The Symbolic World

By Jonathan Pageau

Society & Culture Education Religion & Spirituality

What's The Symbolic World about?

Jonathan Pageau looks at symbolism in all its forms, from its source in sacred stories and images to contemporary culture and ultimately how it shapes the world we encounter.

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The Symbolic World episodes:

04.19.2024
338 - Richard Rohlin - Universal History: The End of Babel
This is part two of our discussion about the Tower of Babel in the context of Universal History. Richard Rohlin and I recap and continue our discussion on the Book of Jubilees and Pentecost, discussing more in-depth the Feast of...
04.13.2024
337 - How to Survive the End of a World - A Parable of Christ
This video will premiere tomorrow, Saturday, April 13th at 10 am EST.In this short reflection, I will explain the parable of Jesus that’s the most difficult to understand, the Parable of the Penitent Steward, or the Unjust Steward. Recently I...
04.03.2024
336 - Timothy Patitsas - The Vital Sign of Beauty
This is my second interview with Timothy Patitsas on the topic of beauty. We also discuss filmmaking, the work of Dr. Iain Mcgilchrist, liturgy, self-sacrifice, and social renewal as part of the fruits of a beautiful life.Timothy G. Patitsas has...
03.30.2024
335 - Justin Brierley - The Next Great Renewal
I had the opportunity to sit down with Justin Brierley to talk about Christian apologetics, the state of public discussions about faith, new converts, the identity crisis, and the rise of the “Christian atheist” with figures like Tom Holland, Jordan...
03.19.2024
334 - Aidan Hart - A New Image of Everything
In this dialogue with the amazing artist and iconographer, Aidan Hart, we discuss an image he has been developing depicting the New Jerusalem. This cosmic image shows many fractal relationships, including the Garden of Eden, the role and destiny of...
03.09.2024
333 - John Vervaeke, DC Schindler, Ken Lowry - The Ontology of Artificial Intelligence
This is a discussion that Ken Lowry kindly organized on his YouTube channel and podcast, Climbing Mt. Sophia. The panel includes me, John Vervaeke and DC Schindler. We talk about the ontology of artificial intelligence from different perspectives: the scientific,...
03.02.2024
332 - The Garments of Skin
In this podcast, I give you a sneak peek into some of what we are doing with GodsDog and the Garments of Skin comic, while also sharing my very first experience encountering the idea of the garments of skin in...
02.26.2024
331 - Richard Rohlin - Universal History: The Tower of Babel
In this episode of Universal History, Richard Rohlin and I discuss the Tower of Babel in Scripture (Genesis) and the Book of Jubilees, the symbolism of the structure itself, what it means for us today, Pentecost, and the solution to...
02.21.2024
330 - The Leviathan in Scripture: Ouroboros Symbolism
The Leviathan is a strange creature in the Bible and tradition. In this podcast episode I look at the Leviathan, the sea serpent, the dragon, and its relationship to the devil, and how al of these associations came to be...
02.16.2024
329 - James Poulos - Bitcoin Monasteries: Putting Technology to Good Use
This is my discussion with James Poulos about technology and spirituality, how technology has reshaped our world and America, the hope of taking control over new technologies and putting them in the right hands, the role of global institutions, laws,...
02.08.2024
328 - Stephen Blackwood - The Book that the West Needs
Visit https://thesymbolicworld.com/summit for more information about the Symbolic World SummitStephen James Blackwood is a Canadian-American professor, academic, and social commentator. Blackwood is the founder and president of Ralston College, a liberal arts college awaiting accreditation in Savannah, Georgia. We met...
02.02.2024
327 - Richard Rohlin - Universal History: Dragons!
In this episode of Universal History with Richard Rohlin, by popular demand, we finally explored the topic of dragons! We discussed the ubiquitous appearance of dragons across history and different cultures, a dragon’s essential characteristics and mythical nature, their connection...
01.30.2024
326 - The Symbolism of Titans, Giants, and Nephilim
In this video I discuss the symbolism of titans, giants, and Nephilim in anticipation of the God's'Dog: Warrior Kickstarter. Sign up for early bird specials: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/symbolicworldpress/godsdog-warrior
01.18.2024
325 - JP Marceau - Recovering the Metaphysics of Symbolism
In this discussion with Jean-Philippe Marceau, we introduce the latest Symbolic World Course, called Symbolic World Metaphysics, based on JP’s upcoming book. JP also talks a bit more about his journey in the symbolic world, his unique approach to these...
01.18.2024
324 - Benjamin Boyce - The Inevitable Fall of the Enlightenment
This is a repost of a discussion with Benjamin Boyce on the topic of the Enlightenment, rationalism and science, the problem of identity on the levels of the individual and the group, value hierarchies, authoritarianism, subsidiarity, love, and sacrifice. This...
01.05.2024
323 - What It Means to Be Born Again
In celebration of Theophany (6 January) or Epiphany, as it’s called in the Western tradition, I discuss the meaning of baptism, starting with the baptism of Christ, what it means to be “born again” symbolically, and how Scripture, our sacraments,...
12.30.2023
322 - Janus, the Two-Faced God of January
For my last video of 2023, I discuss the pagan god Janus, after whom the month of January is named; why he has two faces, how it’s related to this time of year, the winter solstice, Christmas, and the general...
12.22.2023
321 - Why Angels Appeared to Shepherds on Christmas
This video takes a close look at one sentence in the Christmas story. A great company of angels appeared to the shepherds in the field to announce the birth of Christ, and they sang, “Glory to God in the highest...
12.14.2023
320 - Richard Rohlin - The Universal History of Christmas
In this episode of the Universal History podcast, Richard Rohlin and I discuss Christmas, why it looks the way it does, how Christmas developed into what we have today, and why you absolutely should celebrate it if you’re a Christian.---Buy...
12.05.2023
319 - The Symbolism of Aliens
This is a repost of an older video published on this channel in 2018. We are reposting it because the original video was blocked by YouTube in several countries. Now also seems like a good time to revisit the topics...
11.30.2023
318 - Seraphim Hamilton - Re-Enchantment Now: Fairies, Aliens, the Occult, Prayer, and Divination
This is a repost of my recent discussion with Seraphim Hamilton on his YouTube channel. He asked me many good questions about universal history, re-enchantment, fairy tales, the occult, divination, carnival, war, prayer, and ritual, thinking symbolically about your own...
11.24.2023
317 - Fr. Joseph Lucas - Sacrifice: The Paradox of Salvation
Fr. Joseph Lucas published a thesis on the question of sacrifice, called Offerer and Offering: Cyril of Alexandria on Jewish and Christian Sacrifice. In this video, we discuss sacrifice in Scripture, how we should understand the crucifixion, and how the...
11.16.2023
316 - DC Schindler - The Duality of Art (Climbing Mt Sophia)
This is a repost of a great discussion I had on the Climbing Mt. Sophia channel alongside DC Schindler. We discuss beauty, art, freedom, techne and technology, primarily exploring the question: what is beauty?Original: Climbing Mt. Sophia - Beauty, Art...
11.09.2023
315 - Fr. Turbo Qualls and David Patrick Harry - Beauty and the Ascetic
For this week’s podcast, I sat down with Fr. Turbo Qualls and David Patrick Harry to discuss beauty and iconography in the Orthodox Christian tradition, why beauty is a part of the Church despite Christ leading a simple life, giving...
11.03.2023
314 - Dr Martin Shaw - The New Odyssey
Dr. Martin Shaw will be a speaker at the Symbolic World Summit next year in Tarpon Springs, Florida. In this conversation we discuss pagan stories, including The Odyssey and The Iliad, our current moment in the West, the return of...
10.26.2023
313 - Fr. Andrew Damick - Redeeming Pagan Symbolism
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick is Chief Content Officer of Ancient Faith Ministries. He has been podcasting since 2007 and is the host of Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy, Orthodox Engagement, and Roads from Emmaus, as well as co-host of The Lord of...
10.20.2023
312 - Kendelle Hoyer - Behind the Big Screen
Kendelle Hoyer is passionate about storytelling and art, which has been a life-long pursuit since childhood when she decided she wanted to work in animation. Since then, Kendelle has developed her craft of bringing fantastical stories to life. She has...
10.13.2023
311 - Ritualized Behavior From Animals to Church
There is a tendency to isolate religious behavior from other human behavior, which can make religious behavior seem arbitrary or ridiculous. In this week's video, I argue that the best way to understand religion, even from a purely materialist perspective,...
10.09.2023
310 - Annie Crawford - C.S. Lewis on Progress, AI, and Gender
I had a great discussion with Annie Crawford. She’s written two wonderful articles for the Symbolic World Blog and is offering a course on C.S. Lewis’ Ransom Trilogy on the Symbolic World website. Check out our discussion about C.S. Lewis,...
10.03.2023
309 - Jacob Howland - Technological Cannibalism
I had an amazing discussion with Jacob Howland about the fundamental question of technology. We investigate from both the Biblical and ancient Greek perspectives what technology is and its effects on the human spirit. We discuss the notion of memory...
09.22.2023
308 - Fr. Stephen De Young - Biblical Symbolism: Uncovering Your Father’s Nakedness
Fr. Stephen De Young is writing an article for our upcoming publication, the Symbolic World Magazine, and he will also join us as a speaker for the Symbolic World Summit in February 2024. He is an amazing writer and speaker...
09.15.2023
307 - Gregg Hurwitz - The Search for Political Nuance
I sat down again with the American novelist and screenwriter, Gregg Hurwitz. Gregg was part of the Daily Wire+ Exodus series discussion panel with Jordan Peterson, so I thought it was a good time for us to talk about what...
09.08.2023
306 - The Search for Participation in Contemporary Art
Apologies for the audio quality.In this lecture, I take you through contemporary art history and its desperate search for a proper means of participation in a desacralized world. This talk is a follow-up to a previous video I did, The...
09.02.2023
305 - Richard Rohlin - How to Read Like a Medieval Person
In this episode of the Universal History series, Richard Rohlin presents a talk about 4 things we must take into consideration in order to think like a pre-modern Christian. This is a primer for approaching old texts like Beowulf, the...
08.25.2023
304 - The Subtle Bodies of Angels
Many of the Church Fathers talk about the notion that angels have what we call "subtle bodies", that angels are not completely incorporeal (God only is completely incorporeal) but their bodies are also not circumscribed in flesh, but in mind.In...
08.17.2023
303 - Ted Lewis - The Technological Society
I sit down with Ted Lewis to discuss the work of Jacques Ellul and his views, on technology, Christianity, civilization, and transpersonal agency.Ted Lewis is Executive Director of the International Jacques Ellul Society.Full bio: https://restorativechurch.org/about-ted-lewis/International Jacques Ellul Society: https://ellul.org/The Ellul...
08.11.2023
302 - My Participation in a Worldwide Conspiracy
How conspiracies work. It's time to change how we think about conspiracies and get a more nuanced view. While secretive conspiracies also exist, many of them emerge quite spontaneously and openly according to incentives and common attention. You don't have...
08.03.2023
301 - Aidan Hart - Transfiguration: The End of Symbolism
This is a discussion from the Princeton Scala Foundation conference that took place in April 2023 with the title, “The Transfiguration: Glory and Grace in the World”. I sat down with Margarita Mooney Clayton and iconographer and author Aidan Hart...
07.28.2023
300 - The Role of Art in Identity - Princeton Scala Conference
This is a talk I gave in April at the Scala Foundation's April 2023 conference on Art, the Sacred, and the Common Good held at the Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. Featuring in-depth discussions with artists Jonathan Pageau,...
07.20.2023
299 - Dr. Paula Boddington - A.I. Ethics
Paula Boddington returns to the channel for us to discuss new developments in artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, ethics, healthcare, the meaning of intelligence, and how AI is exposing how some of our current ways of doing things don’t work, and maybe...
07.13.2023
298 - Mary Harrington - Conspiracies and the Return of Myth
I had a wonderful discussion with writer Mary Harrington about conspiracies, myth and memes, the internet, artificial intelligence, and meaning-making.Mary Harrington is a columnist and editor for UnHerd and runs her own weekly Substack Reactionary Feminist. She's interested in the...
07.03.2023
297 - Rumpelstiltskin: Credit and Resurrection
This is the last video in the fairy tale series I am making public from my patron archive. This fascinating fairy tale has a lot to tell us about money, power, credit, turning death into glory, and resurrection.Support our Snow...
06.28.2023
296 - The Meaning Behind the Princess and the Pea
This is the fourth video of a series of fairy tale analyses I did for my patrons a few years ago. I meditate on the meaning of the story of The Princess and the Pea.Support our Kickstarter for the Snow...
06.26.2023
295 - The Symbolism in Jack and the Beanstalk
This is the third video of a series of fairy tale analyses I did for my patrons a few years ago. I meditate on the meaning of the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and even how it relates to...
06.22.2023
294 - The Secrets of Snow White
This is part of a series of patron-only videos about fairy tales that I am releasing in light of our Snow White and the Widow Queen Kickstarter. In this podcast, I give some hints into the symbolism of Snow White...
06.20.2023
293 - Pricked by a Spindle - Symbolism in Sleeping Beauty
This is the first of a series of videos I will release from my patron-only archive, analyzing symbolism in various fairy tales. We start with Sleeping Beauty and the meaning of being pricked by a spindle, how it might relate...
06.15.2023
292 - Jordan Hall - Artificial Intelligence in Biblical Terms
I catch up with Jordan Hall in light of recent developments about artificial intelligence, how people are responding to it and conceptualizing it, Ai and ChatGPT in Biblical terms, understanding the weight and ramifications of terms like "god", agency, angels...
06.06.2023
291 - Heather Pollington - The Art Behind 'Snow White and the Widow Queen'
I had an interview with the wonderful artist, Heather Pollington. Together we created a book called 'Snow White and the Widow Queen' that is currently being crowdfunding through Kickstarter.Here we take you through our creative process, the inspiration behind the...
06.02.2023
290 - John Vervaeke - How to See the End of the World
A discussion between me and John Vervaeke at The Quest for a Spiritual Home conference in Chino, California in May 2023. A big part of our discussion was about eschatological imagery, talking about death and sacrifice, the past, and the...
05.30.2023
289 - My Most Anti-Symbolic Talk - The Quest For A Spiritual Home Conference
My talk at The Quest for a Spiritual Home conference in Chino, California in May 2023 with Paul VanderKlay, John Vervaeke, and John Van Donk. Title: The Importance of Disappointment This was the second talk after Paul VanderKlay....

What's The Symbolic World about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The Symbolic World episodes:

338 - Richard Rohlin - Universal History: The End of Babel

337 - How to Survive the End of a World - A Parable of Christ

336 - Timothy Patitsas - The Vital Sign of Beauty

335 - Justin Brierley - The Next Great Renewal

334 - Aidan Hart - A New Image of Everything

333 - John Vervaeke, DC Schindler, Ken Lowry - The Ontology of Artificial Intelligence

332 - The Garments of Skin

331 - Richard Rohlin - Universal History: The Tower of Babel

330 - The Leviathan in Scripture: Ouroboros Symbolism

329 - James Poulos - Bitcoin Monasteries: Putting Technology to Good Use

328 - Stephen Blackwood - The Book that the West Needs

327 - Richard Rohlin - Universal History: Dragons!

326 - The Symbolism of Titans, Giants, and Nephilim

325 - JP Marceau - Recovering the Metaphysics of Symbolism

324 - Benjamin Boyce - The Inevitable Fall of the Enlightenment

323 - What It Means to Be Born Again

322 - Janus, the Two-Faced God of January

321 - Why Angels Appeared to Shepherds on Christmas

320 - Richard Rohlin - The Universal History of Christmas

319 - The Symbolism of Aliens

318 - Seraphim Hamilton - Re-Enchantment Now: Fairies, Aliens, the Occult, Prayer, and Divination

317 - Fr. Joseph Lucas - Sacrifice: The Paradox of Salvation

316 - DC Schindler - The Duality of Art (Climbing Mt Sophia)

315 - Fr. Turbo Qualls and David Patrick Harry - Beauty and the Ascetic

314 - Dr Martin Shaw - The New Odyssey

313 - Fr. Andrew Damick - Redeeming Pagan Symbolism

312 - Kendelle Hoyer - Behind the Big Screen

311 - Ritualized Behavior From Animals to Church

310 - Annie Crawford - C.S. Lewis on Progress, AI, and Gender

309 - Jacob Howland - Technological Cannibalism

308 - Fr. Stephen De Young - Biblical Symbolism: Uncovering Your Father’s Nakedness

307 - Gregg Hurwitz - The Search for Political Nuance

306 - The Search for Participation in Contemporary Art

305 - Richard Rohlin - How to Read Like a Medieval Person

304 - The Subtle Bodies of Angels

303 - Ted Lewis - The Technological Society

302 - My Participation in a Worldwide Conspiracy

301 - Aidan Hart - Transfiguration: The End of Symbolism

300 - The Role of Art in Identity - Princeton Scala Conference

299 - Dr. Paula Boddington - A.I. Ethics

298 - Mary Harrington - Conspiracies and the Return of Myth

297 - Rumpelstiltskin: Credit and Resurrection

296 - The Meaning Behind the Princess and the Pea

295 - The Symbolism in Jack and the Beanstalk

294 - The Secrets of Snow White

293 - Pricked by a Spindle - Symbolism in Sleeping Beauty

292 - Jordan Hall - Artificial Intelligence in Biblical Terms

291 - Heather Pollington - The Art Behind 'Snow White and the Widow Queen'

290 - John Vervaeke - How to See the End of the World

289 - My Most Anti-Symbolic Talk - The Quest For A Spiritual Home Conference