• Episode 137: Orville Schell - Will The Chinese People Ever Be Free?
    Jan 10 2025

    Orville Schell is an author, a journalist, a China scholar, and the director of the Asia Society's Center on U.S.-China Relations.

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    (00:00) Intro

    (01:00) Orville's entering China in the 1970s

    (07:10) Was was China like in the 1970s?

    (10:09) The palpable fear in China in the 1970s

    (14:55) The details of Mao Zedong the Cultural Revolution

    (20:40) What preceded Communism in China?

    (25:32) Why was Communism appealing to Chinese revolutionaries?

    (30:11) China in the 1970s and how it reopened to the world

    (37:10) Why did China not become free after the 1980s?

    (41:39) 1989 and Tiananmen Square

    (45:28) China in the next few years

    (52:19) How might China become free?

    (55:26) Why China matters

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    58 mins
  • Episode 136: Joseph Goldstein - How Meditation Can Improve Your Life
    Jan 3 2025

    Joseph Goldstein is an author, the co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, and is one of the most influential and important figures to bring vipassana meditation practices into the American mainstream.

    A rebroadcast from 2022.

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    (00:00) Intro

    (00:45) How Joseph ended up in Asia a young man

    (04:39) Reason for interest in Buddhism and meditation

    (08:59) Immersing in the study of the mind

    (12:41) The Buddha’s teachings

    (18:52) Joseph's psychological state when first exposed to Buddhism and meditation

    (21:01) The daily habits, discipline, and rituals to try to achieve Enlightenment

    (27:14) Deciding to devote his life to meditation

    (30:11) Communicating to his mother his desire to devote his life to Buddhism

    (32:59) Metaphysical views pre and post meditation

    (37:46) Buddhism is non-theistic

    (40:14) What is the Dharma?

    (44:48) Integrating Buddhist teachings with practice and The Noble Eightfold Path

    (53:37) The first step to use mindfulness to ease psychological suffering

    (01:01:24) Awareness versus the weather pattern of one's mind

    (01:04:30) Using mindfulness to respond, rather than to react

    (01:15:37) Dealing with grief

    (01:24:50) How can we improve our lives by being mindful?

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    1 hr and 35 mins
  • Episode 135: James Hollis - How to Live a Meaningful Life
    Dec 27 2024

    James Hollis is a psychoanalyst, one of the world's most prolific Jungian thinkers, and the author of many books, including "Living An Examined Life."

    A rebroadcast from 2021.

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    (00:00) Intro

    (01:02) Jim's transition from academia to psychoanalysis

    (06:24) The decision to pursue psychoanalysis as a full-time profession

    (10:59) Gathering the courage to pursue psychoanalysis

    (18:19) What about Jung’s work resonated with Jim?

    (30:16) Jim's process of helping people navigate the transitionary phases of their lives

    (41:31) The most pressing issues Jim sees facing Americans

    (48:24) The primary blockers to growth and self-healing

    (51:54) Discerning the difference fears you should avoid and fears you should face

    (57:01) Exhausted relationships vs. relationships that need endurance

    (01:09:02) The ratio of men vs. women seeking counsel and therapy and how it’s changed over the years

    (01:13:21) Why most men tend to suppress their innermost emotions

    (01:19:49) Jim's explanation of Joseph Campbell’s ‘hero’s journey’

    (01:25:31) How to live an examined, authentic life

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    1 hr and 29 mins
  • Episode 134: Elizabeth Economy: Communist China's History in 60 Minutes
    Dec 20 2024

    Elizabeth Economy is a political scientist, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, a China expert, and the author of multiple books, including "The World According to China" and "The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State."

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    (00:00) Intro

    (01:00) Xi Jinping's father's story

    (07:16) The Cultural Revolution

    (12:02) "China's Holocaust" between 1950's-1970's

    (13:10) Why Marxism resonated in China

    (21:43) Darker aspects of the Cultural Revolution

    (33:48) The rise of Xi Jinping and the rise of China's economy

    (38:33) The meme of Xi Jinping as Winnie the Pooh

    (41:43) Xi Jinping's personality and vision for China

    (46:27) The near-term future of U.S-China relations

    (53:00) What America can do to win Cold War 2.0

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    56 mins
  • Episode 133: James Holland - D-Day, WWII, and What We Owe Our Veterans
    Dec 13 2024

    James Holland is a historian and the author of many books, including Normandy '44: D-Day and the Epic 77-Day Battle for France.

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    (00:00) Intro

    (00:46) The state of the world in June 1944

    (14:48) What was D-Day like for an average Allied soldier

    (21:13) Is D-Day the most important military conflict in history?

    (27:01) "Steel not flesh"

    (32:43) The Atlantic Wall

    (41:08) Cooperation and morale among the Allied troops

    (45:31) Dick Winters and men like him

    (51:15) Why James has committed so much of his life to WWII history

    (54:45) How can we best honor and remember veterans?

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    1 hr and 1 min
  • Episode 132: Noam Dworman - Comedy, Free Speech, and Creating The Comedy Cellar
    Dec 6 2024

    Noam Dworman is a businessman, the co-host of the podcast "Live From The Table," and the owner of the world-famous Comedy Cellar in Greenwich Village, NYC.

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    (00:00) Intro

    (00:59) How The Comedy Cellar came to be

    (02:38) Noam's dad, Manny

    (07:05) Why did Manny start The Comedy Cellar?

    (10:42) Notable comics early at The Comedy Cellar

    (12:00) The way to fame for comics pre-internet

    (14:32) Identifying comedic talent

    (18:36) Patrice O'Neal

    (24:12) How Noam took over The Comedy Cellar

    (27:37) The scene at The Comedy Cellar in early 2000's

    (29:52) Why The Comedy Cellar is so popular

    (32:19) The design of The Comedy Cellar venue

    (36:58) Quotes from Noam about free speech

    (38:11) Louis CK, free speech, and woke culture

    (43:58) How the left has changed regarding free speech

    (47:22) Comedy as a refuge

    (50:23) Defining wokeness and a story about Noam's daughter

    (56:30) The state of wokeness and cancel culture

    (59:02) Comedians and intellectuals with courage

    (01:02:58) What's next for Noam and The Comedy Cellar

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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • Episode 131: Sir Richard Evans - How the Nazis Rose to Power
    Nov 29 2024

    Sir Richard Evans is a historian, and the author of many books, including The Third Reich Trilogy, The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815–1914, and Hitler's People: The Faces of the Third Reich, which is the primary focus of this conversation.

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    (00:00) Intro

    (01:00) The young Hitler

    (04:11) The Nazis were conservative, middle class Germans

    (10:20) How Hitler rose, his talents as a speaker

    (19:52) The Reichstag Fire and The Enabling Act

    (27:57) The romantic and personal life of Hitler

    (31:39) Hitler's romantic interest in Joseph Goebbels's wife

    (35:52) Demythologizing the Nazis: a story of Himmler in the sauna

    (39:27) "Ordinary Men" by Christopher R. Browning

    (44:50) The story of Dr. Karl Brandt

    (49:34) Why history and studying the Nazis matters

    (52:19) Threats to freedom and democracy in the modern world

    (54:22) Donald Trump is not a fascist

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    58 mins
  • Episode 130: Glenn Loury - My American Dream Story
    Nov 22 2024

    Glenn Loury‬ is an economist, a professor at Brown University, a podcaster, an essayist, and is the author of "Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative" and the essay "The Case for Black Patriotism."

    A rebroadcast from 2022.

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    (00:00) Intro

    (01:01) Get to know Glenn Loury

    (03:56) South Side of Chicago culture when Glenn was a boy

    (06:11) Fatherhood at 18, working at RR Donnelley & Sons, and Mr. Andres

    (15:01) Opportunity launches Glenn to Northwestern and MIT

    (19:34) The culture and opportunity of MIT

    (28:48) The first African-American tenured economics professor in Harvard, at 33

    (37:30) Glenn's interest in politics and his heterodox political philosophy

    (47:44) A memorable incident with Glenn's uncle Alfred

    (55:35) How Glenn's conservatism informs his views on the campus

    (01:01:57) Glenn's defense of Western culture

    (01:06:43) "The Case for Black Patriotism"

    (01:23:17) An American Living "The American Dream"

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    1 hr and 25 mins