Protect Your Noggin

What does the controversy about vaccination teach us about civilization, religion and politics, and the effectiveness of legalism as a way to order society? We share our own decisions about vaccination, share briefly our advice to others who want to be healthy and ethical, but ultimately focus on whether one can be a part of the system without obeying the mandates of the system. What about civilization leads to pandemics in the first place? Is there another way of conceiving society that might bypass the current jam we're in as humans globally? It's not about vaccinations, it's about the price of civilization.

A reading of Tao Te Ching chapter 52, in the Taosurfers' rendering. Reflection on the importance of awareness for coping with frustrating patterns of life. 

See protectyournoggin.org for a written reflection and links. 

See taosurfers.com for more information about our ongoing rendering of the Tao Te Ching.

A second guided tour through anarchist & anarchist adjacent music that inspires us to hope that another world is possible. These songs educate about freedom & its champions & gives us encouragement as they face down the false gods of money, power & glory. These are some songs to keep us thinking about how we might be a part of that shift from domination to mutuality. Interspersed are readings from Tolstoy on Christian anarchism.

Jeff Mallinson explains how ancient Taoists and early Christians both faced worlds that were uncertain, violent & riddled with factionalism & war. According to him, both approaches to life encouraged a sort of spiritual anarchism, which is the central topic of this outside lecture in the CUI Heritage Garden. Anarchism here refers to the idea that the state serves its own interests, rather than ours & is thus not to be trusted let alone worshipped. The sage-disciple will avoid the very systems of domination that work to enslave us & steal our joy, albeit in a nonviolent way. The difference between Taoism & Christianity is primarily the difference between letting things run their course as the sage goes fishing on the outskirts of society on the one hand (Taoism), and working to repair the world and heal our neighbors with Good News, even when it means the followers of Jesus will face suffering and death at the hands of the powers that be on the other (Christianity).

An overview of the history and contemporary landscape of yoga. Is it something worth considering for folks who are wary of uncritical religious ideas, cults, or worship of strange deities? Is it bad for your health or wholesome? What about terms associated with Hinduism like namaste, used in most practices? What forms of yoga are there? How might yoga help me with anxiety, health, spirituality, and weight loss? Join us even if you’ve already made up your mind or don’t care about yoga in particular, since it is representative of so much more than just one practice.

We explore the historical background of the dietary traditions and rules of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, AKA Mormons. Learn about fry sauce, root beer, and dirty soda, along with some general background on the history and development of a quintessentially American religion, and its well-known food and beverage practices.

In honor of the emancipatory work of laborers who stood up against power to obtain at least some level of decency in the modern capitalist system, we share twelve tunes that represent anarchist themes, especially when they also integrate spiritual and biblical . Some tunes may be familiar, others may not. Some are from agnostics, others are from Christians. But all encourage us to oppose the injustices wrought by money, power, and glory. 

Jeff discusses the positives and pitfalls of the liberal arts, the Western classical tradition, and anarchist ideas about schooling, then shares the audio of his opening convocation address this week at Concordia University Irvine, in which he shares ways in which church related universities can offer a liberating experience, given the right commitments. If you want to skip to the convocation address, that starts half an hour in. 

We got wind of an odd idea in American evangelicalism: some are provocatively and or implicitly saying that empathy is a sin. It leads, it seems, to too much tolerance and not enough doctrinal purity. We discuss this, a negative article written about Jeff and his views on science at church related universities, and why we had to take bit of a pause for the last few weeks of our road trip down from Portland. 

Reflection on Stacie’s hypothesis that American Christian beliefs about hierarchy and inequality in the home are negatively affecting the sex lives of evangelicals and others whose ideologies or theologies reject the basic equality of all partners in a sexual relationship. Also a discussion of why people fight at campsites and the conditions in which people can be genuine friends.

This season, we're talking about nourishment, and this is a casual investigation into the nourishing role of positive, healthy and non-coercive sexuality.

Stuff We Mention

• Relationship quarrels during camping
• Hormones, menopause, and relationships
• Harriet Lerner, The Dance of Anger
• Jeff Mallinson, Sexy: The Quest for Erotic Virtue in Perplexing Times
• Politics and camping
• John Stuart Mill On Feminism