Voice of Krόnos
This is not a self-help podcast. It is a guided subversion of everything that told you to stay the same. The Voice of Kronos explores the psychological, philosophical, and mythological threads that shape, and often shackle, identity, purpose, and belief.
Rooted i n the EVE Codex, a counter-mythology where Eve is the first seeker and Lucifer the light of inquiry, this series dismantles inherited truths and invites the listener to evolve consciously, dangerously, and deliberately. Through dialogues on stoicism, Nietzschean will, Buddhist impermanence, and the necessity of inner war, each episode becomes a mirror and a flame.
Becoming is not a path. It is a fire you learn to carry.
Voice of Krόnos
Episode 7: The Stillness of the Absolute
Before monotheism dominated our spiritual landscape, morality emerged from a rich dialogue between humans and countless divine forces. The ancient world operated as a chorus where no single voice claimed absolute authority. This podcast explores what happened when that dynamic balance was replaced by the "stillness of the absolute" – a perfect, unchanging God governing an imperfect, ever-changing world.
We examine how this fundamental contradiction creates moral rigidity. Laws established for ancient societies become frozen in time, struggling to adapt as humanity evolves. While polytheistic systems function conversationally – allowing each generation to participate in rebalancing cosmic order – monotheism transforms this dialogue into a monologue where humanity's role becomes obedience rather than participation. This pattern explains why religious traditions often resist societal transformations like women's liberation or recognition of new identities.
The Buddhist perspective offers a striking alternative, beginning not with commandments but with observation. Using the metaphor of tablet versus mirror – representing command-based ethics versus reflective understanding – we explore how each approach shapes our moral vision. The tablet provides certainty but risks tyranny; the mirror offers clarity but risks chaos without discipline. Jung's psychological framework helps us understand these approaches as persona/superego (tablet) and shadow work/individuation (mirror).
The middle way requires both: using the mirror to see clearly and the tablet as a temporary guide without mistaking it for ultimate truth. True morality emerges naturally when delusion fades and we recognize our interconnection with all life. Both approaches are necessary tools, but neither contains the final answer. The question that remains is what we become when both inevitably shatter in our hands. Join us for this profound philosophical exploration of how we navigate between the hunger for certainty and the courage to face life's fundamental uncertainty.
The Stillness of the Absolute. Before the one God, the world was a chorus. Each voice of nature had its own divinity the river that nourished, the storm that destroyed, the hearth that warmed and the dark unknown beyond the firelight. In this polyphonic cosmos, morality was not fixed. It was a living negotiation between forces, a dance between human needs and the whims of countless spirits and gods. No single voice claimed totality and thus no single law could smother the rest. With the rise of monotheism, this balance was broken. The chorus fell silent, replaced by a solitary voice proclaiming itself eternal and exclusive.
Voice of Kronos:The god of monotheism is unlike the gods that came before. Those earlier deities were bound by time, place and circumstance. They were flawed, mortal in their own way, as limited as the people who served them. But the monotheistic God is absolute, a being outside of time, beyond contingency, perfect and immutable. At first glance, such a God seems like the pinnacle of spiritual evolution, one source of truth, one origin for all things. Yet beneath this appearance lies a profound philosophical problem. A perfect, unchanging being ruling over an imperfect, ever-changing world creates an irreconcilable contradiction. If the divine will never alters, how can it respond to the shifting complexities of human life? If its law is fixed? How can it adapt to the chaos of history? This tension manifests as rigidity. Monotheistic morality becomes frozen, locked in the cultural assumptions of the era when it was first declared. What was once a law for desert tribes or pastoral societies is now treated as a timeless decree binding empires and modern nations. The sacred text cannot evolve because its author is defined as perfect. To change would be to admit imperfection and thus divinity itself would be shattered. Consider the difference In a polytheistic system, when society changes, new gods emerge, old myths are reinterpreted and rituals shift to meet new realities.
Voice of Kronos:Polytheism functions like a conversation. Each generation can add to the dialogue, negotiating with their deities and rebalancing the cosmos. But monotheism transforms this dialogue into a monologue. There is one voice, one truth, one path, and it speaks only in commands. Humanity's role is not to participate but to obey. This obedience is not merely spiritual. It carries profound psychological and political consequences. If there is only one divine truth, then every dissenting voice becomes dangerous by definition. To question is to rebel, not just against an institution or a ruler, but against reality itself.
Voice of Kronos:Dissent is no longer part of the cosmic dialogue. It is cast as sin, heresy. It is cast as sin, heresy, blasphemy. In this way monotheism weaponizes metaphysics. Disagreement is not just wrong, it is unholy. The result is a morality divorced from life. It does not grow with experience or adapt to changing circumstances. It demands that the world conform to the law. Law rather than the law respond to the world. This is why monotheistic faiths struggle with every age of transformation, whether it be the emancipation of slaves, the liberation of women or the recognition of new identities. They cannot truly evolve. They can only reinterpret the same frozen text again and again, hoping to make ancient words fit modern realities.
Voice of Kronos:The stillness of the absolute is not peace, it is stasis, like a body preserved in ice. It does not nurture, it suffocates. And so humanity lives in tension, caught between the fluidity of its own nature and the immovable weight of a divine order that does not bend. This tension produces conflict, holy wars, inquisitions, schisms, reformations. Each is an attempt to reconcile the living with the unchanging, a negotiation doomed to fail because the premise itself is flawed. In this sense, monotheism offers a promise it cannot fulfill. It claims to bring eternal harmony, yet it is built upon a denial of reality's dynamism. The world flows, empires rise and fall, cultures transform, but the one God remains fixed and thus increasingly alien, increasingly violent in its demand for conformity. Like a dam built across a river, it may hold for a time, but the pressure mounts Eventually. The water breaks through, and when it does, the flood is catastrophic.
Voice of Kronos:The serpent in the garden was not merely offering knowledge. It was offering movement, the capacity to grow and adapt. The act of eating the fruit was not a fall into sin, but a step into history, into becoming. It was a rejection of stillness, of the illusion of a perfect, unchanging order, and for that reason the serpent was condemned For monotheism to survive. It must silence this truth that life itself is rebellion, that no static law can contain the ever-shifting reality of existence, the Stillness of the Absolute, the Buddhist Mirror, the finger that points to the moon is not the moon. Zen proverb Before the rise of the one God, the world was a mosaic of forces Rivers, mountains, stars and ancestors.
Voice of Kronos:Each had their place in a great web of interconnection. In these older traditions, morality was relational and dynamic. It arose from the dialogue between humans and the living world. Nothing was final, gods could be challenged, rituals could evolve and wisdom was a path rather than a decree. Monotheism ended this dialogue by enthroning a single eternal voice, the Absolute, replaced the flowing web with a rigid hierarchy of command, where polytheistic systems reflected the diversity of life. The one God demanded unity, sameness and obedience. This marked a psychological turning point. And obedience. This marked a psychological turning point. Humanity shifted from co-creation with the divine to submission. Before it.
Voice of Kronos:1. The Opening Question the Nature of Moral Vision. What is morality? Is it a list of commands etched in stone, descending from a distant sky, or is it a living process shaped by the breath of those who live it? Monotheism answers swiftly. Morality is fixed. It comes from a perfect being beyond time and space. To obey is to be good, to disobey is to fall. Buddhism does not answer at all, not because it has nothing to say, but because it begins with silence and observation. The Buddha did not claim omnipotence, he did not dictate eternal decrees, did not dictate eternal decrees. He looked deeply into the nature of suffering and from that looking, a different vision of ethics emerged. Thus, the first question is not what must I do? The first question is what is happening right now? The unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates who looks outside dreams who looks inside awakens. Sigi Jung. 2. The First Encounter Question vs Command.
Voice of Kronos:Imagine a young seeker standing at the crossroads. To one side stands a monotheistic priest holding a tablet of stone etched with eternal commandments. To the other side sits a Buddhist sage holding only a mirror. The seeker turns to the priest what is morality? The priest responds it is obedience. These laws were given by God and do not change. Follow them and you will be righteous. Disobey and you will fall. The seeker then turns to the sage. What is morality? Sage, silent, holding up the mirror. Confused, the seeker presses further but where are the rules? How do I know what is right? The sage smiles softly. Look deeply. The answer is not outside you.
Voice of Kronos:Let us test both claims with questions rather than slogans. If morality is obedience, what grounds obedience when authorities disagree? If morality is inward, how do we prevent self-deception and rationalization? What is the purpose of rules? To preserve order, to cultivate virtue or to reduce suffering? Can a fixed code map an impermanent world? If it can, how does it adapt without ceasing to be fixed? If the self is not fixed, as Buddhism teaches, who is the moral agent? What continues from intention to consequence? Push further. Suppose a rule forbids an action, but following it increases preventable suffering. In a new context which has priority fidelity to command or responsibility for outcomes. If you choose outcomes, on what basis do you weigh harms? If you choose command, what justifies allowing foreseeable harm? Hold the question without escape.
Voice of Kronos:Carl Jung gives us a way to interpret the tablet and the mirror. The tablet is persona and superego, the face and the frame we present to the world, stabilized by shared rules. The mirror is shadow work and individuation. It forces us to see motives beneath piety, to integrate disowned impulses rather than project them onto enemies. Projection is the hazard of command-first ethics. We confuse the code with our own goodness and cast blame outward. Inflation is the hazard of mirror-first ethics. We mistake insight for exemption. The work is integration, a code that disciplines the persona and a mirror that reveals the shadow. 3. The Crossroads Within. 3. The Crossroads Within.
Voice of Kronos:Let us imagine that I am the Buddha, speaking not from doctrine but from direct seeing. My words are not commands, nor are they absolutes. They are a reflection, a pointing finger toward the moon, never the moon itself. When I see the seeker standing before the tablet and the mirror, I do not see two objects but one mind. The tablet represents the craving for certainty, the desire to be told do this and you are pure. The mirror represents the deeper path. The mirror represents the deeper path, where one must see clearly, even when what is seen brings discomfort. The seeker asks what is morality? If I were to answer with words alone, the answer would become another tablet, another stone, a fixed thing. So instead I hold up the mirror, look. I say not because the answer is within some permanent self, for there is no fixed self to be found, but because the illusion of separation arises from not looking deeply.
Voice of Kronos:When you gaze into the mirror, you do not merely see your face. You see the flickering chain of causes and conditions, your upbringing, your culture, your fears, your desires. You see how each thought and action ripples outward, touching countless lives. The First Truth of Moral Vision there is no morality separate from suffering. Where there is clinging, there is harm. Where there is ignorance, there is harm. Where there is insight and compassion, harm is lessened. The priest offers certainty Follow these rules and you will be safe. But safety brought through blind obedience is fragile. It cannot see when a rule itself causes harm, because it is forbidden to question the rule. The mirror offers no safety, only clarity. It does not tell you what to do, it shows you what is when you see clearly that your anger burns only you. Compassion naturally arises when you see that your enemy suffers as you do. The boundary between self and other softens. This is not a commandment, it is a recognition.
Voice of Kronos:Socratic Inquiry, the Middle Way. Like Socrates, I ask questions Not to trap but to free. If your God commands you to kill, will you kill without hesitation? If a law is unjust, will you obey? If two sacred texts contradict, which will you follow? If your own heart urges rebellion, is it sin or awakening? Each question loosens the grip of certainty. Each answer reveals attachment To tribe, to doctrine, to identity.
Voice of Kronos:Jungian depth, the shadow in the mirror. Carl Jung speaks of the shadow, the parts of ourselves we refuse to see. The priest's commandments are often projections of this shadow. Thou shalt not is as much about fear as it is about virtue. The mirror forces the seeker to confront this darkness directly. Here is where the real work begins, for until you see your own capacity for greed, hatred and delusion, you will continue to project them onto others. You will fight demons in the world because you are unwilling to meet the demon within the danger of each path.
Voice of Kronos:Both the tablet and the mirror can mislead. The tablet without the mirror becomes tyranny. Rigid laws enforced without compassion turn people into tools, their humanity erased. The mirror without the tablet becomes chaos. If insight is not balanced with discipline, it collapses into rationalization and self-deception. The middle way is this Use the mirror to see clearly. Use the tablet as a temporary raft, a structure to guide the journey, but never mistake it for the shore.
Voice of Kronos:Closing Reflection when the seeker asks again what is morality? I do not speak of heaven or hell. I do not promise reward or punishment. I simply point to the mirror and say See, understand, act with care. In this way, morality is not imposed from above, nor fabricated within. It emerges naturally when delusion fades like a lotus rising from the mud. 4. Closing Reflection the Shattering of Certainty.
Voice of Kronos:The seeker gazes into the mirror and begins to tremble. At first they see only their own face, familiar and reassuring, but as they look deeper, the image begins to dissolve, the boundaries blur. What they thought was self unravels into countless interwoven causes. Interwoven causes Parents, ancestors, language, hunger, fear, desire, a thousand choices made before they were even born. The priest's tablet now seems heavy, almost alien, yet strangely comforting in its simplicity.
Voice of Kronos:The mirror, however, offers no comfort. It gives no rules, no absolutes. It reveals only the raw truth of impermanence. The seeker whispers if there is no fixed self, who is the one who chooses? If there is no eternal law, what anchors the good? If all is impermanent, what matters? The sage does not answer. Instead, he gently tilts the mirror. In its reflection, the seeker sees not just their own face, but the faces of others, friend and enemy, lover and stranger, child and elder. The suffering and the joy are intertwined, inseparable.
Voice of Kronos:And then comes the final realization the mirror has never been empty. It was always the world. Looking back, the self was never just one being, it was the whole web of life breathing and breaking together. The seeker closes their eyes and breathes. There is no commandment here, no final certainty, only a question that must be lived again and again how will I act, knowing that every choice ripples across a world without edges? Thank you again. This is the voice of Kronos.
Voice of Kronos:I have watched countless seekers stand where you now stand, between the tablet and the mirror, between the hunger for certainty and the terror of freedom. Some chose the stone, clinging to its weight until it dragged them beneath the tides of history. Others chose the mirror, only to drown in their own reflection, mistaking chaos for clarity. Know this neither the tablet nor the mirror is the final truth. They are tools, illusions, necessary fictions. The tablet gives form, the mirror gives depth, but you, traveler, must decide what you will become when both shatter in your hands, must decide what you will become when both shatter in your hands. When you leave this place, the world will demand an answer who are you? Do not rush to respond. Breathe, watch, then act, knowing that every action ripples across a web of lives beyond your sight. The question will return. It always does. The mirror waits, the tablet waits no-transcript.
