Welcome to our first ‘Redux’ episode!
Back in 2021, Strange Exiles was born as a podcast and essay project. I wanted to explore ideas, no matter how strange or far out. I wanted to unpack identity - how we relate to ourselves, and the world. And I wanted to interrogate ideology - the structuring beliefs that underpin the way we see things, and how we act.
Since then, I’ve interviewed more than 30 people about their life, work and ideas. It’s been an amazing ride! Now, it’s time to bring all of the show’s initial two seasons — 24 episodes in total — over to Substack, exclusively for subscribers.
A look back at Episode 1, with Peter Sas
Episode 1 was a conversation about nondualism and consciousness with philosopher Peter Sas, author of the blog The Critique of Pure Interest. Over the years, Peter's work has taken in German idealism, Hindu mysticism and all points on the spiritual and philosophical map.
I was especially fascinated by the way Peter has blended together these influences and ideas, often demonstrating their shared roots and associations in his essays. The influence of Eastern religion on Western thought is widely acknowledged, but little explored.
Recommendations from Peter Sas
Below are some essays from Peter Sas, and some links to the books he mentioned in Episode 1. These podcasts are about discovery and exploration for me, so a lot of these are books I hope to dip into myself over the next few months.
Let's start with a few recommendations from Peter's blog, The Critique of Pure Interest. In this essay, he explores the concept from the Upanishads that 'Atman is brahman' - that our consciousness and the universe are the same phenomenon.
In another essay, Peter asks a provocative question echoing Nick Bostrom's 'simulation argument' paper. Is the universe a self-computing consciousness? And in a in a short essay, Peter discusses how nonduality leads to "the problem of ego".
In perhaps my favourite essay from Peter's blog, he explores the possibility of constructing a dialectical approach to nihilism, drawing on ideas from Buddhism.
Peter's first book recommendation is the volume that inspired the name of his blog. Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, first published in the 1780s, is a seminal philosophical enquiry into metaphysics. He also recommends an earlier work by GW Liebniz, Principles of Nature and Grace, one of the building blocks of his later work on the nature of reality and consciousness.
On nondualism, he recommends Michael W. Taft's volume Nondualism: A brief history of a timeless concept. I'll definitely be ordering a copy of this to help me further explore nondualism and its history as an idea.
As a musical bonus, here’s a playlist of beatless, ambient and atmospheric music that I use for meditation and relaxation. I hope you enjoy it.
The next recommendation comes from me rather than Peter Sas - John Gray's Straw Dogs is one of the central texts I tend to refer to. It offers a rationalist, skeptical argument against progress, neoliberalism, and the belief that humans and animals have radically different modes of consciousness. It's an iconoclastic, sometimes challenging read, which frames our belief in progress as a legacy of Christian millenarian tendencies.
You can find out more about The Upanishads on Wikipedia. These ancient Vedic texts are hugely important, and exist in many different translations and editions. As Peter mentioned during our chat, they are old tales, told within a symbolic framework and system of allegory that can be difficult to penetrate. But they are also beautiful, and it's well worth exploring a translation just to let the ideas and stories wash over you.
One book Peter recommended as one of the key works in German philiosophy is Georg William Friedrich Hegel's The Phenomenology of Spirit - Hegel is a writer I've struggled with in source texts, but have started to understand a little better through reading Slavoj Žižek. Our chat has definitely inspired me to try again with the originals!
We also discussed Karl Marx's Das Kapital and Communist Manifesto in relation to Peter's new theory of Buddhist Marxism. These are both key texts that I will likely discuss with more of the guests coming up on the show, and even if you have read both before, I find they are worth revisiting regularly. I get chills every time I read the words: "A spectre is haunting Europe..."
More Redux Episodes on the way!
Thanks for joining me for a look back at our first episode, which is now back where it belongs — exclusively on Substack! As always, thanks to the composer of the Strange Exiles theme, Asthmatic Astronaut of This Is Not Pop.
Redux Episodes 2-24 will follow in your inbox and in your feed over the next few weeks, along with new episodes.
Here’s the latest new episode, with writer, rapper and activist Darren McGarvey:
See you soon… until then, take care of each other.
-Bram, Glasgow, January 2025
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