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Start The World

Start The World

Jack Donovan

Conversations, essays and more about masculine philosophy, men's spirituality, becoming the best version of yourself as a man, and staying solar. Hosted by Jack Donovan, author of the bestselling underground bible of masculinity, The Way of Men -- which has been translated into 5 languages and been read by well over 100,000 men all around the world. To learn more, visit my web site https://www.jack-donovan.com/sowilo/ and follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/starttheworld/.
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Top 10 Start The World Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Start The World episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Start The World for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Start The World episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Start The World - Killian on Powerlifting and Being Present
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06/29/20 • 43 min

Now is the time for men to build local networks. Recently, I reached out to Killian, a powerlifter in my small town, to grab lunch and talk about doing a podcast. It turned out to be a great and inspiring conversation. Killian grew up around drugs, and spent years struggling with addiction. Eventually, as he puts it, he just "got tired of being tired," kicked meth and traveled India with his father. After his first child was born, he started getting serious about powerlifting, and eventually began competing. I found his story really compelling, and am glad I took the time to meet him. He's an example of a man who came from a rough background and turned his life around. There are decent men chasing excellence, with interesting stories, wherever you are. Find them.

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Start The World - The Script

The Script

Start The World

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06/01/20 • 8 min

The next few episodes of Start The World will be audio essays, commenting on the events of the last few months.

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Start The World - Tanner Guzy - Masculine Style
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01/27/20 • 42 min

Tanner is a good friend of mine, so I asked him to be the first guest on my podcast. (This was recorded a few weeks ago). Tanner is the author of "The Appearance of Power: How Masculinity is Expressed Through Aesthetics." He helps a lot of men look more professional or appropriate through consulting and coaching. Tanner and I always start out talking about style and aesthetics and end up talking about beauty, ritual and symbolism -- and this conversation was no exception.

Masculine Style

https://masculine-style.com

The Appearance of Power: How Masculinity is Expressed Through Aesthetics

https://amzn.to/2O18lDj

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Start The World - I Am A Spear  - The Caskey Interview
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07/11/22 • 46 min

Caskey is hip-hop artist whose recent album "This Isn't Even My Final Form" topped the iTunes hip-hop charts. Caskey has been a successful artist for 10 years, but recently made some positive life changes. Today, he aims to be a productive and inspiring influence on his fans, on other artists, and on the broader hip-hop community.

Caskey and I connected recently through social media, and I managed to book an interview with him and then go meet him and see one of his shows (he's currently on tour). We talked about fitness, art, poetry, spirituality, and staying focus.

Caskey's energy is infectious, and in a world where everyone seems to want to become a motivational speaker -- right now, the man just can't help it. By the time I was done talking to him, I wanted to go out and take over the world.

To paraphrase "Thus Spake Zarathustra," Caskey went to the mountain with ashes, and now he's coming down into the valley and he’s bringing fire.

Caskey

https://bakingwithcaskey.com

https://www.instagram.com/caskey/

Books Mentioned

Fire in the Dark by Jack Donovan

Thus Spake Zarathustra by Nietzsche

Odin and the Mead of Poetry -- told well originally in the Prose Edda, but told recently and well in Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology

Follow Jack Donovan on

Twitter

https://twitter.com/ph2t3r

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/starttheworld/

Rumble

https://rumble.com/c/starttheworld

Support my work on Patreon

https://www.patreon.com/starttheworld

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Ian Smith is the co-owner of Atilis Gym in New Jersey, which has openly and publicly defied the state's draconian lockdown orders. He and his business partner have been arrested, had their business license pulled, and have been fined over a million dollars. (They’re still being fined over $15,000 a day). He made a decision to take a public stand — because someone had to do it. He’s doing what millions of men are afraid to do, and I think he deserves to be recognized and applauded for it.

We had a really animated conversation about bullies and freedom and masculinity.

Follow Ian on Instagram @iansmithfitness and consider contributing to his legal defense fund.

https://atilisfundraiser.com/

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Start The World - John Sonmez - Becoming a Finisher
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02/01/21 • 61 min

John Sonmez is the man behind @Bulldog Mindset -- a large and growing community of men working to better themselves physically, socially, and financially. John started out as a nerdy software guy, then worked to become a millionaire, retire at 33, and transform himself mentally and physically. Now he spends a lot of his time coaching other men. I met John recently when he spoke at the @21 Studios convention in Orlando, and he's the real deal. We talked for an hour about philosophy and some of the problems men face today, but one part of the conversation that stood out was his story about "becoming a finisher." A lot of guys have great ideas, but end up leaving a trail of unfinished projects behind them.

Mentioned : Seneca's letters to Lucilius

https://bulldogmindset.com

@Bulldog Mindset

Instagram @ bulldogmindset

Sign up for my mailing list for exclusive essays, news, special offers, and more.

https://bit.ly/2Y69xdt

Support this podcast, the growing mailing list, and get early access to new content and offers via Patreon.

https://www.patreon.com/starttheworld

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Start The World - Alexander Cortes - "Train Solar"
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01/25/21 • 74 min

Trainer and speaker Alexander Cortes had a wild 2020. He was on vacation in Egypt as the lockdowns started. He ended up flying to Thailand and decided to live there for the rest of the year, where he trained Muay Thai under Sagat. We also talk about Ancient Greek training, training outdoors, and much more.

To purchase AJAC's research into Ancient Athletics, follow this link:

https://gumroad.com/l/UKOld

Sign up for my mailing list for exclusive essays, news, special offers, and more.

https://bit.ly/2Y69xdt

Support this podcast, the growing mailing list, and get early access to new content and offers via Patreon.

https://www.patreon.com/starttheworld

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Start The World - Darkness - by Lord Byron
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12/17/20 • 6 min

Warming up to start recording the audiobook for Fire in the Dark by reading this grim but perhaps uncomfortably relevant poem by Lord Byron.

Darkness

by Lord Byron

I had a dream, which was not all a dream.

The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars

Did wander darkling in the eternal space,

Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth

Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;

Morn came and went—and came, and brought no day,

And men forgot their passions in the dread

Of this their desolation; and all hearts

Were chill'd into a selfish prayer for light:

And they did live by watchfires—and the thrones,

The palaces of crowned kings—the huts,

The habitations of all things which dwell,

Were burnt for beacons; cities were consum'd,

And men were gather'd round their blazing homes

To look once more into each other's face;

Happy were those who dwelt within the eye

Of the volcanos, and their mountain-torch:

A fearful hope was all the world contain'd;

Forests were set on fire—but hour by hour

They fell and faded—and the crackling trunks

Extinguish'd with a crash—and all was black.

The brows of men by the despairing light

Wore an unearthly aspect, as by fits

The flashes fell upon them; some lay down

And hid their eyes and wept; and some did rest

Their chins upon their clenched hands, and smil'd;

And others hurried to and fro, and fed

Their funeral piles with fuel, and look'd up

With mad disquietude on the dull sky,

The pall of a past world; and then again

With curses cast them down upon the dust,

And gnash'd their teeth and howl'd: the wild birds shriek'd

And, terrified, did flutter on the ground,

And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutes

Came tame and tremulous; and vipers crawl'd

And twin'd themselves among the multitude,

Hissing, but stingless—they were slain for food.

And War, which for a moment was no more,

Did glut himself again: a meal was bought

With blood, and each sate sullenly apart

Gorging himself in gloom: no love was left;

All earth was but one thought—and that was death

Immediate and inglorious; and the pang

Of famine fed upon all entrails—men

Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh;

The meagre by the meagre were devour'd,

Even dogs assail'd their masters, all save one,

And he was faithful to a corse, and kept

The birds and beasts and famish'd men at bay,

Till hunger clung them, or the dropping dead

Lur'd their lank jaws; himself sought out no food,

But with a piteous and perpetual moan,

And a quick desolate cry, licking the hand

Which answer'd not with a caress—he died.

The crowd was famish'd by degrees; but two

Of an enormous city did survive,

And they were enemies: they met beside

The dying embers of an altar-place

Where had been heap'd a mass of holy things

For an unholy usage; they rak'd up,

And shivering scrap'd with their cold skeleton hands

The feeble ashes, and their feeble breath

Blew for a little life, and made a flame

Which was a mockery; then they lifted up

Their eyes as it grew lighter, and beheld

Each other's aspects—saw, and shriek'd, and died—

Even of their mutual hideousness they died,

Unknowing who he was upon whose brow

Famine had written Fiend. The world was void,

The populous and the powerful was a lump,

Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless—

A lump of death—a chaos of hard clay.

The rivers, lakes and ocean all stood still,

And nothing stirr'd within their silent depths;

Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea,

And their masts fell down piecemeal: as they dropp'd

They slept on the abyss without a surge—

The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave,

The moon, their mistress, had expir'd before;

The winds were wither'd in the stagnant air,

And the clouds perish'd; Darkness had no need

Of aid from them—She was the Universe.

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Start The World - Elliot Hulse - Making Men Strong Again
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08/25/20 • 64 min

I met Elliot Hulse last year at the 21 Convention and was psyched to have him on the show to talk about why he wants to make men strong again. We discussed the importance of strong father figures, myth, and the concept of chaos vs. order in life and in society -- especially relevant now that chaos seems to be running wild in cities across the nation. We also got to talk about current events, and I highly recommend his video "The American Mind Virus" to get an introduction to where his head is at these days.

The American Mind Virus

https://youtu.be/6oUYP6uj3EQ

https://elliotthulse.com

https://www.youtube.com/user/elliottsaidwhat

Instagram: @elliotthulse

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Start The World - Dr. Mathias Nordvig on Old Norse Lore and Masculinity
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07/06/20 • 110 min

Dr. Mathias Nordvig is an Old Norse scholar and author and you can follow his work on YouTube @Mathias Nordvig . I invited him on Start The World to talk about masculinity, heroism and leadership in the Old Norse lore, and he shared a few of his favorite examples from the Hávamál, but we ended upo having a long and wide-ranging discussion about the character of Odin, the nature of Thor, the questionable place of the Vanir in the lore, and how there is no racism or race preservation implied or suggested in the lore, or in heathenry itself.

Web site: https://nordicmythologychannel.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mathiasnordvig/

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FAQ

How many episodes does Start The World have?

Start The World currently has 37 episodes available.

What topics does Start The World cover?

The podcast is about Society & Culture, Podcasts, Self-Improvement, Education and Philosophy.

What is the most popular episode on Start The World?

The episode title 'Ian Smith - “The Bully’s Going to Keep Coming Back...Until You Do Something About It”' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Start The World?

The average episode length on Start The World is 60 minutes.

How often are episodes of Start The World released?

Episodes of Start The World are typically released every 7 days.

When was the first episode of Start The World?

The first episode of Start The World was released on Jan 14, 2020.

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