Ab Immemorabili

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Ab Immemorabili episodes

March 22 200 - 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 [email protected]
Learn more at 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
33 min
March 12 199 - 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 [email protected]
Learn more at 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
27 min
March 03 198 - 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 [email protected]
Learn more at 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
27 min
February 21 197 - Karma Yoga - Action Without Attachment in Daily Work
Title
Ab Immemorabili: Episode 197 - Karma Yoga: Action Without Attachment in Daily Work
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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
- Email: [email protected]

#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
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35 min
February 12 196 - 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: [email protected] | 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
40 min
February 01195 - Memento Mori - How Death Awareness Transforms Life
What did the Stoics, the Buddhists, and the ancient Mexicans all know about death that we've forgotten?
Drake and Holly explore humanity's oldest spiritual practice: the conscious contemplation of mortality. Far from being morbid, memento mori was understood across cultures as a technology for becoming more alive. This episode traces death awareness practices from Marcus Aurelius writing by candlelight to Buddhist monks meditating in charnel grounds, from the vibrant celebrations of Día de los Muertos to the vanitas paintings of medieval Europe. Along the way, they examine why modern psychology is confirming what ancient wisdom knew all along: that our relationship with death fundamentally shapes our relationship with life.
Key Topics:
Marcus Aurelius and Stoic death practice
Seneca's teachings on the preciousness of time
Buddhist charnel ground meditation and the nine cemetery contemplations
Tibetan Book of the Dead and preparation for dying
Día de los Muertos and Aztec attitudes toward death
The ars moriendi tradition and medieval memento mori art
Terror Management Theory and Ernest Becker's insights
Modern death denial and its psychological costs
Physical practices that invoke mortality awareness
How to begin working with death awareness safely
Featured Concepts: Memento Mori: Latin phrase meaning "remember that you will die," used as a spiritual practice for cultivating presence and proper priorities Maranasati: Buddhist mindfulness of death practice, including formal contemplation of corpses at various stages of decay Premeditatio Malorum: Stoic technique of visualising potential misfortunes, including death, to reduce their power and increase gratitude Ars Moriendi: Medieval "art of dying" manuals that prepared people for death as a spiritual passage Terror Management Theory: Psychological framework explaining how awareness of mortality shapes human behaviour and culture
Essential Quote: "Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what's left and live it properly."
Practical Takeaway: Try a simple evening reflection this week. Before sleep, review your day and ask: if this had been my last day, would I be satisfied with how I spent it? Not to create anxiety, but to let mortality clarify what actually matters. The question does the work.
Key References:
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death
The Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thodol)
Philippe Ariès, Western Attitudes Toward Death
Sheldon Solomon et al., The Worm at the Core
Related Listening: For a complete deep dive into Marcus Aurelius, check out our sister podcast The Primary Texts, currently exploring the Meditations book by book.
About Ab Immemorabili: Ancient wisdom meets modern minds. Join Drake & Holly for explorations of philosophy, consciousness, and transformation.
Contact: [email protected] | www.maaoot.org
The wisdom you seek has always been within you. You're not learning it. You're remembering it.
#mementomori #stoicism #marcusaurelius #seneca #epictetus #buddhism #deathawareness #diadelosmuertos #philosophy #ancientwisdom #transformation #mortality #consciousness #tibetanbuddhism #meditation #maranasati #maaoot #wisdom #impermanence #mindfulness #contemplation #spirituality #psychology #terrormanagement #ernestbecker #vanitas #arsmoriendi #deathpositive #contemplativepractice #westernphilosophy #easternphilosophy #personalphilosophy #philosophypodcast #wisdomtraditions #aztec #charnel #theprimarytexts
1 hr 3 min
January 22 194 - The Hermetic Tradition - Egypt's Gift to Western Esotericism
In this episode of Ab Immemorabili, Drake and Holly explore the Hermetic tradition and its extraordinary influence on Western civilisation.
They begin with Cosimo de Medici's deathbed decision in 1463 to prioritise mysterious Egyptian texts over the complete works of Plato, then trace Hermeticism from its origins in ancient Alexandria through its revolutionary teachings about consciousness and cosmos. The conversation examines the Corpus Hermeticum's vision of humans as microcosms, the seven Hermetic principles, and how Islamic scholars preserved these texts when Europe had forgotten them. Drake and Holly discuss the Renaissance magi who risked everything for Hermetic ideas, including Giordano Bruno who was burned at the stake, and reveal why Isaac Newton spent more time on alchemy than physics.
This episode also features listener questions on combining podcast listening with formal study, and on distinguishing transformative crisis from destructive suffering.
Ab Immemorabili — "from time beyond memory" — is a podcast exploring ancient wisdom for modern minds, brought to you by The Most Ancient Anamnetic Order of Trikala (MAAOoT).
Questions or comments? [email protected]
For systematic training across wisdom traditions integrating mind, body, and spirit: maaoot.org
Hashtags:
#Hermeticism #HermesTrismegistus #AsAboveSoBelow #CorpusHermeticum #AncientWisdom #WesternEsotericism #Alchemy #Philosophy #RenaissanceMagic #EgyptianWisdom
54 min
January 12193: The Birth of Philosophy - When Humanity Rejected the Gods
What did humanity lose when it traded gods for logic?
Drake and Holly explore one of the most revolutionary moments in human history: the birth of philosophy itself. Around 585 BCE in Miletus, Thales looked at a solar eclipse and saw not divine intervention but a predictable pattern. For the first time, someone asked not "which god did this?" but "what natural principle explains this?" This shift from mythos to logos transformed human consciousness forever, but something profound was lost in the exchange.
Key Topics:
The pre-philosophical world of Homer and Hesiod
Thales and the Milesian Revolution
Anaximander's concept of the apeiron (the boundless)
The Axial Age: parallel awakenings across civilisations
What mythology provided that philosophy cannot
The disenchantment of the cosmos
Integrating mythos and logos for modern seekers
Featured Concepts: Mythos: The mode of consciousness where gods aren't metaphors but lived realities woven into experience Logos: Rational discourse seeking natural explanations through observation and argument Apeiron: Anaximander's "boundless" - the first abstract principle proposed to explain reality Axial Age: Karl Jaspers' term for the period (800-200 BCE) when philosophy emerged independently across multiple civilisations
Essential Quote: "When Thales said water is the source of all things, he wasn't doing primitive chemistry. He was performing an act of extraordinary courage. He was saying we can understand the cosmos through reason alone, without appealing to divine revelation."
Practical Takeaway: This week, notice when you shift between mythic and logical consciousness. When do you experience the world as alive with meaning versus as mechanism to be analysed? Both capacities exist within you. The question isn't which is true, but when each serves.
Key References:
Homer, The Iliad and The Odyssey
Hesiod, Theogony
Karl Jaspers, The Origin and Goal of History
G.S. Kirk, J.E. Raven & M. Schofield, The Presocratic Philosophers
Julian Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
About Ab Immemorabili: Ancient wisdom meets modern minds. Join Drake & Holly for explorations of philosophy, consciousness, and transformation.
Contact: [email protected] | www.maaoot.org
The wisdom you seek has always been within you. You're not learning it. You're remembering it.

#philosophy #ancientgreece #greekphilosophy #presocratic #thales #mythology #logos #mythos #axialage #consciousness #wisdom #ancientwisdom #homer #hesiod #miletus #transformation #spirituality #seekers #contemplation #rationality #cosmology #meaningmaking #disenchantment #sacredworld #personalphilosophy #mindfulness #awakening #historyphilosophy #westernphilosophy #maaoot
59 min
January 02192: Sacred Geometry - Why Certain Shapes Appear in Every Tradition
Why do identical geometric patterns appear in cultures that never had contact with each other?
Drake and Holly explore the mysterious universality of sacred geometry, from Egyptian pyramids to Tibetan mandalas, revealing how certain shapes and ratios appear across all human civilizations. They examine scientific evidence that these patterns exist at every level of reality - from quantum particles to galactic structures - and discuss why human consciousness seems naturally attuned to recognise and create these forms.
Key Topics:
The golden ratio in nature and architecture
Jung's discovery of spontaneous mandala creation
Islamic geometric art as contemplation tool
Platonic solids from ancient philosophy to modern physics
Cymatics: how sound creates geometric patterns
Fractal geometry in nature and consciousness
The flower of life as universal blueprint
Featured Concepts:
Anamnesis: The remembering of knowledge the soul already possesses
Cymatics: The study of visible sound creating geometric patterns in matter
Vesica Piscis: The almond shape formed by overlapping circles, representing intersection of worlds
Tensegrity: Fuller's principle of structural integrity through balanced tension

Essential Quote: "These patterns aren't just out there in the world. They're in here, in consciousness itself. The mandala emerges spontaneously from the psyche because the psyche itself is patterned on geometric principles."
Practical Takeaway: Begin noticing geometric patterns in nature - spirals in shells, hexagons in honeycomb, branching in trees. These observations can awaken recognition of the same patterns within your own consciousness.
Key References:
Carl Jung, Man and His Symbols
Benoit Mandelbrot, The Fractal Geometry of Nature
Eugene Wigner, "The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences"
Buckminster Fuller, Synergetics
About Ab Immemorabili: Ancient wisdom meets modern minds. Join Drake & Holly for explorations of philosophy, consciousness, and transformation.
Contact: [email protected] | www.maaoot.org
The wisdom you seek has always been within you. You're not learning it. You're remembering it.
31 min
December 26, 2025 BONUS - The Primary Texts
What if you could sit with Plato's Republic, Marcus Aurelius's Meditations, or the Bhagavad Gita line by line, with a brilliant guide walking you through every argument?
In this special bonus episode, Drake and Holly introduce their sister podcast, The Primary Texts. Hosted by Adam, this companion show does something rare in the philosophy podcast world: it reads the actual texts. Not summaries. Not greatest hits. Eighty percent or more of each chapter, explored in depth over episodes that run two hours when the content demands it.
From the Epic of Gilgamesh to the Popol Vuh, The Primary Texts works through philosophy's foundational works with the care and attention they deserve. This episode features the official trailer, giving you a taste of what Adam brings to these ancient sources.
If Ab Immemorabili is the conversation about wisdom, The Primary Texts is the deep study of its source material.
Essential Quote: "Complete engagement with philosophy's foundations."
Practical Takeaway: Subscribe to The Primary Texts wherever you listen to podcasts and begin with whichever text calls to you most.
About Ab Immemorabili: Ancient wisdom meets modern minds. Join Drake & Holly for explorations of philosophy, consciousness, and transformation.
Contact: [email protected] | www.maaoot.org
The wisdom you seek has always been within you. You're not learning it. You're remembering it.

#theprimarytexts #abimmemorabili #philosophypodcast #ancientwisdom #marcusaurelius #plato #stoicism #meditations #therepublic #bhagavadgita #odyssey #gilgamesh #taoism #zhuangzi #confucius #analects #aristotle #upanishads #dhammapada #hermeticism #popolvuh #primarysources #classicalphilosophy #wisdomtraditions #philosophy #consciousness #transformation #deepreading #ancientphilosophy #maaoot
6 min

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