The Eugene Halliday Podcast

Episode 17 - Bending the Knee

Talk given in Liverpool, UK. 
"It is quite obvious that of the millions of people that we know, they don't strive for perfection at all. Most of them don't strive at all in any way because striving implies the application of effort over a time in some sort of directional sense. Most people don't have a directional sense and don't strive." 
Technically speaking, the word 'people' means 'knee-benders', or sexually determined. As such, people move along lines of least resistance, seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. This is the bottom level of a hierarchy. Above it we can see three (3) other levels, or modes of being, each bending the knee to a different idea or force. Above them is that which we can't see; the quintessence, or fifth essence. 
What will you bend the knee to? 
A transcript is available at www.eugene-halliday.net. 

Episode 16 - Arrogance

Talk given at Parklands (Manchester, UK) on 22nd February 1987.  
Arrogance is defined as "the taking to oneself, of anything whatever, without entitlement". If an individual believes they have something of themselves not derivative from the Absolute - that is arrogance. 
Our lowest level of conferring a title/label of responsibility comes from people. The next level of conferring titles/labels of responsibility is an elected government; who, once they’ve been elected, think of themselves as an elect body, separate from the dullards who elected them. And they then elect those suitable for their purpose. 
So, we have a relatively small group elect someone to be a responsible person and do as they're told by the electors – like an American president. He’s not there by his own power. He’s there by a group – an oligarchy. (‘Oligarchy’ is ‘ruler-ship by a tightly bound small group’.) 
Thirdly, the Absolute elects the electors. The real battle is the battle between the Absolute, which is infinite, wise, powerful; and the relatively small group – the oligarchy – of the bigger group – the masses of people. But the one that’s going to win, because it started the whole process, is the Absolute. 
A transcript is available at www.eugene-halliday.net. 

Episode 15 - Hierology

Talk given at Parklands (Manchester, UK) on 29th September 1968.  
Hierology is the study of the sacred traditions of ancient peoples. It is concerned with the technique of the differentiations of power that turn might into right.
As the backdrop for this discussion, Eugene considers that "we are slowly moving towards a third world war. The reason we are studying hierology, is related to this fact. In the last war, the Nagasaki-Hiroshima bombs, demonstrated that there is very, very serious danger to civilian populations. What we know about men at war, historically, is that he has used all the power he has had at command. We have not found him inhibiting the use of the power he has had." 
"We cannot expect that the men leading the world today, the men who have at their command, nuclear weapons, will quite suddenly develop self-control in the use of force." 
Given such a scenario, what is the duty of individuals?
How should we apply our initiative? 
A transcript is available at www.eugene-halliday.net. 

Episode 14 - The Absolute

Talk given in Liverpool, circa 1960. 
"If the Absolute can only perceive through a finite, does not this suppose that the universe and all beings in it are already finited in all their stages of evolution?" 
Eugene explores questions concerning the Absolute; including man's role as a vehicle of perception, the Logos Principle, and the relationship between Immanent Spirit and Transcendent Spirit. 
A transcript is available at www.eugene-halliday.net. 

Episode 13 - The Deficiencies of Phenomenology

Talk given at Parklands (Manchester, UK) on 23rd May 1976. 
What does it mean to describe an object as being ‘out there’? If I say that something is 'out there', it is only so in relation to my body. Instead, consider the object as an appearance within consciousness. To do this we need to get rid of the out there-ness, so that we merely deal with appearances. 
Eugene describes the steps involved in this process of phenomenological reduction...and its consequences. 
A transcript is available at www.eugene-halliday.net. 

Episode 12 - The Two Paths

A talk about two ways of living - the Way of the Moon and the Way of the Sun.
The Way of the Moon: A synonym of ancestor worship; parent worship. Children have to be grateful to parents because the parents have provided a body. And the parents have to be grateful to the children for projecting the intention of the parent from generation to generation. 
The Way of the Sun: The affirmation of freedom. It does not mean obedience to parents. It does not mean obedience to collectives, to societies as such. It means individual free will. 
We can either live from the dictates of a collective, or we can live from the intention of our own free inner will.
A transcript is available at www.eugene-halliday.net. 

Episode 11 - Four Fixed Signs of the Zodiac

Talk given at Parklands (Manchester, UK) on 25th January 1981. 
Eugene discusses the present significance of the four fixed signs of the zodiac; Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius.
These signs correspond with the four gospels of the New Testament and with four beasts before the throne of God in the Old Testament. They also correspond with four headings in the Egyptian burial ritual (i.e. three animals and one man) - and they actually correspond with parts of a human being and with four processes:
You have to bind yourself … that’s Taurus.
You have to relatively loosen yourself or you will become rigid … and the loosening is Leo.
You are to dedicate yourself — which is Scorpio — to this process of self-examination of the internal chaos.
And bring into it an order by looking inside and discovering Aquarius … that is the sign of memory.
A transcript is available at www.eugene-halliday.net. 

Episode 10 - Applying What We Know

Talk given at Parklands (Manchester, UK) on 2nd October 1983. 
Human beings have been collecting information for thousands of years about correct behaviour to each other, but they have not yet begun to apply that in any considerable degree. 
Every year, millions of people are killed by accidents, by wars, by diseases, by starvation and so on. Why have we not yet learned the lesson, when we know the lesson already?
A transcript is available at www.eugene-halliday.net. 

Episode 9 - Desire and the Ego

Talk given at Parklands (Manchester, UK) on 25th September 1977. 
Eugene responds to three (3) questions; namely: 
1. Can desire be stilled? 
2. How does one intelligently use the egotism with which we are burdened? 
3. What is the origin of all true religion? 
A key takeaway from the talk is "...if we listen to ourselves internally in the innermost, we will always find we have an intention to evolve towards freedom, towards greater self-awareness and towards greater creativity." 
Eugene describes the manner in which desire, enlightened egotism and world religions assist us in this task.
A transcript is available at www.eugene-halliday.net. 

Episode 8 - Reflexive Self-Consciousness

Talk recorded in Liverpool, UK. 
Eugene discusses 'Reflexive Self-Consciousness', which is understood to be at the core of all of his teachings. 
Consciousness itself is philosophically undefinable. Consciousness is that in which things exist and are defined. The things are defined, but consciousness is not defined; nor is it definable. Consciousness is an immediate awareness by a conscious being, by a subject. The object of a subject is something that the subject has made actually by its own power. 
Reflexive Self-Consciousness can only be known by the person who has it. 
A transcript is available at www.eugene-halliday.net.