Pilot Episode
Pilot Episode: The Ideas that Made Your World
Do you view the world correctly? If you didn’t, how would you know?
In discussing everything from the definition of slavery to the collapse of arranged marriages, Dr. Zac explains how the great idea of Western civilization influence us today in ways we never think about.
Series 1: Secularism
Episode 1: A Christian Hersey?
The origins of secularism as a post-Christian offshoot of traditional Christendom.
Secularism tends to pose itself as the opposite of traditional religion but in today’s episode I argue that all of the major values of secularism, especially ideas like human rights, are only possible because Christianity first laid the foundation for these radical ideas. Secularism didn’t invent them, in other words, it only stole them from Christendom.
Episode 2: The Birth of Modernity
The most important factors in the transition to the modern era.
What exactly ended Christendom and caused the whole world to become secular? It took a few centuries, but the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and even the World Wars are all part of the story we discuss on today’s episode.
The real nature of the Enlightenment, its effect on modernity, and its particular obsessions.
Everyone has heard of “the Enlightenment,” but what exactly was it? Was it truly a triumph of reason and science, or was it a slave to its own prejudices?
Episode 4: The Collapse of Secularism
How the Enlightenment’s wild optimism culminated in nihilism and doom.
Did the Enlightenment dream deliver on its promises of rational morality, utopianism, and prosperity, it did it all just lead to eugenics, global war, and nihilism?
Episode 5: Radical Individualism
Individualism, liberalism, and your questions from Substack.
We’ll be answering the questions posted by stubstack users, as well as digging into more of the way secularism has manifested itself in our culture, specifically in concepts like individualism and liberalism.
Enlightenment and Secularism in Star Trek, Warhammer, and the LotR movies.
While I loved Star Trek growing up, it’s impossible now for me to unsee the Enlightenment values driving the whole vision of the future that’s present in the series, especially The Next Generation. In contrast, Star Wars and Warhammer 40,000 present universe much more animated by a mythic belief in Good and Evil as real, moral categories imprinted on the nature of reality. We’ll also discuss the contrast in this mythic vs. modernist framework that comes out subtly in the transition from the Lord of the Rings book to the movies.
Series 2: The Secular State
What if I told you that the liberal democracy, Fascism, and Marxism are based on the same idea?
Our latest series explores the concept of a secular state and its manifestations in liberalism, fascism, and marxism alike. For this first episode we explore the whole idea of the secular state, its origins, and how these ideas have shaped our thinking about government.
What do you get when you take Christianity and cut out it’s theological foundation?
Where did the Liberal Democracy come from? It’s not enough to say that it’s an Enlightenment-inspired society. At it’s heart, liberalism is what happens when you take a Christian vision for reality and strip it of its theological elements.
Fascism is always villainized by Westerners, but what did people like Mussolini and Hitler actually say about it? Did they have a good critique of liberalism and Marxism? And if so, what’s actually wrong with fascism? The answer may surprise you.
Analyzing the materialist assumptions that are really at the heart of Marx’s thought.
What is Marxism, really? Is it compatible with Christianity? Is it more freeing or less? What exactly is “real” Marxism? Today we pull up the root ideas of the Communist Manifesto to see which ideas are at the core of Marx’s thinking.
Episode 5: Christian Government?
Concluding assessment of liberalism, fascism, and Marxism and answering the question, “How should Christians live?”
We assess the three previous forms of secular government and start a discussion about Christian involvement in politics and the “best” form of government.
Living in a secular state: incarnational government and becoming holy.
The final episode in the series on the secular state in which we answer the practical question of how Christians live in this culture.
Series 3: The Dark Logos
Technology, our relationship to knowledge, and the Fall.
As our technological power grows, so do our concerns about the future. In this new series, Dr. Zac explores the historical and spiritual context surrounding man’s relationship to technology, starting with the idea of the Dark Logos: an anti-Christ relationship to creation.
Prometheus, the Watchers in Enoch, and the Devil: why do they give knowledge?
The second element we need to understand in our relationship to knowledge and technology is the fall of the gods and all the stories about the fallen gods giving knowledge to mankind.
Episode 3: Gods of the Shadows
If the gods are real but fallen, where are they now?
Given a very basic set of Christian assumptions, it’s not that far-fetched to imagine that the gods are still around, still very much crave worship and slaves, and have been working with humans to build a new Babel.
Are sorcerers and scientists essentially the same?
Are sorcerers and scientists really aiming at the same thing? People from CS Lewis to Oswald Spengler have answered this question in the affirmative. Spengler in particular characterizes our age as “Faustian”. Are we really sorcerers? Find out on today’s episode.
Lewis Mumford, the “megamachine”, and the total domination of mankind.
Today I use Mumford’s insights to answer the question, “what is Babel, exactly?” and what is our relationship to technological tools. Do the tools and technological advances come first and then society changes? Mumford’s answer is that our imaginative framework about the world changes first, and it’s our new way of viewing the world that drives the creation of new technologies. What is the imaginative framework that results in modernity? The Dark Logos, of course. I tie it all together in today’s episode.
Everything is the Machine—Liberal, Conservative, establishment, and anti-establishment alike. No modern ideology can save you! What are our options?
In this final episode of the Dark Logos series, we discuss how The Machine isn’t limited to one modern ideology or another; all forms of Modernism, Secularism—whatever you want to call it—are about destroying the ancient religions and building the Myth of the Machine in their place. You might say it’s mankind’s oldest religion: Babel.
Series 4: Techno-Paganism
Episode 1: A.I. and the New Age
A.I. as the beginning of the end and how computers ACTUALLY work.
Increasing technology has also led to increasing anxiety. It’s not merely that all the dystopian science-fiction stories are coming true, it’s the bizarre return of ancient, religious impulses and desires now fused to our tech development—a new frontier of techno-paganism.
Episode 2: Mythology of the Enlightenment
How the Enlightenment’s mythic view of the universe primed us for these new religions.
Because modern people tend to think of themselves as irreligious or secular, it makes the rise of new religious movements based on worshipping computers seem almost wacky and unserious. But what if I told you that this was always the goal of the modern era?
Episode 3: The Science of Idol-Making
A.I. isn’t new: the pagans have been doing this for millennia.
Can we build a god out of A.I.? As it turns out, the ancients were already doing much the same thing, and the “science of idol-making” is a recognized technique going back many centuries. Is what we’re doing with A.I. the same? Are idols real creatures?
Episode 4: New Religions, Same Gods
Aliens didn’t seed the planet and A.I. isn’t sentient; it’s just the old gods.
For being supposedly non-religious, secular people are surprisingly interested in weird phenomenon, everything from A.I. worship to UFOs to drug-induced mystical experiences. It’s almost like we’re building new religions—but how new are they, really?
Episode 5: DMT Elves and Demon Chatbots
Owen Cyclops, suspicious hallucinogens, a new dystopia, and real spiritual battles.
Episode 5 of our series on Techno-Paganism in which I cover the whole issue of DMT and other powerful hallucinogens. People who use these substances have both (a) remarkably similar experiences of extremely specific hallucinations, and (b) end up coming to the same conclusions about the moral nature of the universe. The way both of these line up is not at all encouraging, and I quote Owen Cyclops’ experience with these matters at length given his expertise in the matter and his interest in connecting this phenomenon with the other topics we discussed, especially “aliens” and the Book of Enoch.
Episode 6: Escaping the Matrix
Framing the problem, digital minimalism, and radical hope.
In this concluding episode to our series on techno-paganism, I reframe the conversation on how to live in the Matrix but not be enslaved by it, especially in terms of this whole demonic conspiracy idea. Then we get into the difficult topic of how it’s actually our lifestyle that secularizes us, where the solution is therefore about making real livestyles changes. I explore technological limitations, digital minimalism, child development, and many other suggestions and elements for you to consider in constructing your own Matrix safety plan.
Series 5: Epistemology
How did the modern world become so fixated on chronic doubt?
How do you know what you know? It’s a simple question but trying to answer it reveals something very deep about our culture: an almost neurotic fixation on doubt. Why are we like this? Where did it begin? Join me as we embark on one of the most defining topics of our era.
Episode 2: Luther’s Anxiety Crisis
Was the Reformation actually the cause widespread atheism and subjectivity in the West?
While modern secularism is famous for being skeptical, the Reformation actually played a central role in destroying the religious culture of Europe and paving the way for the Enlightenment. Martin Luther is doing the same sort of project as Descartes!
Episode 3: The Enlightenment’s Biases
The scientific movement wasn’t neutral; part of it’s project IS to replace religion.
While we often think of the Enlightenment and the scientific revolution as “unbiased” or “neutral”, the reality is that, historically, the thinkers behind these movements were in fact quite biased and had a particular project in mind: destroying the past.
Episode 4: The Collapse of Truth
You believe in nothing! Postmodernism, neo-Marxism, and Nihilism.
Despite its triumphant optimism, the Enlightenment and scientific revolution didn’t lead to utopia, but instead to the complete breakdown of the idea of truth. How did scientific rationalism lead to postmodernism, neo-Marxism, and nihilism? Find out on today’s episode.
Episode 5: Fixing the Enlightenment
The problem with the Enlightenment is that the concept of objectivity doesn’t actually make sense.
Rounding out our series on epistemology, we do the promised deep dive on what exactly is wrong with Descartes and the other Enlightenment guys. The major issue is that their pursuit of “objectivity” turns out to be a nonsensical. That’s part of the reason why it breaks down. Does this sound abstract? I argue that it’s actually something we all understand intuitively, which is part of what’s weird about modernity: we’ve been trained to think about the world in ways that contradict how we actually live. The fact that we don’t notice this sort of contradiction is a testament to how embedded it is in our whole worldview as modern people.
Episode 6: Christian Epistemology
Personal knowledge, trash coffee, and how aesthetics can be truth-bearing.
Today we take apart the last bits of the objectivist (and subjectivist) concerns about epistemology, including the fact that personal knowledge means knowledge CAN’T be relative, which is an important but often overlooked point. We talk about how knowledge is historical, relational, and is a process rather than a binary, and end with a discussion of Orthodox epistemology.
Series 6: Feminism
How do you define feminism? The actual history of this movement and an Orthodox response.
“Feminism” is a modern, secular ideology with many different, conflicting manifestations. Today we explore the roots of this movement, and contrast it with the way Orthodoxy defines and grounds the dignity of the person—male and female alike.
Masssive studies show that women’s happiness has been declining since the 1970s.
For the last 50 years, women have been steadily gaining more opportunities, education, and financial independence—yet at the same time, according to massive studies across the world, they’ve also been getting more unhappy. What accounts for this seeming paradox?
Episode 2: Industrialism
Defining feminism, care vs. freedom, and the pill.
Feminism is more than the desire for women to be treated with respect. It arose in a very specific set of cultural circumstances—the industrial revolution and the technologization of society—and it still bears the marks of those movements today.
Episode 3: Mary vs. The Machine
The Enlightenment definition for personhood is incompatible with being a women.
Women don’t fit in the modern world, and not for the reasons you might think. It turns out that the Enlightenment thinkers defined personhood in terms that don’t apply to women—which is why feminism in turn has been trying to redefine women to fit modernity.
Episode 4: Battle of the Sexes
Second-Wave Feminism, Marxism, and Transhumanism.
On the fourth episode of this series, I discuss how second-wave feminism is largely rooted in a Marxist view of history, how this perfectly lines up with the anti-biology stance of this era’s feminism, and the social and cultural impact these ideas had.
Episode 5: Occultism and Suffrage
The longstanding historical connection between social progressivism and new occult religions.
Whatever we think about women’s rights or the value of women, feminism as a historical, philosophical movement is a secular movement that’s either (1) explicitly anti-Christian; (2) Occultic; (3) transhumanist; or all of the above. Today we explore the links to occultism and anti-Christian texts like the Woman’s Bible. Next week we’ll end the series by finishing the discussion on how all these movements were linked to transhumanism and the people who bankrolled women’s movements in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Episode 6: Suffrage and Motherhood
Anti-suffragists defeated by industrialists and St. Nektarios on the cosmic moral value of mothers.
We end last week’s discussion on the way that women’s suffrage was mostly an elite-backed movement, not a grassroots one, and that the people involved were industrialists, transhumanists, and “practitioners of alternative religions”, and how all of this follows from Enlightenment transhumanism.
We transition to St. Nektarios on mothers and how the mother has this ultimate, cosmic, moral significance: the mother is the conduit of the Eternal Tao to the child!