Topics:
–Colin Wilson’s study of consciousness
-Robert’s art, Substack writings, and novels
-Mark Fisher’s Capitalist Realism
–Robert’s case for Theosophy
-Robert’s mystical experience at June Lake
-contrasting Neoplatonism and Gnosticism, in their approach to theurgy, aesthetics and the natural world
-can ugly things be beautiful or divine?
-channeling the fire of youth
-revisiting Robert’s first podcast with Matt from 2018
-rediscovering the song, 9pm (Till I Come)
-occultist, genetic, political, and social dynamics to oral acts
-A critique of the moral authoritarianism and lack of pluralism of Abrahamic faiths
-how we should approach occultism
-prediction that America will have another religious revival
–California’s pan-enclavism
-thoughts on neo-reactionary critiques of democracy, the case for proportional inequality, and how to select elites
-the Art Fascist vs the Warrior Fascist
Robert Stark and Matt Pegas speak with Constantin von Hoffmeister about his book Esoteric Trumpism. This is a simulcast with Matt’s New Write podcast. Originally from Germany, Constantin von Hoffmeister studied English Literature and Political Science in New Orleans. Constantin has worked as an author, journalist, translator, editor, and business trainer in the United States, India, Uzbekistan, and Russia, and is the editor in chief of Arktos publishing. Follow Constantin on Twitter and subscribe to his Substack.
Topics:
Literary references, including William S. Burroughs, HP Lovecraft, and Edgar Alan Poe
Misconceptions about the Beatniks as leftwing (eg Jack Kerouac’s admiration of Oswald Spengler)
How the Beats’ disillusionment shows problems with fetishizing 1950s America
Philistinism on the Right and the rise of a new creative culture-focused Right
How America has an underappreciated rich cultural heritage
America as an extension of European civilization
Rightwing Postmodernism
Trump as the great revealer of hidden Lovecraftian horrors
Why Trump’s political significance is primarily symbolic
Addressing criticisms and disappointments with Trump
Meme magic
Why Constantin rejects accelerationism Why Rightwing multiculturalism or ethnopluralism is the future
Constantin’s recent meet up with Robert and Matt in LA, and observation that LA is a model for ethnopluralism
Why Constantin is more optimistic about America’s future than Europe’s
Upcoming Arktos projects, including a new translation of Dominque Venner on Ernst Junger, a rightwing critique of Nietzsche, and an art history book
Robert Stark talks with Salmonfish about Bronze Age Pervert, art, metaphysics, philosophy, politics and economics. Salmonfish is a renaissance man, Avant Garde artist, and Passage Prize winner from Ohio. Follow Salmonfish on Twitter/X.
Topics:
Raising memes to an artform
Online political tribes as an American adaption of old-world feudal entitlements
Robert’s article, Selective Breeding And The Birth of Philosophy
The pros and cons of Bronze Age Pervert and Curtis Yarvin Pan-enclavism
Debate about meritocracy vs caste or proportional inequality
The Artist/Shaman archetype Intersectionality of the smart but poor
Conspiracy theories as explained by a collective subconscious or conspiracies of instinct
Pioneering work in the treatment of mental illness with psychedelics
How metaphysics, genetics, psychology, and politics intersect
Spiritual science and near death experiences which are legit but often theologically contradict
Salmonfish’s esoteric take on Christianity
Why Dualism is needed in spirituality, psychology, and politics
Disillusionment with Trump/MAGA
Why most politics is sexual
The state of the economy and economic transition (explanation for the Great Reset)
Robert Stark speaks with James O’Meara about his book, Mysticism After Modernism: Crowley, Evola, Neville, Watts, Colin Wilson, & Other Populist Gurus. Mysticism After Modernism is published by Manticore Press, where it is available for purchase. You can also find it at Counter-Currents and on Amazon.
“Our spirituality has gotten too tame today. James J. O’Meara has a solution [in Mysticism After Modernism]
–Mitch Horowitz, PEN Award-winning author of Occult America and The Miracle Club
-The intersection of mysticism with politics and culture, and how mysticism is available to any political persuasion
-Countering the Hippie-dippy liberal stereotype about New Age gurus
-Critiquing the reactionary who passively accepts cycles of decay, and the need to embrace infinite possibilities
-A practical take on magic/mysticism, in regards to enacting real world change
-Aleister Crowley’s definition of magic as transforming the World in accordance with one’s will
-Examples of opinions and attributes of Alan Watts and William Burroughs that come across as anti-liberal
-Greg Johnson’s article, “The Spiritual Materialism of Alan Watts: A Review of Does It Matter?”
-Watts’ ties to quasi-fascist Serbian mystic, Dimitrije Mitrinović
–New Thought, and an explanation for how Neville Goddard’s Law of Assumption works
-New Thought as a vehicle for political change, by removing all mental constraints
-Why Theosophy is the theology best adapted to hereditarianism (eg. illiberal pluralism)
-William Burroughs’ obsession with rejecting control in a metaphysical sense
–The Greek Qabalah, hidden esoteric traditions in Abrahamic faiths
-Colin Wilson’s practical mysticism, focused on expanding consciousness
-Parapsychology and Spiritual Science
-The need for spiritual elitism and Aristocratic Radicalism
-Robert’s novel, Vaporfornia, which has themes relating to New Thought
-James’ book, Passing the Buck: Coleman Francis and Other Cinematic Metaphysicians
The crisis of modernity as anomie, uprootedness from place, identity, tradition, and social bonds, and its impact on the human psyche
Parallels between the modern existential crisis and that of Steiner’s era
Traditional religion being replaced by new secular religions (eg. social justice, scientism, secular heresies)
Steiner’s belief that spirituality and science are interconnected
Parapsychology, including studies of near death experiences
Comparisons to Carl Jung and Christian mystics, Emanuel Swedenborg and William James
Anti-vaxxers’ fascination with Steiner’s warnings of genetically re-engineering people’s spirituality
Steiner’s views on spiritual races and the Steiner schools becoming a target of cancel culture, though Steiner was staunchly anti-fascist
The limitations of materialism and rationalism, and Steiner’s influence from Romanticism
Steiner’s philosophical relation to other thinkers, including Julius Evola, Nietzsche, Aleister Crowley, and Martin Buber
How the essence of Steiner’s political philosophy was reconciling the differences between individualism and rootedness, liberal egalitarianism and tradition, and occultism and ethics
How Steiner favored an economic system like distributism, over capitalism or Marxism, and decentralized local autonomy and identities, over nationalism
Robert Stark and Matt Pegas speak with filmmaker, Montgomery Markland, about his film Malibu Road, which he both directed and starred in. Malibu Road is available to watch for free on Tubi, and for purchase on Apple TV and Amazon. While the pandemic delayed Malibu Road’s theatrical release, Montgomery has further plans for multipicture deals.
“Fast living Los Angelenos are targeted by the Central Intelligence Agency during Operation Midnight Climax, part of MKUltra. The experience takes a turn for the deadly during New Year’s Eve 1960 and now a professor, a starlet and the workers at a hotel with a questionable reputation must rediscover reality or be trapped in an endless cycle of sex, drugs and murder in ‘paradise.'”
Montgomery Markland has an idiosyncratic resume. Originally from Dallas, Montgomery was a state and local reporter in Austin, worked in the Texas state legislature on policy, was then a producer, president, and CCO at a number of video game companies, before working in Hollywood. Follow Montgomery on Twitter.
Topics:
Applying videogame design principles to Cinema
The Meisner acting technique
MKUltra connections to university professors and Hollywood (eg. Irvin Keshner)
Timothy Leary’s prediction that video games had the potential to recreate psychedelic trips
The History of the Albatross Hotel in Malibu and connections to Old Hollywood
Cinemaphotographic techniques used to capture the psychedelic aesthetic
Distorting reality in stories as representations of dreams (eg. traumnovelle), and influences from David Lynch
Influence from soap operas, telenovelas, and 90s Cinemax
The set design, recreating the aesthetics of the 60s and 70s
Influences from Jungian archetypes, as well as Ancient Greek, Hindu, and Buddhist mythology (eg. Timothy Leary on the Tibetan Book of the Dead)
Hunter S. Thompson
Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo
Malibu Road’s filming locations, including Malibu State Park and Will Rogers State Historic Park
The politicization of entertainment, and why overtly political conservative media fails
Reasons to be optimistic about opportunities in entertainment via niche markets
The Banking crisis, Economic Death Spiral, and narratives of collapse
Robert Stark talks to Anatoly Voronin about the war in Ukraine, meta-modernism, and cultural trends. Anatoly Voronin is from Kharkiv, Ukraine, has worked as a fashion photographer and makeup artist, and politically identifies as a meta-modernist and post-liberal Centrist. Check out Anatoly’s Substack blog: Golden Heart Motel, and follow him on Instagram and Twitter.
Topics:
War Diary: Live witness account of 2022 Ukrainian-Russian hostilities
The dissident-sphere’s take on the war and pro-Russia biases
Why Anatoly rejects the narrative of Ukraine being used as a pawn of the West
The end of the post-World War II narrative
Why Radical Centrism and Meta-Modernism are the next levels of consciousness
The Americanization of Europe
Why America is fundamentally a rightwing country
The Black-Red-Gold pill
The politics of beauty and why beauty pageants are radically centrist
The Russian film Bespredel (1989 ) about social hierarchies in the Soviet Prison System
Robert Stark and Matt Pegas talk to Default Friend about online subcultures, incels, and generational trends. Default Friend, Katherine Deee, is a writer, cultural commentator, cultural anthropologist, internet historian, and digital native. Check out Default Friend’s Substack, Default Wisdom, her writings for the Claremont Institute’s American Mind, and follow her on Twitter.
Topics:
Thoughts on various political-spheres including the intellectual dark web
The politicization of sex and relationships
On being a proto-Femcel
The impacts of dating apps and income inequality on the “sexual market place”
New York Times article, A Manifesto Against Sex Positivity, reviewing Default Friend’s writings on the backlash against hookup culture
The rise in conservative feminism and woke puritanism
Generational differences between Millennials and Zoomers, and cultural shifts from the 00s-to the 2010s, and 2020s
The trend in the end of mass youth subcultures and the rise in fusionism of “hybrid collages” and nostalgia based upon past generations’ nostalgia
The internet as the astral plane
Prediction of a tech backlash in the 2020s Justin Murphy’s and Alex Kaschuta’s neo-traditionalism
