
MindMatters
Education Podcasts
The only podcast to talk about everything from romance novels to totalitarianism. Psychology, philosophy, history, books, film, religion, politics: join hosts Harrison Koehli, Elan Martin, and Adam Daniels for perspectives you won't find anywhere else.
Location:
United States
Genres:
Education Podcasts
Description:
The only podcast to talk about everything from romance novels to totalitarianism. Psychology, philosophy, history, books, film, religion, politics: join hosts Harrison Koehli, Elan Martin, and Adam Daniels for perspectives you won't find anywhere else.
Language:
English
Website:
https://www.sott.net
Episodes
Nigel Kerner’s CHILLING Warning: AI Is Making Us Less Human, with Danielle Silverman
8/1/2025
In this episode of Mind Matters, Harrison engages with Danielle Silverman, a collaborator of the late Nigel Kerner, author of Gray Aliens and Artificial Intelligence. They discuss Kerner’s philosophical and metaphysical perspectives on UFOs, suggesting gray aliens are synthetic, non-sentient beings seeking to harvest human souls—a unique connection to a perfect, eternal state. Kerner’s work, rooted in decades of inquiry sparked by his son’s question about UFOs, posits that humanity is at risk of losing its capacity for meaning by merging with AI and technology, aligning with an alien agenda. Silverman emphasizes the importance of resisting this trajectory through human connection and awareness to preserve our sovereignty and spiritual essence.
Duration:01:17:05
Artificial Stone: Has Marcell Foti Cracked the Megalithic Code?
6/4/2025
In this episode of Mind Matters, Marcell Foti shares his groundbreaking Natron Theory, challenging conventional explanations for the construction of ancient megalithic structures. Foti, an IT professional turned independent researcher, proposes that ancient civilizations used a chemical process involving natron—a carbonate mineral used in ancient Egypt for mummification and as a detergent—to etch and dissolve granite into a moldable "waterglass" slurry, which could then be cast into precise stone shapes. Demonstrating with small-scale experiments, he explains how this method accounts for the seamless, complex features of structures like those in Peru and Egypt, offering a compelling alternative to traditional theories of chiseling. Follow Marcel’s ongoing experiments and insights on Twitter and check out his book, The Natron Theory, for a deeper dive into this revolutionary idea.
Duration:01:11:29
The Dark Side of Non-Human Intelligence with Matt Hurley
5/24/2025
Matt Hurley is the creator of badaliens.info, a website dedicated to exploring the darker aspects of the UFO phenomenon. In this episode of MindMatters, Hurley shares his journey into UFO research, sparked by reading Above Top Secret as a teenager, and his subsequent disillusionment with contradictory and overly optimistic narratives in ufology. With a focus on physical evidence over speculative theories, Hurley discusses disturbing topics like abductions, animal and human mutilations, and missing persons cases, emphasizing the need for transparency and caution regarding non-human intelligences.
Matt's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1fPZhLXXqvVvqhiEn81oiA
Matt on Twitter: https://x.com/Badaliensinfo
Duration:01:12:58
Three-Body Problem: Soft Disclosure? John Carter talks ETs and UFOs
5/12/2025
Today MindMatters welcomes back John Carter to talk Cixin Liu's Three-Body Problem, science fiction in general, and to compare NHI theories. Do UAP represent extraterrestrials putting on a show to appear more advanced than actually are? Or super-advanced ultraterrestrials who may have their own weaknesses? What is the possible connection between tech and psi? And would humanity actually unite in the case of an ET threat, as Ronald Reagan so endearingly believed?
Duration:01:56:57
Cutchinology: A Decade of the Paranormal with Joshua Cutchin
5/2/2025
Joshua Cutchin is one of the most interesting thinkers on the paranormal alive. He is the author of 8 classic books on the subject, including highly focused investigations into the role of food in paranormal encounters, paranormal odors, and child abduction in folklore and contemporary culture. He has also produced wide-ranging analyses on Bigfoot, widening the conceptual aperture to include paranormal features ignored by many until now, and the relation of death to all things paranormal. His latest book deals with the overlap between fiction and the paranormal, and the flimsy boundary between fiction and reality. Joshua is also an accomplished musician and a cool dad.
Duration:01:23:06
Predators in High Places with Dr. Karen Mitchell
8/16/2024
Today on MindMatters, Dr. Karen Mitchell, founder and CEO of the Kalmor Institute, shares insights from her pioneering PhD research on the "persistent predatory personality." Unlike previous studies that relied primarily on incarcerated populations or graduate students, Dr. Mitchell's work draws from the extensive experiences of practitioners who have dedicated their careers to working with individuals exhibiting dark triad traits and psychopathic tendencies.
Her research includes data from professionals with an average of 22 years' experience in fields such as child sex abuse, domestic violence, cults, terrorism, toxic leadership, including an FBI agent with the highest number of serial killer cases. By canvassing these unique perspectives, her work offers a fresh approach to understanding and identifying the persistent predatory personality, highlighting the limitations of existing models like the Psychopathy Checklist developed by Robert Hare.
Duration:01:36:05
The Varieties of Inner Experience with Russ Hurlburt
8/8/2024
Inner speaking, inner seeing, feelings, sensory awareness, unsymbolized thinking. Do we all have the same inner experiences? And how aware are we of what we actually experience from moment to moment?
In this episode of Mind Matters, we interview Dr. Russell T. Hurlburt, a pioneering psychologist from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Dr. Hurlburt discusses his groundbreaking work investigating "pristine inner experience" - the unfiltered, moment-to-moment contents of our consciousness. He introduces his innovative method, Descriptive Experience Sampling, which aims to capture and analyze inner experiences with the aid of specialized beeper and an in-depth interview process.
This episode provides a unique perspective on the study of human consciousness and the complexities of inner experience. Dr. Hurlburt's insights shed light on the importance of understanding our internal mental processes and how they relate to our self-representations. Whether you're a psychology enthusiast, a student of cognitive science, or simply curious about the workings of the human mind, this interview provides valuable insights into cutting-edge research on consciousness and experience.
https://hurlburt.faculty.unlv.edu/lena/do_I_have_internal_monologue_sampling.htmlhttps://www.amazon.com/Investigating-Pristine-Inner-Experience-Moments/dp/1107009944https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP4XFq2fPM8
Duration:01:43:18
Do NPCs Have an Inner Monologue? Discussing the 5 Pristine Inner Experiences
7/9/2024
Self-talk. Visualizations. Bodily awareness. Unconscious thought processes. In our day-to-day course of existence our minds assimilate, respond and react to any number of stimuli from within – and without. But how often do we stop to consider just how we do this and what faculties of apprehension are actually put to use? And do we even have a framework, vocabulary and level of awareness from which to do it?
Inner speech (inner monologue), inner vision, sensory awareness, emotions and unsymbolized thinking are all categories that, according to psychologist and researcher Russell T. Hurlburt, can help one come to know what one’s "pristine inner experience" is. Along with such a framework and the research inspired by it come many questions. What does it mean to be “in the moment”? Do all people use all categories of inner experience with the same frequency? How are we used to describing our inner experiences to ourselves and to others? Were personages like Gurdjieff on to something when he encouraged people to observe themselves?
Join us this week on MindMatters as we question the many assumptions, presuppositions, and mediations that come between cognizance of individual inner experience, and a relative state of unawareness regarding just what makes us tick.
Duration:01:36:09
Transforming Darkness: Shadow Work and Pathocracy with Colin Davis
4/29/2024
So you’ve been ‘red pilled’. You're well versed in false flags, deep states, secret governments, and state-sponsored assassinations. You’ve watched documentaries about stolen elections, the New World Order, child trafficking, and mind control. And then when you were through with those, you read extensively on the criminal acts of intelligence agencies, psychopathy among the elite, exotic weapons, and more.
And now you simply know, in your bones, that the reality presented to you on CNN (and most other places) is total B.S. - and have the hours and days of sleepless nights, shocked reactions and chills running down your spine to prove it. But, perhaps, no one ever told you how to assimilate such life-changing information. And, perhaps, no one ever guided your expanded insight of how the world really works - with an equally expanded insight into how you really work. (Or, if you have experienced it, you can stand to have a few reminders!)
This week on MindMatters we are joined by writer and researcher Colin E. Davis whose new book, Transforming Darkness: A Shadow Work Toolkit for the Red Pilled Initiate addresses just such issues. Using Jung’s idea of the Shadow, or the dark side that exists in all of us, Davis not only provides a survey of works describing how this darkness comes to be and is manifested in the world, but also provides references to some of the best modalities that aid in addressing them. Understanding the world we truly live in is a most worthy pursuit, but the balance required to see ourselves as we truly are, and as we live a 'Red Pilled’ life, is no less crucial.
Duration:02:06:53
Arthur Versluis: The Neo-Gnostics vs. Pathocracy
3/23/2024
Neo-gnosticism without gnosis. Gnosis without neo-gnosticism. These are just a couple of the frameworks, dichotomies, and strains of gnosticism making their way into the religious, social, and political consciousness and conversation of today’s world through literature, film, and other media. In this follow-up discussion with author and scholar Arthur Versluis, we continue our discussion on his Oxford University Press-published book 'American Gnosis: Political Religion And Transcendence.' We further delve into the profound influence and divergences of an ancient set of spiritual beliefs - made all the more relevant for their lasting power and pervasiveness in so much of what we’re observing on the world stage. (Part I of this discussion is here.)
This week on MindMatters we further examine the spectrum of gnosis, contemporary misconceptions about its tenets, as well as how the political dissidents of today could become the inquisitional forces of tomorrow. If pathocracy, extreme materialism, radical leftism and communism are the ‘enemies’ of gnosticism, then what, if anything, can gnosticism tell us about a way forward in an increasingly complicated world?
Duration:01:33:45
It's Full of Life: The Philosophy of ET with Andrew Davis
3/8/2024
Astrophilosophy. Exotheology. Whitehead.
Andrew Davis is the program director for the Center for Process Studies. A philosopher and theologian, his latest work is on the metaphysics of exo-life. Today on MindMatters we discuss his work on science, religion, and what the impact of the discovery of ET life would mean for philosophy, and a general philosophical framework that would make sense of it.
We also discuss the opening up of public and academic interest in the topic of UFOs and non-human intelligences, David Ray Griffin's work and parapsychology, humans as an exemplification of what the universe does, the morphological and ontological templates that life may take elsewhere, the ontology of possibilities, shared commonalities that might allow for communication with ET forms of life, the mind of God, and more.
Duration:01:18:49
The Woke Psychopathology Taxonomy with David Abramowitz
2/19/2024
David Abramowitz joins us once again, this time to discuss Michael Shellenberger and Peter Boghossian's Taxonomy of Woke Psychopathology. With Andrew Lobaczewski's Political Ponerology as inspiration, the taxonomy summarizes how certain Woke topics and causes express Cluster B personality disorder dynamics. While the topics themselves may not be pathological, the manner in which they're presented is, expressing such features as attention-seeking, grandiosity, emotional dysregulation, excess and lack of empathy, victimhood ideology, impaired reality testing, and splitting.
Join us as we take a broader look at political causes, the pathocratic function of ideology, and its role in creating a worldview that makes sense to the Cluster B personality. Pathocratic personalities then attempt to force everyone else to conform to the world they have created.
Duration:01:27:00
Dark Matter Monsters and the Sociology of the Paranormal with Dr. Simeon Hein
1/8/2024
Let's face it. Bigfoot is real. The only question is, what is it? With now thousands of credible encounters that would be difficult to ignore or dismiss, we know many individuals have also observed a host of seemingly paranormal phenomena that quite often accompany these large strange creatures. Orbs, ball lightening, strange smells, space-time anomalies, electromagnetic fluctuations; not to mention witnessing these cryptids moving at super-fast speeds, and morphing into different forms; making our conceptions of what Bigfoot are very likely obsolete.
But what if some of the experiences of these beings, and others like them, has something to do with our tentative understanding of cutting edge science? What if what many have seen has much in common with the way that "coherent matter" works? Are there correlations between cold fusion, or low-energy nuclear reaction, technology and access to other realms of reality? And what have a number of leading scientists in physics been known to say about the fluid nature of reality?
This week on MindMatters we are pleased to speak with Dr. Simeon Hein whose recent book, Dark Matter Monsters: Cryptids, Ball Lightning, and the Science of Secret Lifeforms, is a serious exploration of just such questions.
Duration:02:05:40
From Archons to the Matrix: Understanding American Gnosis with Arthur Versluis
12/29/2023
The ancient idea of spiritual gnosis has evolved and branched to reflect the time and place in which we live. Nowhere is this development more evident than in the writings and scholarship of author Arthur Versluis . In his groundbreaking new book American Gnosis: Political Religion and Transcendence, Versluis takes an in-depth look at the varieties of modern 'neo-gnosticism.' These include cosmological gnosticism - the worldly effort to escape from archons of darkness or hostile beings that would seek to subjugate the world through politics and other power structures. Another is metaphysical gnosis, or transcendence that is less a reaction to the perception of evil overlords than movement towards divine knowledge for its own sake.
Join us this week on MindMatters as we delve into the realm of cosmological gnosis with Arthur Versluis, and look at the plethora of ways in which some really old ideas have been reinvigorated (alongside some newer ones). How do these ideas present themselves in literature, TV and movies? Is there is a crossover between ‘political awakening’ and ‘spiritual awakening’? And what, if anything, may this have to do with some developments we’ve been seeing with the so-called ‘dissident right’ in the US?
Duration:01:26:16
Psychedelics, Sobriety, and Altered States: Processing Reality with John Buchanan
11/20/2023
What do altered states tell us about the nature of consciousness? And what can philosophy tell us about altered states? John Buchanan has spent his life trying to find the answers. His book, Processing Reality: Finding Meaning in Death, Psychedelics, and Sobriety, details the story of his history of experimentation and addiction, his path to sobriety, and the insights he has gained into the nature of human experience and consciousness.
A synthesis of Whitehead's process philosophy and Grof's transpersonal psychology, Buchanan's ideas provide a framework for understanding not only the nature of the psychedelic experience and other altered states, but also the nature of consciousness itself and the structure of the cosmos.
Duration:01:40:46
Five MYTHS about Evil: Setting the Record Straight with David Abramowitz
11/3/2023
Are all psychopaths serial killers? Is authoritarianism only found on the political right? Are we all equally capable of evil? Does power really corrupt absolutely? And is evil really "banal"?
Join us today as we discuss the biggest myths about evil with David Abramowitz, the nature of psychopaths and ponerology, and how McGilchrist’s brain-hemisphere research fits into the picture.
David Abramowitz has a background in finance and accounting, but an experience with a psychopath set him on a path to research the topic for the next decade. He has read nearly everything there is to read on the subject, and describes a type which he has termed the “passive-parasitic” psychopath. These are the so-called successful psychopaths, the ones you’ll find on Wall Street and in Washington. And they’re the reason for much of today’s pathological political climate.
Duration:01:30:06
Gurdjieff and the Inner Evolution of Man - with Alan Francis
8/4/2023
Do human beings have ‘higher bodies’? Is there an essence or essential part of one’s being that individuals can consciously help to grow? And what does the development of the personality have to do with these possibilities? Philosopher and teacher G.I. Gurdjieff presented the world with an esoteric framework for self-development that has been carried forward by a number of thinkers.
What does esoteric growth look and feel like? What are some of the processes involved? And how does one go about verifying that such a process is even occurring? Does an inner questioning end when one reaches a higher state, or does it just go deeper? Joining us for his third appearance on MindMatters is author/teacher Alan Francis. Alan's decades of experience with Gurdjieff’s work have helped him crystalize some insights as to how we may become more than what we are. He is the head of the International School of the Fourth Way, and the author of 'Secrets of the Fourth Way.'
Duration:01:27:54
Cold-blooded Kindness: The Longhouse Mentality and Psychopathology - with Dr. J.D. Haltigan
7/21/2023
J.D. Haltigan is a developmental and evolutionary psychologist who writes the Multilevel Mailer on Substack. His research and writing focuses on psychopathology, social media-induced mental illness in the young, and the psychological phenomena underlying Woke ideology and the culture wars. Lately he has been writing about the negative effects of traits like compassion and empathy when not balanced and held in check by trait systematization. J.D. has also writing a review of Andrew Lobaczewski’s Political Ponerology tying its insight to our current sociopolitical situation.
Duration:01:00:46
Unmasking Psychopaths and Narcissists in Business and Politics - with Dr. Clive Boddy
7/14/2023
Clive Boddy is Associate Professor of Management at Anglia Ruskin University, a leading researcher in the field of corporate psychopathy, and author of the book ‘A Climate Of Fear: Stone Cold Psychopaths At Work’. Today on MindMatters, we interview Clive about his research, why psychopaths do not make good leaders (despite claims to the contrary), how they contribute to employee job satisfaction, and how toxic leadership intersects with incompetent leadership. Once a taboo subject, corporate psychopathy has gained widespread acknowledgment in the last decade or so. But another related subject is only now breaking through academia and public consciousness: political psychopathy. Clive discusses his own work in that field as well, with comments on screening politicians for psychopathy. We even talk about Star Wars.
Duration:00:54:26
The Unbroken Individual Is the True Source of Moral Responsibility
6/16/2023
This week on MindMatters we take a third and final look at the prescient and resounding thoughts of Ernst Jünger's The Forest Passage and reflect on what it means - in the philosophical and practical sense - to be a forest walker, or forest rebel.
How one resists and chooses to respond to totalitarianism is at least as crucial as making the choice itself. But what are some of the many considerations involved? What inner resources does one draw upon and where might one find the light that helps to make the best of all choices? What does one fall back on when many of the institutions that are meant to morally support a society have been effectively gutted, or done away with completely? What is the responsibility of an unbroken and ‘concrete individual’ to step in and rectify institutional failure to some degree? And where does the power of the spoken or written word fit into this complex equation?
Duration:01:18:45