Ab Immemorabili

187: The Olmec Enigma - The Mother Culture's Forgotten Wisdom

What if the most influential civilisation in the Americas is also the most mysterious?
Drake and Holly explore the Olmec civilisation - the "mother culture" of Mesoamerica whose colossal stone heads and were-jaguar imagery reveal a sophisticated understanding of consciousness transformation that predates Greek philosophy by a millennium. Through jade mirrors and jaguar shamanism, the Olmecs developed technologies of transformation we're only beginning to understand.
Key Topics:
Colossal heads as portraits of transformed consciousness
Were-jaguar symbolism and shapeshifting practices
Entheogens and consciousness-altering technologies
Sacred geometry in Olmec architecture
The invention of the Mesoamerican ballgame as cosmic ritual
Magnetite mirrors as portals to other realities
Why the Olmecs mysteriously dispersed rather than collapsed
Featured Concepts:
Were-jaguar: The human-feline hybrid representing consciousness transformation
Axis Mundi: The cosmic tree connecting underworld, earth, and heavens
Olmecatl: "Rubber people"—creators of the first synthetic material
 
Essential Quote: "While ancient Greeks were developing concepts of fixed essential forms, the Olmecs were depicting fluid transformation between states of being. They understood consciousness as something that could shift between human and more-than-human states."
Practical Takeaway: The Olmecs remind us that profound wisdom exists outside familiar philosophical frameworks. Transformation isn't just an idea to understand but a process to undergo, using whatever tools—plants, sound, ritual, symbol—facilitate the journey.
Key References:
Olmec archaeological sites: La Venta, San Lorenzo
The Cascajal Block (undeciphered Olmec writing)
John Carlson's research on magnetite mirrors
Mesoamerican ballgame origins
About Ab Immemorabili: Ancient wisdom meets modern minds. Join Drake & Holly for explorations of philosophy, consciousness, and transformation.
Contact: podcast@maaoot.org | www.maaoot.org
The wisdom you seek has always been within you. You're not learning it. You're remembering it.

186: Lost Libraries - What Burned in Alexandria and Why It Matters

What if humanity's greatest tragedy wasn't a single fire, but a slow forgetting that continues today?
Drake and Holly explore the burning of the Library of Alexandria - not as one catastrophic event, but as a pattern of knowledge loss that haunts human civilisation. From the Tigris running black with ink to NASA's unreadable tapes, they uncover how wisdom dies and, more importantly, how it survives.
Key Topics:
Multiple destructions of Alexandria over centuries
Lost Greek tragedies: seeing antiquity through a keyhole
The House of Wisdom and Nalanda: recurring patterns of loss
Digital fragility: why modern knowledge may be more vulnerable
Mystery schools and hidden preservation methods
Embodied knowledge vs stored information
The phoenix library: wisdom that rises from its own ashes
Featured Concepts:
Anamnesis: Not learning but remembering - rediscovering eternal truths
The Inner Citadel: Stoic concept of indestructible internal wisdom
Indra's Net: Knowledge as a distributed network with no single point of failure
 
Essential Quote: "We're not just repositories of books. We're destroying the community of scholars, the oral traditions, the teaching lineages, the methods of interpretation passed from master to student."
Practical Takeaway: Become a living library. Don't just collect information—embody wisdom. Make yourself a carrier of knowledge that can't burn, practices that transform, understanding that survives catastrophe.
Key References:
The Library of Alexandria historical accounts
Carl Sagan, Cosmos
The Nag Hammadi Library discoveries
Nassim Taleb, Antifragile
About Ab Immemorabili: Ancient wisdom meets modern minds. Join Drake & Holly for explorations of philosophy, consciousness, and transformation.
Contact: podcast@maaoot.org | www.maaoot.org
The wisdom you seek has always been within you. You're not learning it. You're remembering it.

185: The Egyptian Book of the Dead - A Manual for Living

What if the most famous ancient text about death was never about dying at all?
Drake and Holly uncover the profound mistranslation that's hidden the Egyptian Book of the Dead's true purpose for centuries. Far from being funeral literature, the Pert Em Hru ("Coming Forth by Day") is actually humanity's oldest surviving manual for navigating consciousness transformation - a practical guide for the living, not the dead.
Key Topics:
• The mistranslation that changed everything
• Heart weighing as daily psychological practice
• Death as transformation, not termination
• Osirian mysteries and conscious rebirth
• Multiple souls: ka, ba, akh, and shadow integration
• Sound technology in Egyptian temples
• Parallels with Tibetan Buddhism and near-death experiences
Featured Concepts:
Ma'at: The feather of truth against which all hearts are weighed
Duat: The hidden realm we traverse nightly in sleep
Coming Forth by Day: Emerging from unconsciousness into awakened life
 
Essential Quote: "Every night when you sleep, you 'die.' Every time you let go of an old identity, you 'die.' Every profound transformation is a death and rebirth."
Practical Takeaway: Use life's transitions consciously. Recognise that you're constantly dying and being reborn—in sleep, in change, in growth. The Egyptian map still works.
Key References:
• The Egyptian Book of the Dead, trans. E.A. Wallis Budge
• The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Sogyal Rinpoche
• Raymond Moody, Life After Life
• C.G. Jung, writings on Egyptian symbolism
About Ab Immemorabili: Ancient wisdom meets modern minds. Join Drake & Holly for explorations of philosophy, consciousness, and transformation.
Contact: podcast@maaoot.org | www.maaoot.org
The wisdom you seek has always been within you. You're not learning it. You're remembering it.

184: The Emerald Tablet - Decoding "As Above, So Below"

What if reality operates on just one principle, endlessly reflected? What if you are both the mirror and what it reflects?
Drake and Holly decode the thirteen cryptic lines of the Emerald Tablet, revealing how its central teaching—"as above, so below"—appears everywhere from fractals to consciousness, from quantum physics to personal transformation. This ancient key to correspondence might explain how inner and outer worlds mirror each other perfectly.
Key Topics:
The mysterious origins of Hermes Trismegistus and his tablet
Fractals, holograms, and modern science validating ancient wisdom
How correspondence works in both directions—up and down
The alchemical family: Sun, Moon, Wind, and Earth as transformation
Why Newton studied alchemy more than physics
Sacred architecture as correspondence technology
Practical applications of correspondence in daily life
Featured Concepts:
Correspondence: The principle that patterns repeat across all scales of reality
The One Thing: The unified principle behind all apparent multiplicity
Solve et Coagula: Dissolve and rebuild—the pattern of all transformation
Hermes Trismegistus: The thrice-great state of integrated consciousness
Essential Quote: "You're not in the universe; you're a localised pattern of the universe itself. When you breathe, the universe breathes. You are the correspondence - the meeting point of heaven and earth."
Practical Takeaway: Look for patterns across all levels of your experience. When something appears in your life, ask where else this pattern shows up - in your body, thoughts, relationships. Remember: changing any level affects all levels through correspondence.
Key References:
The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus
Carl Jung, Psychology and Alchemy
The Corpus Hermeticum
Paul Devereux, Research on archaeoacoustics
About Ab Immemorabili: Ancient wisdom meets modern minds. Join Drake & Holly for explorations of philosophy, consciousness, and transformation.
Contact: podcast@maaoot.org | www.maaoot.org
The wisdom you seek has always been within you. You're not learning it. You're remembering it.

183: The Cave You're Already In - Plato's Allegory for Modern Times

What if your entire reality is just shadows on a wall? What if your news feed is Plato's Cave?
Drake and Holly explore Plato's timeless Cave allegory and its startling relevance to our digital age. From social media as shadow-puppetry to the painful journey of awakening, they reveal how we're all prisoners watching screens, mistaking shadows for reality - and why escape is both possible and terrifying.
Key Topics:
Plato's Cave as prophecy for the digital age
Social media as modern shadow-puppetry
Why people resist awakening and attack truth-tellers
The fractal nature of caves within caves
The philosopher's duty to return
How to recognise shadows in your own life
Why escape might be about remembering, not moving
Featured Concepts:
The Cave: Plato's metaphor for the prison of ignorance we mistake for reality
Anamnesis: Learning as remembering what the soul already knows
Shadow-knowledge: Information mistaken for wisdom, opinions mistaken for truth
The Philosopher's Return: The duty to help others escape, despite their resistance
 
Essential Quote: "You're not the prisoner watching shadows; you're the light that makes seeing possible. The journey out isn't spatial but ontological. You don't move; you remember."
Practical Takeaway: Start noticing what you "know" that's actually just repeated opinion. Question your shadow-knowledge. Turn toward whatever seems most real, most luminous, most alive—even if you can't see the sun yet, you can always face toward greater light.
Key References:
Plato, The Republic (Book VII)
The Wachowskis, The Matrix
Noam Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent
Buddhist concept of the bodhisattva vow
About Ab Immemorabili: Ancient wisdom meets modern minds. Join Drake & Holly for explorations of philosophy, consciousness, and transformation.
Contact: podcast@maaoot.org | www.maaoot.org
The wisdom you seek has always been within you. You're not learning it. You're remembering it.

182: Wu Wei - The Art of Effortless Action in a Forcing World

How do you accomplish everything by doing nothing? Why does water defeat rock every single time?
Drake and Holly explore the ancient Daoist principle of wu wei - effortless action that achieves more than force ever could. Through stories from martial arts masters, quantum physics, and everyday life, they reveal how not-forcing might be the most powerful approach to life's challenges, from difficult conversations to creative breakthroughs.
Key Topics:
• The paradox of "when nothing is done, nothing is left undone"
• Why trying harder often makes things worse
• Flow states and peak performance without effort
• Water as the ultimate teacher of power through softness
• Aikido and the art of winning without fighting
• The difference between passive floating and skilled navigation
• How modern physics confirms ancient wisdom
Featured Concepts:
Wu Wei: Not mere non-action, but action without forcing—finding the natural way
Kairos: The opportune moment when action becomes effortless
Flow State: When peak performance happens through you, not from you
The Dao: The natural intelligence that governs all things
 
Essential Quote: "Water doesn't compete, yet it wins every competition. It doesn't force, yet nothing can resist it. It takes the lowest place, yet it nourishes everything above it."
 
Practical Takeaway: Notice where you're forcing in your life—relationships, work, creativity. Experiment with removing resistance rather than adding effort. Watch how the softest approach often yields the strongest results.
Key References:
• Laozi, Daodejing
• Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi
• Alan Watts, Various lectures on Eastern philosophy
• Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Research on flow states
About Ab Immemorabili: Ancient wisdom meets modern minds. Join Drake & Holly for explorations of philosophy, consciousness, and transformation.
Contact: podcast@maaoot.org | www.maaoot.org
The wisdom you seek has always been within you. You're not learning it. You're remembering it.

181: The Oracle's Paradox - When Not Knowing Makes You Wise

How can someone who knows nothing be declared the wisest person alive?
Drake and Holly unpack the paradox that birthed Western philosophy: the Oracle at Delphi declaring Socrates wisest precisely because he knew he knew nothing. From the Dunning-Kruger effect to Zen's beginner's mind, they explore why intellectual humility might be the highest wisdom, and how admitting ignorance opens doors that certainty keeps locked.
Key Topics
• Socrates' investigation of the Oracle's pronouncement
• The three Delphic maxims and their meanings
• Docta ignorantia across mystical traditions
• Dunning-Kruger effect and the confidence of ignorance
• Beginner's mind versus expert's mind
• The difference between grasping and receiving truth
• Why the ego defends false knowing so violently
Featured Concepts
Learned Ignorance (Docta Ignorantia): The wisdom that comes from knowing the limits of your knowledge
Beginner's Mind (Shoshin): Zen concept of approaching life with openness and freedom from preconceptions
The Elenchus: Socratic method of revealing ignorance through systematic questioning
Essential Quote
"The self that's trying to know and the self that's being known are the same thing. It's like an eye trying to see itself. The very attempt creates a paradox."
Practical Takeaway
Today, catch yourself claiming to know something you don't actually know - someone's motivation, future outcomes, or your own limitations. Practice saying "I don't know" and notice what possibilities open.
Key References
• Plato, The Apology
• The Cloud of Unknowing
• Byron Katie, The Work
• John Keats on "negative capability"
About Ab Immemorabili: Ancient wisdom meets modern minds. Join Drake & Holly for explorations of philosophy, consciousness, and transformation.
Contact: podcast@maaoot.org | www.maaoot.org
The wisdom you seek has always been within you. You're not learning it. You're remembering it.

180: Marcus Aurelius at War - Stoic Philosophy Under Ultimate Pressure

How does a philosopher-emperor maintain wisdom while commanding armies on a frozen battlefield?
Drake and Holly explore Marcus Aurelius' extraordinary Meditations, written not in comfort but in military tents during brutal Germanic campaigns. They examine how the most powerful man in the world used Stoic philosophy to stay human amidst plague, betrayal, and the death of his children - and why his private notes still offer profound guidance today.
Key Topics
• Writing philosophy on the barbaric frontier
• The Meditations as survival tool, not theory
• How obstacles become the path forward
• Maintaining humanity while wielding absolute power
• CBT's roots in ancient Stoicism
• The view from above as therapeutic practice
• Why Marcus never claimed philosophical perfection
Featured Concepts
The Obstacle as Path: "What stands in the way becomes the way" - difficulties aren't detours but the actual route to wisdom
Memento Mori: Using awareness of death not morbidly but as a clarifying force for what matters
View from Above: Rising to cosmic perspective to maintain proportion amidst daily struggles
Essential Quote
"The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way."
Practical Takeaway
When facing today's obstacles, ask not "Why is this preventing my path?" but "How is this obstacle actually my path?"
Key References
• Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (Gregory Hays translation)
• Epictetus, Discourses
• Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle Is the Way
• Massimo Pigliucci, How to Be a Stoic
About Ab Immemorabili: Ancient wisdom meets modern minds. Join Drake & Holly for explorations of philosophy, consciousness, and transformation.
Contact: podcast@maaoot.org | www.maaoot.org
The wisdom you seek has always been within you. You're not learning it. You're remembering it.

179: The Wound and the Gift - Why Your Greatest Pain Holds Your Purpose

What if the very thing you're trying to hide or fix is actually the key to your life's purpose?
Drake and Holly explore the profound paradox found in every wisdom tradition: how our deepest wounds often become our greatest strengths. From Chiron the wounded healer to the Japanese art of kintsugi, they examine why transformation requires breaking, and how your specific pain qualifies you for specific service.
Key Topics
• Chiron and the archetype of the wounded healer
• Post-traumatic growth vs merely surviving trauma
• Kintsugi - making brokenness beautiful with gold
• How shamanic initiation works through crisis
• The neuroscience of trauma creating new abilities
• Why wounds create humility and opening
• Collective wounds calling for cultural transformation
Featured Concepts
Wounded Healer: One who transforms personal suffering into the ability to heal others
Kintsugi: Japanese art of repairing pottery with gold, making breaks part of beauty
Initiatory Technologies: How wounds upgrade consciousness to perceive new frequencies
Essential Quote
"Your wound isn't a detour from your path. It IS your path. The thing you thought disqualified you actually qualifies you."
Practical Takeaway
Notice one wound you've been hiding or trying to "fix." Consider what unique understanding or gift it's given you that you couldn't have gained any other way.
Key References
• Jung's work on shadow integration
• Tedeschi & Calhoun's research on post-traumatic growth
• Rumi, Selected Poems
• Leonard Cohen, "Anthem"
About Ab Immemorabili: Ancient wisdom meets modern minds. Join Drake & Holly for explorations of philosophy, consciousness, and transformation.
Contact: podcast@maaoot.org | www.maaoot.org
The wisdom you seek has always been within you. You're not learning it. You're remembering it.

178: Indra's Net - The Buddhist Vision of Infinite Interconnection

What if every atom in the universe contains the reflection of every other atom?
Drake and Holly explore the profound Buddhist metaphor of Indra's Net - an infinite web of jewels, each reflecting all others endlessly. This ancient image reveals how individual and universal are inseparable, why your smallest action ripples through all existence, and what happens when you truly grasp that separation is illusion.
Key Topics
• The mythology of Indra's celestial net
• How infinite mutual reflection works
• Why individual identity becomes paradoxical
• Quantum entanglement and ancient wisdom
• The ethics of total interconnection
• How every point contains the whole
• What interbeing means for daily life
Featured Concepts
Pratītyasamutpāda: Dependent origination—nothing exists independently, everything arises through relationship
Interpenetration: The Huayan teaching that all phenomena perfectly contain each other
Holographic Universe: Modern theory that each part contains information about the whole
Essential Quote
"When you see yourself reflected in infinite jewels, each containing infinite reflections of you containing them, the boundary between self and cosmos doesn't just blur - it vanishes."
Practical Takeaway
Today, trace one simple action's ripple effects. Notice how your morning mood affects others, how their responses affect others still.
Key References
• Francis Cook, Hua-yen Buddhism
• Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of Buddhist Meditation
• The Avatamsaka Sutra
About Ab Immemorabili: Ancient wisdom meets modern minds. Join Drake & Holly for explorations of philosophy, consciousness, and transformation.
Contact: podcast@maaoot.org | www.maaoot.org
The wisdom you seek has always been within you. You're not learning it. You're remembering it.