What The Theory (Joel Muhumuza)

Sex!! Now that we got your attention...

Pumla is the chair today and she's called us to talk intimacy, talk about healthy attachment, and the great separateness yet longing for connection to feel whole that we call love.

Love that force that binds without chaining you, that lifts without emptying you... 

That we call God. Oh and we talk about lube!!!

Written by J

The management of time is the mark of modernity. And when we say Time is money, we mean that time is valuable when used for productivity.

But as Switchfoot say " Time was never money" and our clocks do not tell us THE time, they give us a version of time.

In today's episode we discuss the way our perception of time as a commodity reduces us to being productive and efficient only...Free time being seen as an embarrassment. Perhaps a rethink is needed.

And I throw in my own conspiracy theory about Peter Pan being a villain.

In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles,” with this Guy Debord begins his description of how with modern technology and media, we have created a virtuso world of images that dominate our view of reality 

This is a highlight from every chapter of this classic text through the eyes of a timid observer

This episode takes a look at the concept of technology as the foundation fo civilization as presented by Marc Andreeesen's Techno optimist manifesto and how it follows in a long line of accelerationist philosophy by the likes od Nick Land. Is technology an inevitable irresistible force or is it that the people building our tools want us to think of it that way?

Season 2 is here, and we intended to talk about change,ge but instead,d we showed how we process changes in this episode.

Joel talks about turning 40 and how they say life starts at 40 because you realize just how short life is and that life happens as you plan.

Pumla shares how she navigates friendships and relationships and how she determines when it's time to change, e and Primah gets a revelation about the way she affects people. 

Oh, and Allan throws some elderly advice in the wise unseen voice.

Welcome back to PPJ, guys Do share some of the things you’ve made it a point to change this year, how you have noticed you or your relationships have changed and how you choose between accepting things and acting on the hope that we can change our lives, our country, our very being.

Do leave a link or comment so we know what resonates with you.

Happy 2025

Josey wears many hats - She's in PR and Marketing, owns her own agency, round a sickle cell warriors foundation, and somehow finds the time to help me run this podcast!!

In the chat we explore what Public Relations means to her, the conflict between bring a " good friend and person" and being a good business leader, how she manages and navigates these worlds as a person with a chronic illness and lastly why she started her foundation.

My big takeaway from the chat rhymes with something Immanuel Kant said " We must, therefore we can" - Josey embodies the idea that we are more powerful than we imagine. And that life is effort in service of our ideals.

Enjoy

Nihilism was viewed as the worst possible thing- the extreme attitude one could have about existence b the major thinkers that referred to it. But Why? Most of us have this attitude that a nihilist is an amoral, anarchic person..But in reality it is possible to be a nihilist and be none the wiser. In this episode I will explore Nietzsche's conception of the attitude and why it might be the most dangerous pit we can fall into.

The first in a subseries of Sunday Reads which Sunday Reads Interviews. I'll be talking to people I find interesting about their life philosophy and their approach to this wacky experience called life. Each interviewee will select a book they love or have written and we talk about. Today we talk about the great Lisa Kanyomozi's book " On the job" a memoir of sorts cataloguing the lessons learnt in her journey as an woman, entrepreneur, media personality, daughter, sister, friend - you name it.

When Lacan says that "love is giving what you don't have to someone who doesn't want it," he is pointing to the paradoxical nature of love: that is that we are all fundamentally incomplete or lacking in some way, and we seek to fill this lack through our relationships with others. And the first relationship where this happens is in the family. Daddy issues and mommy issues are universally acknowledged for a reason. 

In this episode, Michelle( Michie B as she's known on the streets she's the Mayor of) and I talk about our family, what it's like being the firstborn vs the second born, about loss and how to navigate the complicated feelings that arise as we watch our parents grow older.  

If your parents, guardians, or other forms of family are with you, our hope is you can see that all love is complicated, and finding the space to confront those feelings will help you find a way to peace.

They say you can't change the past. Wrong!! You can. In a way, by reframing and contextualising it, we can learn from it, change how we relate to it and lead to different outcomes today

In this special edition, Pumla takes the reins and asks us to speak to our past selves about everything from career to faith.

This episode we talk about becoming super famous you guys!!! Oh Gosh, how are we going to deal with fame ?!;-) No, but thank you for making us one of the most trending podcasts in the country. We value you spending time with us as we use the show as an excuse to just hang out….

This is a high-level summary of Michel Foucault's work " Discipline and punish". In it, I look at how power has been organized in societies which had sovereign rulers, vs those with more dispersed institutional centres of power. How do Kings get their subjects to do things vs say Parliaments? How are schools, prisons and factories all avenues for how power is exercised? Foucault's ideas have us questioning how ideology is administered, and how we are normalised, assessed and granted access to things in power structures in both silent and none obvious ways.

A survey taken out in 2020 showed young Africans have a strong belief that they will see success, and defeat the largely negative stereotypes that have accompanied our economic underdevelopment in the world system. Largely they believe the advent of new information technologies and a bent toward entrepreneurial innovation,  the future of Africa is bright. But is it...enough!? Will new tools and new businesses really change the fundamental material realities we face?!

To discuss this,  we speak to Lorna and Olga from the Arch Africa podcast, an afro-optimist podcast that is focused on examining how grounded Afro-optimism can be a pathway to African renaissance.

The survey : https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/feb/20/afro-optimism-on-the-rise-among-continents-youth-finds-survey

Raymond is a journalist, writer, thinker, saxophonist and most importantly, a husband and a father We discuss how he came to his current position in life, his favourite philosophy and whether or not democracy actually works

"Carol is one of the few people in my life that I thought found both the humor and horror of life worth meditating over and not just glossing over "

This chat covers identity, isolation and intimacy.

They say you shouldn't meet the people you admire. Well, I'm not one to listen to what they say. Ernest is the first proper celebrity I got to meet and know well, beyond his writing. And I wasn't disappointed..In this episode of Sunday Chats-we talk about his school life, what made him decide to become a writer, and what it's like being iconic-which both of us carry the burden of being !! ;-)

Primah is finally hosting us, dia. We talked about  the theory of attachment from psychology, how the experiences and homes we grew up in may linger in how we express and receive love, as well as some of the benefits and limits of this theory

Find and take a test if you so dare here :
https://www.attachmentproject.com/attachment-style-quiz/

This is a follow-up on the episode on Polyamory in which I respond to anonymous questions that came in on the topic. The biggest takeaway for me from this is even if you don't understand a lifestyle, it's important to speak to people that do, suspend judgment and later make up your mind. More than anything, what I've learnt from engaging with the literature and people living this way is that we stress communication a lot but seldom do we speak the truth to others and ourselves Check out the for a more in-depth discussion on philosophy and relationships.

1st Episode of the New Year and we check in with two therapists for life - Nietzche and Dostoyevsky to help us answer the question - should we strive to be good or to be Great?

"The biggest takeaway from Easter, from the crucifixion of the Political radical figure of Jesus, is that what looked like a failure was a successful upending of the hierarchical order- It went from us trusting God, to God trusting us by making the world more egalitarian. As a bearded man once said...Philosophers have interpreted the world, the point is to change it. "

" The most common form of despair is not being who you are." Kiekagaard How do we become our selves? Well it appears there are 3 modes of existence that as use to reconcile our potential with our necessity: The Aesthetic, Ethical and Religious modes of life are the responses Kierkegaard uses to frame how we respond to the responsibility of living. Today we explore the aesthetic ( a life filled with the pursuit of what is interesting ) , and the ethical ( a life filled with observing our duties to society ) Spoiler alert, both modes fail to result in us becoming fully ourselves. So that's where the third way, the religious way comes in.

"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried."

G.K. Chesterton

Today's episode is the first of many chats with Reverend Captain Gideon Mwesh, and we talk about what it means to have faith today.

Adam Smith spoke of the market operating as an invisible hand that guides the actions of producers and consumers to find each other and a reliable allocation of resources happening with each actor pursuing their ends

In this episode, we examine if that hand is benevolent or an iron hand that both gives and takes away and ultimately what logic that does it serve in the world. As we all know, like gravity, it is the invisible relations between things that have the greatest power.

This is part 2 of our exploration of Marxist ideas and critiques of modern life.

"Nothingness lies coiled in the heart of being - like a worm." Evocative but what did Sarte mean by this and the rest of " Being and Nothingness"? In this short series, we'll try to unpack why the concept of "Nothingness" is central to what it means to be human...and also the paradox of trying to complete what we all agree I'd forever a work in progress.

@JustAdamCurtis has an incredible documentary called " Century of the self " called happiness machines which I shamelessly used to explore these ideas. As welcome to understand ourselves, we realize that in our modern society, consumerism is the drive for economic growth. To keep this engine going, our desires for self-identity are used by governments and large corporations to sell us who we are. Arguments over being an iPhone vs Android person as though it represents something substantial about who someone is. The fashion industry doesn't sell us clothes to jeep us warm, but rather to get warm receptions at galas and show off our " personality ". In this video, I try to dissect how Freud's ideas about our internal subconscious being more powerful than we realise, were and are used by those that sell us the things we desire.

The famous words of anarchist Pierre Joseph Proudhon can seem silky or reactionary at first glance, but in today's episode we examine his argument that asks us if it is really moral for individuals to take from the commons and deprive others of access to the means of existence

It's a challenge to examine our ways of dealing with each other in the face of property rights that pit the individual against society.

Part 2 of Nothing at the Center is a discussion of Bad faith according to Sartre, which is when we deny either our transcendence or our facticity.

In this episode we breakdown facticity, trancendence and the subtle difference between anguish and anxiety

Fun times

Startups have been all the rage in business and technology. Meant to disrupt the market, change lives, and of course make truckloads of cash for the founders.  

They've also been disruptive of labor laws, and seen their fair share of fraudsters and hot-air merchants who talk the talk and nothing more.

In today's episode, we ask the question - what's the reality behind the start-up phenomenon and is it truly revolutionary or just another great marketing ploy.

In memory of the best of us

This is an introduction to Lacan's idea of the difference between Desire and the object cause of desire. Human beings are desiring beings and we desire things outside of ourselves, which means we long for something outside of us to make us whole. We are...incomplete subjects. Or at least that's how we feel Where does this desire come from and how do we see its effects on our psyche...Check out the video and like, share and subscribe if you found it worthwhile Stay curious, folks

This is the first in our discussion on Existentialism. It's a wide-ranging affair and I knew of no better place to start than with Soren Kierkegaard and his take on how anxiety and angst are markers on helping us become a self Becoming a self is no mere task as so many, he claims, do everything in their power to escape themselves. Enjoy.

In this episode, PPJ dives into the realities of adulting - is it really a scam, or are we just making poor choices? We share unprepared moments, broke stories, and debate whether adulting is as hard as people let on, or are we just romanticising childhood too much? Share your experiences and thoughts in the comment section below.

Back by popular demand,Pumla and Primah met up once more to talk about our love and attachment styles, our traumas and everything in between. 

I love these people and for me, they are part of what makes me who I am.Friendship like Aristotle said, is the same soul living in different bodies.

Enjoy 

Today's show is about Fashion ...which George Simmrl said shows our ". . tendency toward social equalization balanced against the desire for individual differentiation and change."Yvonne from Chic Moments talks about why clothes are anything but a frivolous thing

If ideology is what gives meaning to the chaos of our lives, then propaganda is how meaning is communicated and maintained in mass society. It has a negative connotation but in today's episode, I argue that it's not that simple.

Today's episode from the banks of the River Nile is about ideology as it appears in the unconscious, in how we commodity and value things, and in our religious beliefs. This serves as a preamble to a deep dive into Slavoj Zizek's "The Sublime object of Ideology" 

Ask someone about their purpose and they may say some combination of “To live my best life” or to achieve happiness. The Declaration of Independence of the United States, the hegemony of ruling ideology, might capture this well in the line “ the right to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" ... Today’s episode will take a thesis, antitheses, and synthesis approach to examine this idea, critiquing it using Pshcialanlys sand then finding some space for synthesis. Also, it wouldn’t be Easter if we didn’t mention Grace. at the end works cited:

 Todd McGowan -https://web.english.upenn.edu/~cavitc...

Peter Rollins-    • Grace and the Freedom from Self-Help  

Slavoj Zizek- https://altexploit.files.wordpress.co...

Jacques Lacan -https://www.academia.edu/32053409/How...

It's the last episode of the year, and Primah had us examining not only what the year has been like, how the show has grown and how what we planned kids have learned and continue to learn about Privilege.

Note : Tell us your favorite PPJ segment, moment or episode from the year

From us to you.. Happy Holidays and if you are in the giving mood...please consider donating to some good causes like;

Yambi community outreach who support young girls in Uganda with reusable pads - https://yambicommunityoutreach.org/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaao1tO9GnIRgPf0pwBfyPKGBnnvmaPIR3byqGE8gRUauJ-3V9Do7Vr5o8Y_aem_GPQRzd6SMbYHaAhytj6-9A

Raremark Foundation who aim to improve the lives of people affected by Sickle Cell - https://raremarkfoundation.org/

And lastly .... visit https://www.digimarkug.com/  for all your video audio production and comms deals. They make us look good!!!

The unexamined life is not worth living said Socrates. But he died about 400 years before Jesus and never had to balance career, love, finances and an East African forehead

In this PPJ reunion, Pumla, Primah and Joel examine whether they're actually living life well. 

The Title Says it all.

If seeking pleasure is unsatisfactory, and the ethical life is simply tradition, well what are we to do? There is a third way...the leap of faith. In this episode, we discuss Kiekagaard's religious solution, what it means to be a knight of faith as opposed to a mere sheep of the flock of the church, something he found to be a true loss of oneself, a mockery of the radical call to be a Christian.

In this first episode of the year, Joel talks about the importance of the body and explores Nietzche's argument that the mind-body dualism is an illusion- you are your body. Which might be a little distressing for our guy Joel given that he got older on Monday.

It's been forever since we got to chat and well, the homework was to discuss collectivism vs individualism..along the way we touch on class, capital and even why money is such an issue in marriage and relationships. 

For those interested in the bit on climate change..please read https://libguides.depaul.edu/c.php?g=253564&p=1690283

We cannot keep our heads in the sand just because the action needed is going to be collective

Christian atheism asks - What dies at the cross? Not a messenger, not an offspring but God himself. It is the radical reading of Faith in which God entrust's his spirit to the community of believers through his death. God is dead, and we are his spirit resurrected when we act as God in the world. 

This is the first video explainer on the topic - We shall explore it further as an epistemology, why I believe nothingness and atheism are at the core of Christianity, and why it was made pagan again by putting maintaining belief in the transcendent guarantee.

Commodity fetishism - The commodity appears to be at first sight to be a trivial thing, but observed again contains both material and immaterial force

On one hand it's use value and the other its exchange value, the first being the need or desire it directly meets, the second the signal, the identity marker that reveals something about u

Quote - "A commodity is therefore a mysterious thing, simply because in it the social character of men's labour appears to them as an objective character stamped upon the product of that labour; because the relation of the producers to the sum total of their own labour is presented to them as a social relation, existing not between themselves, but between the products of their labour. This is the reason why the products of labour become commodities, social things whose qualities are at the same time perceptible and imperceptible by the senses" Marx

No concept in psychoanalysis is more misunderstood, and none darker than the death drive. Why do we do things that go against our pleasure and repeat our traumas? Why is the repetition of both pleasure and pain at the core of the uncanny being we call human? 

In this episode, I trace the beginnings of Freud's idea of the death drive vs pleasure principle, why he thought the sex drive to be master of all, take a trip through Lacan, who saw death at the core even of sex, and lastly Zizek who extends this to our ideology and the idea of immortality

As we close the year, Pumla, Primah, and Joel take some time to answer some big questions, ruminate on adult friendships, and only take about 20 tangents instead of the usual 30. 

Thank you to everyone who subscribed and followed along.

The seven deadly sins are thought of by Christians as choosing the flesh and desire over God, by moralists as "good advice but not sin" and well, what do I think? It's complicated. This episode is a glance at how we can use the 7 deadly sins to learn about ourselves and the desires created in us living in the modern world

Look out for the next episode focused on Lust

Only Gods and beasts can live outside community, to paraphrase Aristotle. In this last episode of the exploration of Being and Nothingness, we dissect the importance of others in forming our identity and why recognition is crucial for us to feel adequate.Many thanks to the people that allow for me to get looked at by all of you barred subjects out there.

Here's hoping the New Year brings with it a reminder that we can always start again.

In 1888, Friedrich Nietzche finished "The Antichrist" and as you;d imagine, it wasn't released until years later due to its title. While known for being the "God is dead" guy that inspired every angry teen's atheist phase, he's probably also the most misunderstood due to his aphoristic and polemic style. The book is surprisingly kind about Christ and instead focuses on Christianity as an institution, as a belief rather than practice had betrayed the very essence of Christi, turning him into a dominating symbol and king, or an ineffectual belief system. Essentially , Christianity had become antichrist We highlight how he fleshes out this argument in today's Palm Sunday episode.

The last part of our conversation has range; From why dating intellectuals can be tiresome ( I don't want to debate in the bedroom ) to what is so difficult about loving us as well as what to do when you want people to leave your house so you can sleep !! 

The People that make me series will involve discussions with some of the people that make my life worth living and will explore our similarities and differences. Today's episode features Pumla and Primah, the best parts of what we call PPJ

- Pumla, Primah and Joel, people who couldn't be more different and yet like different notes, make for a beautiful harmony

That sentimental line would make P&P roll their eyes but they're stuck with me. Listen as we talk about love, religion, tradition, and money.

What does it mean to be engaged politically in Uganda today? Can a social media website be used to awaken a sense of engagement with politics that all too often leaves us feeling unheard and dominated over? 

Today’s discussion with Anthony Natif about his life and activism most recently seen in the trending #UgandaParliamentExhibition which has unearthed what we already knew-mounds of corrupt practices with oru lawmakers. In the episode, we tackle items from free speech and tradition, why it’s dangerous for most people to speak up, and some of the ways he and the Public Square team use Twitter and other spaces for activism. 

Karl Marx called religion the soul in soulless conditions. It's our expressiom of the almighty... And that expression matters as it either liberates all or causes us to look to the world to come instead of the world we're in The disembodied voice of Allan hosts two old friends who were once church boys, Reverend Captain Gideon and some guy called Joel, to a special debate that has a prodigal and a pastor asking each other what it means to be Christian today Does belief actually make us fail to do what God wants which is to love people and this world and bring justice? Why do we pray about what we ought to be acting on? Does believing in God as symbolic and not literal give anyone true hope? You know.... Light work. 😊 We aren't aiming to fully answer these questions but to rather raise them so you can engage with them We want to hear your answers and questions too. #christianity #Whatthetheory #hegel #Theology

Today's Sunday Chat is with Nelson Muhire, team lead for @The Collective UG , a movement that seeks to give young people a way to use their creativity, skills and energy to edify people and spread the love of God. Nelson and I, were part of a band , HOP , which eventually led to the creation of C19 Studios, @CtrlAD and now the collective. The discussion focuses on how Nelson chose to follow his passion for music and ministry , instead of the "safer" pathway he was on to becoming a civil engineer. Instead he followed his dream and love of music to become one of the best audio engineers and producers in Uganda. Most of all, the biggest takeaway for me is what does it mean to be a Christian, to follow the call of God in a world where Christianity is seen as the dominant ideology-so much so that it can become a religion without practical implications for how we engage with the world. To take a leap of faith means you put your hopes on the line, and believe that whether you fall or land safely, that you had to be authentic to the call on your life.
Enjoy- We are quite silly in this one

In this second part to the exploration of Nihilism, we delve into the "loss of Truth" as the essence of Nihilism and the difference between passive and active nihilism The question we ask ourselves is if the things that previously gave us meaning turn out to be man-made constructs, where do we go from here?

In today's episode, we delve into the mind-bending world of Slavoj Žižek, the Slovenian Philosopher known for his take on Lacanian psychoanalysis and a knack for making the mundane and seemingly trivial utterly fascinating. This time, we're tackling his book "The sublime object of Ideology" and exploring how it manifests itself in the most unlikely of places: your favourite sugary beverage, Coca-Cola. Join us as we unpack Žižek's idea that ideology, far from being a mere set of beliefs, is a tangible force that shapes our desires and experiences. We'll examine how Coke, with its iconic branding and promise of refreshment, serves as a potent symbol of our unspoken yearnings for wholeness and happiness. Get ready for a philosophical trip that will hopefully leave you questioning whether we are really in a post-ideological world as well as everything you thought you knew about ideology, desire, and the irresistible allure of a perfectly chilled Coke.

We demand too much of life, too little of ourselves. Christopher Lasch.

The Culture of Narcissism: This book is an examination of the way culture, empowered by technologies, is making us more narcissistic, looking to the world to fit our own self-narrative rather than the other way around. While I don't agree wholesale, I think this is a great book to use to reflect upon the changes in how we view ourselves since the advent of modernity

The spectacle is the next stage of mediation of relations between people. Already commodities mediate our relationships(we are identified by what we consume and what we do to earn the ultimate commodity, money) - but now images become the new basis of relating with products and each other.

Recommendations - Century of the self on Youtube; Society of the spectacle by Guy Debord

Quote

_Just as early industrial capitalism moved the focus of existence from being to having, post-industrial culture has moved that focus from having to appearing. Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle_

We finally have MERCH!!! The lovely ladies over at "Can We Talk 256 "came over to talk about how they started their platform to foster more intimate, meaningful conversations between people . With their help, we will be launching our own "What the Theory" line of Can we Talk cards this week with 75 philosophy-based questions to help you inject a little dialectics into your relationships. We used the cards during the interview and the things we learned !! Oh Boy. You can find the cards and information about the physical meet-up sessions organized by them at https://www.canwetalk256.com/ and the cards are available for order from the website, their Instagram handle and at Bold in Africa, Book point - Village Mall , Gift fairing - Kansanga, Kardamon & Coffee and Mahiri Books

The obsession with masculinity is always a sign of impotence, a defensive reaction against the threat of castration. Symbolically of course. It is in this insecurity that we can find new strength, new ways of being that won't destroy us while claiming to liberate us 

"The more you consume the less you live,” Guy Deboard on how our media-dominant modern life has us engaging with abstractions of what real people and relationships are. This episode touches on working-class images, images of time and history, and religion.

In the first on a series of Marxist critiques of modern life, I thought I'd start with something I am a part of.. the Middle class. And in particular, this is an examination of what exactly the middle class is and how Marxist theory sees it as an illusionary category, a managerial elite without awareness of their working-class status.

Man is uncanny, part of the animal kingdom, yet not fully animal,; part of a culture, yet still carries animal instincts. To be free, both sides have to be recognized, man is an animal in search of a master for his desires. 

In this episode, we explore why habits are crucial for us humans, why necessity is the highest form of freedom, and why we are oddly never happier than when we do things unconsciously. 

#Philosophy

#ImmanuelKant

Polyamory began to capture popular discourse in the 90s, seemingly as an echo of the free love movements of the 1960's, another time when cultural norms were being questioned. Today, polyamory seems to be taking up attention as marriage and monogamy are increasingly being found to not satisfy. Some say we are naturally poly- looking to enjoy sexual relations with as many partners as possible, others say nature or God requires us to commit to one person; Each side utilising the " it's natural" line of argument. In reality, human sexual and emotional connections have changed shape over different cultural epochs proving that man is in fact, a creature capable of " going against nature". In today's episode, I share what I've found about the poly amorous approach to life and what it can teach us about how we think of love.

Content is king and we are its subjects. When did everything from movies to blogs to pranks all become known by this one word? We take a look at what a young Bill Gates saw coming all the way in 1996, and how we all got turned into content creators .

Nietzsche's Twilight of the Idols...is probably his most mature, comprehensive work in which he develops the idea of " Philosophy with a hammer". By sounding out idols, we can find those ideas we hold in esteem that are actually hollow. In this video, we examine his takedown of true world theories, best exemplified in Plato and Christianity( platonism for the masses as some call it). The idea of a truer better reality apart from the world we are in. A heaven. A nirvana.A utopia. Ideas he finds completely hollow

Today we examine the ideology of personal responsibility and how the further we lean on centering the self, the further the deeper we fall into false consciousness 

Works cited: Michel Foucault - Discipline and punish, John Locke's "Second Treatise of Government", Jordan Peterson's "!2 rules for life" , and Bowling Alone" by Robert Putnam

Nike says " Just do it" but most of our problems in our life stem from either thinking without action or acting without thinking. In this episode, we examine the latter issue, why are we encouraged to just take action instead of taking the time to actually examine what must be done The framework examined for thinking deeply is Blooms Taxonomy for the creation of Knowledge.