Episode 34

In part 4 of our science and religion in film miniseries, Ian finally gets to geek out on Star Wars. You can't tell, but he brought his own lightsaber to record this episode. Oh yeah. We're in it to win it! Since we obviously couldn't talk about everything, we focused on "The Last Jedi", and more specifically on the modern tension between religion and spirituality. Do we need the "sacred texts" to become better force users or are we stronger without the ancient traditions? Can a person be both Jedi and Sith? Do those distinctions matter or are they merely power constructs? Most importantly, what color would your lightsaber be and what would be the first thing that you would do with it? 

Revised Miniseries schedule:

3/25 - Contact
4/1 - 2001: A Space Odyssey 
4/15 - Pan's Labyrinth 
4/22 - Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
4/29 - Star Trek: Generations
5/6 - Interstellar 
5/13 - Jurassic Park 

Support this podcast on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/DowntheWormholepodcast

More information at https://www.downthewormhole.com/

produced by Zack Jackson
music by Zack Jackson and Barton Willis 

Show Notes

Websites

• https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/12/why-the-last-jedi-is-more-spiritual-than-religious/549146/
• http://info.reframemedia.com/hubfs/Think-Christian-A-Theology-of-Star-Wars.pdf
• https://relevantmagazine.com/culture/where-theology-star-wars-breaks-down/
• https://www.tmatt.net/columns/2018/1/10/those-star-wars-theology-wars-are-heating-up-again

When One Religion Isn't Enough: The Lives of Spiritually Fluid People by Duane R. Bidwell
https://www.amazon.com/When-One-Religion-Isnt-Enough/dp/0807091243

Episode 33

In Part 3 of our miniseries on science and religion in movies, Adam does what Adam does and rejects the premise to get to the point through the back door! the 2006 Guillermo del Toro masterpiece, Pan's Labyrinth (available on Netflix) is not even a little bit scifi. It is a fantasy-realism film that centers on a young girl who is trapped in the crossfire of 1944 Falangist Spain, and is confronted by a mythical creature who tells her that she is so much more than she thinks she is. While this film is not overtly scientific, it is an excellent vehicle for helping us to examine what we believe is real and how we know that. Is science magic? What makes it compelling? Can we become re-enchanted once we have lost the faith of our childhood? How can those of us without mythical spirit guides make sense of the world? 

Miniseries schedule:

3/25 - Contact
4/1 - 2001: A Space Odyssey 
4/15 - Pan's Labyrinth 
4/22 - Interstellar 
4/29 - Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
5/6 - Star Trek: Generations

Support this podcast on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/DowntheWormholepodcast

More information at https://www.downthewormhole.com/

produced by Zack Jackson
music by Zack Jackson and Barton Willis 

Show Notes

Stephen Hunt -The Chour of the Air

https://www.amazon.com/COURT-AIR-STEPHEN-HUNT/dp/0765380218

Wizard in Harry Potter reading A Brief History of Time

https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Wizard_in_the_Leaky_Cauldron

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” ~  Arthur C. Clarke (NOT Isaac Asamov as Zack says in the episode)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarke%27s_three_laws

“The second naivete” as a concept in spiritual development 

https://www.mpjauthor.com/spiritual-development-concept/Paul-Ricoeur.html

https://c1b9a88f-157e-47ac-91dd-90f00bc73c13.filesusr.com/ugd/18a280_3bcaa8e62ed848ac954aeae897a5a4a7.pdf

Zack’s Uncle Ed Zacharewicz’s art
https://www.facebook.com/Edward-C-Zacharewicz-268270439887/

Albert Camus’s joyful philosophy 

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7699175-the-literal-meaning-of-life-is-whatever-you-re-doing-that

Episode 32

It's part 2 of our miniseries on movies, and Kendra leads us in discussing perhaps the most influential scifi movie of all time, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Despite its preeminence, however, she is the only one among us who truly love it. Can she make believers out of the rest of us? Can she help us to appreciate silence and multiple layers of acceptable meaning? Will that draw us deeper into our own spiritual journeys as well? You be the judge. Just make sure you watch the film first, or this episode will make even less sense! 

Miniseries schedule:

4/1 - 2001: A Space Odyssey 
4/8 - Pan's Labyrinth 
4/15 - Interstellar 
4/22 - Rachael's Pick!

Support this podcast on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/DowntheWormholepodcast

More information at https://www.downthewormhole.com/

produced by Zack Jackson
music by Zack Jackson and Barton Willis 

Show Notes 

John Cage 4’33 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr9YnBaZBgc

Rudolph Otto Mysterium tremendum : 

• https://www.britannica.com/topic/mysterium-tremendum-et-fascinans ; 
• https://magiscenter.com/the-1st-pole-mysterium-tremendum-in-the-numen-i-b-gods-presence-to-our-consciousness-the-numinous-experience-intuition-of-the-sacred-and-conscience/ 
• https://spectrummagazine.org/article/2017/10/10/mysterium-tremendum 

Articles on the movie 

• https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/hearing-and-seeing-2001-a-space-odyssey-anew 
• http://decentfilms.com/reviews/2001aspaceodyssey 
• https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-from-the-archive-2001-space-odyssey-20180517-story.html 
• https://www.jstor.org/stable/3592986?seq=1 [behind a login/pay-wall, but can get a few free articles each month]