Episode 6: Conspirituality and Nazi Hippies, with guest Jules Evans

We're very pleased to welcome our first podcast guest: author and philosopher Jules Evans, who is here to discuss his two must-read Medium pieces on Conspirituality and Nazi Hippies. 

Jules is a research fellow at the Centre for the History of Emotions, Queen Mary University of London,  researching the history, philosophy and psychology of well-being, and how different cultures define and seek human flourishing. He is the author of Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations, on how Greek philosophy inspired Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and of The Art of Losing Control, on how people find ecstatic experiences in modern western culture. His new book Breaking Open: Finding a Way Through Spiritual Emergency, co-written and edited with Tim Read, is now available at Aeon Books or through any book retailer. 


Here's the episode rundown: 

• Jules shares his early experiences with psychedelics and depression and the near-death experience that changed the course of his life;
• How to find balance between the rational and the emotional or spiritual;
• Conspiracies, psychics, and Teal Swan;
• Jules makes a parallel between current events and the 80's Satanic Panic;
• The history of New Age and its roots in extreme far-right movements;
• Could decriminalizing psychedelics be part of the answer and in the future for Western spirituality?
• Spiritual wisdom and hope in dark times: how activities like online yoga or meditation and Google searches for "prayer" increased during COVID.

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Follow Jules Evans on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

This interview was recorded via Zoom on September 25, 2020 and has been edited and condensed for time and clarity.
 Produced and edited by Mimi Bonhomme. All music used with copyright permission. 

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