x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

No Shortcuts to Now

No Shortcuts to Now is a philosophy and mythology podcast exploring resistance, meaning, and myth in an age of authoritarianism. Hosted by K.L. Homme, each episode blends Greek myth, Stoic philosophy, and creative nonfiction to examine how we endure — and defy — the rising tide of disinformation, strongmen, and cultural collapse. From ancient wisdom to modern politics, No Shortcuts to Now invites thoughtful listeners into a trail of reflection, resilience, and moral imagination.

society & culture philosophy

All Episodes

7:17

🎧 Nine Moons Certain (5.1)

No Shortcuts to Now ·

2026/04/07

🎧 Nine Moons Certain: A Fate Unfalsifiable (Part I of III)What makes a belief dangerous?This is the first installment in a three-part cycle exploring the myth of Oedipus through an epistemic lens—drawing on the philosophy of Karl Popper and the problem of unfalsifiable belief.In this episode: prophecy and certainty, doubt and identity, the word that cannot be unheard, and the quiet beginning of a trap that closes one reasonable decision at a time.A king hears a prophecy—and acts as if it cannot be

en

9:01

🎧 Veni, Vidi, Vaccine

No Shortcuts to Now ·

2026/03/24

🎧 Veni, Vidi, VaccineWhat does it mean to be master of your fate—when history is still unfolding around you?This is the next audio installment of No Shortcuts to Now—a journey through myth, memory, and meaning in turbulent times.In this episode: the Ides of March... a long-awaited vaccine…a quiet California parking lot… a moment of misrecognition…and the fragile line between fear, laughter, and responsibility.👉 Subscribe to No Shortcuts to Now on Substack. You can Begin Here.📖 Prefer to read? The

en

10:02

🎧 The Dolphin's Always Right

No Shortcuts to Now ·

2026/03/17

🎧 Waypoint 4.6 — The Dolphin’s Always RightThis is the next audio installment of No Shortcuts to Now — a journey through myth, memory, and meaning in turbulent times.Question:If wisdom begins with admitting what we do not know, why are people so eager to follow those who claim certainty?In this episode: the rebirth of Dionysus, the return of Apollo to Delphi, the Pythia’s ritual trance, Socrates and the paradox of wisdom, Croesus misreading the oracle, and the ancient warning carved above the

en

8:48

🎧 Waypoint 4.5—Only the God Changed

No Shortcuts to Now ·

2026/03/03

🎧 Waypoint 4.5 — Only the God Changed: On the Return of the RepressedWhat happens when a god dies—but the ritual remains?This is the next audio installment of No Shortcuts to Now—a journey through myth, memory, and meaning in turbulent times.In this episode: a goat in a chasm, vapors rising through fractured stone, the birth of the Oracle at Delphi, geology beneath theology, Nietzsche on invented knowledge, Arendt on revolutions that turn conservative—and the quiet persistence of the priestess

en

12:57

🎧 Waypoint 4.4—The Oracle at Dolphin

No Shortcuts to Now ·

2026/02/17

🎧 Waypoint 4.4 — The Oracle at Dolphin: The Dragon Still BreathesWhat survives when power buries what it fears?In this Waypoint, we return to Delphi—to the cave beneath the polished marble, to the dragon who guarded the earth’s navel, and to the god who claimed the site as his own. The slaying of Python is often told as a simple triumph myth. Here, it becomes a meditation on how authority establishes itself—how conquest becomes consecration, and how breath becomes prophecy.As the arrows fly and the

en

13:05

🎧 Field Note 4.3—X Marks the Name of The Father

No Shortcuts to Now ·

2026/02/03

🎧 Field Note 4.3 — X Marks the Name of the FatherWhat does power reveal when it stops guarding its words?In this Field Note, we listen closely to a White House press conference delivered one year into the administration. Rather than arguing with its claims, the piece attends to its language—its slips, repetitions, and sudden turns inward.As speech loosens, private memory and public authority blur. Childhood scenes surface. Fear reaches instinctively for bars, buildings, and institutions meant to

en

9:50

🎧Waypoint 4.3—The Wombstone

No Shortcuts to Now ·

2026/01/20

🎧 Waypoint 4.3 — The WombstoneWhy does power fear what comes next?In this episode, we enter the ancient myth of Cronus—the Titan who devours his children to stop time, prevent succession, and secure his rule.Drawing on Greek myth, etymology, and cosmological symbolism, this waypoint traces a recurring pattern: liberation hardening into domination, anxiety masquerading as wisdom, and authority attempting to swallow the future.Stones, wombs, caves, shields, milk, and honey become symbols of false

en

12:13

🎧 Field Note 4.2—An Ontology of Equality

No Shortcuts to Now ·

2026/01/06

🎧 Field Note 4.2 — An Ontology of EqualityWhy authority collapses when it forgets the ground that made it possible.What does it mean to say that all beings are equally real—and what changes when we take that claim seriously?In this Field Note, we pause along the trail to reflect on the conceptual ground crossed in Waypoints 4.1 and 4.2, moving from questions of knowledge and language into questions of ethics, authority, and care.The reflection begins with description itself—how words order the

en

15:17

🎧 Waypoint 4.2—The Wombfish

No Shortcuts to Now ·

2025/12/23

🎧 Waypoint 4.2 — The WombfishHow sea-goddesses, dolphins, eggs, and fish with feet reveal the deep, watery origins we still carry within us.What does it mean to remember that we come from the sea—and never fully left it?In this episode, we descend from Lassen’s alpine slopes into deep time, following a trail that runs from mountain heather and melting snow into mythic oceans, ancient wombs, and the evolutionary improvisations that carried life from water to land.Biology and mythology braid together

en

16:51

🎧 Waypoint 4.1—Of Roots, Rhizomes, and Fish with...

No Shortcuts to Now ·

2025/12/09

🎧 Waypoint 4.1 — Of Roots, Rhizomes, and Fish with Feet: The Lurid Bait of EgotismHow mountain heather, ancient rhizomes, and deep time unmask the arrogance of kings, conquerors, and modern Ozymandians.What happens when we stop mistaking what blooms for what endures?In this episode, we climb Lassen’s volcanic slopes—where butterflies rise on summer winds, heather crowns the blasted heath, and woody runners weave a hidden underworld beneath our feet.Here, among flowers that wear tiny crowns, we

en

21:14

🎧Waypoint 3.4—From the Rhetoric of Valley Forge to...

No Shortcuts to Now ·

2025/11/25

🎧Waypoint 3.4 — From the Rhetoric of Valley Forge to the Forge of FallaciesHow Reagan empowered creationism, undermined science education, and reshaped the American political landscape.What happens when presidential rhetoric sanctifies doubt over discovery?In this episode, we travel back to August 1980—when Ronald Reagan told a stadium of evangelical voters that he had “a great many questions” about evolution.A few polished questions—delivered at the right moment, to the right audience—shifted the

en

20:19

🎧 Waypoint 3.3: Faith, Fury, and the Ditto-Headless...

No Shortcuts to Now ·

2025/11/11

🎧 Waypoint 3.3 — “Faith, Fury, and the Ditto-Headless Horsemen of the Post-Truth Apocalypse”What happens when the Medal of Freedom becomes a prop in the post-truth carnival?Ecce homo.In this episode, we revisit the 2020 State of the Union—when a reality-television president draped the nation’s highest civilian honor over the shoulders of a talk-radio demagogue.From Rush Limbaugh’s “AIDS Update” and “feminazi” sermons to the birth of a media ecosystem built on grievance and spectacle, we trace how

en

13:48

🎧 Field Note 3.2 — All The King's Candy

No Shortcuts to Now ·

2025/10/28

🎧 Field Note 3.2 — All the King’s CandyWhat do we swallow when we crave certainty, and who’s feeding it to us?In this episode of No Shortcuts to Now: childhood sweetness and modern certainty; gum scraped from the sidewalk; Sunday school lessons and post-truth prophets; how a sour little candy foretold an empire of outrage.👉 Subscribe to No Shortcuts to Now📖 Prefer to read? The full text is included below.🗂️ New here? → 📘 Begin Here☕ No kings, no sponsors — just caffeine and conviction. You can

en

22:20

🎧 Waypoint 3.2 — The Loudest Belch: Reagan's...

No Shortcuts to Now ·

2025/10/07

🎧 Waypoint 3.2 — The Loudest Belch: Reagan’s Revolution & the Birth of Outrage MediaWhen did truth become a matter of volume?When did anger start selling better than honesty?This is the second episode of season three of No Shortcuts to Now — a journey through myth, memory, and meaning in turbulent times.In this episode, we travel from the Revolutionary stage at Valley Forge to the volcanic slopes of Mount St. Helens — and into the media firestorm that reshaped American truth itself.From Reagan’s

en

14:58

🎧 Field Note 3.1 — The Phantom Pronoun

No Shortcuts to Now ·

2025/09/23

🎧 Field Note 3.1 — The Phantom PronounHow does a single word — “they” — become a weapon, a fog, a spell?This is a bonus episode of Season 3 of No Shortcuts to Now — a journey through myth, memory, and meaning in turbulent times.In this episode: I read aloud Field Note 3.1 — The Phantom Pronoun — a reflection on Macbeth’s witches, borrowed outrage, propaganda’s fog, and the dangers of the phantom enemy. It’s about how language blurs truth and shadow, how tragedy is twisted into division, and how

en

16:11

🎧 Waypoint 3.1: The Iron Key — Pompeii, Volcanic...

No Shortcuts to Now ·

2025/09/09

🎧 Waypoint 3.1 — The Iron KeyHow many legacies end in ash — and what traces do we leave behind?This is the first audio installment of Season 3 of No Shortcuts to Now — a journey through myth, memory, and meaning in turbulent times.In this episode: I read aloud Waypoint 3.1 — The Iron Key — a reflection on volcanic fire, fragile blossoms, Pompeii’s ashes, and the strange graffiti we leave behind. It’s about how ambition and catastrophe entwine, and how memory survives in traces more fragile — and

en

14:05

🎧 Field Note 3.1: The Blasted Stage —Kierkegaard’s...

No Shortcuts to Now ·

2025/09/02

🎧 Field Note 3.1 — The Blasted Stage: Kierkegaard’s Clown, Newsom’s Warning, and Trump’s Burning TheatreHow many times does a clown have to yell fire in the theater before the crowd stops laughing?This Field Note steps into the uneasy overlap of philosophy, politics, and performance — from Kierkegaard’s parable of the clown, to Gavin Newsom’s warning in Sacramento, to Donald Trump’s burning theatre of ambition.It’s about the danger of laughing while the fire spreads — and the need to take warning

en

15:43

🎧 Field Note 3¾ — The Rainbow Connection: Don’t...

No Shortcuts to Now ·

2025/08/19

What if the loudest voice in your head isn’t yours at all?🌈 Field Note 3¾ — The Rainbow Connection: Don’t Believe Everything You ThinkThis bonus audio installment opens Season Three of No Shortcuts to Now — a journey through myth, memory, and meaning in turbulent times.In this episode: enchanted frogs, digital fog, trickster gods, and the quiet art of reclaiming your own mind from propaganda’s echo chambers.👉 Subscribe to No Shortcuts to Now📖 Prefer to read? The full text is included below — with

en

19:11

🎧 Waypoint 2.4 — The Strongman and The Second Sex:...

No Shortcuts to Now ·

2025/08/05

What if the strongman’s power is really just fear — dressed in gold?🎧 Waypoint 2.4: The Strongman and The Second SexThis is the fourth audio installment of Season Two of No Shortcuts to Now — a journey through myth, memory, and meaning in turbulent times.In this episode: authoritarian masculinity, empty temples, divine jealousy, and the fragile myth of eternal virility. A mythic and psychological meditation on gender, power, pleasure — and the political fear of feminine agency.👉 Subscribe to No

en

21:39

Waypoint 2.3 — The Birth of Pleasure: Beauty, Power &...

No Shortcuts to Now ·

2025/07/29

What if transformation begins not with power — but with tenderness?🎧 Waypoint 2.3: The Birth of PleasureThis is the third audio installment of Season Two of No Shortcuts to Now — a journey through myth, memory, and meaning in turbulent times.In this episode: soul as butterfly, beauty under threat, erotic mystery, jealous goddesses, and the myth of Psyche and Cupid — retold as a meditation on power, transformation, and the search for self.👉 Subscribe to No Shortcuts to Now📖 Prefer to read? The

en

33 results

Similar Podcasts

Voices of Life

APG Mannheim

Promo Estereo Podcast

Promo Estereo

Talking Timelines Podcast

Talkingtimelines

גיקונומי

ראם שרמן ודורון ניר

Drømmefanger

Drømmefanger