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Recent episodes
The Future Perfect - Trailer
Apr 27, 2026
3m 40s
The Book in the Mall
Mar 6, 2026
6m 06s
Raise Hell
May 10, 2025
5m 14s
Voices of Gallipoli: Hartley Palmer
Apr 24, 2025
16m 17s
🗞️Hear All About It! My local news live.
Feb 3, 2025
22m 21s
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| Date | Episode | Description | Length | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4/27/26 | ![]() The Future Perfect - Trailer | I’ll be building it on the page and on the stage over the next few months. It’s going to be wack. It’s hosted by Peak Arthur Meek - the inorganic sentience (he prefers that to ‘AI’) that my descendents will upload to the feed before travelling back in time to colonize history at the helm of the Erewhon Association. Sounds a lot like me. So the genes are strong. If you want to know what the future holds for you and your loved ones, and life on planet earth, you’re going to want to hear this. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 3m 40s | ||||||
| 3/6/26 | ![]() The Book in the Mall | I’m doing my Masters in Creative Writing at the very cool University of East Anglia part-time, a delightful day a week.It gets me thinking in different ways.Here is a short story I wrote pretty quickly after overdosing on Kafka and Borges.I performed it as part of the New Writing Live! series which has made a welcome return to Dorothy’s Bar in Norwich, .Have a listen; it’s a lovely way to experience it, or of course the text is below. Enjoy. The Book in the Mall.Have you seen the book everyone’s talking about? The one at Chantry Place? The Mall? If you haven’t you should get down there, honestly. It’s the biggest story in books right now. And it’s happening right here in Norwich. That’s why we’re all here eh? Why we chose to live in Norwich, UNESCO City of Literature. Cos we know books matter. Well, this one matters more than most. For those of you who don’t know, the book is a real doorstopper. It’s sitting high up on a steel ledge on the inside of the main entrance to the mall, that’s the one across from Wagamama. So, it’s sitting high up on a steel ledge. You can only see the front cover by craning your neck on the way out. Almost everyone’s started doing that, after it went viral on BookTok, but before that, no one seems to have noticed it, but security camera footage shows it’s been there for as long as they store security camera footage, and now everyone’s posting images showing that it’s been there for years, perhaps from prior to the construction of the mall, hovering in the air, but there is no way to confirm or deny the authenticity of these. Cos AI. The point is that until recently, no one had noticed it, and now that it has been noticed, no one is quite sure what to do. We know the name of the book. You can see it with binoculars. It’s called Works Additional to the Complete Works of Franz Kafka by Franz Kafka. A book that has no ISBN. You cannot buy it on Amazon. You cannot find it at independent bookshops. It only exists on that ledge. So we can see the front of it, but not the back cover material, if there is any. That’s obscured by the nest of a protected form of seagull which has somehow made its home behind a row of pigeon spikes. From the front and sides we can see it’s hardcover, bound in cloth and comprises 743 uncut pages. Like I say, binoculars have been used to verify all this. It’s impossible to gauge the weight because no one has ever picked it up. Which should make us wonder about all those pronouncements about the weights of far away planets. The book is very like an extraterrestrial planet, in fact, in that we can’t get to it. Health and safety regulations. None of the people who are certified to work at height can get qualified to handle rare books and none of the people qualified to handle rare books can get certified to work at height. A maverick window cleaner had a go, but obviously all his equipment is about abseiling down the outside of the glass and this book, as I’ve said, is on the inside. Probably for the best. No one wants to risk damaging the book, which may be extremely valuable. All in all it’s an extremely niggly situation. Those who want to leave the book in place as a tourism draw far outnumber lovers of literature who would like to read it. It’s got to the point where bringing down the book would bring down a pilgrimage economy that’s bringing more people to the mall than Zara. It’s even spawned a literary festival of sorts where parodists gather to speak aloud their best guess as to the contents of the book of which this very story that I’m telling you right now won the inaugural competition in six weeks time. So as far as anyone can tell this story is in the book and it’s not by me Arthur Meek at all. It’s written by Franz Kafka. What an honour for me to be namedropped by Franz Kafka. All in all I reckon it would be a downer to take it down. So up it stays, and it might be there forever, but it might not, so if I was you, I’d get on down to the mall, look up and check it out. If you choose to eat at Wagamama, by the way, tell them Arthur Meek sent you. I may earn a small commission at no cost to you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 6m 06s | ||||||
| 5/10/25 | ![]() Raise Hell | A verbatim account of a former client of mine at Pitch Gym - a successful serial entrepreneur who's appeared on Shark Tank. I interviewed him about his next venture capital raise - the one that I helped him on. It didn't go well. It reveals a lot about his noble character. I transcribe our interview, anonymise revealing details, and read it aloud in my voice. This is a maybe project of audio portraits. Tell me if you dig it and I might publish some more. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 5m 14s | ||||||
| 4/24/25 | ![]() Voices of Gallipoli: Hartley Palmer | Voices of Gallipoli is a remembrance project.Its purpose is to remember the experiences of kiwis at war by speaking their words out loud at Anzac commemorations and events. This is the voice of Hartley Palmer, spoken aloud by Stuart Devenie. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 16m 17s | ||||||
| 2/3/25 | ![]() 🗞️Hear All About It! My local news live. | Join me for my next live video in the app This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 22m 21s | ||||||
| 1/26/25 | ![]() 🗞️ Cold off the Press: Best of the North Norfolk News | Join me for my next live video in the app This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 13m 26s | ||||||
| 12/24/24 | ![]() 🎤 Santa King of the Jews | An unsolicited Christmas present to the world.Absolutely no one has ever asked me for the lyrics and guitar tablature for the Lonesome Buckwhips Christmas song. But that’s what you’re getting as my gift to you. You lucky, lucky subscribers.The Tab is better formatted in the Substack article at arthurmeek.substack.com. But if you're trying to play from shownotes... knock yourself out.SANTA KING OF THE JEWSby The Lonesome Buckwhips.Tablature by Miri BuckwhipVerse:D A G DOn the twenty-fifth day of the holiday month Santa was bornD AHe had red pajamas and black gumbootsF G DAnd a big white beard like GodThree wise men came a knock knock knockingAnd gave him a sleighSaid you can do what you like for the rest of the yearIf you just work this one dayBridge:Am BmSo Santa took his sleigh from BethlehemC DTo the heart of the cold north poleAm BmWhere he wrote the bible and made some toysC DDied on the cross and saved our soulsChorus:C DSanta Santa SantaC G DSanta King of the jewsC DMaybe the world would be a better placeF G DIf all the muslims knew about youVerse:Santa’s words are crystal clearMatthew three verse sixHe’ll rise from the dead to destroy the world andBring all the children giftsSome smart arse kids round the age of tenThink it’s cool to deny our manBut santa wipes that smile right offa their faceWith the back of his jolly fat handBridge:Some might believe in invisible godsWho might not exist at allBut you can see Santa from eleven til twoDown at your local mallChorus:Santa Santa SantaSanta King of the JewsIf it wasn’t for you, all I’d get for ChristmasIs a day and a half in lieuRock!Benny’s soloMiri: HeyGary: Said Mary…Arty: Ho ho ho ho hoGary: Said Joseph…Arty: BrrrrGary: Said the donkeyArty/Gary: Hey ho hey ho, ho ho ho aHHHHH!ChorusSanta holy Father ChristmasHo ho fricking hoSit on his knee and give him your heartBecause Santa Christ is lord. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 3m 13s | ||||||
| 12/13/24 | ![]() Feedback: the grand finalé | I’ll write more about how this one-season wonder came to be. But for now, just enjoy it. Context free. Though I will say I got to make it with my hero, and now fellow Substacker - Matt Heath.And/or RESTACK this thing. Restacking is a new and better commenting, because it goes into the Substack network and might get seen by people other than me. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 22m 18s | ||||||
| 11/26/24 | ![]() What is Profit & Delight? | I’ve always had a way with words. Today, Substack is my way.You’ll find a great variety of things here. They’re all connected by my generative curiosity, and two short, clear and actionable ways of thinking.Poets wish either to profit or to delight; or to deliver at once both the pleasures and the necessaries of life.Horace, Ars PoeticaAnd one that I think comes from James Joyce, but I can’t find it, or anything like it attributed to him when I google.A writer’s job is to experience epiphanies, and describe them.What’s in it for you?FREE SUBSCRIBERSYou get everything, the minute I’m ready to publish it - sometimes earlier. We’re doing each other a favour. I’m trying to work in a faster, freer, less fussy way. I’m trying to be open to inspiration, and surprise myself - and you. I have to unlearn some ways of writing I picked up for other formats. They caused me to slowly and methodically ‘edit’ over the course of a couple of years. ‘Edit’ basically means undo and redo. Better? Or just different? We’ll never know. Anyhow, not here. Not now. I’m playing with the possibilities of Substack. So that’s our deal. It’s free. It’s a bit more experimental. The publishing schedule is erratic. I have a couple of lists - you can get emails from one or both. Profit & Delight is my artistic one. Substackery is the technical, behind the scenes stuff I’m playing with to have a better reading and publishing experience on Substack. Both of them will be interesting and full of play. The keys words for what you can expect as a free subscriber are experimental, inconsistent and frequent.PAID SUBSCRIBERS £5 A MONTH/£50 A YEARYou get LESS. That’s right. It’s a counterintuitive idea, but hear me out. I want to provide you with a less busy experience of my work. Less frequent emails. I’ll say that again. You get LESS. You’ll get one post a week, or more precisely, one a weekend. It’ll be a simple omnibus that beautifully collates what I’ve published on Substack this week - alongside some of the more interesting ideas that I’ve encountered. It’s a more digestible, more considered way of experiencing my writing, and discovering other stuff you might like. I’ll leave out the things that I don’t think are worth your while. You won’t feel anxious to see tons of unopened stuff from me pile up in your inbox or in your app.PEN PAL £500/yearI don’t expect many people to do this. But those of you who do this are in for a very cool experience. We’ll write to each other by hand. Or rather, I’ll write to you and I guess you can choose whether or not to respond. I’ll send postcards, and longer letters, maybe even a book or two, and play with a form of novella as letter. You can respond as you see fit. There’s nothing mass produced about this, and I have limited time, so we won’t let this group get too big. But it means I can introduce you to each other, too.If you read me in the app already then great! If you don’t you can try it out now by hitting the button below.Welcome. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 3m 09s | ||||||
| 11/20/24 | ![]() Mammon and its discontents | I met Justin Welby, the now or soon-to-be former Archbishop of Canterbury, at Methodist Playgroup a few weeks ago.Not in person. Much more intimately. I found one of his books and read it.He introduced me to the true nature and character of Mammon. And the anti-dote. Hear all about it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 4m 31s | ||||||
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| 11/9/24 | ![]() Voices of Gallipoli: Henry Lewis | Arthur Meek lends his voice to Henry Lewis. An ANZAC soldier who fought at Gallipoli during World War I. Henry Joined from Wellington. He fought for Otago Regiment. He told his story to New Zealand novelist Maurice Shadbolt in the 1980s, more than 60 years after the events he recalls.Recorded live at The Gallipoli Association Annual Conference 2024, at the RAF Club, Piccadilly on 2 Nov. Released today, a week later, for Remembrance Sunday, UK.Introduction by Warren Smith - Communications @ The Gallipoli Association This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 15m 20s | ||||||
| 11/4/24 | ![]() Lottocracy Now! | “Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. no one pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time....”[Winston] Churchill by Himself, 574This manifesto is a love letter to democracy.It’s positively charged with optimism about the ability and the will of our collective conscience to most effectively serve the common good and to enable human flourishing. This manifesto is pro-democracy. It is anti-authoritarian, anti-communist, anti-corporatocratic, and anti-fascist. It is anti-oligarchic, anti-oligopolist, anti-kleptocratic and anti-aristocratic. It is anti-anarchic, anti-feudal, anti-plutocratic and anti-imperial. It doesn’t know what ergatocracy is and can’t be bothered to google. It is anti-ecclesial, anti-imperial, anti-kleptocratic and geniocracy-curious. It’s anti-plutocratic and surprisingly anti-technocratic. It’s anti-military dictatorship. It’s anti-tribal, anti-kakistocratic, anti-logocratic and anti-meritocracy (despite being geniocracy-curious). It may come off a bit anti-social, but it’s quite the opposite. It’s anti-bureaucratic. It believes technology has a simple but significant role in facilitating all this. It has a healthy respect for monarchy as the default political orientation of humankind, but it prefers the symbolic pomp of the British Royal Family to an active, decision-making crown.It’s anti-mob. Mob rule is the bugbear that justifies all sorts of [pejorative]-ocratic appropriation of the means of government. It believes the architecture of democracy (to date) is designed to simultaneously glorify and thwart the will of the people.There is a better way.It was practised in microcosm, in Athens, the birthplace of democracy, during democracy’s formative years. I doubt it was the first born form. “It is accepted as democratic when public offices are allocated by lot; and as oligarchic when they are filled by election. -- Aristotle, Politics, Book IV”I call it Lottocracy. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 2m 14s | ||||||
| 10/30/24 | ![]() China, three ways. | Reading has become increasingly difficult for me since becoming a father. Gone are the days (for now) when I could literarily lose my self in a book, sailing the Black Sea as an argonaut with Jason; investing the profits of my smash-hit plays in ill-fated brick and mortar broadway ventures alongside Neil Simon in the 1960s. Different times, parallel characters. Now, the act of opening a book is a provocation that requires immediate satisfaction from one of my children, like the slap of a glove across the cheeks. They crawl over the book, seize it, or create a catastrophic diversion.It's not to say I can never read, but I have to take my chances. Early mornings after chores but before they're up. At night after they're in bed (a recipe for falling asleep and dropping book on face). There's little method in my limited reading these days. But there is a regular practice of sorts that keeps me chugging along. I'm reading thematically. Different books, different genres. The same time and place from different perspectives. And it all starts with three books on China.A history, a biography and a novel. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 1m 48s | ||||||
| 10/2/24 | ![]() Watch me eat a complement sandwich at Paris Fashion Week | I often find myself having an incredible conversation in the middle of a banging party, and wishing there were some way to capture the juiciness of the interaction then and there.The main problem is that it hasn't been possible to make it work technically, soundwise. Until now.When music is playing in the background and dozens of other people are also chatting away, it’s traditionally been impossible to capture the sound in a ‘clean’ fashion.When I was a cast member on the final season of Go Girls, we’d shoot party scenes pretending to dance to music which would be added in post-production.I picked up a pair of wireless lavalier microphones - which are the things with a blue and green light on Louis and my lapels. They cost £40! A few years ago they would have been 4 figures and required a sound operator to monitor. Now I plug a small transmitter into my iPhone, clip the mics onto the speakers’ lapels, and I’m ready to roll.These things are miraculous. They capture the sound of our voices, and only our voices - despite the hubbub around us.I’m so excited by this conversation. Primarily because of my interlocutor, Louis Pisano, whose opinions grace the pages of Harpers’ Bazaar and Nylon France among others - but of course I think you should read him on his recently launched Substack - hairybradshaw.substack.comLouis is such a ‘get’ that you’ll see I get a bit discombobulated, and even claim to be an Australian at one point… I test high for agreeability at the best of times. This was the end of the night and I was giddy with the whole everything.Anyway, this is a lot of writing, when the point of this post is the video.I hope you dig watching it as much as I dug making it.Now I know how to do it, there will be more of this kind of thing to come. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 5m 45s | ||||||
| 9/18/24 | ![]() Nomenclature | This is an adapted transcript of what I say in the vid. A live broadcast apropos of nothing to show you why I've changed the name of my Substack - back really to Profit and Delight. That was the name that I gave my first ever blog, which I started about 2014 and I really like it it comes from Horace's definition of what art should be it should be - or poetry, I suppose he said but it should be for the Profit and Delight of the reader. Profit of course being more than just the money, it's about whatever that internal sensation is - and I just really liked that. I think it inspires the way that I create stuff it inspires the way that I hope that you receive it, and it also dovetails and lines up nicely with my company name that's I’ve used in New Zealand and now in the UK. I really loved Cursive Discursive. I handwrite things but what I'm doing with Substack and what I'm doing in all my creative pursuits, is it's not that brand. It's not one thing that I keep doing. I'm really excited about differing technologies, about using all the growing - and historical - opportunities to find different ways of expressing the world around us. Not just sticking to one thing. I’m embracing new stuff, old stuff and always searchingsearching,searching forProfit and Delight Oh my gosh I can share my screen oh that's really cool I am going to have to test this in my other guise to show some other types of readers something else but yeah I'm using this product. I love this product, I love the mission of Substack - who I work for - to build a new economic engine for culture and I'm finding ways that I can do that for everyone's mutual Profit and Delight. So there you go. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 2m 23s | ||||||
| 9/3/24 | ![]() Paid subscribers: your first real letter is about to be composed, and sent to you | This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit arthurmeek.substack.comTrigger warning.You’re going to get a handwritten letter in a few weeks. It’ll be addressed to you. It’ll be from me!Though I might write as a character. I might address you in terms of familiarity and describe events that did not occur. Be in good cheer. Have your pinch of salt ready.I don’t know if it’ll be fiction exactly - but it’ll be creative.But I mean, duh, you knew that right?Yeah probably. But the truth is I’m triggered because I sent one of these kinds of letters, albeit unsolicited, to one of my oldest and dearest friends and it led to 6 months of terrible strain on our friendship. He took the things written as true… I explain a bit more detail in the video 👆, and indeed the whole situation makes me look like an idiot. But what’s worse is that it stopped me from pursuing what I think could be a really interesting and different experience for both of us.I’m going to write you a letter every month. Maybe it’ll be a serial story. I have something in mind. There’s a bunch of technical stuff involved in doing and sending that I’ll have to work out too… so let’s just see what happens.No promises except you’ll get a letter every month, and it’ll be interesting for both of us. And hopefully I won’t have to go back toSo, let’s not fall out. Let’s fall in to a really lovely pattern.If you haven’t given me your address yet, you can do so by clicking the button here:Resistance is futile. if you don’t, I’ll chase you via direct email.Arthur. | 0m 54s | ||||||
| 9/1/24 | ![]() Mary & Martha & Alison & Arthur. | I’ve wanted to have this conversation with Alison Acheson, in this way, for more than a year.We’ve overcome timezones, timetables and wildfires to make it happen, and I’m so glad we did.It’s the kind of conversation that I’m privileged to experience regularly in private, with generative entrepreneurs like writers, performers and founders who I admire and am pleased to call acquaintances.I’ve been nervous about attempting to do something like this with a public outcome cos I feared that it might change the tone.Well it did, in some ways, I think - for the shorter, clearer and better.It was like a beautiful dance, for me to get to talk to someone whose writing I admire so much about the inspiration and process and circumstances that create that admiration in me.Rather than revealing the magic trick and ‘spoiling’ it - which can happen sometimes when we explore ‘how the sausage is made’ , our conversation created in me new and deeper appreciations of what Alison has achieved in her book Dance Me to the End: Ten Months and Ten Days with ALS, and as a writer of adult, young adult, and childrens’ books, AND as a teacher of writing; and most importantly, as a person experiencing and reflecting on the agonies, ecstasies and day-to-day drudgeries of life in that extraordinary way that some of us can and do: by putting them into words.I hope you enjoy it.Thank you for watching, listening or reading - however you do this.Welcome to Alison’s subscribers who have made the journey over here to spend time with her cool thinking.And thank you all - especially to my paid subscribers who afford me the time and motivation to plan ahead and make more of these interesting multimedia wrightings happen. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 45m 14s | ||||||
| 8/14/24 | ![]() Darwin Among the Machines | I've seen several articles pop up in my Substack Notes about the evolution of AI and referring to Samuel Butler's short essay that originally appeared as a letter to the editor of the Christchurch Press in 1863.It's called Darwin Among the Machines.It's cited as one of the first (if not the first) in the 'what if machines evolve superior intelligence and kill us/make us our slaves??’ genre that we all know and love from, well, innumerable pop culture references.So I thought I'd read you Darwin Among the MachinesIt's an early piece of writing by Samuel Butler. You may or may not know I have spent a lot of time with Butler's writings, and created a show Erewhon thoroughly steeped in his novel, er, Erewhon.What's it all about then?The briefest of context… from Wikipedia, not me, just to whet your appetite to watch/listen."Darwin among the Machines" is an article published in The Press newspaper on 13 June 1863 in Christchurch, New Zealand, which references the work of Charles Darwin in the title. Written by Samuel Butler but signed Cellarius, the article raised the possibility that machines were a kind of "mechanical life" undergoing constant evolution, and that eventually machines might supplant humans as the dominant species.WikipediaI hope you enjoy watching/listening to it.And please tell me if you do by leaving a like below. You can also watch the video and read the full text at www.arthurmeek.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 12m 54s | ||||||
| 8/8/24 | ![]() Once on Chunuk Bair. | The voice of Vic Nicolson, spoken aloud by Arthur Meek. Today is the 109th anniversary of the Battle of Chunuk Bair. It was fought on the Gallipoli Peninsula, and began on August 8, 1915. Vic Nicholson was there. I speak aloud his account of his experience of Gallipoli in general, and specifically the battle of Chunuk Bair. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 19m 22s | ||||||
| 8/1/24 | ![]() Into the Mystic | I’ve gone down a particularly delightful rabbit hole. Julian of Norwich lead me there. She’s always leading me to interesting new people and places. I was googling her and came upon an episode about her in this podcast. I’ve now listened to every single one. It’s the perfect style and tone for me. It’s hosted by two academics - Alberto De La Cruz who interviews and queries domain expert Dr. Carlos Eire, T. Lawrason Riggs Professor of History and Religious Studies at Yale University.They discuss the people who are most notably and articulately involved in the practices of mysticism. What the hell is mysticism?“Broadly speaking, I understand [mysticism] to be the expression of the innate tendency of the human spirit towards complete harmony with the transcendental order, whatever the the theological formula under which that order is understood.”Evelyn Underhill from her book Mysticism: A Study in Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness (1911)Mysticism seems to be an internal practice, which primarily revolves around contemplative prayer and meditation - but for some people, in fairly consistent ways, with great regularity over the course of human history (there are pre-Christian, Islamic and Buddhist accounts of it too) - this interior practice seems to manifest startlingly external phenomena. Like flying. Which reminds me that the first time I heard of human beings flying is my friend J- whose father is Cambodian and says he has seen a (Buddhist?) monk flying across a valley. The same way someone else might ride a bicycle. That would have been in the 1960s or 1970s.I have no trouble believing his father when he tells me about fleeing the Khmer Rouge in the hull of a shallow river boat that was straffed with machine gun fire, mercifully sparing him but killing dead the unfortunate person beside him. Nor have I reason to dispute his account of a flying monk.Both stories told so matter-of-factly. Offhand. But it’s all nonsense of course!My beloved father-in-law hears these stories, hears of the hundreds of witnesses to Joseph of Cupertino levitating, and getting stuck in a tree holding a lamb, and having to be fished down from a belltower, and he seeks the trick; seeks the artistic license that is describing something that did not happen, as happening.Fair enough. Personally, I feel that one of the most compelling arguments for the reality of St Joseph’s levitations is how unimpressed and frustrated many of his contemporaries were of them. His feats were the opposite of celebrated by the powers that be - his abbots and superiors - who were trying to live a contemplative life themselves and were constantly being distracted by Joseph’s (unintentional) antics, and mobs of people - from villagers to kings of Europe - who strained their capacity for hospitality by turning up at Joseph’s various monasteries.They kept moving him about because these physical phenomena of mysticism were such a pain in their ass. Remember, these folks didn’t have our contemporary issue of demanding acceptable signs of the presence of the transcendent in their world. They knew how to read what we might now call the less obvious. Another interesting point…The Christians who invoke him today don’t ask him to help them fly. They’re seek his intercession with God to help them pass an examination that they’re un(or under)prepared for. This is based on a much more relatable and much more practical miracle from the life of the intellectually disabled St. J: when he miraculously passed an examination he was totally incompetent to pass. Here’s the prayer.O Great St. Joseph of Cupertino who while on earth did obtain from God the grace to be asked at your examination only the questions you knew, obtain for me a like favour in the examinations for which I am now preparing. In return I promise to make you known and cause you to be invoked.Through Christ our Lord.St. Joseph of Cupertino, Pray for us.Amen.And then there are the bilocations…Sister Maria of Ágreda never left her tiny town in Spain… except for the times she went into a trance and was also mystically present in New Mexico and other places in the present day American southwest and Mexico - where she did some remarkable work converting Native Americans to Christianity. Apparently they wandered into a Franciscan monastery in New Mexico seeking baptism. The monks had never heard of them, let alone had any prior contact, but the visitors assured them they had been sent by the ‘blue lady’. This was in the 1600s - so it all took some time to piece the story together. The stigmatics, I think, are the most easily ‘explainable’ in modern terms An intense psychosomatic response to contemplation of the Passion of Christ?To me the most convincing case of the reality of these things is that in almost all cases - levitation, bilocation, stigmatism etc (there are more)…They hurt and are neither asked for, nor particularly wanted by the recipient. They’re endured. The mystics constantly attest to the pain of these physical phenomena. Then accept them as a grace, though often pray to have this grace taken away from them. Which it sometimes is. Sometimes not. I read about a levitator who managed to make the levitations stop after much imploring. Not one of these people sought out fame or recognition for these phenomena. Though hucksters throughout the ages have turned them into business operations. And ultimately they’re a sideline - a byproduct of the true work of the mystic. Purgation, illumination and union with the transcendental order of the universe. But boy, do they make a great story. My own relationship to these phenomena is complicated. I’m one of the likes on this review of Carlos Eire’s new book They Flew by a fellow I know from New York - Stephen G. AdubatoEire welcomes the space that postmodernism has afforded to post-secular narratives, while–as a historian–being critical of the relativist reading of miraculous events. At the end of the day, either “they flew,” or they did not.I rather think they did. I observe these phenomena a little like watching a great Olympic feat.Part of me is delighted at the seemingly limitless bounds of human possibility.Part of me is bummed that I don’t feel capable of actually doing such a thing myself. Part of me dismisses it, really, as just a matter of persistence and training.Part of me is envious at the idea that there’s talent involved too. And I don’t have the persistence, training or talent - or it may be too late. Part of me is reminded that it hurts - so I probably don’t want it anyway.Then - to continue the Olympic metaphor, which has clearly bled into the mystic phenomena comparison…I think, well, I might not be able to run a marathon in 2 hours. But it wouldn’t hurt me to go for a 20 minute jog. And I do. Ultimately it fills me with wonder and curiosity.It spurs new action in me. New habits. New horizons. What, of the mental and spiritual and physical phenomena of mysticism can I experience in my own small way? Personally, so far in my life, the closest I get to physical experience of the transcendent is through music. So I’ll leave you with this. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 15m 41s | ||||||
| 7/26/24 | ![]() I won the insurance lottery. | I walk away from an unusual accident without a scratch, and with a satisfying payout.My car insurance costs a fortune. About £1200 a year. Maybe more, actually. I can’t bear to look.I get it.My 2 cars are worth But realistically, that’s very unlikely to happen. I have two kids, which my insurers know, and I putter around incredibly cautiously. And I only putter around when I need to take them somewhere. Otherwise I take the bus. I’ve actually done the math and it would be cheaper to get rid of car number 2 - the backup, and take taxis on the odd occasion that we need it (once a week when S- has to go to work and I look after kids, and on not infrequent occasions when car 1 is in repair shop, like when I had my accident…)I’ll tell you about it.I went to New Zealand for 5 months last November. I parked car 1 in our garage. The first garage I have had to park my car in for more than 20 years, since I lived at my parent’s house (my home?).8 weeks into my trip, I got a message from Cousin T- who came to housesit/experience semi-rural Norfolk for some reason known only to God (T- himself was a bit confused at first but wound up having a blast driving expensive farm machinery - a tale for another time)He pinged us to say he’d followed a pong into the garage and found Car 1 in wretched state - blanketed in mold (mould?)He had taken it to a car valet centre that had never seen the like. It was going to cost £800 + VAT to clean.Well, what could we do?We paid it, and got it clean.And to me, that was an accident.And that’s what I told my insurer.No, they said. It’s wear and tear.WEAR AND TEAR????No, I said. Precautions were taken. Car was garaged. Something unexpected and deleterious happened. An accident, I would go so far as to claim.Administration happened. Emails sent back and forth. Photos attached. An inspector dispatched to see the now clean car and take a statement from S-.Weeks pass, and then, out of the blue, into our bank account plops…The full whack, minus our excess, no impact on our no claims bonus (violence against language… but that’s another story).I won the insurance lottery.And walked away from my accident without a scratch. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 2m 26s | ||||||
| 7/24/24 | ![]() A Woman in Berlin | My first book report. I want to do these things differently. No hot takes. I'll only talk about books I've read twice (or more). No preprepared readings - I flick to a couple of sections and read aloud. If it's a good enough book, those sections should hold up... and these ones do! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 11m 31s | ||||||
| 7/21/24 | ![]() On the Conditions and Possibilities of Hillary Clinton Taking Me as Her Young Lover | This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit arthurmeek.substack.comJoe Biden steps down. He doesn't endorse his VP. The coast is clear for a demented comedy-satire about a delightfully earnest Kiwi academic who enters the US with an oddly plausible plan to save the Free World by winning the heart of America's Next Top Mama. Only one thing stands in his way: the department of Homeland Security. | 1m 30s | ||||||
| 7/16/24 | ![]() The Taste of Tap Water: San Francisco | This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit arthurmeek.substack.comThe pilot of an innovative new (occasional) series in which I sample municipal tap water from interesting places around the world and propose its relative pros and cons. | 1m 40s | ||||||
| 7/13/24 | ![]() Suffering & Grace | I go too hard at Dad's 5-a-side soccer. It causes a splitting headache, and invites me to ponder the paradoxical unities of suffering and grace, convenience and death. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com | 10m 07s | ||||||
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