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Rocky's Odyssey: Heroes, Myths & Cults - with Joe Szimhart

August 01, 2026

As the Rocky movies demonstrate, hero myths can create cults. Joe talks about the homage paid to the Rocky statue on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and relates it to the cult that arose from the tale of Ulysses’ Odyssey. There are many examples of cult formation around fascinating narratives; Joe and Jon touch on Star Wars, The Matrix, the Arthurian legends, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, as well as The Da Vinci Code, showing how stories easily become doctrines believed by ma...

Bring me the Beauties with Hoyt Richards

July 25, 2026

Hoyt talks about his recently aired documentary, "Bring Me the Beauties," and the perplexity that two of the contributors continue to believe that the cult leader really was from another planet, and that they simply failed to understand his message. A fascinating insight into cult membership and the mesmerizing effect of cult creators. Links:Watch "Bring Me the Beauties"more on the Bear Fedio indexIra Chaleff's "Blink, Think, Choice, Voice"And Spike's son...

Nirvana, psychopathy, Scientology, and coercive control with Amir Essalhi - part 2

July 18, 2026

This is part 2 of 2; you can find part 1 hereIn part 2 of this conversation, Jon and Amir talk about L. Ron Hubbard, hypnosis, belief, and why we wall ourselves into our personal silos when our beliefs are challenged, rather than having the courage to consider the evidence. Links:See Yuval Laor's work hereSee John Hunter's work hereHere is a link to the documentary, Let There Be LightNote for Americans and other non-UK people: Speakers' Corner in London is a designated area for fr...