Dara Clear, Author at The ClearOut

The Cartography of a Small World, or It’s Lovely to be Here! – Episode 40

In this deceptively positive episode, Dara is emerging from a fortnight of disruptions and disturbances that have laid him low. Over the course of the show, he examines not only the necessary compromises and recalibrations that must accompany a successful recovery, but also the contradictions that can occur in normally reliable wellness strategies.

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The Merits of Tolerance, or The Wisdom of the Two Johnnies – Episode 48

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In this episode Dara is prompted by a recent homophobic hate crime in Ireland to examine tolerance in a social context. He wonders whether the moral good of tolerance is as effective as the moral good of intolerance. He asks if the dogmatisation of the good can succumb to conspiracies of silence, and looks back at Ireland when it was in the grip of Catholic authoritarianism.

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The Four Agreements of Don Miguel Ruiz – Episode 47

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In this episode Dara has a good look at the bestselling 1997 New Age text, The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, the Mexican spiritualist and New Age thinker. The four agreements in question relate to how we speak or use language; how we receive the actions of others; the limitations of what we can know about anybody else; and the commitment to always trying to use the best of ourselves. Easier said than done, but Dara tries to examine them in a context of personal responsibility and everyday behaviour, and recognises how they can be applied in his own life.

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The Attraction of Protagonists: Three Singular Selves on Screen – Episode 46

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In this episode Dara reflects on a recent conversation he had about where and in what way the self should feature in the pursuit of happiness. One argument emphasises total immersion in self as a mode of psychic excavation and rebuilding, whereas an alternative, more Eastern approach, is a wilful eradication of self as the pathway to radical acceptance of what is. Neither is easily achieved, but the discussion is worth having.

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The Slap That Wasn’t Mine, or The Puppetry of Persona – Episode 45

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In this episode, Dara lets the topic be led by the Will Smith slapping incident at last Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony. He unpacks some of the possible lines of analysis in the current climate of identity politics and culture wars. He also looks at his own history of being slapped and breaks down the gendered implications of the open-hand slap, particularly when it is called a ‘bi**h-slap’, looking at how it can be used as a tool of emasculation.

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Where the Magic Happens, or Winning in the Empty Spaces – Episode 44

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In this week’s episode, Dara is set off by a tweet from a female account that first explicitly requests pictures of beautiful men – ‘rides’ is the term of desire used – and then disclaims accusations of objectification. Is objectification of men by women better, or less loaded, than objectification of women by men? Dara isn’t sure…

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Platonism and Sport, or The Impossible Pursuit of Perfection – Episode 43

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In this episode Dara presents his thesis that all sports fans are embroiled in a philosophical engagement with the team or sportsperson that they love. Namely, the relationship of our desire and emotional investment to a higher aspiration – the symbiotic realisation of sporting perfection. Dara argues that this desire is in essence a Platonic impulse to contemplate not only the ideal sporting moment, the physical and psychological expression of something exquisite that elevates fan and player alike, but also to be part of the collective good character of a club. When realised, therein lies the possibility of a moral edification.

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A Musician’s Life – Interview with Gavin McCaffrey – Episode 42

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It’s the dawn of a new era for The Clearout as Dara hosts his first interview on the podcast.

Musician and actor Gavin McCaffrey first made money in the arts as a child performer as one of Ireland’s legendary Billie Barry kids, gracing stage and screen in professional appearances. Many years later he and Dara shared a dressing room together when they were cast in Shay Healy’s The Wiremen, a colourful musical about Ireland’s rural electrification scheme in the 1950’s.

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Lovely Horse, Shame About the Tool on Top – Episode 41

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In this topical episode, once he’s dealt with a Hollywood actor’s less than enthusiastic response to Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, Dara gets straight into the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He discusses Putin and looks at his possible motivations for such aggression, and also considers the larger geopolitical implications of the conflict.

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Dara Clear

The Cartography of a Small World, or It’s Lovely to be Here! – Episode 40

The Four Agreements of Don Miguel Ruiz – Episode 47

The Attraction of Protagonists: Three Singular Selves on Screen – Episode 46

The Slap That Wasn’t Mine, or The Puppetry of Persona – Episode 45

Where the Magic Happens, or Winning in the Empty Spaces – Episode 44

Platonism and Sport, or The Impossible Pursuit of Perfection – Episode 43

A Musician’s Life – Interview with Gavin McCaffrey – Episode 42

Lovely Horse, Shame About the Tool on Top – Episode 41

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