Ab Immemorabili
Ab Immemorabili - From Time Beyond Memory
Ancient wisdom meets modern minds in this philosophical exploration podcast from The Most Ancient Anamnetic Order of Trikala. Join hosts Drake and Holly as they journey through the hidden patterns connecting consciousness, transformation, and timeless truth.
Created for both MAAOoT students and acolytes walking the path of the pillars and curious seekers exploring life's deeper questions, each episode offers layers of insight accessible to all. For those within the Order, these conversations illuminate and expand upon your transformational journey, providing additional context, stories, and perspectives that complement your studies. For those simply curious about philosophy and consciousness, this podcast serves as an invitation to explore humanity's greatest wisdom traditions.
Drake brings scholarly depth and historical perspective, whilst Holly grounds these ancient insights in practical, lived experience. Together they weave insights from East and West - from Greek Stoics to Buddhist masters, from Egyptian mysteries to forgotten Olmec wisdom - examining how these traditions speak to our contemporary search for meaning and transformation.
Ab Immemorabili isn't about learning new information - it's about remembering what you've always known. Through engaging conversations, thought experiments, and storytelling, we explore the paradoxes of consciousness, the nature of transformation, and the universal patterns that appear across all wisdom traditions.
Whether you're an Order student deepening your understanding, a serious seeker, or simply someone sensing there's more to existence than meets the eye, this podcast offers fresh perspectives on humanity's deepest questions. No prior philosophical background required - just an open mind and a willingness to question.
The wisdom you seek has always been within you. You're not learning it. You're remembering it.
New episodes released regularly, and now to the public generally.
Contact: podcast@maaoot.org | www.maaoot.org
Listen on:
Episodes
Monday Sep 29, 2025
Monday Sep 29, 2025
What if the universe is literally made of music that only the wise can hear?
Drake and Holly explore Pythagoras' revolutionary insight that reality operates on mathematical harmonies - from planetary orbits to musical scales. They uncover how this ancient Greek mystic discovered that numbers aren't just descriptions of reality but its actual architecture, and why his students believed philosophy could tune the soul.
Key Topics
• Pythagoras' discovery of musical ratios
• How planetary movements create cosmic harmony
• The mathematical structure underlying beauty
• Why Pythagoreans lived by sacred numbers
• The connection between music and consciousness
• Modern physics confirming ancient insights
• How philosophy becomes a form of purification
Featured Concepts
Musica Universalis: The inaudible harmony created by celestial bodies moving through space Sacred Ratios: Mathematical proportions (like 2:1, 3:2) that create both music and cosmic order Harmonia: The principle that opposing forces create beauty through proper proportion
Essential Quote
"We don't hear the music of the spheres not because it doesn't exist, but because we've been swimming in its sound since birth - like fish unaware of water."
Practical Takeaway
Listen to music today while contemplating its mathematical structure. Notice how harmony creates an almost mystical sense of rightness.
Key References
• Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras • Kitty Ferguson, The Music of Pythagoras • Jamie James, The Music of the Spheres
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.
Monday Sep 29, 2025
Monday Sep 29, 2025
What truth is so important that you'd choose death over abandoning it?
Drake and Holly examine Socrates' final days and his shocking refusal to escape execution. Through his choice to drink hemlock rather than flee Athens, they explore what it means to live - and die - with philosophical integrity, and why Socrates saw his death as the ultimate teaching moment.
Key Topics
• Socrates' trial and the charges against him
• Why his friends' escape plan was refused
• The difference between life and a life worth living
• How integrity becomes more valuable than survival
• The unexamined life as not worth living
• Death as the final philosophical argument
• What corrupting the youth really meant
Featured Concepts
Philosophical Martyrdom: Choosing death to preserve the integrity of one's teachings and beliefs The Examined Life: Socrates' principle that constant self-inquiry is essential to human flourishing Civic Duty: The paradox of accepting unjust punishment to honour just laws
Essential Quote
"If living means betraying everything I've taught, then I've already died - the hemlock just makes it official."
Practical Takeaway
Identify one principle you compromise regularly for comfort or acceptance. What would change if you fully honoured it?
Key References
• Plato, The Apology
• Plato, Crito
• Xenophon, Memorabilia
• I.F. Stone, The Trial of Socrates
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.
Monday Sep 29, 2025
Monday Sep 29, 2025
Are you a human dreaming you're a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming you're human?
Drake and Holly dive into Zhuangzi's famous paradox that has captivated philosophers for over two millennia. This ancient Daoist parable reveals profound questions about the nature of reality, identity, and consciousness that remain startlingly relevant to modern discussions of simulation theory and the nature of self.
Key Topics
• Zhuangzi's original butterfly dream story
• The dissolution of fixed identity
• Dreams as portals to understanding reality
• How perspective shapes existence
• The Daoist view of transformation
• Modern parallels in neuroscience and philosophy
• Why certainty about reality might be impossible
Featured Concepts
Transformation (Hua): The Daoist principle of constant change where all forms flow into one another Perspectivism: The idea that reality shifts based on the perspective from which it's viewed The Great Awakening: Zhuangzi's notion that even waking life might be another layer of dream
Essential Quote
"The butterfly doesn't remember being Zhuangzi, and Zhuangzi can't prove he isn't the butterfly's dream—in that uncertainty lies a freedom most of us never dare to explore."
Practical Takeaway
Today, notice how your sense of solid identity shifts between different contexts and relationships. Who is the "real" you?
Key References
• Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi
• Alan Watts, The Way of Zen
• Thomas Metzinger, "Being No One"
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.
Monday Sep 29, 2025
Monday Sep 29, 2025
Could humanity be standing at the threshold of another transformation as profound as the one that gave birth to philosophy itself?
Drake and Holly explore whether we're entering a Second Axial Age - a transformation of consciousness rivaling the first (800-200 BCE) when Buddha, Socrates, and Confucius emerged simultaneously worldwide. They examine modern signs suggesting humanity might be evolving from individual to integral consciousness, using crisis as catalyst for collective awakening.
Key Topics
Karl Jaspers' Axial Age theory: birth of individual consciousnessFrom mythological embeddedness to self-reflectionModern signs: global connectivity, meaning crisis, systems thinkingTeilhard de Chardin's noosphere - planetary thought layerKen Wilber's vision-logic and integral consciousnessCrisis as transformation catalystNetworks of awakening vs. individual prophets
Featured Concepts
Axial Age: Period when philosophy and individual consciousness emerged globallyNoosphere: Sphere of human thought enveloping EarthVision-Logic: Capacity to hold multiple perspectives simultaneouslySecond-Order Thinking: Ability to think about thinking itselfEssential Quote: "We're not losing individuality but transcending and including it - like a cell that maintains its identity while participating in the larger organism."Practical Takeaway: Notice when you're capable of holding paradox without needing resolution - this might be the emerging consciousness of our age.
Key References
Karl Jaspers, The Origin and Goal of HistoryPierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of ManKen Wilber, Sex, Ecology, SpiritualityJohn Vervaeke, "Awakening from the Meaning Crisis" lectures
About Ab Immemorabili: Ancient wisdom meets modern minds. Join Drake & Holly for explorations of philosophy, consciousness, and transformation.
Contact
podcast@maaoot.org | maaoot.org
The wisdom you seek has always been within you. You're not learning it. You're remembering it.