The Earthly Delights Podcast Jim O'Connell & Seb Siracusa

James Cussen is a philosopher, video creator and the first Limerick man we’ve had on the podcast. He runs a very successful and useful YouTube channel titled “The Living Philosophy” through which he unpacks long-standing philosophical arguments with modern-day application. A good friend put me on to his stuff and I’ve been dipping in ever since. In this conversation, we cover what philosophy has done for James, and how exactly it can help us in a very real way in our daily lives while acknowledging the dangers of overthinking and overanalysing. We also critique some heralded figures in the mainstream and what their success might reflect about our current society. Are we running away from feeling? This was a long, very fun conversation and I know you’ll take something significant from this. If you’d like to learn more about James and his work, check out his website.
https://www.thelivingphilosophy.com or his YouTube channel https://m.youtube.com/@TheLivingPhilosophy
As always, thanks for taking time to listen to us.
Writing an introduction for our guest this week is an impossible task, but I’ll try. Martín Prechtel is an artist, writer, musician, storyteller, teacher, healer and leading thinker..he’s also one of the funniest guests we’ve ever had on The Earthly Delights. He has lived an incredibly full life and has some profound lessons to share with whoever is open to learning. I was first introduced to the work of Martin by My dear friend Matt who shared with me “The Smell of Rain on Dust: Grief and Praise”. In this book, he speaks of the inherent interconnection between grief and praise in a truly life-affirming manner. It is one of the most influential books on how I view life and I would encourage anyone to give it a read if they are struggling with grief and joy in their own lives. To be brutally honest, I would recommend the work of Martin Prechtel to you all listening. Why do I say that? Well, if you are listening to The Earthly Delights Podcast, chances are that you are finding navigating the modern world very challenging. I don’t need to go into the many ways as to how life in 2023 is sucking our life force but I know that many of us are left today feeling blocked, numb, hopeless and even apathetic. Martin’s work addresses the maladies of our current situation but still manages to instil a deep sense of hope, love, meaning and gratitude in the people who listen to him talk and read his books. His core messages are simple but profoundly countercultural and I invited him on because I think we all need to hear his words until they sink into our bones. In this conversation we speak about some of the crucial lessons in his book “The Unlikely Peace at Cuchumaquic: The Parallel Lives of People as Plants: Keeping the Seeds Alive” namely the nature of our collective disconnection or what he calls un-intactness, the importance of giving energy towards something beautiful that we will never see fully blossom in our lifetime as well as the significance of attempting something even if it feels impossible. These areas of discussion are so relevant now and it was an absolute delight and honour to spend this time with Martin. Thank you all for listening and I left links to his website and soul-sparking music in the show notes if you want more for Martin. The new album ‘The Sun’s Gonna Melt Your Gun’ is a really touching, powerful piece of art and you will hear a little snippet of it at the end of the podcast. All the best friends,

https://floweringmountain.com/
https://open.spotify.com/album/6N96PXRbD4WVDAbGiClvDM?si=z6FfW-RfS42Brqwg-2VVDw

Part 3 of our mini-series about direction and purpose in life!

Writing an introduction for our guest this week is an impossible task, but I’ll try. Martín Prechtel is an artist, writer, musician, storyteller, teacher, healer and leading thinker..he’s also one of the funniest guests we’ve ever had on The Earthly Delights. He has lived an incredibly full life and has some profound lessons to share with whoever is open to learning. I was first introduced to the work of Martin by My dear friend Matt who shared with me “The Smell of Rain on Dust: Grief and Praise”. In this book, he speaks of the inherent interconnection between grief and praise in a truly life-affirming manner. It is one of the most influential books on how I view life and I would encourage anyone to give it a read if they are struggling with grief and joy in their own lives. To be brutally honest, I would recommend the work of Martin Prechtel to you all listening. Why do I say that? Well, if you are listening to The Earthly Delights Podcast, chances are that you are finding navigating the modern world very challenging. I don’t need to go into the many ways as to how life in 2023 is sucking our life force but I know that many of us are left today feeling blocked, numb, hopeless and even apathetic. Martin’s work addresses the maladies of our current situation but still manages to instil a deep sense of hope, love, meaning and gratitude in the people who listen to him talk and read his books. His core messages are simple but profoundly countercultural and I invited him on because I think we all need to hear his words until they sink into our bones. In this conversation we speak about some of the crucial lessons in his book “The Unlikely Peace at Cuchumaquic: The Parallel Lives of People as Plants: Keeping the Seeds Alive” namely the nature of our collective disconnection or what he calls un-intactness, the importance of giving energy towards something beautiful that we will never see fully blossom in our lifetime as well as the significance of attempting something even if it feels impossible. These areas of discussion are so relevant now and it was an absolute delight and honour to spend this time with Martin. Thank you all for listening and I left links to his website and soul-sparking music in the show notes if you want more for Martin. The new album ‘The Sun’s Gonna Melt Your Gun’ is a really touching, powerful piece of art and you will hear a little snippet of it at the end of the podcast. All the best friends,

https://floweringmountain.com/
https://open.spotify.com/album/6N96PXRbD4WVDAbGiClvDM?si=z6FfW-RfS42Brqwg-2VVDw

Part 2 of our mini-series about direction and purpose in life!

Brother Richard Hendrick is a priest-friar of the Irish Capuchin Franciscan Province, now based in Dublin. He was director of Youth Ministry for the Irish Capuchins for over ten years and has worked at both secondary and third level as a retreat giver and chaplain. He is deeply knowledgeable about ritual and initiation within several wisdom traditions and his work highlights the significance they play in our development as humans. With the Sanctuary Mindfulness and Spirituality Centre in Dublin, he has created many youth and teacher training programs around this perspective – the perspective being that young people need elders along with ritual and healthy forms of initiation to help them progress through the stages of human development. In this conversation, we unpack this further with Brother Richard, along with essential components of initiation, the precise role of the elder, and why our parents cannot be our elders. We also hear his critique around the confirmation, the common form of initiation for young people associated with the Catholic Church. This was a special chat with a man deeply committed to spreading insights from many wisdom traditions, not just the Christian tradition. If you would like some more from Brother Richard, he has a fantastic book out called Still Points: A Guide to Living the Mindful, Meditative Way which is available in all good bookshops.

Part 1 of our mini-series about direction and purpose in life!

Welcome out -- Barry Dillon is the Programme Manager at Venture Out Wilderness Project, a registered charity and social enterprise based in the West of Ireland. Barry spent many years teaching adventure sports in places such as Honduras, Mexico, Asia and South America and returned to Ireland 10 years ago to spread the expertise and wisdom he learned to the young people of Ireland. In this podcast, we unpack his experience with the natural world, working with young people outdoors and the specific programmes Venture Out provide. Some of these programmes have helped people that haven’t yielded much benefit from traditional talk therapy and I hope this serves as some inspiration for those who feel that nothing is working to help their mental health, their relationship with themselves and the wider world. I invited Barry on because, as a Youth Worker myself, I see first-hand the lack of time many young people spend outdoors and I sense that this has broader repercussions than we are quite aware of right now, so I strongly support the work he and his team are doing at Venture Out. Please see the links below for more information on their upcoming events and as always, thanks for listening!

https://www.venture-out.ie/

Manchán Magan is a writer, traveller, documentary maker, Gaeilgeoir and polyglot. He is a very necessary presence in Irish culture right now as interest in the Irish language and Pre-Christian Ireland grows and grows. I was introduced to his work by my girlfriend late last year and was pulled by his incredible passion for the Irish language and myth. He describes in powerful detail how the language provides us with a much more rich, more mystical and interconnected perspective on the world compared to the English language that was forced onto us. His recent work can be seen as a plea to ponder the significance of an island losing its native language and as a rising call to explore the Irish language and myth with greater curiosity if one feels the call. This podcast covers all of this in more detail and insightfully highlights how the Portal of language and mythology can push us to feel a tighter connection to our ancestors and to our land. This conversation was an absolute pleasure for me and I hope it was just as powerful for you.

https://www.manchan.com

Melissa Kramer is the founder of LIVE UTI FREE. An organization established to help support people struggling with long-term Urinary Tract Infections. They also advocate for the need for more research in this somewhat neglected area of women’s health. Why arrange this podcast? Well, I think our majority male audience could brush up on their knowledge on UTIs as it has and will impact a large percentage of the women in their lives. I have also seen the crushing impact of a Chronic or long-term UTI on my girlfriend and her mental health. She and many others in a similar situation feel alone and often dip into periods of despair- wondering if they will always experience this pain. Melissa is keenly aware of this, having suffered with this condition for many years. Her own experience of frustration and anguish encouraged her to set up LIVEUTIFREE; in order to push the situation forward and to help others who have UTI issues significantly affect their lives. We cover a lot in these 42 mins; from Melissa’s personal story, misconceptions around UTIs, where the research is lacking and why curing long-term UTIs can be so complex. We also acknowledge the mental health impact of this condition. I hope this conversation proves helpful to listeners and don't hesitate to get in touch with LIVEUTIFREE below for more information.

https://liveutifree.com

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