The Broski Report with Brittany Broski - 113: I Reject Heaven and Hell, It's BORING

Episode Date: October 14, 2025

This week on The Broski Report, Fearless Leader Brittany Broski explored Victorian Fun Facts, discusses her fascination with hedonism. The OFFICIAL Songs of The Week Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ULrcEqO2JafGZPeonyuje?si=061c5c0dd4664f01 👕 Get your merch here: https://broski.shop/ Follow The Broski Report:https://www.linktr.ee/broskireporthttps://www.tiktok.com/@broskireport https://instagram.com/broskireport Follow Royal Court:https://www.youtube.com/@royalcourt https://www.tiktok.com/@bbroyalcourthttps://www.instagram.com/royalcourthttps://www.twitter.com/bbroyalcourt Follow Brittany:https://www.tiktok.com/@brittany_broski https://instagram.com/brittany_broski https://youtube.com/brittany_broski ICE OUT OF OUR CITY / PROTEST RESOURCES:ACLU – https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/protesters-rights Immigrant Defense Project – https://www.immigrantdefenseproject.org/raids-toolkit Freedom for Immigrants – https://www.freedomforimmigrants.org/resourcesImmigrants Legal Resource Center – https://www.ilrc.org/community-resources/know-your-rights Immigration Justice Campaign – https://immigrationjustice.us/ CREDIBLE RESOURCES TO HELP FREE PALESTINE:Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund - https://www.pcrf.net/UNICEF - https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/helping-gazas-children-cope-traumaDoctors Without Borders - https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.orgWorld Central Kitchen - https://wck.org/World Health Organization - https://www.who.int/Headcount - https://www.headcount.org/IG ACCOUNTS FOR A FREE PALESTINE:@eye.on.palestine@aljazeeraenglish@palestinianyouthmovement@byplestia@motaz_azaiza@impactLGBTQ+ RESOURCES:https://Translifeline.org https://Glaad.org  https://Pflag.org https://www.thetrevorproject.org/ REPRODUCTIVE RESOURCES:https://aidaccess.org https://plancpills.org https://Ineedana.com https://www.reprolegalhelpline.org/ https://heyjane.com Brought to You By: Hungryroot – Get 40% off plus a free item for life at https://hungryroot.com/broski with code BROSKIZocDoc – Find your doctor at https://zocdoc.com/broski Shopify – Start selling today! Get your $1/month trial at https://shopify.com/broski Songs of The Week: Death Kink by Fontaines D.C. Sha Sha Sha by Fontaines D.C. Big by Fontaines D.C. CHAPTERS:0:00 – Intro0:45 – Caffeine 1:38 – Victorian Fun Facts7:50 – Bacchanal & Madness11:25 – Heaven & Hell (Greek Mythology Version)19:18 – Bacchanal & Madness Cont.45:53 – R.F. Kuang49:55 – Alice in Wonderland51:18 – Songs of The Week51:52 – Outro#brittanybroski, #broski, #broskination, #broskireport, #victorianera, #reddit, #greekmythology, #mythology, #romanmythology, #dionysus, #bacchus, #zeus

Direct from the Brozky Nation headquarters in Los Angeles, California. This is The Brozky Report with your host, Brittany Brozky. So cool and stature waltz. Control yourself, says Georgia. Welcome to Balasque. Hey guys, welcome back to the Broseke. Not much to report. I am experiencing caffeine overdose.

Caffeine overdose. And I am wondering what, at what level is it, I'm in a dreamscape. At what level, you know, like I can't feel my hands. I feel like I've got double vision. I feel like, I feel like a white walker. I had so much damn caffeine. and I turned into a white walker. So,

I just really feel like the way Killian Murphy's eyes are so icy blue in that one scene of Oppenheimer, put it up on the screen. You know the one I'm talking about when the camera's real tight in on his face and it zooms in and he's, and then it's the music playing in the background

as the bodies, he's stepping over charred bodies. That's how I feel had so many fucking red bulls. Here is something that I wanted to look up today. I want to look up. up because we're sticking with the theme of my gorgeous beautiful set decorated by me. If you can't tell, I decorated the table.

I don't know, some of you bitches are saying in the front, I need to change the lighting, and I need to move the shit up to the front, but I can't because they would fuck up the lighting of the whole show. And fuck up the lighting the whole show and it's fucking lighting in the green screens. I can't fucking do that. I can't stop telling me to do that. Anyway, what we're going to do today is some more Victorian fun facts because they were eating mummies and fucking each other, and they were eight years old and being drunk.

So I think that that is cause for curiosity, ultimately. And I'm going to go ahead and dive into that. So where any normal person would store is, of course, Reddit.gov. Just going to move these inches out of the way. Perfect. Perfect. If you'll have any questions on this piece, just save it. Keep it to yourself.

What's a weird fact you know about the Victorian era? This is R-slash-Ask Reddit. People poison themselves with green dresses, most specifically because of the dye substance, which was arsenic. We know this. Taxidermy was huge. They collected many pieces and more notable

the works of Walter Potter, who would create taxidermy such as kittens having a tea party. Now, is this that shit where like the mice or, you know, where he'll set them off and the mice will look like fairies and whatever? Yeah. the curious world of Walter Potter. Now, how do we feel about taxidermy team?

Because I don't love it. Okay, hot take, I don't love taxidermy. Kind of freaks me out. Actually, really freaks me out. Why was it so, like, why were bitches... People love taxidermy. Like, there are those people who collect the, you know, safari jungle animals. Like, taxidermy and that shit goes for millions of dollars?

Why? Why? Is it some weird conquest over nature thing? I don't know. Walter Potter 1835 to 1918. Damn, he lived a long time. Was an amateur taxidermist who built tableau that became icons of Victorian whimsy. A new book by historian of taxidermy, Dr. Pat Morris, and New York-based artist and curator

Joanna Ebenstein, seek to preserve and celebrate the now dispersed collection with new photographs of his best works. Okay, so this is a monkey riding a goat. Sure. Okay, wait. Okay, wait. Rabbits Village School. This is so fucking morbid, though.

Like, what? Potter wanted 50 baby rabbits for the village school, but despite asking around in the local villages, he could only get the 48, of course, that are here engaged in scholastic activities. The pupils are about a month old. Did he really use baby rabbits? Like, stop.

And like they're holding pencils. This is making me feel, well, they're cute. Are they real? Oh, maybe I don't like this. This is nuts. The death and burial of cock robin. What? Who is cock robin?

This tableau is nearly two meters long and took potter about seven years. It features a hundred British birds, some crying with glass tears in their eyes. Now, see, he clearly was an. artist, why did you choose dead animals as your medium? I'm afraid of you. At the end of the day, what you did here is kind of impressive, and I'm afraid. So, what the fuck? Look at little birds. Oh, this is making me sad. I don't like this. I don't like that. I don't really, I'm not fucking with Walter Potter. I don't know what Walter Potter was doing. In 1853, the vaccination against smallpox, a deadly airborne disease was made compulsory. If parents refused to have to

have their babies vaccinated, they were fined. It's so interesting to think about how we handled COVID when like an epidemic, a pandemic, a pandemic is not new to the human race. You know, we're very vulnerable weak creatures. How have people and governments handled it in the past? And was it considered successful? Was it considered blasé? Was it considered not enough? Was it too much, like finding people, all that, you know, it's like all of these are viable options to get people to vaccinate their kids, but at the same time, like, what? I don't know. I think it's interesting to read about it. Smallpox was one of the most common causes of death in Britain at the time and had a mortality rate of 30%. Those who survived were often blinded and or scarred, Victorian

health reform. This act was a part of a series of laws that make vaccinations mandatory for the public. The 1853 Act made it compulsory for all children to be vaccinated within the first three months of their lives to protect them against smallpox. If the parents of these kids refused to comply with the law, they were subject to pay a fine and could even spend time in jail. What? Immediately after the passing of the 1853 law, resistance to vaccinations began among the public. Violent riots occurred in Mitford, Ipswich, Henley, and various other towns. And that same year, an anti-vaccination group, there's always fucking anti-vaxxers. The Anti-Vacconation League was founded in London and provided an outlet for those who were opposed to the new laws.

Okay, do you want to know, I'm actually going to just pivot really quick because, and the light is also making my eyes burn, so. And I had a hundred million cups of coffee, so my body's kind of failing right now if you guys don't mind. My body's shutting down on camera, not clickbait. And my bangs are sliding off my fucking head. Here's something that I have been interested in since my first read of The Secret History by Donna Tar. the idea of a bacchanal, bacchus, bacchus, dionysus, the idea of carnal elation, the idea of indulging one's senses to a degree that is hedonistic. The concept of a bacchus, and I'll go ahead and define that here today,

right now, or I guess a bacchanal. Bacchus is the Roman god of wine, revelry, and ecstasy, known for his association with fertility, vegetation, and the liberation of the spirit. He is the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Dionysus and is depicted with his followers, the Maynads and Saders, in frenzied celebrations. And Saders, which British people pronounce satires, that's something different about, that's something different in America, by the way. These are, a sater is the classic Mr. Tumnus, right? Is Mr. Tumnes a sater? He's a faun, not a sater, I'm humiliated.

I'm fucking humiliated, I'm humiliated. While both are mythical creatures with the upper body of a man and the lower body of a goat, Mr. Tumnes is a faun, a gentle, peaceful, woodland creature, in contrast to the wilder, more aggressive nature of saters in Greek mythology. Okay, but they're both half man, half go. So fuck C.S. Lewis and his interpretation. I'm talking about Greek and Roman satyrs. Okay, so it's this concept through a bacchanal,

which let me double check that that's bacchanal pronunciation. Bacchanal. Bacchanol. Sure, bacchanal. I'm from the south. I'm addicted to the concept of this because, of course, revelry in any form is fun to read about. It's fun to write about, especially this reckless abandon that the characters in the secret history experience this with. And now, the context of the secret history, for those who don't know and maybe don't plan on reading it, which I encourage you to read. It is my favorite book of all time.

these are all classics students. So they're studying the Greeks. They're studying Greek as a language, the like Greco figures and themes and topics and pillars of Greek society that, you know, a lot of people, the way they're fascinated with the Romans and they think that Roman morals and ideals should be brought back today. There's a kind of fascination with that in this sense for the main characters in the secret history. So much so that they decide they're going to have a Bacchanal on their own. And they go out and they create it and some pretty horrific things happen during this Bacchanal. And they're under the influence of so many different things. And it's such levels of ecstasy that the rest of the book is kind of dealing with what the

consequences of this were. And I think, you know, I think that there's, obviously I'm not a historian. I don't know if you can tell. But there is this historical interest in what were the Greeks trying to achieve through Abacchanal or, you know, what was Bacchus's, I guess, mission other than to create and curate chaos? And what was I reading recently where it was like, I think it is Greek mythology. It's not heaven and hell. It's not. good and evil. It's rather order and chaos. These are two opposing ideals that control a lot of the concepts and stories around Greek gods and Greek myths and Greek culture society at the time. Order versus chaos. And when you view these stories through that lens where there is no,

you know, the gods are good and humans are bad. Or humans are bad and the gods or humans are good, gods are bad, it's never that black and white. Christianity, Abrahamic religions, they really try to purify this concept of good versus evil. That doesn't exist in Greek mythology, which I find it to be so much more interesting. Okay. Yes, everything in the Bible has a lesson they're trying to teach you and whatever. Sure, the point of religion is to be a moral guidepost, signpost for how you should live your life, according to what religion you subscribe to, okay? Greek myths, I think, are interesting and they're fun to learn about because what's the fucking point? What's the point? It's just, yeah, this shit happened, wasn't that crazy? Yeah, so. And I think some

people can try to find meaning or lessons to take away from some of these stories of, you know, maybe greed, like the story of Icarus and pride and whatever. Like, yes, these things are there. And you can have interpretations, but this is my hot take. I think a lot of the Greek myths are just for entertainment, especially when you think about Greek playwrights and whatever. Not everything has to have a mission statement or a takeaway. Sometimes it's just entertainment for entertainment's sake. So very, very interesting in that regard. I recently learned about all of this and how the concept of Abacchanal has influenced a lot of media and a lot of, you know, there's this, I think, there exists a thin veil between ordered human society and outright chaos, ungovernable chaos.

And there are systems in place like shame and certain behavioral rewards of being and living in an organized society and, you know, holding each other accountable and things like the tragedy, the commons and whatever, where the benefits of community are so plentiful that you do want to hold yourself and your fellow community members accountable for certain things like law and order. However, every single human right under the surface has chaos brewing, and it is a concerted effort to keep that chaos at bay. So when you start reading stories, and especially Greek mythology, through that lens, oh my God, I just, I'm very fact, that's been my fixation of the week.

I'm very fascinated by this idea of order versus chaos and how thin, truly how thin the veil is between the two. Because the gap between good and evil is so vast, it's so wide. It's easier to say, this is good, that's bad. This is a good person, that's a bad person. You know, heaven and hell, the line is so stark. And I say that with an asterisk, of course, because religion is a gray area and what fucking whatever you are all I'm trying to say. Order and chaos very, very, very thin. It is, the flood is barely being kept in bay.

So, with that being sad, Bacchus and Dionysus, there is no fundamental difference between the two. Bacchus is simply the Roman name for the Greek god Dionysus. While both names refer to the same deity of wine, ecstasy, and revelry, their cultural perception and portrayal differ slightly. Dionysus often is seen as a young athletic demigod of emotion and chaos, and the Roman Bacchus sometimes depicted as a plump, middle-aged, drunken figure associated with pleasure and festivity.

So they are the same, they serve the same function, I guess, of hedonism and carnal pleasure. And I watched this really interesting, podcast that I think is wrong. Let me see what it was. It's this play. It's this podcast called The Rest is History. And I watched one they did on Bacchus.

And I was so fucking intrigued because they touch on the mad. Y'all know I'm obsessed with madness. I'm obsessed with female madness. I'm obsessed with being pushed into that. that mental state based on the kind of overindulgence of artistic fancy. Does that make sense? Like people who go so far deep into their own minds to pursue some artistic endeavor that they lose their fucking shit.

I'm very fascinated by that. And if I were ever to do kind of an essay, if I were to go back to school and do an essay, I would kind of want to write about that of like, when you reach so far deep into your own mind to find what's going on and then you can't come out again. I'm very, very, okay? So in the academic definition of like madness and then in this context of like a bacchic madness, which I guess let's look up what that is. Okay, this is on R slash Dionysus. The Dionnesian Ritual madness. What is a Dionysian madness? It's a harder question. It's a harder question. to answer than it sounds. Because it's hard to get across just what Dionysian madness is without having

experienced anything close to it yourself. But I'm currently reading The Secret History of Dinotart, yes, because Dionysus told me to. And that novel has some stunning descriptions of Dionnesian madness. It is a Bake-inspired murder story in which a group of college students deliberately host a Bacchanol and end up killing someone in their frenzy. That spoiler alert. one of these students Henry gives us this splendid description of Dionysian ecstasy. Here we fucking go. Here we fucking go. This is what I wanted. And if my bangs are fucked up, don't say anything. It was heart-shaking, glorious, torches, dizziness, singing, wolves howling around us and a bull bellowing in the dark.

The river ran white. It was like a film in fast motion. The moon waxing and waning, clouds rushing across the sky. Vines grew from the ground so fast. they twined up the trees like snakes, seasons passing in the wink of an eye, entire years for all I know. I mean, we think of phenomenal change as being the very essence of time when it's not at all. Time is something which defies spring and winter, birth and decay, the good and the bad, indifferently. Something changeless and joyous and absolutely indestructible. Duality ceases to exist. There is no ego, no I, and yet it's not at all like those horrid comparisons one's sometimes hears in Eastern religions, the self being a drop of water swallowed by the ocean of the

universe. It's more as if the universe expands to fill the boundaries of the self. How do you know what Dionysus is, said Henry a bit sharply? What do you think it was we saw? A cartoon? A drawing from the side of a vase? I just can't believe you're telling me you actually saw. What if you had never seen the sea before? What if the only thing you'd ever seen was a child's picture. Blue crayon, choppy waves. Would you know the real sea if you only knew the picture? Would you be able to recognize the real thing even if you saw it? You don't know what Dionysus looks like. We're talking about God here. God is serious business. That was a quote from the book. This idea of the universe expanding to fill the boundaries of the self is a perfect way of putting it

in my mind. Dionysian Ecstasy is not a state of sinking into the universe, but but rather feeling the universe suddenly rage within you. It's comprehending the entire sublime absurdity of the world all at once, letting it through you, letting it not make sense. It is a communion with the natural world. The only thing this sort of mystical experience is comparable to is orgasm, and well, let's just say that's no accident. Bitch!

And as we know, orgasm means little death. It means little death. Dionnesian madness to me is a way of comprehending the universe that allows for things that are irrational and disturbing. All humans have darkness within. This is what I was talking about earlier. Yeah, he's kind of put it into words. All humans have darkness within. All humans can be barbaric and savage with the buried potential to tear a living thing to bloody pieces.

It's healthier to actually engage with that buried, panther-shaped part of our souls that thirst for blood. and to do so in a safe environment, for example, on a theater stage. It is healthier to acknowledge that no matter how civilized we consider ourselves, the natural world cannot fully be tamed, and it is better to ride the wave of life's insanity than to try to explain, rationalize, or control every single aspect of it. Madness is what defines Dionysus as a god, more than almost anything else.

Dionysus was driven mad by Hera, Hera is Zeus's wife, when he was young, and he never really recovered. Madness is Dionysus' natural state. Whether he is endearingly mad like the Hatter or violently psychotic like the Joker, Dionysus is mad. Therefore, his worshippers are mad women who follow him around the mountains, dancing and screaming and eating wild animals raw. There's multiple stories of people who are drunk or frenzied committing horrible acts of violence in their madness. Dionysus worshippers dismember Pentheus at his command. Orpheus is killed in the same way by other manades, sometimes at Dionysus's behest and sometimes not.

Echerios is killed by people to whom he gave the gift of wine, because they were terrified of their mad and drunken state, and Dionysus cursed Lucurgus without madness that would make him hack his own family to pieces, hallucinating that they were grapevines. I would argue that these states of madness are identical. Interesting. There is no difference between the madness of Dionysus Maynads and the madness of Lysurgis or the shepherds who killed Icarios.

The former willingly embraced the madness while the latter are overcome by it because they don't have a proper understanding of it. Dionysus is the god of wine and therefore embodies the dual nature of wine. Wine can loosen you up, remove your inhibitions, allow you to act more like a child, or otherwise break cultural norms in a way that is mostly socially acceptable. It's a fun, liberating, temporary madness. But if you have too much, you could turn violent and, like the college students in the woods, end up doing something you really regret. It all comes down to knowing your tolerance. This is why I ironically associate Dionysus with the Greek virtue of temperance, because he allows you to playfully experience the savage and sensual without ever exceeding your limits.

Eh, I guess. Through Dionysus's gift of wine, or through similar methods of ecstatic trance, France, dance, mask wearing, swinging, screaming, sex, Dionysians experience spiritual transcendence. Now, see, so many thoughts, so many things to say. Spiritual transcendence. This might be kind of like outside of the throes of this conversation. Unlike a really, I don't even know what baseline level this is,

but like, what is it about humans where we're not satiated with like the physical pleasures? We will never be solely satiated by what is tangible and what is pleasurable. Like this spiritual transcendence that they're talking about, we will always yearn for that. I talked about this about this a few months ago when I was talking about angels and demons by Dan Brown of like, I don't know what it is about humans that we are so, we cast our eyes to the heaven, open-palmed, yearning for more. We seek meaning, we seek purpose, we seek the intangible. And it's not promised, and it's very rare that we actually find it. And I think that's what separates us from other animals is, you know, this higher level of consciousness of why do we need to be

spiritually transcended? And I think that the fact that the question is still unanswered to me is kind of awesome. It's kind of awesome. It's fun to see what a bunch of different theories are about it. Why do each of us, at some point in the night, at some point in all of our lives, in a moment of solitude, why do all of us feel that loneliness, that emptiness of I am alone in the universe? You know, like, why is there that desire to connect with something that is other? Why? Why? Why is that there? And what? Is that a defect in how humans were made, or is that our superpower that we yearn for something beyond?

Have people really made contact with the beyond? And, you know, we just call them crazy because not all of us can see it. I think about all these things, especially in the context of Greek mythology, because it's like, fuck, girl. Maybe they were right. Maybe we were like, they were all fucking high on whatever they were smoking. I'm smoking on that Dionysian pack. I'm smoking on that Diennesian strand. and they're all high on red wine.

It's like, yeah, but at the same time, right? What if they were cooking? What if they knew something we didn't? And we're like, these stories are crazy. What shit actually happened? What if at one point we were in touch with the gods and now we're not? What if some great sin was, and I'm not talking about fucking Christianity. I'm talking about Greek mythology, Roman mythology, which was stolen from Greek mythology.

You know what I'm saying? What if there is this grand other and we were created by a bunch of different things. gods, and they really all do serve their own purpose, and we pissed them off, and they're irrational, and they're unfair, and they're unjust. Like, what about all the, what if all that's true? I don't know. It's fun to think about. We should find safe outlets for that primal energy. Dionysus advises taking your sanity off like a mask so that you don't really go crazy trying to keep it all in. Let the madness express itself healthfully so that you can rest easy. pour it into your art. Play some violent video games, play a villainous role, journal about it,

dance naked and howl at the moon, look the beast in the mirror, and tame it. Whoever the fuck wrote this is cooking. I interpret Pentheus's death in the Bacay as something of a natural consequence of his refusal to accept Dionysus. Yes, it's presented as a divine smiting for his insolence. Yes, it's presented as a divine smiting for his insolence. But the particular grisly manner that Penteus dies, which is the same way in which Dionysus himself died, implies a spiritual initiation or rebirth. How did Dionysus die? He was dismembered and eaten by the Titans. So.

Though he was resurrected and is considered a twice-born god because of this cycle of death and rebirth. In other myths, Dionysus dies when his mother, Similei is incinerated by Zeus's. divine form, or when he is, oh, that's right, or when he is torn apart by his own followers, such as his mother and aunts in the case of King Pentheus. Yeah, there's some crazy, Zeus ran off with this woman, Simile, Simile, and Simile is Dionysus's mother. And Hera does some fuck shit, where she's like, Hera appears to Simile and says something like, you think you know him? okay fine ask him to reveal himself she's like that's zeus you're fucking zeus and she's like no i'm fucking not this is just some guy and she's like okay ask him to reveal himself to you because i think he

appeared to her in the form of an eagle or something and so simile is like fine so she's laying in bed with zeus one night and she goes can i ask you something and zuz is like yeah anything baby anything and she goes will you reveal yourself to me if you really are him show me i want to see don't lie to me and he's like please don't make me do this, please don't make me do this. And he does it. And showing her his true self in all of its glory, it incinerates her to death. It burns her to death. And through that, I think that there's some weird connection to Dionysus. I really need to, let's read it. Simile and Zeus. Deceived by Zeus's wife, Hera, Simile demanded Zeus appear to her in his true divine form.

Zeus did so, but his appearance as a thunderbolt incinerated her, killing her. Zeus saved their unborn child. That's right, because she was pregnant. Sowing the fetus into his thigh until birth, giving rise to the name Dionysus, meaning twice born. Ah. In later versions of the myth, Simile is resurrected and becomes a goddess called Theon, joining her son on Mount Olympus. Very tea. Yeah, and she was the daughter.

of the Theban King. I mean, it's just all, it just goes on and on and on and on and on. But I've really been, okay, back to the, because I'm just addicted. I'm addicted to the concept of madness. I'm addicted to, in what cases can you get away with madness? You know, like in what societal norms is it acceptable, like drinking or smoking or whatever, you know, regionally is the house flavor? And on the flip side, when is it criminalized? When is it, um, shat upon, when is it considered a disability, when is it considered all these things? It's like, how do we even begin to rank when the mind loses itself or when the mind fails? I just, I don't know.

And is it failure or is it unlock? I can talk about it for hours. Secondly, this is still this author on Reddit. It is extremely important to me that Dionnesian madness is spiritual in nature. That seems almost oxymoronic. So many other spiritual and mystical traditions emphasize detachment from the world, whatever that means. Fast, pray, don't have sex, don't drink wine, be emotionally disciplined, keep yourself pure and above temptation and desire. Dionysian spirituality is about surrendering to that desire to raw emotion, passion, carnality, savagery.

And in that, we find the divine. So what's the, you know what I mean? And I also think it's important to note here that religion has always been a tool to control people. Sure, there is a side of it that deals with salvation and whatever that may look like for each person and everyone's idea of, you know, am I good? After I die, am I good? Is my mortal spirit going to be taken care of? My immortal soul once I pass on. Yes, that is a selfish part of it.

You know, like, am I okay? Will my family and the people I love be okay? well, I reunite with them someday. That is a very human curiosity to have. And you do things in life, you navigate your life trying to almost secure that. And of course, that's a gray area, but this idea of if you remove that, if religion is not for the Greeks, a way to control your fellow man, then that opens up a whole new can of worms, you know, of this for real. What did he just? say? Surrendering to that desire, raw emotion, passion, carnality, savagery, and in that we find the divine. Like, what the fuck? That is so anti-everything that the Christian church teaches you,

you know, to participate in the revelry is actually how you find. Come on. In that, we truly feel that we are a part of the universe and not separate from it. Dionysian madness is the madness of nature, the madness that accompanies birth and sex and death. Instead of suppressing everything that makes us uncomfortable or that's dismissed as decadent, we can find God in it. Damn! The romantic notion of the sublime is based in the idea that nature is ultimately something ineffable and unconquerable, not something that humans can ever completely understand with science or control with industry.

The romantic sublime is inherently intertwined with terror. When the magnificence and brutality of nature just hits you. Oh my God. Wait, I'm getting excited. Yeah, I can't even talk because this is my special interest. Okay, I guess my special address is Dionysian Madness. So awesome. I think about this all the time, but I never know how to, like, I can't articulate it.

I can't articulate it. When I see a huge mountain, when I see a vast ocean, I genuinely get scared. This is so much bigger than me. when you think about things like floods, hurricanes, lightning, these are things that you think you can tame as a human. You think that you can have everything in place for when that happens. I will be okay. No.

No. That is the one thing we cannot tame. And the more we try, the more we fail. To tame nature. Okay? So this idea is so fucking period. And it is honestly very validating because I'm afraid of nature a little bit. I'm afraid of it because I'm in awe of it.

because it is so much more infinitely powerful than I am. And ultimately, I'm at its mercy. And that's a terrifying idea to me. Okay? Anyone else, is anyone else fuck with what I'm putting down? Are y'all getting what I'm putting down? Whatever. When you see Dionysus really see him, not just a child's picture, he is downright Eldridge.

Now we're going to go ahead and look up Eldridge. strange, eerie, unearthly, often in a supernatural or frightening way that inspires fear or wonder. Yeah, period. Great use of that word. He is downright Eldridge. Eldridge. Hiding behind that image of a handsome boy with ribbons in his hair is a Lovecraftian abomination. And I've talked about Lovecraft on this podcast before, so y'all should know about Lovecraft and his monsters.

Dionysus may even appear in Lovecraft's universe as the lesser-known entity. called gloon. Called goon? He was the gooner in the Lovecraft Cinematic Universe. What the fuck? Six, seven, six, seven. It will alchemically break down your mind and then reconstruct it. It is beautiful.

It's terrible. And just looking at it will make you suddenly understand everything. But you have to be somewhat mad already for your brain to take it. Girl, this shit is so period to me. It's so period. Here's another quote from the secret history. If we are strong enough in our souls, we can rip away the veil and look that naked, terrible beauty right in the face. Let God consume us, devour us, unstring our bones, then spit us out, reborn.

That, to me, is the terrible seduction of the Dionysiac ritual. Hard for us to imagine, that fire of pure being. So this is why Dionysian madness is truly. spiritual and transcendent. It's comprehending life and death on a cosmic and a personal scale. It's recognizing that even things that are considered base have their place in the workings of the universe and indeed are often integral to the workings of the universe. There is spirituality and beauty in the darkness, blood, sex, death. Carl Karin-yi describes it as a state in which man's vital powers are enhanced to the utmost in which consciousness and the unconscious merge as in

a breakthrough. But here's the moral dilemma, okay? You do all this, you push the human psyche into a place that every culture around the world says, don't go there, you know, don't succumb to those impulses. It's the worst of us. You push it there, you push it there. What's to be said about what comes after? what's to be said about that reckless abandon?

Like that's not sustainable and it's not something, you know, in a very realistic conversation to be celebrated. It's not something to be celebrated that that's a part of human nature. And I also don't think it should be encouraged. But if you're talking about not salvation, but if you're talking about a spiritual transcendence like we are, if we're talking about bliss and some might say the point of life is joy, the point of life is pleasure, then this conversation is relevant. Am I, are y'all still rocking with me? Have I lost anyone? Who clicked off? I know you clicked off. God saw you scroll. But does this make sense? It's like, this is an interesting conversation, but of course it has

guardrails. There are bowling guards up on how much pleasure is too much pleasure. The synthesis of dualities is a common occult idea that fully expresses itself here. In addition to the dual nature of wine, Dionysus embodies so many dualities. He is the savagery hiding within civilization, beloved by the Athenians who so valued how civilized they were. He is usually considered male but often looks and dresses like a woman, which is even more so much. significant in the very misogynistic environment of ancient Greece. He shatters cultural taboos, everything from homosexuality to cannibalism, and offers marginalized people like women and LGBTQ plus people a place to be themselves. He is the bridge between human and divine, having had a human

mother and literally possessing mortals with wine-induced enthusiasm. He is an Olympian that lives among mortals and wanders the earth. He can also travel to the underworld to lead back the shades of the dead. He is loud and frenzied in the summer, quiet and gentle in the winter. He is unusually carnal for a god and known for being hedonistic, but it is through that sensual debauchery the Dionysians find enlightenment. It is through Dionysian madness that we mortals can become temporarily divine. And I say that with an asterisk. I read that from this author with an asterisk. This further connects Dionysus with the idea of temperance, which in a tarot deck represents the all-chemical synthesis of opposites. To a god, these mutually exclusive things

can coexist as one at the same time. You'd have to be mad in order to see the same thing as simultaneously black and white from every dimension. I think that it's safe to say that if you can look a god in the face without losing your mind utterly or contain it within your very soul, you're not all there mentally. And now this is a quote from Lewis Carroll. We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad. How do you know I'm mad? said Alice.

You must be, said the cat, or you wouldn't have come here. Okay, now here's another thing. In this vein, I'm going to read Alice in Wonderland and we'll come back next week. By the way, should I dye my hair black? Everyone say yes. Everyone say yes. I'm going to read Alice's Inventures in Wonderland because I'm going to do some research on it. beforehand. By the way, I'm pre-recording these episodes, so just know that, and I'm still reading Babel. I'm halfway through Babel. It's so good. Babel might be my new favorite book.

R. F. Quang is if I could do a whole fucking separate episode on R.F. Quang, she might be my favorite author of all time. I love Donna Tart, but R.F. Quang, she feels a bit more accessible. Donna Tart, you know, there's kind of this wall between maybe the average reader and Donna Tart. Ravqqaing is so deeply intelligent. She tackles subjects and themes and topics that are very topical in such a strategic and fun way. And by fun, I mean embedded within a narrative that hooks you and it also teaches you. And I think those are the best types of books. I mean, a book like Babel is tackling things like empire and colonialism, racism, racism, destruction of language,

you know, preserving language. And forever, everyone who recommended Babel to me, thank you. Thank you. And I'm sorry, it took me so long. R. F. Quang, the interview she gives, I am in awe of her. Like, I truly am such a fan. I am such a fan of hers. And right after this, I'm going to do Allison Wonderland, that's separate.

But I'm going to read Poppy War. I've had the Poppy War on my shelf for forever. I'm going to jump into that. She has so many good ones. I'm just such a fan. I mean, I've heard of her. but I've kind of been more in this like romantic see and now I'm moving into this holy shit it's so well done and you really I love Robin as a main character oh my God I love Robin and I just

what I really find interesting about Babel is with any story of empire or of the oppressor or of the systems that be where Robin finds himself is functional as a cog where he is benefiting from a system that ultimately is against his entire existence. And he has now been sucked into this pyramid scheme of making sure the empire runs as it should. And he's one of the lucky ones. What's to be said about his community, other people like him? You know, like this same empire killed his mother. And now he's reaping the benefits of empire.

So what do you do? And so he makes the decision to aid the rebellion. And that's where I'm at right now. I'm halfway through the book and he's just started to assist in this rebellion through some crazy characters. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, actually. That's the way to do it. Man on the inside. And I honestly, I don't know how it ends.

I haven't seen any spoilers. I don't really know how it is. I'm very excited. So I'll keep you guys updated on what I think about the end. but my God, I am, I truly cannot overstate. Like, I am blown away by her writing and the research. And she does this disclaimer at the beginning of Babel where she says, this is about as damn accurate to Oxford in the 1830s as I could get it.

So you bitch is shut the fuck up because this is also, there's a magic system in this book. Okay? So yes, she made it historically accurate, as accurate as she could have. but ultimately Oxford in this story is the safe harbor. It safe keeps the magic that keeps the British Empire running. Okay, so there's give, cut her some slack. There is a map of the campus and the whatever. I just, it's very well researched.

It's very well written. I'm just, I love her. I freaking love her. If I ever met R.F. Quay, I'd freak the fuck out. That's my girl. So, anyway, yeah, I'm. I want to read Alice and Wonderland and I'm going to do some preliminary. I might read some books related to Alice and Wonderland.

I mean, about like Lewis Carroll. Yeah? Yeah, about Lewis Carroll's who he was and kind of what some of his influences were. Because I think that I'm one of those people that the more you know about an author, the better. I want to know where these ideas came from. I want to know maybe because if you're ever going to deep dive into an author's works, which some people, you know, like a David Lynch, it's like a, don't worry about me. Take the art for what it is.

Like, don't ask me questions about it. Don't ask me what I think at me. Don't ask whatever. The art is for you. Killing-Murphy says that thing of like the film's not done until the audience sees it. Then it's completed. Because that's who it's for. That's what it's for.

So I'm intrigued by this idea of if I read some ancillary content about Lewis Carol or, you know, about his relationship with maybe religion or about the surreal or about the other, paranormal, whatever. Will that affect how I can enjoy or better understand Alice and

her adventures in Wonderland? Alice through the looking glass. So I'm very excited. Okay, you guys, song of the week, I'm back on my Fontaine shit. I never left. Okay, I'm doing death kink by Fontaine's DC. I'm doing Is it too real for you?

I'm doing shah, shah, shah. I'm doing Dublin in the rain is mine. Can't get over it. And they just continue to get bigger. And again, I'm just going to say it because I mean it. Greenchatting, don't bring him around me. Don't bring green chatting around me because I'm definitely going to get a tattoo from one of his lyrics. So green chat, but just stay the fuck back.

All right. I love you guys. Go to brookky. Shop for merch if you want it. We've got some exciting stuff coming later this year. and we've got some exciting royal courts coming up. And that's pretty much it. So thanks for listening to me talk.

This was definitely a self-indulgent episode. This is something that I love to talk about. If I lost some of you guys and you stayed to the end anyway, thank you so much. I appreciate you. And I hope you learned something and I hope that... Because again, this is not a podcast where you should take what I'm saying at its face value. Go if you're interested, researched on your own.

I am not a historian. Don't use me as if I can, don't do that shit. Don't quote me, don't use me as a source. But you can use me as a trampoline to go and do your own personal research on any of this shit that interests you. Because I'm very interested in Backus, ultimately. Okay, y'all. Love you be good.