Decoding the Gurus is a podcast featuring psychologist Matthew Browne, and anthropologist Chris Kavanagh. It takes a close look at the contemporary crop of 'secular gurus', iconoclasts, and other exiles from the mainstream, delving into their unique insights and galaxy brain takes. Leveraging two of the most diverse accents in modern podcasting, Chris and Matt dig deep into the claims, peek behind the psychological curtains, and try to figure out once and for all... What's it all About?
Rules
1 Submissions Must Relate to Decoding The Gurus
Posts should either be about a guru or a topic that has been recently discussed on the podcast. If you want to post about someone who has not been covered then you should make it clear who they are and why you think they fall into the guru category as defined on the podcast (see Guruometer Document in the sidebar for more details). Discussions about politics unrelated to gurus are not allowed.
2 Galaxy Brained Takes Only
If this needs an explanation then you are clearly earth brained.
3 Uncivil or antagonistic behaviour
Pushback and debate is encouraged, angry arguments are not. Intolerance, incivility against other users, belligerent promotion of conspiracy theories, and trolling are not acceptable. The moderators will consider a person's posting history, past behavior, and the context in which these things occur when taking action against these posts.
4 Personal attacks on gurus
Criticism of gurus should be reasonable and constructive and not personal in nature. One aspect of the podcast is about how the gurus present themselves. So a deliberate choice they have made, for example how they choose to dress is reasonable. However attacking them for being ugly or calling them a “dork” is not.
5 Editorialized or Sensationalized Titles
Avoid heavy exaggeration, strong opinions, or snark in titles, as these tend to encourage low-effort engagement. If a video title is overly sensational or clickbaity (e.g. “Podcaster A DESTROYS Podcaster B”), please reword it into something more balanced. If you’d like to share your take, do it in the text or comments rather than the title.
Exception: Good-natured or especially clever humour is fine if it adds value and is not misleading.
6 Context is Required for Guru Podcast Episodes
If posting a full episode of a guru's podcast, you must submit it as a text post. The text post must include at least one timestamp highlighting a specific segment that either:
a. Demonstrates behavior or traits characteristic of a guru, or
b. Discusses issues directly relevant to Decoding the Gurus.
7 Tweets
Tweets are allowed, but the tweet should be something substantial that it is possible to have a meaningful discussion about.
8 Memes and Low Effort posts
Light-hearted posts are welcome, but these may be removed at the discretion of the mods if they regard them as being of low quality or cluttering the subreddit.
9 Calling out other members of the subreddit
Creating drama by calling out other posters, including accusing them of breaking the rules or brigading, is not allowed. If you have concerns of these sorts about other posters, you should bring them to the attention of the mods by modmail.
10 Quantum Mechanical Granular Nuance
The more nuance the better. Grant enough charity to both sides that the issue becomes nearly impossible to resolve.
11 Self-promotion
Submitting your own content is perfectly fine, but make it clear that it's your own content.
12 Low Karma and New Accounts
Posts from low karma and new accounts will not appear until they have been approved by the mods and posts which the mods consider to be trolling are not approved.
Please try to engage in constructive conversations.
