Dr. Jack Hunter -- Neon Galactic -- Episode 37

Due to a tenuous ZOOM connection, the video in this episode is occasionally glitchy, but the conversation was so fascinating and important I posted it anyway. The discussion is clear and intelligible. In this chat, Dr. Jack Hunter and I discuss the nature of the paranormal, and the ways in which Academia has embraced the topic, and the ways in which it has failed to engaged with its more challenging aspects. Through the lens of such disciplines as ecology and anthropology, a coherent understanding of the paranormal is possible if difficult to pin down. Hunter has made a career out of engaging with these topics, and in refusing to be reductive about the complexities involved. His recent book, "Deep Weird," focuses in particular on those occurrences that fall outside mainstream categories by virtue of their strangeness. Hunter argues that it's that complexity that can likely tell us the most about what we're encountering. All aspects should be embraced and analyzed, not ignored or ridiculed according to operative prejudices and intellectual laziness. We explore his experiences with the spiritual realm through early research around spiritualists and mediums, events that challenged his world view and pushed him into a process of what he calls "ontological flooding," where the possible explanations for various phenomenon multiply and refuse simple or trite resolutions. This straddling of ontologies and explanations is one key to gaining a global perspective, he believes. Hunter is known for exploring the borderlands of consciousness, religion, ecology and the paranormal. He is an Honorary Research Fellow with the Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Center, and a tutor with the Sophia Center for the Study of Cosmology in Culture, University of Wales Trinity St David. To purchase Dr Jack Hunter's books: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=dr+jack+hunter&crid=1H27A8FVEUIKD&sprefix=dr+jack+hunte%2Caps%2C178&ref=nb_sb_noss_1 -------------------------- Music: Cinematic Logo 04 by TaigaSoundProd Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/8221-cinema... Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Technology Calm Logo 01 by TaigaSoundProd Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/6660-techno... Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license --- Neon Galactic is a production of PBS affiliate KEET-TV in Eureka, CA. Please don’t forget to like and subscribe. Public television can always use your support. On X: @jfrickingfaulk #neongalactic #UAP #space #aliens #magic #occult #drjackhunter #ufo #consciousness #phenomenon #ghosts #afterlife #NDE #fairies