Speakings

Sondra Charbadze
  • 5.0 (2)
  • SPIRITUALITY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY
Speakings

Welcome to the Speakings Podcast, where I explore philosophical and spiritual topics in an unscripted manner, hoping to revive language as living presence and philosophy as contemplative, embodied practice. You’ll find blog posts associated with each podcast on my website, including practices for many of the “speakings.” If you’d like to join me in crafting more whole and authentic lives, please share your insights, experiences with the practices, or suggestions for future episodes on my website at https://www.sondrawriter.com/speakings-podcast or by email at sondra@sondrawriter.com.

  1. JUN 27

    Should I Give Up On Self-Discipline?

    You can find the synopsis of this episode, further notes, and a convenient place to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠comment ⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.  The key points in this "speaking": This podcast episode is a follow-up to the episode "Can pleasure be trusted?" A bit more colloquial than the average episode, I offer more details about my relationship to intuitive eating and why the paradigm of self-discipline is no longer of interest to me. Check out the blog post for a more extended case against self-discipline. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future topics, you can email me at ⁠⁠⁠⁠sondra@sondrawriter.com⁠⁠⁠⁠. You can also check out my website at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.sondrawriter.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where you'll find my essays and links to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠my memoir⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Music is L'épisode cévenol by Circus Marcus, from the Free Music Archive. License type: CC BY-NC.You can find the synopsis of this episode, further notes, and a convenient place to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠comment ⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

    25 min

  2. JUN 9

    The Trauma of the Image & The Aloneness of Authenticity

    You can find the synopsis of this episode, further notes, and a convenient place to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠comment ⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.  The key points in this "speaking": On the sensation of time passing, the threat of invisibility as we age, and the trauma of constant visual exposure. We can no longer feel what it is to be human; we only see it. In contrast to the image, to feel yourself (your inner and outer states) is always to feel yourself as a wholly ephemeral and constantly shifting creature.  The age of the image, the age of the screen, the age of the spectacle is an age in which our social signifiers make everything appear to be the same. We live through these mediated symbols to such a degree that we can no longer feel the particularity of our own experiences. To be truly yourself, you have to die to the public gaze: you must accept that the truest happiness and deepest love cannot be expressed. You must travel your vast terrain of inner experience alone (but this is precisely the intimacy with others that you seek—intimacy with the other of your self). If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future topics, you can email me at ⁠⁠⁠sondra@sondrawriter.com⁠⁠⁠. You can also check out my website at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.sondrawriter.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where you'll find my essays and links to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠my memoir⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Music is L'épisode cévenol by Circus Marcus, from the Free Music Archive. License type: CC BY-NC.You can find the synopsis of this episode, further notes, and a convenient place to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠comment ⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

    17 min

  3. APR 10

    Why Women are Anxious Overachievers & Men are Confidently Incompetent

    You can find the synopsis of this episode, further notes, and a convenient place to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠comment ⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.  The key points in this "speaking": Of course, all categories (male, female, white, black, cis, trans, etc.) are imaginaries. No individual can be captured fully by a category, and many individuals lie outside these patterns. The man is the neutral, the normal, the standard. The woman is the aberration, the abnormal, that which stands out. Man is the genderless gender, just as whiteness is the raceless race.  This relation is a mirror is a more fundamental internal relation between the self: the self is two, both subject and object The earliest surveillance is a self-surveillance that happens when the self becomes two, both subject and object. In society, man takes the place of the neutral gaze, and the woman takes the place of the contingent object of sight. Women are anxious because we are aware of our contingency, our nakedness beneath the constant gaze of patriarchal society. This includes people of other marginalized identities as well. Because abstraction requires temporal extension, the present moment is where categories go to die. In the now, the self as subject and the self as object folds back into itself, becoming self-identical. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future topics, you can email me at ⁠⁠⁠sondra@sondrawriter.com⁠⁠⁠. You can also check out my website at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.sondrawriter.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where you'll find my essays and links to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠my memoir⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Music is L'épisode cévenol by Circus Marcus, from the Free Music Archive. License type: CC BY-NC.You can find the synopsis of this episode, further notes, and a convenient place to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠comment ⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

    24 min

  4. JAN 18

    Desire as Refusal of Time

    You can find the synopsis of this episode, further notes, and a convenient place to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠comment ⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.  The key points in this "speaking": Desire keeps us stretched into the future, looking for an otherwise or a not-yet. Because it feeds on the future, desire is inherently insatiable. We are terrified of the present moment because to belong fully to the moment is to die. Time as the living present vs. the abstracted, artificial timeline of our story-lives. We live in an abstracted temporality in order to flee from the fear and shame of simply being alive. All desires are innocent. They are just feelings that refuse to be felt fully, so we externalize them outward. While desire stretches the self perpetually into the future, "pleasure is the present, savored with the totality of the flesh." If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future topics, you can email me at ⁠⁠sondra@sondrawriter.com⁠⁠. You can also check out my website at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.sondrawriter.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where you'll find my essays and links to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠my memoir⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Music is L'épisode cévenol by Circus Marcus, from the Free Music Archive. License type: CC BY-NC.You can find the synopsis of this episode, further notes, and a convenient place to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠comment ⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

    15 min

  5. 12/30/2023

    Jesus, Santa Clause, & Religious Belief

    You can find the synopsis of this episode, further notes, and a convenient place to ⁠⁠⁠⁠comment ⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.  The key points in this "speaking": Do religious beliefs inhabit the same epistemological sphere as scientific or historical facts? God as “Santa Claus" vs. the God beyond atheism, theism, and all categories of belief or disbelief Jesus as archetype of paradox, truth, and love incarnate. Anything true is already here, always present, and always happening. Religious truth claims should not be essentially historic or predictive. Can there be religion beyond historical claims to authority? If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future topics, you can email me at ⁠sondra@sondrawriter.com⁠. You can also check out my website at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.sondrawriter.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where you'll find my essays and links to ⁠⁠⁠⁠my memoir⁠⁠⁠⁠. Music is L'épisode cévenol by Circus Marcus, from the Free Music Archive. License type: CC BY-NC.

    27 min

  6. 11/26/2023

    The Price of Peace

    "Live a life without closure, and your compassion will broaden you, stretch you, widen the walls of your flesh until you're able to receive the unthinkable joy and the unthinkable pain." You can find the synopsis of this episode, further notes, and a convenient place to ⁠⁠⁠comment ⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠.  The key points in this "speaking": Great joy and great pain alike are dangerous to the ego. There's a gap between the "I am" and the "I think I am." Forgetting this gap is the origin of suffering. We tell easy stories to contain grief, pain, or evil. But any movement that universalizes a group of people is refusing to accept reality, and all universalization is dehumanization. If you truly want peace, inward and outward, resist the impulse to see categories rather than individual human beings (and events, and sensations). Pay attention to the particular. If we don't allow the oppressor to change, then we don't truly want peace. We must be open to forgiveness if we desire reconciliation. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future topics, you can email me at sondra@sondrawriter.com. You can also check out my website at ⁠⁠⁠www.sondrawriter.com⁠⁠⁠, where you'll find my essays and links to ⁠⁠⁠my memoir⁠⁠⁠. Music is L'épisode cévenol by Circus Marcus, from the Free Music Archive. License type: CC BY-NC.

    23 min

  7. 11/15/2023

    In Praise of Stupidity

    You can find the synopsis of this episode, further notes, and a convenient place to ⁠⁠comment ⁠here⁠⁠⁠. I will also periodically update my thoughts on this episode's content at that same link. The key points in this "speaking": Everyone has a defining insecurity. Our lives circle around these insecurities through exclusion. To be a human being is to be in direct and dangerous contact with time. Are we more afraid of finitude or eternity? Perhaps there is something beneath time and eternity that makes this duality possible. But this something can only be sensed, not conceptualized. We build identities based on exclusion so we don't have to dissolve into everything. Just as every person excludes traits from their identity—from fear and insecurity— so do professions. In academia, that excluded fear/ characteristic is stupidity. Lately, I've been wanting to embody this shadow. Not stupidity as the opposite of intelligence, but rather as a spaciousness of mind, a wide unknowing. Even though this blankness may seem to be a kind of stupidity, it's in fact the key to using intelligence (as a tool) effectively, holding paradoxes, and being willing to change your mind. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future topics, you can email me at sondra@sondrawriter.com. You can also check out my website at ⁠⁠www.sondrawriter.com⁠⁠, where you'll find my essays and links to ⁠⁠my memoir⁠⁠. Music is L'épisode cévenol by Circus Marcus, from the Free Music Archive. License type: CC BY-NC.

    12 min

  8. 10/30/2023

    A Lament for Israel and Gaza

    Recorded while sick and overwhelmed with grief. In this episode, I make no attempt to offer a political analysis of the situation—not in order to avoid hard questions or "side-taking," but because these analyses are everywhere, and many are very good (I will link some articles in the blog post associated with this episode). Key points in this "speaking": Nationalities, races, religions are human imaginaries. I don’t want to support an imaginary, but rather the suffering human being. There is never a justification for violence. Justification is only a relative reality, referring to a conceptual understanding of before and after, cause and effect. Violence is only violence—in its immediate, fleshy pain. The economy of retribution never ends. There’s no redemption, no resolution, no winning, and no losing. There is only stopping. When the game ends, it ends with no resolution. But you realize after it ends that it was never meant to resolve (resolution is for stories, and reality is not a story). Behind this "speaking" is the assumption that you are not in a position to call the shots politically, as most of us are not. If you have a more immediate connection to the war, with the ability to effect the outcome, then political discernment and tactical reasoning are necessary. But regardless of your political reasoning, empathy should not be meted according to a person's worthiness. Empathy can—and, I maintain, should— be felt for all suffering creatures, whether or not one thinks they deserve their suffering. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future topics, you can email me at sondra@sondrawriter.com. You can also check out my website at ⁠⁠www.sondrawriter.com⁠⁠, where you'll find my essays and links to ⁠⁠my memoir⁠⁠. Music is L'épisode cévenol by Circus Marcus, from the Free Music Archive. License type: CC BY-NC.

    12 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Welcome to the Speakings Podcast, where I explore philosophical and spiritual topics in an unscripted manner, hoping to revive language as living presence and philosophy as contemplative, embodied practice. You’ll find blog posts associated with each podcast on my website, including practices for many of the “speakings.” If you’d like to join me in crafting more whole and authentic lives, please share your insights, experiences with the practices, or suggestions for future episodes on my website at https://www.sondrawriter.com/speakings-podcast or by email at sondra@sondrawriter.com.

Information

  • Creator
    Sondra Charbadze
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2024
  • Episodes
    17
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Sondra Charbadze
  • Show Website
    Speakings

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