Our Mission Statement

Welcome to OurMortalCoil

Welcome to OurMortalCoil. One may ask, “Who are these people kidding?” And you would be right. The reference to The Bard is dramatic and it would be fair to accuse the founder  of this site of delusions of grandeur. As much as we would like this site to shape public discourse, it is recognized that we will likely only be a tiny squeak amongst the cacophony of voices out there, so many of which, unfortunately, amplify nonsense and division. We look to be different.

Think of OurMortalCoil as being an extended book club. I joined a book club back in 2017 and I have enjoyed the company of smart people who have a genuine interest in better understanding the world around them. We have reviewed many books over that time and these have been widely varied and nearly all apolitical. One in particular has reinvigorated a level of intellectual interest that I held as a younger person but that had been buried under the rubble of a busy life as a business owner, father of three and husband. The trappings of modern life can be quite challenging and it is easy to lose our way. I suspect many in the audience out there feel the same way.

The book I reference is 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote To Chaos by Jordan Peterson. My reading of it was informed by some of the public positions Jordan had taken at that time and as I gradually came to better understand his world view, his writing took on a spectral quality. That preternatural sensation that originates in the primitive network of neurons called the limbic system that evolved over millions of years ago began to tingle and etched in bright colors the insights on offer by this brilliant man. Jordan has been prescient about the cognitive fallacies gripping all angles of collective thought in the western world. 

Jordan is on a much needed hiatus. Between 2016-2019, Jordan traveled the world with a message to dampen the wildfire of irrationality and dogma that animates the left. None of the figures referenced on this site has had a larger impact on public discourse and for many of us he has been a life saver. Literally. He has an incredible volume of lectures out there for review. No one has worked harder to conserve what is best about Western Civilization while remaining open to new ideas that will lead us into the future. His heart is huge, which always makes you vulnerable. 

I have listened to well over 150 hours of his podcasts and other public lectures, quickly realizing that Jordan was special and was inviting his audience to step out of the shadows, to unyoke themselves from their task-dominated lives and speak up.

Thank you Jordan and get well. You are needed back in the game.

This is my humble effort to answer the call. At the writing of this preamble the site is little more than code percolating out there in the miasma of the Internet. As of yet the IT logistics of how to exchange ideas with readers has not been determined and I am open to suggestions from those in my book club and others that are invited for the initial viewing. Beyond books, I endeavor to review podcast episodes of several luminaries that really understand what is happening in the world right now. To say that we are living in interesting times is a profound understatement but the world of podcasts and the specific members of the Intellectual Dark Web (IDW) I allude to may be the exact antidote to chaos that Jordan wants to spark.

So, OurMortalCoil joins the effort at a lower rung in the hierarchy of informational platforms, understanding its role as an amplifier of the more expert insights on offer at the top of the pyramid. Improving the signal to noise ratio is critical in these strange times where leaders have so greatly lowered the bar for how to communicate and conduct themselves. 

Coming in the next week or so will be a list of public thinkers and their podcasts that OurMortalCoil invites the audience to investigate further. OurMortalCoil has found that these individuals operate in good faith and provide valuable, expert insights. With the audience’s help, this list will certainly grow. In particular, I am looking to add the voices of those considered liberal or on the left as I realize my predilections gravitate right of center and I am likely omitting instructive voices from the left.

The long term vision for this site is non-political and we hope to discuss works of science and philosophy as well as of fiction. However, given that this launch comes so close to such an extraordinary happening, namely the 2020 presidential election, an initial focus on politics cannot be avoided. Here again we claim no unique insights. I simply retread the obvious critiques of Trump and of the left that reflexively opposes him. As Churchill and others before him and since have said: “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” To be perpetually in error, fallen per se, is the coil of our mortality. Limitation is the very substance of existence, of scientousness.  Rather than resist the eternal truth of our condition, perhaps we simply need to affirm them for what they are and weather the storm for the better days that will inevitably follow.  

A disclaimer: I don’t know what I am doing with this site, a point that may be painfully clear to those reading this. That said, the initial design is more than I could have hoped for and was done by Chris Burcham with only the smallest input by me. He heard the ideas I was putting forth and brought into being a great vehicle that I hope will be useful to others but I know in the least will be a great pressure valve for all that swirls inside this thought-riddled noggin of mine. 

More will come in the months ahead with the idea that we will start posting some exchanges between myself and visitors on some of these topics and who knows, maybe I will tweet at you in the future. In the next weeks I will be reviewing a book by Nicholas Christakis, Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live as informed by an interview with Sam Harris on his podcast, Making Sense, episode #222 released on October 27th.