281 conversations on theology, philosophy, culture, and the questions we keep returning to.
Riding together on the way to dinner before recording, we passed a stalled car in a turn lane. We had the same thought about stopping to push it, and we kept on driving. After a week of missile launchers and prepper panic, that moment…
Michael sent Matt a song he loved, with a music video that looked completely real, so Matt went looking for the singer and found an Instagram account for someone who doesn't exist. That got us asking what happens when…
300 shores visited. Our starting point is still ignorance. We don't even know what we're ignorant of. But we have a feel for how to get to the shore. Eight years in, has all this talking made us braver? We talk about…
Once you name a thing, it judges you. So we'd rather not look. This week Michael poured a cup of water on his windshield instead of buying washer fluid. The problems never run out. There is no arrival. So where does hope
Matt and Michael start with ACL weekend and the arrival of fall. But the conversation quickly turns to something deeper. What are our artists telling us? Matt shares his observation from watching ACL clips on Instagram.…
Michael opens with a question that has been rattling around his soul. What actually changes when someone goes from not knowing God to knowing God? Is it just semantics, or does something real happen? He traces the…
Matt and Michael start with breathing exercises and end up in the deep end of theology. What begins as a conversation about Wim Hof and the symbolic power of breath becomes an exploration of the Logos. The divine Word…
Matt and Michael open with a meditation on digital trust in an age of voice cloning and AI impersonation. Then things get interesting. A Napoleon quote about Christ's empire of love launches them into a deep exploration…
Matt and Michael open with T.S. Eliot's East Coker III, a dense meditation on darkness, waiting, and the limits of human understanding. The poem's command to wait without hope and wait without love sparks a conversation…
Matt and Michael open by celebrating Medici's 20th anniversary. Michael reflects on two decades of coffee shops, community, heartbreak, and over a thousand baristas hired. The conversation turns to the cost of building…
Matt and Michael open with a meditation on purpose. Why do they do this podcast? No agenda, no growth targets, no monetization strategy. Just two friends showing up every Wednesday for six years. Matt connects this to…
Matt and Michael open with the paradox of getting your ass kicked and somehow feeling more alive because of it. Matt shares his realization that there is no "there" to arrive at. The car ride IS the destination. Flat…
Matt and Michael mark eight years of the podcast with a question someone recently asked Michael. Does the devil exist? What follows is a winding conversation through evil, morality, materialism, and the logic of the…
Matt and Michael open with a toast to Glenn Hansard, who passed away that morning at 56. Matt reflects on how musicians he's never met have shaped his life in real, relational ways. This sparks a conversation about what…
Matt and Michael open with the Texas heat and the strange feeling of being between seasons. Not just summer tipping toward fall, but the inner seasons of thought and spirit where old ideas fade and new ones haven't…
Matt and Michael wrestle with a question that has been hanging over both of them. Why have they stopped paying attention to the news? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? They land on the idea of a Cartesian crisis.…
Matt and Michael explore language itself — how the same sentence can carry seven different meanings depending on which word you emphasize. From Christopher Walken's acting advice to watching a toddler learn to speak,…
Matt and Michael dive into America's 250th birthday and ask why we're so reluctant to celebrate it. They explore how patriotism became politically coded, the strange guilt of prosperity, and why the founders' vision of…
Matt and Michael explore what it means to have the right posture when life isn't going your way. They start with the universal temptation to blame others or wallow in self-pity, then spiral into deeper territory: the…
Matt and Michael dive into three recent news stories that have them asking the same question. What is this madness? They break down the California mayoral race, the Karmelo Anthony murder trial, and the Somali World Cup…
Matt and Michael start with breath work and singing, and wander into why good things become mechanical, why we turn truths into idols, and what it costs to actually participate in the world. Then the strange phenomenon…
Matt and Michael dive deep into the meaning of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. Starting from last week's cliffhanger about whether Jesus had to die, they explore the story of Cain and Abel, the problem of human…
Matt and Michael wrestle with one of the oldest questions in philosophy. Why does accepting objective meaning make life harder, not easier? They start with nihilism and why almost nobody can actually live it out.…
Michael plays devil's advocate and argues that human societies naturally refine their values over time. Monogamy works better. Less crime is good. These truths emerge through trial and error. Matt pushes back hard.…
Matt and Michael return from two very different deserts. Vegas and Big Bend. One all lights and noise, the other all silence and heat. Matt shares what it meant to scatter his father's ashes in West Texas. Michael talks…
Matt and Michael explore the tension between artificial and authentic in the age of AI. Opening with mortality and fatherhood, they spiral through technology's disconnecting effects, the nature of reality, and what it…
Matt and Michael open on the shores — Mission Beach, specifically — and wander through the vastness of the ocean as metaphor for life's uncontrollable forces. They explore self-organized criticality: the single grain of…
Matt and Michael dive deep into the uncomfortable reality that suffering is not just inevitable, but essential for growth. They explore the tension between wanting to avoid pain and the necessity of embracing it to…
Matt and Michael watched Artemis 2 launch into obscurity, then went deeper. They explore the mathematical impossibility of DNA arising by chance: 10^77 odds versus 10^56 atoms in the Milky Way. They discuss…
Matt and Michael dive deep into the difference between digital and physical experiences—from reading books to navigating cities to having conversations. They explore research showing that reading on paper creates…
Matt and Michael open with a meditation on waiting—something they used to do constantly without realizing it. Remember standing outside school, wondering if your ride forgot you? Or running out of gas on the interstate…
We start with daylight savings gripes and end up debating whether men and women are fundamentally different. In between, we unpack George Mueller's quote that "faith is the end of anxiety“ and exploring how trust…
Matt and Michael explore entrepreneurial burnout, renewed creative vigor, and the question: Do you have one last home run left in you? Cheers y'all 🍻 References & Resources Books * The Master and His Emissary — Iain…
Matt went from AI skeptic to true believer in one week. This episode documents his conversion experience with OpenClaw - the autonomous AI agent that lives on his Mac mini, has access to his code repositories, and is…
Michael opened tonight's episode with an observation about Minneapolis releasing arrested criminals to avoid ICE detention, and its striking parallel to the crowd demanding Barabbas's release over Jesus. We explore how…
Matt and Michael return to the shores with sandpiper cufflinks and a sense of unease. Matt unpacks a growing feeling that the world we inhabit isn't the one we think it is — from the bizarre Bad Bunny Super Bowl…
Matt and Michael sit down on a Thursday night (breaking the Wednesday ritual) with Dalwhinnie scotch to talk about optimism in uncertain times, the nature of perception, and why we see what we look for—not what's there.…
Tonight on SOI: What unites us? Are we more united than we think? What’s the temperature of our culture? Do we want to know the truth? Minnesota ICE Headline Manipulation Is there a right way to respond to things? (Pass…
After Don Lemon interrupts a church service in Minnesota, he calls the church goers entitled white supremacists who think this is a christian country. We explore what makes a country christian, and what alternatives…
A toast to Scott Adams, a discussion about God, metaphor, honesty, heaven, and hell. - RIP Scott Adams - God and metaphor - Is metaphor fooling you? - Honesty is not about disclosure - I’d like the truth, please be…
We kick off 2026 with a discussion about reality, tribalism, and the vibe shifts post 2020. Find us here: x.com/mattmccloskey x.com/michaelvaclav All Matt’s Links - https://solo.to/mattmccloskey All Michael’s Links -…
We close out 2025 examining regret, success, and service—why failure is human, death is the cost of life, and how serving others reveals who we truly are. The Abolition of Man - https://a.co/d/j7kjtIK Steve Jobs on…
The internet often makes us feel like non-player characters in the world. We explore this phenomenon and what correctives might look like. Things as simple as a compliment or an acknowledgment can transform an NPC into…
Alison Vaclav joins us to discuss: Language as a parasite Language is the barrier to all knowledge Naming things How do we learn to trust someone? Empathy management Trauma tourism First thoughts Breaking expectations…
It’s easy to see when something holy or sacred is violated, it’s harder to say what holiness and the sacred are. An AI representation of dead relatives leads to a conversation about specifying and naming that which is…
We discuss Chase Hughes’ concept of frames and scripts, using personas in design, and beauty in art and the concept of Deathworks developed by Philip Rieff. Chase Hughes -…
This week on SOI: The brokenness of the world Finding hope after you’ve lost it Asking your real questions Falling short of the law Remembering to play You are not Christ You are called to participate in the mystery of…
We compare ourselves both to other people, and to the “inner possibilities” of the life we’re meant to live. In this episode we draw wisdom from Carl Jung and Theodore Roosevelt, and discuss social media, identity, AI,…
Identity is relational, to love is to will the good of the other, relationship requires submission, and the loss of humility and forgiveness in modern culture. Find us here: x.com/mattmccloskey x.com/michaelvaclav All…
There is only one self-justifying thing, and without it, claims of good and bad, right and wrong, are simply the expressions of personal preference. Find us here: x.com/mattmccloskey x.com/michaelvaclav All Matt’s Links…
This week on SOI: How’s it going? Is there a true answer to that? Some people like to stay in suffering Political (Oppositional validation) Personal (fear of tradeoffs) Intellectual (Falling in love with it - Gollum,…
This week on SOI: - Will we ever know the reality of what’s happened? - Reality isn’t a team sport - What does it mean to pursue truth? - What’s in between the fool and the prideful intellectual? - Recursive injury -…
Remembering Charlie Kirk: The reverberations of his life and assassination in our culture. “When people stop talking, really bad stuff starts” - Charlie Kirk https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0vL5uZBLk7s Charlie Kirk -…
- Isaac Asimov, Fiction, and the Future of AI - How is trust built? - How can we live in a world where we don’t know what’s true? - Can robots feel pain? - What is heartbreak? - You need the Divine to functional…
How can we protect ourselves from doing evil in the name of good? “Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within…
This week on SOI: - Life from entropy - Love your neighbor as yourself - Drifting away from revelation - Perception of tools and objects - Your aim defines how you perceive your life - Marriage, dating, and a culture of…
This week on SOI: - Life itself is an act of faith - If we ask for what we want, will God give it to us? - Opting into personal responsibility in the modern age - Could we make parenting decisions without privation? -…
Why is reality preferable to a dream? Vanilla Sky and The Matrix reflect our innate desire to be awake rather than asleep, despite the obvious appeal of the dream like state. This week on SOI: Europe and Trump Vanilla…
This week on SOI: - Matt’s mom Jeanenne joins the Shores - Jeanenne’s journal that Mike read, and then named her “Poetgirl.” - We are each an I, not a we. Gollam is a we. - Poetgirl, poema - We are either a male soul or…
This week on SOI: - AI can’t do what humans do because humans aren’t reasonable (Rick Rubin) - https://www.instagram.com/p/DK4isVTz93G/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== - AI turns data into a…
This week on SOI: - Is this WWIII? - How does the death of God effect the news and reporting of what’s true? - Iran, Israel, Covid, etc - how do you know what’s true? Who can we trust to tell us the truth? - Without…
This week on SOI: - The voice of failure - Love vs. death - The unifying spirit - The LA riots - The spirit of Love helps you see clearly - The spirit of evil is self extinguishing - Can you negotiate with evil? Find us…
This week on SOI: - The trouble of belief - Is reality a fact or a story? - How can we tell what’s true in the age of AI - The paradox of the information age - Truth requires faith - AI religions - Transhumanism - How…
* Two movies one screen (Scott Adams) * Our perceptions are faulty * What do you sacrifice to? * The only way to move forward is to admit you’re wrong * You “grasp” ideas the same way you “grasp” objects with your hand…
“Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering.” - C.G. Jung MSTR True North - https://www.mstrtruenorth.com Peter Thiel interview -…
"Here then is my plea to my fellow Americans. Do not take the bait. Do not feel it necessary to come to a conclusion. Do not even feel that it is your job to follow all the news. Many who think that they follow all the…
Can we be in relationship with things, ideas, people, politics, and still stand outside someone else’s unique relationship with those very same things? - Dropping the lens of perception - Finding the gold in people -…
Trials, tribulations, temptations, tension. These are the X that marks the spot for where our understanding is limited and we don’t see clearly. If we forthrightly explore that space, we find that what we considered…
This week on SOI: - The co-opting and devaluing of words - Does emotional intelligence exist? - Not knowing a words definition doesn’t indicate that you don’t know what it means - Reduction of meaning as a way to avoid…
Matt and Michael break their three day fast with whiskey and a podcast. This week on SOI: - Michael’s brain is working differently - Fasting - Routines - Turn down inputs and find God - Perceptions vs reality. Guilt vs…
“We use a most unfortunate idiom when we say, of a lustful man prowling the streets, that he ‘wants a woman’. Strictly speaking, a woman is just what he does not want. He wants a pleasure for which a woman happens to be…
This week on SOI: - Midlife crises - Wrestling with the question of “Who am I?” - The end of the enlightenment - Cultural lack of curiosity - Protecting the structures of identity - Identity becomes aesthetic and absurd…
This week on SOI: - Matt’s experience cleaning his windows - Engaging the world vs receding from it - The feeling of failure - The allure of counterfactuals - The human need to tend to life - Resentment and the story of…
The age of tolerance has given way to the primacy of the in group. Principles, friendship, even family, matter less than allegiances. This week we grapple with how our culture got here, and what we might do about it. -…
This week on SOI: - Do we see reality? Or are we in the Truman Show? - How to conceive of ideas like good, evil, honor, and righteousness - Believing children are worthy of their full potential, without evidence - The…
This week on SOI: * Elon, DOGE, and USAID - https://x.com/rapidresponse47/status/1887151291895267553?s=42 * Trump and Gaza (King Solomon: “Cut the baby in half.”) * “If we are not being pulled by a promise, we are being…
Our podcast friend, Matt’s dog Lukah, passed away last weekend. We pay our respects and reflect on grief and a man’s bond with his dog. Then we talk about Elon Musk, George Orwell’s 1984, and the difficulty of morality.…
Elon salutes Hitler? The Left has become “the boy who cried wolf,” and Americans seem to be over it. The problem is that there’s a danger in that - we don’t want the boy who cried wolf to die all alone when the wolf…
“It is sometimes so bitterly cold in the winter that one says, 'The cold is too awful for me to care whether summer is coming or not; the harm outdoes the good. But with or without our approval, the severe weather does…
From the Pharisees to Jesus, from the cable channels to podcasts, from the Oscars to Instagram, the arbiters of fact, truth, and celebrity seem always to loose their grasp as the world rejuvenates around them. Show…
"The beauty of doing nothing is that you can do it perfectly. Only when you do something is it almost impossible to do it without mistakes. Therefore people who are contributing nothing to society, except their constant…
Our last episode of 2024! We look back on the year, and the super-cycle that was 2020-2024, and talk about the possible renaissance that 2025 may bring. Stick around til the end for an unexpected heated debate about…
Tonight we apply the philosopher’s thought experiment of The Ship of Theseus to the issues of meaning, and Matt tells the story of rebuilding his father’s table. Plutarch in his Life of Theseus: The ship wherein Theseus…
We discuss Fyodor Dostoevsky’s advice about lying, Matt’s desire to be a good father, sourdough bread, and turtles all the way down. “Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own…
How do you have productive conversations with people who disagree with you? How do you discuss things that are hard? Good question. We appeal to grace and humility. Elizabeth Gilbert TED Talk -…
We discuss the reactions to the 2024 election results over the last week, and the way women’s rights were handled by the two campaigns, the media, and on social media. x.com/mattmccloskey x.com/michaelvaclav All Matt’s…
Americans have spoken in a stunning referendum. We try to understand what this 2024 election result says about our country, and discuss what it means to be an American. Show Notes: Bureaucracy swapped with Democracy:…
We’re under a week away from one of the wildest elections of our lifetimes. We make some predictions, and talk about how we see the race. Two years ago we had a rule that we wouldn’t talk about politics on SOI - and…
We grapple with the question "is there a 'best' way to live?" We make our way through subjects of energy, adventure, wisdom, tradition, marriage, fatherhood, and ultimately decide that Peter Pan is not to be aspired to,…
The western world seems to be locked in an ideological battle between freedom and creativity vs safety and assurance. x.com/mattmccloskey x.com/michaelvaclav Sovereign Goods - www.etsy.com/shop/SovereignThreadGoods Cafe…
When truth is moved from the external to internal, the world becomes inverted. G.K. Chesterton says that a man should be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth. If we jettison our highest ideals every…
Our cultural zeitgeist lasts for only about a week these days. What’s the current theme, and when will we ever know what’s truly going on? x.com/mattmccloskey x.com/michaelvaclav Sovereign Goods -…
Politics is no longer Left vs Right - it's Truth vs The Big Lie. The Big Lie happens to be currently wearing blue garb, but it will discard it as soon as its usefulness has run out. The Government is Lying to You -…
Discipline is freedom, and revelation is only possible in the ultimate case. We discuss the truth tellers and dissidents who are willing to pay the price of saying what they believe to be true, and make the case for…
What does it mean to check out, to arrive, to relax, to finally “get there?” We contend that to decline the creative life is to accept an early death. https://x.com/mattmccloskey https://x.com/michaelvaclav Sovereign…
We discuss the nature of speech, censorship, fear, growth, and freedom. Erwan’s Tweet: https://x.com/ErwanLeCorre/status/1829605956814324094 Eric Weinstein Interview:…
In Michelle Obama’s speech at the DNC, she said that “My girl Kamala Harris… is one of the most qualified people ever to seek the office of the presidency.” We discuss the Cartesian crisis as coined by Bret Weinstein,…
We discuss the allegory of Plato’s Cave, and how the information age has personalized each of our shadows on the wall. Conversation inspired by this Darkhorse episode:…
Matt sat in his car as tears formed in his eyes. It was probably grief, but where did it come from? Was it a thought, a memory, or something harder to explain? References: The Master and His Emissary -…
One of Michael’s axioms is “There is an objective reality, and I have a subjective experience of it.” Matt objects to this statement, and they unpack issues of objectivity by way of art, creativity, lies, stories,…
Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering. - Carl Jung Politics, culture, relationships - what is the suffering that has been substituted with crazy? All Matt’s Links - https://solo.to/mattmccloskey All…
What do you do when lies are all around you? Take the risk of telling the truth. All Matt’s Links - https://solo.to/mattmccloskey All Michael’s Links - https://solo.to/michaelvaclav
We discuss the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, the hope that can be seen through the cracks in a weakening narrative, and what 200 episodes of Shores has meant to us. “You cannot gaslight an entire nation of free…
“In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost. Ah, how hard a thing it is to tell what a wild, and rough, and stubborn wood this was, which in my thought…
We may be victims of our circumstances, but we may also be prodigies of our circumstances. Dostoevsky Quote - https://x.com/coffeewclassics/status/1803477508580356351?s=46 Abolition of Man - https://a.co/d/0i2VWvLZ All…
Biden, Trump, RFK Jr - What problems does the future hold, and can we see and agree on them? In part this is a problem of perception, and in part the result of everyone standing with daggers out. All Matt’s Links -…
We discuss bitcoin, climate change, recycling, vaccines, covid, relationships, lord of the rings, and how the Truth is relational, explorational, and adventurous. I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each…
Sometimes people don't want to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions destroyed. - Friedrich Nietzsche References: C.S. Lewis Quote:…
Hemingway’s meditation on the futility of masculinity, the role of men and women in society, solar flares, and the risk of creativity. All Matt’s Links - https://solo.to/mattmccloskey All Michael’s Links -…
(Note: 3 minutes in Matt’s mic stops recording, so his voice is a little quiet. We realize this and turn it back on at minute 8) Life cannot be understood, it can only be lived, and related to. “[I]n our own time and…
“Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived, or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?” — Hunter S. Thompson Sovereign Goods -…
From Covid to Gaza to your parents divorce, what is the difference between truth and fiction, or a lie and pretend? In a world of conflicting stories, how do you know which story is true? Sovereign Goods -…
Truth, fact, science, religion. We're all bothered. What is ending, and what have we missed in our arrogance? SOI on relationship - https://on.soundcloud.com/uNyo7eavFUow3LwU8 SOI on objectivity -…
Inflation sucks, bitcoin is the answer. Links referenced in the show: Sovereign Threads - http://sovereignthreads.shop Broken Money - Lyn Alden - https://a.co/d/dgZ7yPh The Hidden Cost of Money - https://a.co/d/66xAsrE…
Life can be at once wonderful and frustrating, full of joy and full of war. What are we to make of all of that, and how are we to live? We suggest that the answer has something to do with faith. All Matt’s Links -…
We celebrate the birth of Matt's daughter, Eletta Claire. You came like a sure fire, with unpredictable timing, unstoppable intent, and precise aim. You joined us with a calm precision entering space and time, relaxed,…
“In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost. Ah, how hard a thing it is to tell what a wild, and rough, and stubborn wood this was, which in my thought…
"Mental health is based on a certain degree of tension, the tension between what one has already achieved and what one still ought to accomplish, or the gap between what one is and what one should become... What man…
From the structures of a relationship to the games that we play, how do we discover and use rules for better or for worse. When done well, a script can be flipped, and a life can be transformed. All Matt’s Links -…
What are you responsible for? You might have your responsibility assigned to you, and yet you may transform yourself and the world by taking responsibility for something out of your own desire, and your own personality.…
By way of Good Will Hunting, C.S. Lewis, and 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon, we explore what might be possible with the right orientation. All Matt’s Links - https://solo.to/mattmccloskey All Michael’s Links -…
Like Ted Lasso, Viktor Frankl, and Joseph with his coat of many colors, your attitude has the power to transform the worst circumstances into unimaginable goodness. All Matt’s Links - https://solo.to/mattmccloskey All…
“The line between good and evil runs not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart.” - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn All Matt’s Links -…
We discuss the new year, the information bubbles we live in, and ask what we want to choose to focus on in the midst of the forces that desire our attention. This leads to a conversation about the necessity of death,…
All Matt’s Links - https://solo.to/mattmccloskey All Michael’s Links - https://solo.to/michaelvaclav
Just show up. Get your body there, things will work out. All Matt’s Links - https://solo.to/mattmccloskey All Michael’s Links - https://solo.to/michaelvaclav
Everything interesting that happens in life is downstream of something that we want. The more aware we are of what we want, the more of what we want we get. We discuss the role of luck in our outcomes, and how we can…
A conversation about the unbelievable likelihood of a Biden v. Trump rematch, turns toward the promise of the future, the risk of hope, and the sadness of foregoing difficulty rather than doing things we like. All…
What does it mean to be in proper relationship to the things that you want, and how does discomfort announce areas in your life where there is an opportunity for growth? All Matt’s Links - https://solo.to/mattmccloskey…
In this episode we discuss grief and suffering, creativity and art, truth and paradox. All Matt’s Links - solo.to/mattmccloskey All Michael’s Links - solo.to/michaelvaclav
The two most ubiquitous human experiences are death and birth, and yet we humans have no idea how to handle either.
Michael’s wife Alison joins us for a conversation about art, shame, remaining creative as we grow up, and how masculinity and femininity each wrestle with those things in their own ways. All Matt’s Links -…
Through discussions on death, meaning, religion, prayer, ancestors, and metaphors, we explore how everything is relational. We contemplate the concept that God isn't a fact, but a relationship, and how we can deepen our…
Matt's father, Michael T McCloskey, passed away without warning on April 18th, 2023. In this episode we discuss fatherhood, death, suffering, and play selections from episode 2, which Michael McCloskey was on. Read…
I'll be honest, we struggled to make our point clearly in this episode. Here's what AI says we talked about: Michael and Matt discuss the importance of self-awareness and growth in individuals, families, and…
Easter has always been curious to me. What is the meaning of this story? On it’s surface it seems almost benign. It has never carried the same weight of other holidays. Even our imagery around it is passive and…
Big news! The Shores is now on Video. You can watch this episode on YouTube or Spotify. James Jackson Leach joins us for our first video episode. We discuss business, child rearing, the future of Austin, and so much…
This week our friend and musician Andy Davis joins us to discuss art, artificial intelligence, vision and transcendence. Andy Davis - http://www.andydavisonline.com Matt on Twitter - https://twitter.com/mattmccloskey…
In Grey Town, Napoleon Bonaparte continues to move further and further outside of the city to the point where he can no longer be reached. In a recent interview Sam Harris seems this way - moving further away from those…
Jan 6, Covid lab leak, the proxy war with Russia, unidentified flying objects, and fatherhood after divorce. Gaslighting seems to be all around us, and demoralizing those who care to pay attention. Perhaps in…
Our good friend Charlie Parkin joins the Shores this week. We explore the power of story telling, differences between men and women, the US and the UK, and how to answer questions with your life, rather than your words.…
Matt loses his job. We discuss the darkness (and lie) of failure, how our creative consciousness has the ability to switch perspectives, for better or worse. Matt on Twitter - https://twitter.com/mattmccloskey Michael…
To the extent that we do not tell our own story, or decline to say what we really think, or remain silent in shame or fear or anger, we deprive the world from knowing itself, and delay heaven by increments. To know…
Your desires are in service of something, even if you don’t know what that is. You can discover what it is and even ask yourself if you want that. Which means that there’s a higher order value than you can imagine. Matt…
Growth is a zig zag, not linear (Markets, companies, practice, learning skills). You plateau, then pull back, and then advance.
We explore the ways in which the utopia is a suggested alternative to violence, and the destruction of categories is the inevitable response to the failure of the utopia to function.
Pick something that you could do that you would do; that’s how we started this podcast. We made a decision that this was important to us, and then we made it our reality. In this episode, we talk about… 0:35 - Michael’s…
Conversation helps you figure out what you think about things. Often you don’t know what you think about things until you attempt to articulate them. When we talk, It isn’t as though we have a set of knowledge that…
Practice. It’s a deeply profound act. We do it because we want to improve at something, and yet, the act of practice is always a journey into insufficiency, degradation, decomposition, deterioration, and the voluntary…
In a social environment in which what one *should* think is considered obvious, most people don’t know what they *actually* think because the cost of knowing what you think becomes ostracization or silence. Show Notes:…
With gratitude, you have to intentionally make yourself pay attention to what you’re grateful for. Things are good but you’re not seeing it, so you have to tell yourself, no we’re going to go look, we’re gonna pay…
There is a gap between the severity of world events and our general reactions in the West. Why is this? We believe an erosion of truth takes place from those we’ve trusted to deliver it to us, and this has led to a…
First-hand experience results in a level of respect that information alone can’t achieve. The irony is that while access to all the information in the world lies at our fingertips, there is no shortcut to experience. It…
If you are uncomfortable, you tend to be creative. If you are comfortable, you tend to be destructive.
You have to discover your values. It isn’t as though you create them. You don’t define them out of pure will and thin air. You discover them. And if you remove people’s ability to search then you remove their ability to…
Forgiveness, like love, is both a feeling and a choice, and neither the feeling or the choice must come first. The feeling emerges from the choice or a choice can be inspired by a feeling. Show notes: 1:30 - Intro 2:38…
The truth is something like every plan played out to conclusion. And in the end, Love wins, and all is redeemed. Show Notes: 1:42 - Control 3:45 - Poker 10:39 - Self-love 17:20 - Life story 25:56 - Truth 36:33 - Course…
We are living through a turbulent time of crisis, there's much to fearful of, and yet more to be hopeful for. Show Notes: 1:15 - Intro 4:12 - The Fourth Turning 10:40 - Nord Stream Pipeline 12:41 - Qualitative…
Every person and business has a brand, whether that brand is being articulated or not. Who we want to appear to be, the story we want behind our faces, this is our brand. Show Notes: 0:07 - Intro 1:20 - Selling stories…
The art of storytelling can explain something so much more deeply than what we might consider facts, and that becomes a religious endeavor. Show Notes: In this episode, we talk about… 0:36 - Intro 1:24 - Spirituality…
In order to grow, we must die to who we were yesterday. Who we are today is not who we will be tomorrow, the next day, next year, or ten years from now. What does it mean to die to ourselves? How do we do it? Today, we…
Our divine gift, and responsibility, is to make decisions, and to suffer them. In every decision there is a mourning for what you had to slay. Show Notes: 1:57 - Clarity 5:21 - Distinction 8:33 - Partners 11:33 -…
It’s not uncommon that we use a word accurately, yet struggle to provide a concise definition when asked. Tonight, we talk about the word respect, and try to work out a precise definition. Along the way we explore…
What is the difference between a worldview and an ideology? How do you decide the difference between good and evil? - Your frame of reference changes everything. Show Notes: 0:40 - World views 6:40 - Ideals of the West…
Speaking truth amounts to nothing if that truth does not lead to action. In a time when the world is filled with an overwhelming variety of different ‘truths,’ it’s difficult to know who to believe, and even more…
Let your light shine. If you have something good to say, tell people about it. But that’s hard, and that’s why it has to be encoded in a parable (don't light a lamp and then hide it under a bowl). We discuss…
Alison joins us for a beautiful conversation about marriage, love, and hope, on the 20th anniversary of Michael and Alison’s marriage.
Michael and Matt ask themselves, “what would your future self say to you?” Did Tom Petty or Michael Jordan know what they were capable of before finding out? Recorded July 6, 2022
The ordinary becomes extraordinary, on the shores. Men and women, sport and competitions, tyranny and sacrifice. The totality of life is unquantifiable and incomparable. Recorded June 15, 2022.
Compare yourself in a self-referential way, to your self, your lineage, you history, of your family and your country. Not to social media and those around you portraying a snap shot of themselves at their best. Recorded…
What happens if you disregard the value of loving one person for the rest of your life? We discuss instagram activism, time horizons, Chesterton's fence, institutions, and marriage.
We cannot learn without pain. We create stories and act them out to test their validity. We need to be challenged (pain) to experience growth. Recorded May 11, 2022.
You need humility and gratitude to contend with the fact that the rules are outdated and even inappropriate, but are protecting you from things you don’t understand, and lessons that you don’t want to have to re-learn.…
What do you do with yourself? How do you spend your time? It’s an existential crisis. How do you classify work at work? Is just showing up to a physical space considered work? Are things outside of “work” that…
In this conversation we were past the shores. We were at the first sand bar. Maybe going to the second sandbar, didn’t make it, had to retreat to the first to stand and catch some air. Recorded April 21, 2022
Categories are a helpful tool to negotiate reality, but every category is wrong at the edges. Recorded April 13, 2022
Everything has value, whether you measure it in currency or material goods. Dave Keisel, an engineer turned seasoned stock market trader, joins us to share his unique perspective on technology and money. In today’s…
Recorded March 30, 2022. We discuss how we have to compartmentalize in order to be responsible, but in complex systems, that always leads to something not being accounted for.
There seems to be something truer than the objective, and it’s wrapped up in time, felt in your very awareness of the future, and only properly discussed with metaphor. "For they are not the thing itself; they are only…
Love is a generative, renewing force. It changes everything. It reveals you, and you will transform yourself to keep it, and transform your world to serve it. When it's a Love for a woman we call it romance. It is…
This episode begins with a conversation about survivorship bias, data, narrative, and politics, and then shifts into a discussion about Hope. What is hope, why does it matter, and how does it relate with truth, rules,…
You have to be able to ask questions, how else to you become competent? We discuss the Russia/Ukraine situation, the relationship between data and narratives, justice and forgiveness. Much love to you all.
Freedom is preferable to safety, rules are arbitrary, you need tension between the line drawers and the line blurers.
There has been a lot of of talk about MDM: Misinformation, Disinformation, and Malinformaiton. We dig into the different meanings and why this is so disturbing. We look at how terrorism is being redefined.…
We talk about order and chaos, the out there, religion, outdated stale language, and what it means to thrive.
We discuss truth, lies, misinformation, compassion, empathy, and Joe Rogan.
People love to share, whether it's a post on social media, or telling a friend or lover about your hopes and dreams, it seems to be a human necessity.
Your conscious creative spirit is capable of unimaginable good, and unimaginable bad. What are you to do when you find yourself in possession of such a powerful tool?
The way you choose to explain the world has drastic effects on your ability to improve it. We discuss critical theory through the example of cheerleading, propaganda, and the abstraction of sports from war and free…
We kick off a new century on Shores of Ignorance. We discuss the origin of the name of the show, and what our mission is. We discuss a passage from Viktor Frankl on success, and ask what it means to be good, and what it…
Two years ago we committed to recording a conversation every Wednesday night. This is our 100th. That is a huge milestone. It's hard to know what this is becoming, but we're sure happy to be here. Lots of love to you…
Your future is a fractal of infinite infinities. The creative force that you have as a divine conscious being, is to purchase reality with your attention. “Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is,…
If you could see into the future, would you want to? Time and uncertainty are fundamental to the human experience, and our ability to shape the future is a super power.
The power of creative attention changes the world.
Thanksgiving is the holiday that marks the beginning of the end of the year. We reflect on what we are thankful for and discuss what we're hopeful for in the new year.
All winners channel energy more efficiently through time and space. A valuable lesson that applies to football and crypto currency, as well as your daily schedule.
This episode was recorded in Marathon, TX on our second annual Shores of Ignorance retreat, where we spent time reflecting, planning, and thinking about the future. Episode Links: Pomp/Saylor Episode…
Virginia's election, Daniel Craig's James Bond, Web3 and individual sovereignty, order, chaos, and Parrhesia. "Speaking truth in the face of danger, being forthright in your speech. It’s the essential component to a…
Mass psychosis, bitcoin, lime disease, religion, covid19. Mass formation, with Mattias Desmet https://open.spotify.com/episode/3PEcnjcKAUnhAZd4LOKcAU?si=a34bf4285b9940ee Breedlove…
Ep 91: Breaking points and breakthroughs by Shores of Ignorance
Are we living in a simulation? In may ways, yes.
Matt caught Covid, and beat it.
What does it mean for something to be true, and do we really care to know? We discuss objective truth, the conflation of safety and morality, and the meme-ification of everything.
Recent vaccine mandates have divided the country even further, but not necessarily along the lines you might expect. We discuss risk assessment, free markets, and the freedom to opt out.
Matt reads an excerpt from an essay he wrote about being born. We discuss the power of language, and it's necessity in engaging the truth.
We discuss a tweet from Austin’s mayor Steve Adler, highlighting the COVID narrative battle happening in our schools.
Ep 84: Questions are awesome by Shores of Ignorance
Set a goal, set up a net, kick a ball into it, set up some opposition, develop yourself, have the opposition develop itself, and that is maximally meaningful… and produces ape shit enthusiasm.
Michael’s father, Mickey, passed away on July, 23rd, 2021. We discuss his life, death, fatherhood, and family. Death is mysterious, beautiful, and tragic.
Sacrifice today for tomorrow. Thoughts on family, perspective, and innovation.
“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own…
When you ask why enough and scale the answers over space and time you end up in religious language.
We’re living in a Shell Silverstein poem, everything is upside down and backwards.
By speaking up, you take the risk of being wrong, and being responsible.
Ep 76: To know and be known by Shores of Ignorance
Ep 75: Invite new adversities by Shores of Ignorance
Our conversation about Love continues... I give up, I love you.
Be careful how you condense the past. Orient yourself in the story at the intersection of the past and the future. It’s better to be incorrect about something true, than to be correct about something false. Recorded May…
We live a story. There’s going to be danger, there’s going to be surprise, there’s going to be risk. There’s going to be times when you don’t know how it’s going to turn out. Just like every book you’ve ever read, or…
“See it for what it is” - You can only sat that once motion stops. Otherwise it’s in the process of becoming. Is it the lovers who stay up all night exploring each other, or the ones who are annoyed with each other over…
Love is motion towards an ideal. Hell is when the movement stops. It is misery to have the ideal clearly defined, and to see clearly all that is and was, and have the space between those two things be measurable.…
What do you love about your home that makes it worth improving? (Matt’s mic was off for the first 12 minutes). Recorded April 21, 2021.
Love can make you the hero or the fool, and perhaps it is most powerful when you become both at once. Recorded April 14th, 2021.
Recorded April 7th, 2021
When emotions are fresh, reasoning about them can threaten to stall the emotional expression that needs to happen. Recorded March 31st, 2021
On Saint Patrick’s Day, Alison joins us to discuss the one year anniversary of the pandemic. Recorded March 17th, 2021.
What you give your attention to is what will manifest into reality. Hyper vigilance is not a psychologically tenable position to hold over any long period of time. Recorded March 10th, 2021.
Ep 62: Guns & God by Shores of Ignorance
We discuss money and value, and of course bitcoin and non-fungtable tokens. Recorded February 24th, 2021.
You can’t blame the future, and you can’t solve the past.
We discuss the importance of ideas battling each other through free speech, and what the alternative is.
Inspired by Jocko Willink we discuss Mindsets and what it means to creatively engage with life.
What posture do you take when you get the sense that things aren't what they seem?
This is not a political podcast, but we have a new President, and that's something to talk about. As usual we have more questions than answers.
The world is so full of potential, there's more to do and experience than you could ever exhaust. We talk about thinking differently about the way we engage with all that opportunity.
In our first episode of 2021 we discuss the inherent difficulty of life, the potential of the future, and how our consciousness plays an active roll in determining what parts of that potential manifest into our lives.
It's been a hell of a year. We look back, and hope forward.
2020 is finally drawing to a close, and we're finally learning how to breathe properly. Show notes: James Nestor’s book -…
Part 3: In this 3 part series, we explore what it means to lie, and what it means to live a truthful life.
Part 2: In this 3 part series, we explore what it means to lie, and what it means to live a truthful life.
Part 1: In this 3 part series, we explore what it means to lie, and what it means to live a truthful life.
Recorded September 23rd. BLM, 1619, and the New York Times, all backed off of their most controversial positions. What gives?
Recorded September 16th. What is Critical Race Theory, and how does it interact with our relationships, our institutions, and our country. Show Notes: Critical Race Theory…
Recorded September 9th. School, COVID, Quotas at Oscars and artistic freedom, and defunding critical race theory instead of the police.
Recorded September 2nd. Hey, wanna get together and take our masks off?
Recorded August 26th. How have you changed since COVID?
Recorded August 19th. Instead of a yard sign that say "I'm so gonna vote" I want a sign that says "I'm so glad you get to vote"
Recorded August 12th. How do you stay informed without going crazy? Tiger King has come to Matt’s house. Max Weber suggested that the state should have a monopoly on violence.
We've been behind uploading our episodes, this one was recorded on August 5th. 2020 has been a year of so much input, we've felt a little bit like over watered plants.
We’ve struggled recently with what to say, which topics to engage, and how to approach them. The result of that struggle has been a lack of engagement. I can hear it in our voices, and I don’t like it. This week we…
Part of achieving understanding is making room for it. Much like spring cleaning, when you purge a lot of your stuff, you can then re-examine what remains. The resulting psychological state is one of renewed and…
Are we seeing some kind of breaking point? We've noticed that comedy can make way for clarity out of confusion. Not that we're funny, that's not what we do here. Travis county Co-parenting class:…
We made a commitment, and did not keep it. Matt and Michael discuss the Declaration of Independence, Bret Weinstein's refreshing plan to save the republic, the sovereignty of the individual, and the proper orientation…
A poem by Michael kicks off a conversation about information theory and the mechanics of communication. The message spoken, That which is received Are they the same? Do we hear only what we anticipated or expected?…
A corona update turns into a conversation about the relationship between narrative and reality in our lives. What are we waiting for? What is actually happening? And what is the narrative that is being told? Show…
Seek and you shall find. Ask and you shall receive. You might hear these phrases and dismiss them as a petition to the supernatural, but the ideas seem to be woven into the fabric of our consciousness, science, and even…
Another Pod from the Quar! This is a lively conversation continuing on our theme of Character and exploring into the deep metaphors around fertile soil. Lots of great people, ideas, and quotes referenced, and we tried…
Last week our discussion about freedom and structure led us into thoughts on character in times of adversity. This week we pick up that thread to see where it takes us. Join us on this journey to the shores of ignorance.
What is the relationship between freedom and structure, and how is Character build and revealed while interacting with that relationship?
In the midst of uncertainty and fear we sat down to talk about how we can find hope and beauty in these times.
We figured out podcast distancing and recorded our first remote episode. Of course we talked about Corona, and the uncertainty and questions that seem to be causing so much anxiety right now.
(Recorded February 26, 2020) Matt and Michael sit down to talk about presence and respect in family, friend and work relationships, community, parenting, consciousness and sense of time.
(Recorded Wednesday March 11th)Alison Vaclav joins us for a discussion about ritual, responsibility, and hope amidst the anxiety and fear of the Corona pandemic and an election year.
This is part 3 of a 3 part series where we sit down and talk with our children. In this episode we talk with Evelyn, Hannah, and Hazel, the 3 youngest kids in the group of 8 children between Michael and Matt.
What starts as a brief history about starting a business leads us hesitantly into the political landscape. It feels dangerous, but a lively and hopeful conversation arises by confronting the uncomfortable. Linked…
This is part 2 of a 3 part series where we sit down and talk with our children. In this episode we talk with Estella and Emerson, the 2 middle kids in the group of 8 children between Michael and Matt.
This is part 1 of a 3 part series where we sit down and talk with our children. In this episode we talk with the 3 oldest of the group of 8 children between Michael and Matt.
This is the second half of our conversation that started in ep 14, so listen to that one first. Episode 14 and 15 are based around a discussion Brett Weinstein and Sam Harris had about free will on Brett's podcast:…
This episode is based around a discussion Brett Weinstein and Sam Harris had about free will on Brett's podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bret-weinstein-darkhorse-podcast/id1471581521?i=1000459815266 The…
Part 2 of our 2020 conversation. Feel what you feel so that you know what you feel. Cursing & retired words. We need wisdom that doesn’t downplay the youthful. Twitter is poisonous. Instagram doesn't seem to be.…
It’s a new decade: Reflections, forward and backward. Sould you make your bed? Michael doesn’t know who Paul Rudd is. Adversity keeps us young. Order and Chaos. Feel what you feel so that you know what you feel. We feel…
Part 2 of our conversation with Michael's wife Alison. We discuss childbirth, dance, dreams, music, memory, and the ancient roots that underly them all. We decided to split this conversation into 2 parts, so be sure to…
Michael's wife Alison joins us for episode 10 of Shores of Ignorance. We discuss childbirth, dance, dreams, music, memory, and the ancient roots that underly them all. We decided to split this one into 2 parts, so stay…
Matt and Michael kick off Season 2 with a one on one conversation.
Mark Stoney is an amazing musician and artist from the UK. He shares about the recent passing of his friend Seth Gibbs from stomach cancer. Seth was a prolific musician in the Austin scene. He will be missed. Mark also…
A great conversation with David Ramirez. He is a local Austin Musician who talks with us about persistence, meaning through the creative process, and life as a musician. http://www.davidramirezmusic.com…
Nicole McCharen is a certified birth doula and a co-active coach and has been working with mamas for over 15 years. In this episode, we talk with Nicole about here experiences in the birthing world and mamas.…
Life is messy and wonderful. Natalie Boone and Matt McCloskey (co-host) share about their very recent break-up. Check us out at: Instagram: @shoresofignorance iTunes:…
Matt and Michael explore creativity, discipline, and fear with Phillip Edsel a musician, photographer, and entrepreneur. Phillip met Matt at MOMOS in Austin in the early 2000s. They talk about maturing as musicians and…
Matt and Michael interview Mike McCloskey, a licensed professional counselor (and Matt's father). They discuss therapy, what it is, what it's for, Mike's 40yr career, and subjects of suffering, shame, wisdom, and joy.…
Matt and Michael discuss the why's and hows and what's of their new podcast Shores of Ignorance. Check us out at: Instagram: @shoresofignorance iTunes:…