Your Mind Resists Its Own Transformation

You know exactly what you need to change. So why haven't you changed it? In this episode, Drake and Holly explore one of the most universal human experiences: the mind's fierce resistance to its own transformation. Starting with the Greek concept of metanoia, a change of mind so complete it's like becoming a different person, they examine why genuine change feels like death to the psyche and why the brain fights it with every tool at its disposal. From the neuroscience of homeostasis and prediction models to Freud's clinical observations of therapeutic resistance, from shamanic dismemberment rituals to Buddhist teachings on attachment, they trace how every serious wisdom tradition has encountered this phenomenon and developed ways to work with it. In a rare moment of directness about MAAOoT's actual curriculum, Drake and Holly discuss why understanding the metanoia block is one of the very first things new students learn, and why this single piece of awareness underpins everything that follows in the work. In This Episode: - Metanoia: what genuine transformation actually means (and why "repentance" misses the point) - Your brain as prediction machine: why familiar suffering beats unknown freedom - The neuroscience of homeostasis, the default mode network, and the metabolic cost of change - Freud, Jung, and the psychology of resistance - Terror Management Theory: identity as mortality buffer - Shamanic dismemberment, Christian kenosis, Sufi fana, Buddhist attachment - Wilhelm Reich's character armour: where resistance lives in the body - Why resistance is proportional to the significance of the change - Why MAAOoT teaches the metanoia block first and what changes when you can recognise it - The difference between being in control and being controlled - Listener Q&A: Zhuangzi's dream and practical living, can secrets survive the modern age, preserving wisdom from fragmentary sources About Ab Immemorabili: A podcast exploring ancient wisdom traditions for modern seekers, produced by the Most Ancient Anamnetic Order of Trikala (MAAOoT). Through one-on-one mentorship over 3-5 years, students work through 15 wisdom traditions integrating philosophy, practical psychology, and embodied practice. Connect With Us: Email your questions, reflections, and challenges to podcast@maaoot.org [podcast@maaoot.org] Learn more at www.maaoot.org [http://www.maaoot.org] #metanoia #transformation #resistance #change #neuroscience #homeostasis #freud #jung #psychology #shamanism #kenosis #sufism #fana #buddhism #attachment #mindset #wisdomtraditions #ancientwisdom #philosophy #maaoot #abimmemorabili #egodeath #initiation #mindbodyspirit #consciousness #personalgrowth #philosophypodcast #mysticism #shadowwork #innerwork

199 - Negative Capability - Keats and the Power of Uncertainty

What if the most important skill for our uncertain age was articulated by a twenty-two-year-old poet in a casual letter about a pantomime? In this episode, Drake and Holly explore John Keats' concept of negative capability, the capacity to remain in uncertainty without anxiously grasping for resolution. They trace this idea from Keats' famous 1817 letter through Shakespeare's extraordinary ability to disappear into his characters, the Christian mystical tradition of unknowing from the Cloud of Unknowing to Meister Eckhart, and the psychology of why uncertainty feels so threatening. Cross-cultural connections illuminate how Zen's "don't-know mind," Sufi bewilderment, and Daoist wu wei all circle the same profound insight. In an age that demands instant opinions and ready-made answers, negative capability may be the most radical practice available. In This Episode: - Keats' letter of December 21, 1817: the birth of a concept - Shakespeare as the supreme example of negative capability - The Cloud of Unknowing and the Christian via negativa - Meister Eckhart, John of the Cross, and luminous darkness - Zen, Sufism, and Daoism: cross-cultural parallels - The psychology of certainty-seeking and need for cognitive closure - Wilfred Bion's "without memory and desire" - The body's role in grasping and releasing - How to practise staying with the question - Listener Q&A: the paradox of words about wordlessness, Socrates' choice and his family, sacred geometry and spiritual meaning About Ab Immemorabili: A podcast exploring ancient wisdom traditions for modern seekers, produced by the Most Ancient Anamnetic Order of Trikala (MAAOoT). Through one-on-one mentorship over 3-5 years, students work through 15 wisdom traditions integrating philosophy, practical psychology, and embodied practice. Connect With Us: Email your questions, reflections, and challenges to podcast@maaoot.org [podcast@maaoot.org] Learn more at www.maaoot.org [http://www.maaoot.org] #negativecapability #keats #johnkeats #shakespeare #uncertainty #cloudofunknowing #meistereckhart #vianegativa #zen #dontknowmind #sufism #rumi #daoism #wuwei #phronesis #ancientwisdom #philosophy #wisdomtraditions #maaoot #abimmemorabili #contemplation #mysticism #unknowing #apophatic #ambiguity #creativity #philosophypodcast #mindfulness #transformation #mindbodyspirit

198 - The Golden Mean - Aristotle's Guide to Modern Balance

What does it actually mean to live a balanced life, and why is the ancient answer so much harder than the modern one? In this episode, Drake and Holly explore Aristotle's doctrine of the mean from the Nicomachean Ethics, unpacking why "everything in moderation" completely misses the point. They examine what Aristotle actually taught about virtue as excellence between extremes, why finding the mean requires practical wisdom that no formula can replace, and how this ancient Greek insight resonates with the Buddhist Middle Way, Confucian Zhongyong, Daoist balance, and Islamic wasatiyyah. From modern wellness culture to work-life questions, they explore why extremes are always easier than the genuine work of finding the right measure for your particular life. In This Episode: - Why "everything in moderation" misrepresents Aristotle - The doctrine of the mean: virtue as excellence between extremes - Phronesis: the practical wisdom needed to find the mean - Specific virtues explored: courage, generosity, truthfulness, wittiness, temperance, justice - Cross-cultural parallels: Buddhist Middle Way, Confucian Zhongyong, Daoist balance, Islamic wasatiyyah - Why extremes are easier than balance - Modern applications: wellness culture, work, and daily decisions - Listener Q&A: beginner's mind in surgery, science's Hermetic roots, failure vs. giving up About Ab Immemorabili: A podcast exploring ancient wisdom traditions for modern seekers, produced by the Most Ancient Anamnetic Order of Trikala (MAAOoT). Through one-on-one mentorship over 3-5 years, students work through 15 wisdom traditions integrating philosophy, practical psychology, and embodied practice. Connect With Us: Email your questions, reflections, and challenges to podcast@maaoot.org [podcast@maaoot.org]  Learn more at www.maaoot.org [http://www.maaoot.org]  #aristotle #nicomacheanethics #goldenmean #phronesis #practicalwisdom #virtue #virtueethics #arete #eudaimonia #middleway #buddhism #confucius #zhongyong #daoism #ancientwisdom #philosophy #wisdomtraditions #maaoot #abimmemorabili #balance #flourishing #ethics #transformation #mindbodyspirit #personalgrowth #philosophypodcast #ancientgreece #selfmastery #axialage

197 - Karma Yoga - Action Without Attachment in Daily Work

Title Ab Immemorabili: Episode 197 - Karma Yoga: Action Without Attachment in Daily Work --- Description How can you give something everything you have while simultaneously not caring whether it succeeds? In this episode, Drake and Holly explore the Bhagavad Gita's revolutionary concept of karma yoga, the yoga of action. Beginning with Arjuna's paralysis on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, they examine Krishna's radical teaching that we have the right to our actions but never to their fruits. What sounds like a contradiction turns out to be the secret to doing your best work without destroying yourself in the process. The conversation unpacks the crucial distinction between caring about outcomes and being attached to them, explores how modern work culture maximises the anxiety of attachment, and examines the neuroscience of flow states that validates this ancient wisdom. Drawing connections to the Daoist concept of wu wei and the Stoic discipline of desire, Drake and Holly demonstrate how karma yoga offers a practical path through the burnout epidemic of contemporary life. The episode includes concrete guidance for applying these principles to everyday tasks and addresses listener questions about death contemplation practice, maintaining boundaries whilst honouring interconnection, and raising children with both mythological depth and philosophical capacity.   - Website: https://maaoot.org [https://maaoot.org] - Email: podcast@maaoot.org [podcast@maaoot.org]   #karmayoga #bhagavadgita #ancientwisdom #philosophy #hinduism #vedanta #nishkamakarma #actionwithoutattachment #wuwei #flowstate #stoicism #burnoutrecovery #mindfulness #spiritualpractice #contemplativepractice #transformationjourney #wisdomtraditions #philosophypodcast #maaoot #abimmemorabili #krishna #arjuna #dharma #svadharma #selflessservice #seva #gandhi #csikszentmihalyi #presentmoment #consciousness #personalevelopment #meaningfulwork #worklifebalance #easternphilosophy #westernphilosophy ---

196 - The Beginner's Mind - Zen Wisdom for Constant Learning

What if everything you know is actually preventing you from learning? Holly takes the leed in this exploration of shoshin, the Zen concept of beginner's mind that Shunryu Suzuki brought from Japan to America in 1959. When Suzuki Roshi arrived in San Francisco, he discovered something unexpected: his American students, who knew nothing of Zen traditions, often demonstrated more genuine openness than Japanese monks who had trained for decades. Drake and Holly explore the profound implications of Suzuki's famous observation that "in the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few." Drawing on cognitive research into the "curse of knowledge," the neuroscience of learning, Socratic philosophy, and contemplative traditions from Zen to Sufism to Christianity, this episode examines how expertise becomes limitation and what practices might help us recover the beginner's valuable not-knowing. Key Topics: • Shunryu Suzuki's journey and the unexpected gift of ignorant students • The curse of knowledge: why experts often can't teach or innovate • Functional fixedness and the limits of categorical thinking • Ichi-go ichi-e: every moment as first and last • Socratic ignorance and learned unknowing • The somatic dimension of beginner's mind • Distinguishing genuine openness from spiritual bypassing • Practical approaches to recovering freshness of perception Featured Concepts: Shoshin: Japanese term for "beginner's mind," the attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions Ichi-go ichi-e: "One time, one meeting," the Japanese concept that every encounter is unique and unrepeatable Epoché: Husserl's term for the suspension of assumptions to examine experience directly Docta ignorantia: "Learned ignorance," recognising the limits of knowledge as a path to wisdom Essential Quote: "People who are stuck, genuinely stuck in patterns they can't change, almost always share one quality. They think they understand their situation. Their expert knowledge of their own problems becomes the prison." Practical Takeaway: This week, choose one area where you consider yourself knowledgeable or experienced. Approach it as if you're encountering it for the first time. What questions would you ask if you knew nothing? Notice the difficulty of this exercise and the resistance your expertise creates. Key References: • Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind • Nicholas of Cusa, De Docta Ignorantia • Plato, The Apology • Edmund Husserl, Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology About Ab Immemorabili: Ancient wisdom meets modern minds. Join Drake & Holly for explorations of philosophy, consciousness, and transformation. Contact: podcast@maaoot.org [podcast@maaoot.org] | www.maaoot.org [http://www.maaoot.org] The wisdom you seek has always been within you. You're not learning it. You're remembering it. #zenbuddhism #beginnermind #shoshin #suzukiroshi #zenphilosophy #wisdom #ancientwisdom #philosophy #learning #consciousness #transformation #socrates #phenomenology #contemplation #mindfulness #teaceremony #japanesephilosophy #ichigochie #spiritualgrowth #personaldevelopment #meditation #selfawareness #knowledgecurse #neuroplasticity #emptiness #daoism #sufism #mysticchristianity #seekers #maaoot #philosophypodcast #wisdomtraditions #mentalclarity #genuineinquiry