The Symbolic World

This is the final episode of our Universal History series on the American Religion. Deacon Seraphim Rohlin and I look at the religious ideas behind the American project, especially the influence of Kabbalah and the search for a “pure” and universal mystical tradition. We trace how early Protestants, thinkers like Thomas Jefferson, and figures like Ezra Stiles engaged with Jewish mysticism as part of their attempt to understand and shape America’s role in the universal history.

- Watch the YouTube version of this episode: https://youtu.be/A563i-jrZs0
- Watch the rest of this series here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVX4HUUPrIY_U0msyBRVpwCI_srzn3tjL
- Universal History playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVX4HUUPrIY_M2uZP3yW6EEiod3fGD6FD

Timestamps:
00:00 - Coming Up
01:10 - Intro Music
01:35 - Introduction & Framing the Topic  
02:28 - Jefferson, Adams & “Pure Religion”  
05:23 - Kabbalah and the Founding Fathers  
07:48 - Puritans, Quakers & Early American Mysticism  
11:11 - Adam Kadmon & Christian Kabbalah  
16:18 - George Keith & Quaker Debates  
20:18 - Sabatianism & Messianic Movements  
26:03 - Apocalyptic Expectations in Early America  
29:44 - Judah Monis & Kabbalah in Harvard  
33:48 - Kabbalah Used to Defend the Trinity  
35:59 - Ezra Stiles & America as the New Israel  
39:06 - America as the “New World” in Prophecy  
42:49 - Loss of Christian Mysticism & Turning to Kabbalah  
48:33 - America as the Promised Land Idea  
51:50 - Is America the “End of the World”?  
54:54 - The Contradictions of American Culture  
58:10 - Final Reflections on America’s Spiritual Identity  

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Join us at the Symbolic World Summit | May 14-16 | Ohio | Keynote speakers: Jonathan Pageau, Fr. Josiah Trenham, Mary Harrington, Dcn. Seraphim Rohlin, Kale Zelden, Annie Crawford, and Heather Pollington.
Buy your tickets: https://symbolicworldsummit.com/ 

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NEW COURSE: Plutarch: Symbolism in History with Pavel Shchelin
The problem with history is that you are in it. Plutarch teaches us to read power symbolically—asking "whom does the hero serve?" to predict leadership patterns before they play out.
Presenter: Pavel Shchelin
Duration: 8 weeks studying the lives of Greeks and Roman Lycurgus, Alcibiades, Lysander, Pompey, Caesar, and Octavian –as living patterns, not dead men.
Live classes are on Wednesdays at 4-6pm Eastern Time, starting March 18th through May 6th, 2026.
Price: $180 USD - Involved patrons can get a 10% discount. Apply your code at checkout. 
Register now: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/courses/plutarch-symbolism-in-history 

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🔓 Become a patron to support us and unlock exclusive monthly symbolism content: https://thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe
💻 Website and blog: http://www.thesymbolicworld.com
🔗 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jonathanpageau  
Our website designers: https://www.resonancehq.io/ 
My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson: https://matthewwilkinson.net/

This is a repost of a past video where I discussed the icons of Holy Week in the Orthodox Church and how they relate to each other as a unified symbolic pattern. Have a blessed Pascha.

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/h55O4Kxs6tU

Join us at the Symbolic World Summit | May 14-16 | Ohio | Keynote speakers: Jonathan Pageau, Fr. Josiah Trenham, Mary Harrington, Dcn. Seraphim Rohlin, Kale Zelden, Annie Crawford, and Heather Pollington
Buy your tickets: https://symbolicworldsummit.com/ 

Timestamps:
00:00 - Start / Introduction
00:48 - Palm Sunday (Entry into Jerusalem)
05:34 - Holy Monday (Bridegroom / Crown of Thorns)
07:54 - Holy Tuesday (Wise & Foolish Virgins)
10:15 - Holy Wednesday (Washing of the Feet)
12:37 - Holy Thursday (Mystical Supper)
14:36 - Holy Friday (Crucifixion)
19:27 - Holy Saturday (Descent into Hades / Anastasis)
21:47 - Resurrection & Empty Tomb
24:09 - Burial & Laying in the Tomb
26:20 - Conclusion / Meaning of Holy Week

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NEW COURSE: Plutarch: Symbolism in History with Pavel Shchelin
The problem with history is that you are in it. Plutarch teaches us to read power symbolically—asking "whom does the hero serve?" to predict leadership patterns before they play out.
Presenter: Pavel Shchelin
Duration: 8 weeks studying the lives of Greeks and Roman Lycurgus, Alcibiades, Lysander, Pompey, Caesar, and Octavian –as living patterns, not dead men.
Live classes are on Wednesdays at 4-6pm Eastern Time, starting March 18th through May 6th, 2026.
Price: $180 USD - Involved patrons can get a 10% discount. Apply your code at checkout. 
Register now: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/courses/plutarch-symbolism-in-history 
=====

🔓 Become a patron to support us and unlock exclusive monthly symbolism content: https://thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe
💻 Website and blog: http://www.thesymbolicworld.com
🔗 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jonathanpageau  

🎧 Listen to and review The Symbolic World podcast:
-Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0gI8bUwPtT3gkduHqNh6M5
-Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-symbolic-world/id1386867488 
Our website designers: https://www.resonancehq.io/ 

My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson: https://matthewwilkinson.net/

With the release of Ye’s new album, Bully, many have asked about the music video for the song called “Father.” While the video is surreal and AI generated, it is not without meaning or structure. If you pay attention to broader, context, patterns, and the relationships between images, a coherent meaning begins to emerge.

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/BG2psRcPH7o
My review of Ye's album Bully: https://x.com/PageauJonathan/status/2038374009382097289
Ye: Father music video: https://youtu.be/HBMy-y2wb4I?si=OKlf4_0c8y1zJwV1

SUMMIT 2026: Join us for the Symbolic World Summit 2026! Speakers include Fr. Josiah Trenham, Mary Harrington, Jonathan Pageau, Dn. Seraphim Rohlin, and others.
Date: May 14-16
Place: Broadview Heights, OH
Don't miss out! https://symbolicworldsummit.com/

=====
NEW COURSE: Plutarch: Symbolism in History with Pavel Shchelin
The problem with history is that you are in it. Plutarch teaches us to read power symbolically—asking "whom does the hero serve?" to predict leadership patterns before they play out.
Presenter: Pavel Shchelin
Duration: 8 weeks studying the lives of Greeks and Roman Lycurgus, Alcibiades, Lysander, Pompey, Caesar, and Octavian –as living patterns, not dead men.
Live classes are on Wednesdays at 4-6pm Eastern Time, starting March 18th through May 6th, 2026.
Price: $180 USD - Involved patrons can get a 10% discount. Apply your code at checkout. 
Register now: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/courses/plutarch-symbolism-in-history 
=====

🔓 Become a patron to support us and unlock exclusive monthly symbolism content: https://thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe
💻 Website and blog: http://www.thesymbolicworld.com
🔗 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jonathanpageau  

Our website designers: https://www.resonancehq.io/ 
My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson: https://matthewwilkinson.net/

Kale Zelden is a literature teacher and writer and in this video he joins me to discuss reading, the "Great books", and what it means to recover the reading tradition in a modern context. We talk about how to encounter old texts, what reading can contribute to our lives, and how to approach authors like Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare without reducing them to modern assumptions. We also explore the limits of the novel, modernism, postmodernism, irony, and the essential rediscovery of the epic.

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/9zps7RIov44

Kale’s Substack, The Underneath: https://kalezelden.substack.com/

Join us at the Symbolic World Summit | May 14-16 | Ohio | Keynote speakers: Jonathan Pageau, Fr. Josiah Trenham, Mary Harrington, Dcn. Seraphim Rohlin, Kale Zelden, Annie Crawford, and Heather Pollington
Buy your tickets: https://symbolicworldsummit.com/ 

Learn more about Pavel Shchelin's phenomenal course on Plutarch, Live now: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/courses/plutarch-symbolism-in-history

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Coming up
01:07 - Intro music
01:32 - Introduction
02:09 - The state of education
07:30 - First of all
10:47 - The power of analogy
13:11 - Select your curriculum
21:05 - What is canon?
33:24 - What are we moving towards
39:20 - Allegory
43:47 - What is modernism?
47:50 - Great books program
53:24 - What is the epic?

BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS DISCUSSION:
00:04:45
 Augustine — Confessions — Spiritual autobiography, early Christian thought
 Plato — Dialogues — Philosophy of truth, justice, knowledge
 Aristotle — (various works) — Ethics, logic, metaphysics
 Church Fathers — (various writings) — Foundations of Christian theology
00:06:20
 Anne Rice — (novels) — Modern popular fiction
 Shakespeare — (general works) — Foundational drama
 Beowulf — Anonymous — Old English epic poem
00:06:49
 Plato — Dialogues — Rediscovered philosophical texts
00:07:32
 Shakespeare — Hamlet — Tragedy of revenge and doubt
 Dante — Divine Comedy — Vision of Hell, Purgatory, Heaven
 Chaucer — Canterbury Tales — Medieval storytelling
 Mary Shelley — Frankenstein — Creation and responsibility
 Milton — Paradise Lost — Epic of the Fall
00:13:55
 Kerouac — On the Road — Modern freedom and experience
 Camus — (e.g. The Stranger) — Existential philosophy
00:14:31
 Homer — Iliad, Odyssey — Foundational epics
 Plato — Apology, Republic — Justice and philosophy
 Shakespeare —
Romeo and Juliet — Tragic love
Julius Caesar — Politics and betrayal
Macbeth — Ambition and guilt
A Midsummer Night’s Dream — Comedy and illusion
King Lear — Suffering and authority
Hamlet — Existential tragedy
The Tempest — Reconciliation
00:16:21
 Dostoevsky — Crime and Punishment — Guilt and redemption
 Dostoevsky — The Brothers Karamazov — Faith and morality
00:21:31
 Voyage of St. Brendan — Medieval Christian voyage
 Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius — Apocalyptic text
 The Golden Legend — Jacobus de Voragine — Saints’ lives
00:21:58
 Cervantes — Don Quixote — Satire of chivalry, early novel
00:22:51
 Jane Austen — Pride and Prejudice — Social psychology
00:23:59
 Milton — Paradise Lost — (revisited, epic psychology)
00:26:11
 Faulkner — (novels) — Fragmented modern storytelling
00:33:41
 C.S. Lewis — On Stories — Defense of story over psychology
 C.S. Lewis — Abolition of Man — Critique of modern values
 C.S. Lewis — Miracles — Defense of the supernatural
00:37:05
 Sondheim — Into the Woods — Modern fairy tale deconstruction
00:38:55
 Rabelais — Gargantua and Pantagruel — Satirical, playful text
00:44:06
 Melville — Moby-Dick — Epic-scale novel
 Hemingway — The Sun Also Rises — Modern disillusionment
00:49:42
 Ovid — Metamorphoses — Mythic transformations
00:46:13 (thinkers mentioned)
 Lyotard — Postmodern philosophy
 Derrida — Deconstruction
 Heidegger — Phenomenology
00:53:14
 Virgil — Aeneid — Roman epic
 Bible — (Moses narrative) — Epic of calling and suffering

🔓 Become a patron to support us and unlock exclusive monthly symbolism content: https://thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe
💻 Website and blog: http://www.thesymbolicworld.com
🔗 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jonathanpageau  
🎧 Listen to and review The Symbolic World podcast:
-Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0gI8bUwPtT3gkduHqNh6M5
-Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-symbolic-world/id1386867488 
Our website designers: https://www.resonancehq.io/ 
My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson: https://matthewwilkinson.net/

We often assume that being “historically accurate” means getting closer to the truth, but that’s not always the case. In this video, I explore how modern, mechanical thinking can actually invert meaning, using the example of Christ’s crucifixion. 
What matters most is not just the mechanical details of how something could have happened, but what it means and its actual implications.

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/HXsbK_k8vn4

SUMMIT 2026: Join us for the Symbolic World Summit 2026! Speakers include Fr. Josiah Trenham, Mary Harrington, Jonathan Pageau, Dn. Seraphim Rohlin, and others.
Date: May 14-16
Place: Broadview Heights, OH
Don't miss out! Hope to see you there: https://symbolicworldsummit.com/

=====
NEW COURSE: Plutarch: Symbolism in History with Pavel Shchelin
The problem with history is that you are in it. Plutarch teaches us to read power symbolically—asking "whom does the hero serve?" to predict leadership patterns before they play out.
Presenter: Pavel Shchelin
Duration: 8 weeks studying the lives of Greeks and Roman Lycurgus, Alcibiades, Lysander, Pompey, Caesar, and Octavian –as living patterns, not dead men.
Live classes are on Wednesdays at 4-6pm Eastern Time, starting March 18th through May 6th, 2026.
Price: $180 USD - Involved patrons can get a 10% discount. Apply your code at checkout. 
Register now: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/courses/plutarch-symbolism-in-history
=====

🔓 Become a patron to support us and unlock exclusive monthly symbolism content: https://thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe
💻 Website and blog: http://www.thesymbolicworld.com
🔗 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jonathanpageau  

Our website designers: https://www.resonancehq.io/ 
My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson: https://matthewwilkinson.net/