On this week’s episode of Horsin’ Around we are pleased to have one of our dear classmates at CGU, Shiloh Logan, join us. Our conversation revolves around the intricacies of the Mormon “Liberty Community,” groups of Latter-day Saints that are informally organized around Ezra Taft Benson’s “Proper Role of Government” and the writings of W. Cleon Skousen. We further explore the ways that Satan lurks in the background of these ideologies, as well as Shiloh’s own professional, philosophical, and spiritual journey with the Liberty Community and Latter-day Saint conservatism more broadly. It truly is a Religious Studies romp as we delve into the ways that we “scripturalize” certain impulses in our political worlds by incorporating cosmic narratives that orient these political orientations, framing them as governed by God, Satan, and/or their emissaries. These narratives and their significance are then constantly renegotiated and incorporated when new events and people become introduced into the political world.

We also briefly touch on what was then breaking news (we recorded this conversation last Fall) about Operation Underground Railroad’s founder Tim Ballard getting into hot water both legally and with the institutional Mormon church and the early shockwaves that were beginning to go through Mormondom. In light of this last topic, we may have to bring Shiloh back to speak more about more recent developments in that infinitely fascinating interaction between an influential layperson and the upper echelons of Mormon leadership.

After Christian and Brandon descended into unmitigated madness after their first two dates, their spouses looked over at them and said "Hey guys, pass some of that good stuff over!"

We now venture east from Greece to the roots of the Himalayas to show that philosophy is not just a thing for Westerners and especially that Buddhism is not merely a "religion." Indeed, "Buddhism" itself is not a thing until European imperial forces travel east and categorize the myriad ways of the Dharma as such. This makes understanding the Buddha, his teachings, and how they spread across the Asian and, reportedly, African and European continents a rather sticky endeavor.

After this necessary preface, we cover the life of Siddartha Gautama, a prince in the Indian peninsula around 600 BCE, who left palace life and eventually became the Buddha, the enlightened one. The Dhammapada is a collection of reported teachings of the Buddha, or, in other words, constitute his various upaya, or skillful means, to aid humanity in becoming liberated from the cycle of rebirth and dissolve back into the cosmic void. We also cover the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, or the Eight-Pointed Wheel of the Dharma.

Buddhism in its entirety is far too vast and deep to cover in one episode. Consider this a basic crash course to whet your palate to want to seek out more on your own.

For those who would like to learn more about European imperialism and how it created almost everything we know about "the Orient," Buddhism, and religion more broadly, we recommend the following texts:

"The Invention of World Religions: Or, How European Universalism Was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism" by Tomoko Masuzawa

"Orientalism" by Edward Said (we will likely cover this in a much later episode)

Here is the Big Joel video that we mention in the episode: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=big+joel+ben+shapiro