Thinking Unchained Podcast

If you would like to discuss today's episode or comment on it, please visit Thinking Unchained.  

In this episode, I present the possibility every one of us, believers and non-believers, are both, correct and wrong, about who or what god is. Everyone on earth sees god from different perspectives, angles, and with different lenses, creating a unique view of god. However, I argue not a single person on earth has the complete or true vision of god.  

John Archibald Wheeler

Phillip Mainlander

Exodus 3:13-15 

New International Version 

13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” I find this interesting, Moses refers to god as "the god of your fathers," He did not believe this voice came from one of his gods, remember, he still considered himself Egyptian, and probably believed in many gods. 

 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.[a] This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 

Exodus 33:11 

New International Version 

11 The Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks with his friend 

Exodus 33:18-23

New International Version 

18 Then Moses said, “Now, please show me your glory [C asking for god's manifest presence].” 

19 The Lord answered, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will announce my name, the Lord, so you can hear it. I will show ·kindness [favor] to anyone to whom I want to show ·kindness [favor], and I will show ·mercy [compassion] to anyone to whom I want to show ·mercy [compassion]. 20 But you cannot see my face, because no one can see me and live. 

21 “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes that place, I will put you in a large ·crack [fissure; T cleft] in the rock and ·cover [screen] you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will ·take away [remove] my hand, and you will see my back. But my face must not be seen.” 

Support the show

If you would like to discuss today's episode or comment on it, please visit Thinking Unchained.   

In this episode, I make an attempt at explaining why I created my podcast. Honestly, I don’t know if I am effective. I am almost certain the reason or purpose of my podcast will change with time. Below are the quotes I use in my episode.  

Fame or self: which matters most? 

Self or wealth: which is more precious? 

Gain or loss: which is more painful? - Chinese philosopher, Laozi. 

"The most important thing to do in your life is to not interfere with somebody else’s life." Frank Zappa 

"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa 

"Those moments of suffering interrupt your life and they remind you you’re not the person you thought you were. They carve through the floor of the basement of your soul, and they reveal a cavity below and they carve through that floor, and they reveal a cavity below." - Paul Tillich 

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you." - Maya Angelou 

Support the show

If you would like to discuss today's episode or comment on it, please visit Thinking Unchained. 

In this episode I talk about physical health, understanding the need to have the other two health areas, mental and spiritual, to have complete health. We cannot have health unless we are willing to do the essential work: healthy eating, exercising, and stress management. 

"The greatest of follies is to sacrifice health for any other kind of happiness." - Arthur Schopenhauer 

"With health, everything is a source of pleasure; without it, nothing else, whatever it may be, is enjoyable...Health is by far the most important element in human happiness." - Arthur Schopenhauer 

"What will kill us in the end, will not be one obvious thing, but many decades of invisible minor aggravations and low grade frictions." - from the episode, “Do This When Your Battery is Running Low.” - The School of Life YT Channel 

1 Corinthians 6:19-20  -   19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies. 

Support the show

If you would like to discuss today's episode or comment on it, please visit Thinking Unchained.

In this episode, I explore Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Theory of Stupidity and Howard Gardner’s nine intelligences to broaden our understanding of how we can all be both, intelligent and stupid, at the same time. 

“I am not young enough to know everything.” - Oscar Wilde 

“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” - George Carlin 

Mark Twain noted, “Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.” He also said, "It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they've been fooled." 

“There is nothing by which a man exasperates most people more, than displaying a superior ability of brilliancy in conversation. They seem pleased at the time; but their envy makes them curse him at their hearts.” - Samuel Johnson 

"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." - Matthew 7:6 

"Do not correct a fool, or he will hate you; correct a wise man and he will appreciate you." - Proverbs 9:8 

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge[…] - Hosea 4:6 

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge.” - Stephen Hawking 

“It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with the question longer.” Albert Einstein 

“The fool wonders, the wise man asks.” - Benjamin Disraeli 

Support the show

If you would like to discuss today's episode or comment on it, please visit Thinking Unchained.

In this episode I use This Be The Verse by Philip Larkin and break it down to discuss ways in which we were fucked up by our parents, emphasizing the fuck up is certain. It is inevitable. I also discuss how in most cases our parents didn’t mean to fuck us up, they just did. 

“We need to let our children grow up to face the world armed with knowledge, with much more knowledge than we ourselves had at their age. It is scary, but the alternative is worse.” - Daniel Dennett 

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide NOT to be reduced by them.” -Maya Angelou 

Proverbs 23-13: Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish them with the rod, they will not die. 

Ephesians 6:1-3  1Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2“Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3“so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” 

Mathew 18:8-9 - If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away[…]And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. 

Support the show

If you would like to discuss today's episode or comment on it, please visit Thinking Unchained.

In this first episode, I pose the question, “Who am I?” and encourage my listeners to ask it themselves, with the understanding we are looking at the answer through our lenses. I quote a few great thinkers and important figures of our history: 
 
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” - Socrates  
  
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born & the day you find out why.” - Mark Twain 

“A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it is not open.” - Frank Zappa 

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” - Winston Churchill. 

Ithaka 

Hermeneutics 

Plato’s Cave 

Support the show