The Absurd World Podcast

Ep. 64 - What If I Could Have Been Different? - Jung Part 1

We have all made countless choices in our lives. Some big, some small, some easily forgotten, and others that stay with us. Many of these decisions have shaped the course of our lives in ways we may never fully understand. But what if we are also shaped by the choices we did not make, the lives we did not choose to live. Our unlived lives. In this episode, we begin a series exploring the work and ideas of Swiss psychotherapist Carl Jung and how his thinking can guide and influence our existential exploration. Get ready for a midlife crisis yall!

Ep. 63 - Should I Set Boundaries?

Life is ambiguous. There are no clear, cosmic rules handed down to guide us. The rules we follow are human made, shaped by culture, history, and belief. Without something claiming absolute certainty, it can be difficult to know what you should be doing at all. That uncertainty can feel terrifying. But what if it also opens a different possibility? What if you can create your own sense of direction while still remaining subjective and ethical, and what if that guidance is already within you, waiting to be heard In this episode, I explore what it means to have boundaries. What they are, how they function, and why they matter. With the help of American psychotherapist Robert Jackman, we look at how boundaries can be both deeply uncomfortable and incredibly necessary, and why they might be one of the most important tools we have for living authentically

Ep. 62 - Am I Burnt Out?

I am tired. You are tired. We are all, collectively, tired. Some of us might call it burnout. Maybe all of us have felt it at some point. But what does that really mean, and how do we keep it from spreading any further? In this weeks episode, we explore burnout as something far more complex than simple exhaustion, depression, or weakness. With the help of South Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han, and the thinkers he draws from like Hannah Arendt and Friedrich Nietzsche , we ask how deeply burnout is woven into the fabric of our society and whether it has been ingrained in us to the point that we pursue it without even realizing it...

Ep. 61 - Can I Trust What I See In A Time Of AI?

Many of us spend a huge portion of our lives online. Scrolling, swiping, clicking through an endless stream of images and videos that claim to show us the world. But is that world actually reality, especially now that AI is part of the picture? And was it ever reality to begin with? In this episode, I explore how photography and video may have quietly reshaped the way we believe we experience reality, often in deceptive ways. With the help of American essayist Susan Sontag, we question what it really means to see life through a camera and whether these images reveal anything objective at all, or simply convince us that they do.

Ep. 60 - What Do I Do About Evil?

We talk about a lot of complex topics on this podcast. Confusing, shifting, and often elusive ideas, and the language we use to try to make sense of them. But if there were one concept we could all count on understanding, it would have to be evil... ... Right? In this weeks episode, I dive into why that is most definitely not the case as we explore what evil is, and more importantly, what it is not. With the help of German philosopher Hannah Arendt, we begin to question whether evil is something deeply complex and difficult to grasp, or if its power lies in just how simple it might actually be.