back from the borderline

About back from the borderline

Back from the Borderline explores how human beings construct, inherit, interpret and sometimes misunderstand the ideas and beliefs through which they experience reality. Through depth psychology, religious history, Western esotericism and philosophy, I investigate how we come to believe what we believe, who influences those beliefs and how they affect the way we understand ourselves and the world. A lot of my work comes back to the relationship between consciousness, belief and power. How do institutions influence what people consider true, and why do we sometimes defend explanations we’ve never seriously questioned? Following these questions has taken me into some pretty unexpected territory, from early Christianity and the Western occult tradition to Jungian psychology, artificial intelligence and anomalous experiences. I’m also drawn to the ways spiritual teachings change as they’re passed between generations, and how institutions can preserve extraordinary wisdom while sometimes interfering with the very spiritual development they were meant to encourage. You’ll find conversations with scholars and independent researchers here, alongside long-form essays where I spend time with historical sources and competing interpretations. Some of the ideas I explore are controversial. Others have been debated for centuries, although most of us were never taught much about them. I don’t assume an institution is correct because it has authority, or that an unconventional theory is true because someone claims it was suppressed. I’m willing to reconsider my own conclusions as I learn, and I hope you’ll feel encouraged to do the same. I started this podcast years ago while trying to understand my own mind. Those early investigations into psychological suffering gradually led me toward the philosophical and religious traditions through which people have understood consciousness and human experience for centuries. There’s quite an archive here now, and I’ve kept much of it available, including episodes that reflect ideas I’ve since reconsidered. If you’re new, you can start wherever you like. There’s no need to go all the way back to the first episode. Even the title has taken on a different meaning over the years. Back from the Borderline now speaks to the boundaries I keep finding myself investigating, between psychology and theology, science and spiritual experience, accepted knowledge and ideas that have been pushed aside. I hope this can be a place where we explore those questions together, develop our own judgment and consider how what we learn might change the way we live. You can explore the full podcast archive, House of Cards, my ongoing Tarot series, and MOODS, my reflective intelligence app, at backfromtheborderline.com (https://backfromtheborderline.com/). Patreon members can also connect their membership to Spotify to listen to the complete archive there. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Publisher

Mollie Adler

Category

religion & spirituality · religion & spirituality · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

10 Jul 2021

Latest episode

13 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

153 of 401 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   13 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT

   The Cathars, the Inquisition and the Women Who Defied Rome (Anne Baring Part 7)

   Writer and Jungian analyst Anne Baring discusses the Cathars and Esclarmonde de Foix, exploring women's spiritual authority in medieval France during an interview with the host.

2. 

   6 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT

   The Black Madonna, the Grail and the Survival of the Feminine Tradition (Anne Baring Part 6)

   Writer and Jungian analyst Anne Baring explores how feminine spiritual traditions survive through Black Madonna devotion and Grail legends in this interview.

3. 

   29 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Mary Magdalene, The Beloved Companion (Anne Baring Part 5)

   Host explores Mary Magdalene's spiritual authority and relationship with Yeshua in an interview with writer and Jungian analyst Anne Baring.

Inside a recent episode

The Cathars, the Inquisition and the Women Who Defied Rome (Anne Baring Part 7)

Published 13 Oct 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] The religious communities that once occupied the Languedoc were subjected to extraordinary violence. Their organized religious life eventually disappeared, but centuries later, people are still studying their teachings, visiting the places associated with them, and reconsidering the religious questions they raised. I don't know whether our present moment represents the fulfillment of some ancient prediction. but I do think something significant is happening in the way that people are approaching religion and the questions around it. We have access to historical religious writings that earlier generations would scarcely have imagined reading. […]

Who has been a guest on back from the borderline

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Anne Baring
• Adam Curry
• Josh
• Ike Baker

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

577 ratings

Spotify

4.8 / 5

2,855 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 67 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

94

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

99

Contact back from the borderline

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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Questions about back from the borderline