What if the loudest voice in your head isn’t yours at all?

🌈 Field Note 3¾ — The Rainbow Connection: Don’t Believe Everything You Think

This bonus audio installment opens Season Three of No Shortcuts to Now — a journey through myth, memory, and meaning in turbulent times.

In this episode: enchanted frogs, digital fog, trickster gods, and the quiet art of reclaiming your own mind from propaganda’s echo chambers.

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What if the strongman’s power is really just fear — dressed in gold?

🎧 Waypoint 2.4: The Strongman and The Second Sex

This is the fourth audio installment of Season Two of No Shortcuts to Now — a journey through myth, memory, and meaning in turbulent times.

In this episode: authoritarian masculinity, empty temples, divine jealousy, and the fragile myth of eternal virility. A mythic and psychological meditation on gender, power, pleasure — and the political fear of feminine agency.

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📖 Prefer to read? The full text is included below — and this one features evocative, public-domain artwork that deepens the myth.

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What if transformation begins not with power — but with tenderness?

🎧 Waypoint 2.3: The Birth of Pleasure

This is the third audio installment of Season Two of No Shortcuts to Now — a journey through myth, memory, and meaning in turbulent times.

In this episode: soul as butterfly, beauty under threat, erotic mystery, jealous goddesses, and the myth of Psyche and Cupid — retold as a meditation on power, transformation, and the search for self.

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📖 Prefer to read? The full text is included below — and this one features evocative, public-domain artwork that deepens the myth.

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What if history returns disguised — face covered, badge hidden, pounding on your neighbor’s door?

🎧 Field Note 2.2: Of ICE and Men

Bonus audio episode from Season 2 of No Shortcuts to Now — a journey through myth, memory, and meaning in turbulent times.

In this episode: California’s buried languages, Sierra snowmelt, Queen Calafia, John Steinbeck, and the brutal myths of modern borders.

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☕ This trail runs on caffeine, conscience, and conviction! ☕ Buy me a coffee

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What do volcanoes, butterflies, and ancient breath have in common?

🎧 Waypoint 2.2 — Of Wings, Words, and Sacrificial Hearts

This is the second episode of Season Two of No Shortcuts to Now — a podcast exploring myth, memory, and meaning in an age of upheaval.

In this episode: butterfly souls and volcanic gods, breath as spirit, Aztec fire rituals, and the resurrection of culture through language. We follow the soul’s ascent across borders and centuries — from Mesoamerican sacrifice to Greek symbolism, from sacred calendars to spoken words that still carry fire.

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What happens when public media becomes the enemy of the state?

Field Note 2.R: The Coup Clux Clown Rides Again; or, Don't You be My Neighbor

Bonus episode from Season Two of No Shortcuts to Now — a journey through myth, memory, and meaning in turbulent times.

In this episode: Trump’s defunding of PBS and NPR, Putin’s propaganda blueprint, Sesame Street under ash, and the slow, strategic silencing of dissent.

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What can butterflies teach us about justice, borders, and belonging?

This bonus episode of No Shortcuts to Now is a companion to Waypoint 2.1 and part of a series of shorter reflections called Field Notes — meditations from the trail that explore myth, migration, and meaning in turbulent times.

In this episode: Lassen’s volcanic updrafts, migrating tortoiseshell butterflies, natural law, sacred rights, masked ravens, and the Constitution’s forgotten promise.

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What do we begin to see when we rise above our assumptions — and look back through time?

This first episode of Season 2 of No Shortcuts to Now explores symbolic ascent, fall migration, and the long view of history. Weaving myth, memory, ravens, and Platonic imagery, it asks how breath and perspective shape the soul — and how elevation reveals what we’ve missed below.

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☕ Your kindness is the caffeine behind the craft. ☕ Buy me a coffee

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What do we lose when we rush?

This short episode reflects on patience, presence, and the dangers of cutting corners — in life, in history, and on the trail. Featuring gravel switchbacks, ancient Septembers, and the slow climb toward meaning.

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New here? → 📘 Begin here☕ Brew the next chapter — and keep the story flowing! ☕ Buy me a coffee

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Can truth survive in a post-fact world?

This bonus episode of No Shortcuts to Now explores perspectivism, fundamentalism, Marcus Aurelius, and the fragile foundations of democratic knowledge. A meditation on why truth must be earned — not declared — and what’s at stake when belief replaces verification.

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit noshortcutstonow.substack.com