The third episode of the Preternatural Investigations podcast is – “MAGIC, MYSTERY AND A SENSE OF WONDER. ”
In which the idea that the sense of wonder we are born with automatically diminishes as we mature is brought into question. The factors that erode our sense of wonder are examined and the possibility of reaching adulthood with a sense of wonder intact is argued for.
Music by Sharron Kraus, with Guy Whittaker, James Green, Aby Vulliamy, Harriet Earis, Oliver Parfitt and Nick Jonah Davis
Clips from Jefferson Airplane’s ‘Lather’ and Rupert Holmes’ ‘Escape (The Piña Colada Song)’
REFERENCES
Richard Dawkins, Unweaving the Rainbow
Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of the Morals
René Descartes, The Passions of the Soul
John Ruskin, The Elements of Drawing
Pauline Oliveros, Deep Listening: A Composer’s Sound Practice
https://preternatural-investigations.org/episode-3/.
“Preternatural Investigations is a podcast about things that are strange but not too strange; the marvelous things that lie ‘between the mundane and the miraculous’1.
“As a rationalist who believes there is magic, mystery and meaning to be found in the world around us, my investigations are influenced by William James’ enquiries into religious experience and Mark Fisher’s explorations of the weird and the eerie.
“My subjects will include the magic we experience in certain places, as a result of participating in certain kinds of activity, in response to art, music and literature, and in nature; the relationship between fictional representations of magic and the preternatural magic we can experience in the world, at wonder, imagination and the ability to find new ways of seeing familiar things, the way fictional and other constructed worlds intersect with and are grafted onto the natural world, enabling us to experience the world as a many-layered palimpsest that draws us in, leads us on, and reveals itself to us at the same time as giving us insights into aspects of ourselves.
“Preternatural Investigations runs for 12 weeks, starting Sunday 23rd August, and is hosted by musician and writer Sharron Kraus.”
