Exploring Kodawari

About Exploring Kodawari

We are two classical musicians exploring the many manifestations of kodawari in the world. Kodawari is a beautiful concept word from Japanese. Although difficult to translate succinctly, kodawari essentially means pursuing perfection in a craft. It is the pursuit of an ideal even though you realize you can’t arrive there. Kodawari is what drives musicians to spend countless hours in the practice room. It motivates a chef to make the perfect meal, a writer to suffer over their words, and a barista to craft the perfect drink. But it is also an approach to life. We want to read books, interview people, discuss topics, and discover amazing content that will keep our kodawari fire burning. It is our excuse to continue growing as musicians and as people, and we hope that you'll join us! https://exploringkodawari.blog/about-kodawari/

Publisher

Exploring Kodawari

Category

education · music · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

13 Jun 2020

Latest episode

25 Dec 2025

Latest episodes

43 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   25 Dec 2025

   2025 Reflections: Musical Flow, Carl Jung, & Being Skeptical of Skepticism (#41)

   This episode is another attempt to keep the podcast on life support. Like last year, our busy musician schedules (and lack of proper planning) made it difficult to publish several episodes throughout the year. With a few free days left in 2025 before some traveling, I gathered my thoughts and reflections from the year 2025 and tried to make them into this stream of consciousness style of episode. The first topic I talked about was my musical reflections from the year, with one of the primary ones being my thoughts about how psychological flow works, aka, that "being in the zone" feeling. I reflected on the following quote, which I love: “Flow is found at the intersection of discipline and surrender” On the theme of surrender, I also explored the topic of duende, a concept my wife Yankı read about in the Edward Hirsch book linked below on artistic inspiration. Duende introduces a mischievous, mysterious, and almost demonic force behind artistry. A quote referenced in this book is another one that stuck with me in my performances this past year: “All truly profound art requires its creator to abandon himself to certain powers which he invokes but cannot altogether control.” —ANDRÉ MALRAUX, "GOYA" Carl Jung I really want to devote a whole episode series to what we've been reading and thinking about regarding Carl Jung over the past year. Perhaps that will happen. However, for this 2025 reflection episode, I introduced some of my favorite concepts that I've learned from reading Jung or reading about him. I covered what Jungian synchronicity is and a few possible examples that happened to us this past year. I also talked about coincidentia oppositorum, the coincidence of opposites, a mystical and philosophical concept crucial to Jungian psychology and also something I've wrestled with over the past year. I gave several Jung quotes throughout the episode, with this one probably being my favorite: “The meaning of my existence is that life has addressed a question to me. Or, conversely, I myself am a question which is addressed to the world, and I must communicate my answer, for otherwise I am dependent upon the world’s answer.” The Problem With Skepticism Lastly, after probably getting a bit too wiggly in my thinking, I closed the episode with some thoughts about skepticism and how it can go too far. Being completely naive is bad, but it is also sad to have your skepticism dial turned up too much and miss out on some of the magic and "wiggles" that make life meaningful. Maybe the point is to find a balance between skepticism and the instinct to believe and to play. Timestamps: [02:55]Musical Lessons & Reflections [10:07]Carl Jung, Symbols, & Syncronicity [25:37]Carl Jung and Coincidence of Opposites [39:13]The Problem with Skepticism Links: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (https://amzn.to/4p6Ha8V) by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Affiliate Link) Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's TED Talk (https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_flow_the_secret_to_happiness) The Master and...

2. 

   1 Jan 2025

   Lessons And Observations in 2024 (#40)

   Well, it has been over a year since our last episode. As a COVID-19 pandemic project, sticking to a consistent publishing schedule for this podcast has been tough. But we've always said that even if our focus on it fades and drifts, we'll continue putting out content as long as we have something to say. So, we threw this episode together on New Year's Eve to at least say that we put out one episode in 2024. Enjoy our lessons, observations, and reflections on 2024, which includes topics we hope to cover over a few episodes in 2025. We talk about the value of simplicity, gratitude prayers, learning to surrender, knowledge vs wisdom, and the meaning crisis in our culture and why there are so many zombie movies/TV shows. 2024 Quote "It is very simple to be happy, but it is very difficult to be simple." —Rabindranath Tagore Timestamps: coming soon! Links: Overcoming Nihilism (https://exploringkodawari.blog/overcoming-nihilism-why-meaning-matters-and-how-to-find-it/) (My 2022 article) Zombies in Western Culture A Twenty-First Century Crisis (https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0113) by John Vervaeke, Christopher Mastropietro, and Filip Miscevic Support Us: You can always support us by leaving a rating or review in your podcasting app. You can also share our episodes with friends on social media. But it does take a lot of time to put together a podcast, maintain a website, and write new content every week. So if you would like to support us in a more substantial way, consider making a donation through the PayPal buttons on our website: https://exploringkodawari.blog/donation/ (https://exploringkodawari.blog/donation/) Follow Us: Our Website/Blog (https://exploringkodawari.blog/) Newsletter (https://exploringkodawari.blog/newsletter/) Twitter: @EKodawari (https://twitter.com/EKodawari) Instagram: @exploringkodawari (https://www.instagram.com/exploringkodawari/) Facebook: facebook.com/ExploringKodawari (https://www.facebook.com/ExploringKodawari/)

3. 

   5 Mar 2023

   Revisiting Kodawari (#39)

   In this episode—especially since it has been so long since our last one—we decided to revisit the concept of kodawari and how it has changed for us over the three years of doing this podcast/blog. Over time we encounter more knowledge and have more life experiences. And as we attempt to integrate those into a coherent life philosophy, our ideas about life change and update. I believe we have a duty to regularly bring a beginner's mind (https://exploringkodawari.blog/beginners-mind/) to our ideas so that we can "rediscover" them with novelty. There is something cyclic to the way that we descend into a more chaotic state of confusion and then emerge from it by finding once again our deep truths with freshness in the present moment. This cyclic process can subtly or drastically update our ideas, making them more personal, genuine, valuable, and "true". So since we are very different people than when we started the podcast three years ago, we felt it would be good to revisit the meaning of kodawari with fresh eyes. We especially lean into the uncompromising element of kodawari and why our society needs more "skillful inflexibility" to continue functioning. Timestamps: [04:36] Why are we revisiting the meaning of kodawari? [09:09] How has kodawari changed for us? [12:12] What are we uncompromising about? [20:41] Rethinking how perfection fits into kodawari [23:11] Why humility is crucial [26:32] Limitations of the intellect and Chekhov’s The Seagull [32:59] Our official 2023 definition of kodawari Links: First podcast episode on kodawari (https://exploringkodawari.blog/podcast-episodes/what-is-kodawari/) Article: What is Kodawari? (https://exploringkodawari.blog/what-is-kodawari/) Japanese Ramen’s Kodawari (https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/noodlenarratives/2019/08/10/japanese-ramens-kodawari/) The Japanese philosophy of "Kodawari" (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/japanese-philosophy-kodawari-great-minds-think-alike-swarup-das/) Chekhov’s The Seagull (https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cl1-z6HteL_/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=) A Rabbi, a Priest, and an Atheist Smoke Weed Together (https://youtube.com/watch?v=TFzy1l_WoAs&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE) Support Us: You can always support us by leaving a rating or review in your podcasting app. You can also share our episodes with friends on social media. But it does take a lot of time to put together a podcast, maintain a website, and write new content every week. So if you would like to support us in a more substantial way, consider making a donation through the PayPal buttons on our website: https://exploringkodawari.blog/donation/ (https://exploringkodawari.blog/donation/) Follow Us: Our Website/Blog (https://exploringkodawari.blog/) Newsletter (https://exploringkodawari.blog/newsletter/) Twitter: @EKodawari (https://twitter.com/EKodawari) Instagram: @exploringkodawari (https://www.instagram.com/exploringkodawari/) Facebook: facebook.com/ExploringKodawari (https://www.facebook.com/ExploringKodawari/)

Reach and audience

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

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.9 / 5

37 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 18 / 100

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

Quality

16

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

51

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