A psychiatrist's tour of fate, Jung and the afterlife.
Psychiatrist Tom Picton takes one strange idea at a time, from Egyptian afterlife spells to Neo-Advaita, and talks through the books behind it. Episodes end with his own verdict, which can be admiring or deflating, as when non-duality gets a cheerful 'thanks for nothing'.
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Picton's Podcast belongs to Tom Picton, a psychiatrist drawn to large and slightly strange questions: fate, the afterlife, mysticism, simulated universes and the disappearing self. The format is simple. He picks a book, a thinker or a tradition, says where his material comes from, and paraphrases the highlights with one-liners along the way. When Nick Bostrom and Elon Musk come up as believers in simulation theory, his response is that he needs the cheat codes. He keeps his sources out in the open. Forever Jung draws on Gary Lachman's Jung, The Mystic, and My Big Toe leans on a Monroe Institute review of physicist Tom Campbell's trilogy, which Picton notes he has also read himself. The subjects range widely. Fatalism Attraction starts from Alan Moore's Jerusalem, a sixty-hour audiobook he is close to finishing, and moves through determinism, the ancient Idle Argument and Albert Camus. A Stroke of Genius? covers transactional analysis, which applied game theory to psychiatry, and the book Games People Play, where 'stroking' turns out to mean recognition rather than touch. Deadtime Stories weighs up tourist guides to the afterlife, beginning with the Egyptian Book of the Dead, where gates are guarded by creatures with enormous knives and a heart goes on the scales against an ostrich feather. Nobody's Fool, a re-recording of an earlier take, looks at Neo-Advaita through Richard Sylvester's I Hope You Die Soon, a title aimed at the personal self rather than the reader. Forever Jung follows Jung from seances and word-association tests to The Red Book and his mandala paintings. Picton's own view comes through in the verdicts. They do not all land the same way. Campbell's theory of everything earns a 'totally awesome'. Transactional analysis is judged 'maybe flawed genius'. Non-duality gets a full hearing and then a 'thanks for nothing', softened at once with 'it's nothing personal'. Jung comes out as a man who was hard on people but had remarkable ideas, and Picton, who leans toward spirituality over Freud, calls himself 'Jung at heart'. The titles pun on familiar phrases. Several episodes open with 'Tonight', and they close on a goodnight, sometimes with a joke attached, such as blaming fate for an extra glass of red wine. My Big Toe is the place to start for simulation theory and consciousness, Forever Jung for psychology's mystical side, and Deadtime Stories for a guided tour of the underworld.
Made for: Suits a listener curious about fate, consciousness, Jung and the afterlife who wants one guide to summarise the key books, with a dry joke and a frank verdict at the end.
What sets it apart: A psychiatrist works through esoteric and philosophical books out loud, names his sources, and gives his own verdict at the end, which can be glowing or flatly unconvinced. Pun titles and goodnight sign-offs keep the heavy subjects light.
A podcast of weird and wonderful topics by maverick Psychiatrist Tom Picton.Check out my blog Astral Projects at https://focus27.wordpress.comand look for my books on Amazon and Audible.I have run out of room here so look out for Picton's Podcast 2 on iTunes for the latest!https://t.co/cZssjLb38O
Jung's mandalas and Tesla's vegetable potion: your curiosity gets company, and your skepticism gets a chair.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Eric Byrne's transactional analysis meets a welfare-office case and practical rules for handling everyday psychological games.
Eric Byrne's path from game theory into psychiatry gives the episode a clear spine: how ordinary exchanges shape behavior. The discussion moves through transactional analysis, recognition as "stroking," and the Parent, Adult, and Child ego states before grounding those ideas in…
A skeptical, funny tour of non-duality, from Richard Sylvester to the awkward question of whether liberation can be verified.
Nobody's Fool takes a dry, sideways look at neo-Advaita and non-duality, where the separate person and the freedom to choose are treated as illusions, then asks what is left if liberation is already here.
Logic-driven philosophy talks, recorded with the room left in.
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Long interviews with neuroscientists and philosophers on consciousness, decision-making, and whether AI is anything like a brain.
Picton's Podcast's A Stroke of Genius?
The episode explores the Theory of Everything, proposing that reality is a digital virtual reality based on evolving consciousness.
Carl Jung’s Red Book, published in 2009, records an inner journey tied to his concepts of archetypes, synchronicity, and individuation.
Picton's Podcast episode 'Nobody's Fool' is a re-recording of 'I Hope You Die Soon' and a review of Richard Sylvester's non-duality books.
Tom Picton introduces the concept of 'The Map Is Not The Territory' from Alfred Korzybski's work, exploring non-Aristotelian systems and the unravelling of reality.
After Tesla died in 1943, John G. Trump examined seized papers and found no workable death-ray technology.
This episode explores the life and work of Milton Erickson, a psychiatrist who revolutionized hypnosis and psychotherapy by emphasizing the patient's active role and the power of the unconscious mind.