This is the second instalment of my wide-ranging conversation with Ken McLeod and Hokai Sobol. It features an extended introduction that is, in part, a response to feedback from episode 50, and I invite our more critically leaning listeners to gift feedback on what is an ongoing experiment in crafting conversations that will increasingly respond to the challenges raised and explored throughout the life of this podcast. The conversation was largely unplanned and improvised & this means it features free-flowing exploration, rather than a programmed engagement with a few straightforward ideas. We journey into the terrain of mysticism and practice and most of the topics covered are explored within the context of these two. Here's just some of what we cover; - Mysticism - Sloterdjik & Jonathon Haidt (Žižek too!) - Ethics V Morality - Social duty & mystical practice - Universal human rights & authority - Transactional & utilitarian approaches to practice - Verbing outcomes: nirvana & freedom as practices - Purity & purification - Critical thinking & engaging with the taboos of our time - Risqué practices & the Protestant strain in western Buddhism - Teacher/Student relationships & ongoing challenges. End music is by Bristol based artist Aisha Chaouche and is called "So what?"

Matthew O'Connell is a life coach and the host of the The Imperfect Buddha podcast. You can find The Imperfect Buddha on Facebook and Twitter (@imperfectbuddha).

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