Clerestory (Bryan Kam)

At the end of 2023, I asked seven people I knew to join me in a WhatsApp group experiment. Read more ⁠here⁠. We set up a schedule by which one of us, each Thursday, would record a (suggested) 5 minute question on a creative or existential quandary we were facing. The other seven members had committed to responding with a (suggested) 10 minute response, meaning that one person would ask a question, and receive over an hour of perspectives. Over two months this WhatsApp group supported each other through the trials and tribulations of the holiday period, finishing a documentary film, the meaning of intuition, seasonality, the struggle to re-engage with work, and more. This episode of Clerestory contains an audio call with seven of the eight participants. Clerestory by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bryan Kam⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • Infrequent updates at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • All my work plus exclusive content at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

At the end of 2023, I asked seven people I knew to join me in a WhatsApp group experiment. Read more here. We set up a schedule by which one of us, each Thursday, would record a (suggested) 5 minute question on a creative or existential quandary we were facing. The other seven members had committed to responding with a (suggested) 10 minute response, meaning that one person would ask a question, and receive over an hour of perspectives. Over two months this WhatsApp group supported each other through the trials and tribulations of the holiday period, finishing a documentary film, the meaning of intuition, seasonality, the struggle to re-engage with work, and more. This episode of Clerestory contains asynchronous voicenote reflections from seven of the eight participants on how the experience went. Stay tuned for an article describing how to set up such a group for yourself, and another synchronous conversation from the participants. Clerestory by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bryan Kam⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • Infrequent updates at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • All my work plus exclusive content at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Part 8 in a series of interviews on the book I'm working on, ⁠⁠Neither/Nor⁠⁠. In this episode, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Isabela Granic⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and I discuss: Julian Jaynes The Aphoristic style of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Jaynes, and others The Axial Age and whether it changed human cognition ad experience Obviousnesses and ideology, from Althusser's "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses" (1975) A review of Kuhn's Last Writings in the LRB. Previous episodes: Part 7 of this series: Jaynes, Tolstoy, Zhuangzi Part 6 of this series: ⁠Mental Proliferation⁠ Part 5 of this series: ⁠⁠Crises and Revolutions⁠⁠ Part 4 of this series: ⁠⁠⁠Language and Experience⁠⁠⁠ Part 3 of this series: ⁠⁠⁠⁠AI and Pyrrhonism⁠⁠⁠⁠ Part 2 of this series: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠A Philosophical Journey⁠⁠⁠⁠ Part 1 of this series: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Causality and Conditionality⁠⁠⁠⁠ Clerestory by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bryan Kam⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • Infrequent updates at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • All my work plus exclusive content at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Show notes

Isabela Granic interviews Bryan Kam about Julian Jaynes, Leo Tolstoy, and Zhuangzi. They discuss the bicameral mind theory, religious conversion experiences, the shift in understanding divinity, Tolstoy's brilliant mind, comparing Joanza's writing to James, and writers' approaches to philosophical and scientific questions.

How do you balance your life’s purpose, your creative impulse, or your art, with the realities of life? Here are the final four responses I received. Thanks to Peter, Olga Yakimenko, Rainbow, and Kevin Bowers. Clerestory by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bryan Kam⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • Infrequent updates at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • All my work plus exclusive content at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠

Principles of Neither/Nor: Every idea, concept, philosophy has a history The two opposed but complementary ways of knowing are intuition and reason Neither/Nor emphasizes dynamic movement across these two polarities and across all polarities, and opposes static positions Learning and perception involve experimentation, trial and error, variation and selection All philosophies and concepts are social Neither/Nor apprehends processes and relations rather than objects Everything worthwhile comes from perception or experience

How do you balance your life’s purpose, your creative impulse, or your art, with the realities of life? Here are the next seven responses I've received. Thanks to Shannon, Luiz, Matt Sterett, and Yulia Babanova. I'm still taking submissions. Please upload your audio response here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bryankam.com/record⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Clerestory by ⁠⁠⁠⁠Bryan Kam⁠⁠⁠⁠ • Infrequent updates at ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠ • All my work plus exclusive content at ⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠

How do you balance your life’s purpose, your creative impulse, or your art, with the realities of life? Here are the next seven responses I've received. Thanks to ⁠Patricia⁠, ⁠Liv⁠, ⁠Ben⁠, ⁠Nastasia⁠ (⁠@Gryphire⁠), ⁠Michael⁠, ⁠Maggie⁠ (⁠@Mappletons⁠), and Gloria. I'm still taking submissions. Please upload your audio response here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bryankam.com/record⁠⁠⁠⁠. I will release episodes from responses I receive, aiming for 45 minute episodes after the initial "pilot."

Part 6 in a series of interviews on the book I'm working on, Neither/Nor. In this episode, ⁠⁠⁠Isabela Granic⁠⁠⁠ asks about the Buddhist term "papança" and how it relates to anxiety and depression. Topics discussed: The meaning of papança or ⁠Conceptual proliferation⁠ Whether this proliferation is related to rumination, anxiety, and depression Historicization of translations How to deconstruct terms Comparing conceptual evolution with biological evolution Wittgenstein, Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer on definitions The two directions of dependent origination How and when to do conceptual genealogies like Nietzsche Metaphors as newly coined versus worn-out coins The increasing abstraction of the past few thousand years Mental proliferation within a single mind The resistance to abstraction by those who don't live in the built environment (Luria) Individualism in Montaigne and Fichte The issue of "obviousnesses" in Althusser's Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses Previous episodes: Part 5 of this series: Crises and Revolutions Part 4 of this series: ⁠Language and Experience⁠ Part 3 of this series: ⁠⁠AI and Pyrrhonism⁠⁠ Part 2 of this series: ⁠⁠⁠A Philosophical Journey⁠⁠ Part 1 of this series: ⁠⁠Causality and Conditionality⁠⁠ Clerestory by ⁠⁠⁠Bryan Kam⁠⁠⁠ • Infrequent updates at ⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠ • All my work plus exclusive content at ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠ Show notes

In this episode I spoke with my dear friend ⁠Joachim Brackx⁠ in a series of voicenotes. We discuss beauty, quality, and aesthetic enjoyment. We recorded the voicenotes over about a month, March–April 2023. We would both love to hear what you think of this experiment! This is a follow-up to our original epistolary experiment, on Choice, Desire, and Purpose. Subscribe to Joachim's newsletter at ⁠Relating to Self⁠ and hear more on his podcast here. Clerestory by ⁠⁠Bryan Kam⁠⁠ • Infrequent updates at ⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠ • All my work plus exclusive content at ⁠⁠Patreon⁠