🎄 Christmas 2025 Special | Temple Barred Podcast 🎄

The lads sit down for a raw, funny, and deeply human Christmas special that captures everything this time of year brings — grief, gratitude, chaos, connection, and plenty of laughs along the way.

Jim and Philip reflect on the true meaning of Christmas after a year marked by loss, sharing a heartfelt tribute to a loved one gone far too soon and offering compassion to anyone finding the season difficult. From the loneliness that can creep in during the holidays to the small lights that help us through dark moments, this episode is an honest reminder that this too shall pass.

As ever, the heavy moments are balanced with classic Temple Barred storytelling:

🎤 a painfully funny tale of Philip’s “big break” acting role that lasted less than a second

🎶 life as a working musician — gigs gone wrong, sound disasters, horse arenas in Belgium, and Irish pub madness

📻 conversations on music, autotune, Spotify vs YouTube, modern fame, and why authenticity still matters

🌍 shoutouts to listeners tuning in from Germany, Canada, Vietnam, and beyond

This episode is a love letter to listeners around the world who use podcasts as company, comfort, and craic — whether you’re freezing, sweating, celebrating, or just getting through the day.

Pull up a chair, pour a drink, and spend Christmas with the Temple Barred Podcast.

✨ Themes: Christmas reflections, grief & healing, Irish humour, music industry stories, mental health, creativity, community

🎧 Perfect for: fans of long-form conversation, Irish podcasts, honest Christmas episodes, and unfiltered storytelling

Merry Christmas from Temple Barred — you’re not alone. 🎄💛

Episode 61: Cults, Consciousness & the Illusion of Reality

What isn’t a cult anymore?

In Episode 61 of The Temple Bar Podcast, Jim and Philip dive headfirst into one of the most provocative conversations yet — from religious cults and modern fandoms to consciousness, duality, fame, belief systems, and the nature of reality itself.

Starting with David Koresh, Jim Jones, Scientology, and the origins of cult behaviour, the conversation expands into religion, Sikhism, Jesus as a reformer, and how messages rooted in love and unity can become distorted over time. Are cults simply belief systems taken to extremes — and if so, are governments, corporations, football clubs, and pop fandoms just more socially acceptable cults?

The episode moves fluidly between:

• Cults & cult leaders (Waco, Jonestown, Scientology)
• Religion vs belief (Christianity, Sikhism, Jesus, Nanak)
• Modern “cult” culture (Taylor Swift, Kanye, Bono, football fandom)
• Fame & power — why every public figure eventually faces backlash
• The Law of One, free will, manipulation, and service to self vs service to others
• Consciousness, duality, dimensions & reality as a simulation
• Why nothing can exist without contrast — light and dark, good and bad
• Christmas parties, chaos, human nature, and the joy of losing control 🍻

Along the way, there are laugh-out-loud tangents, grounded Irish storytelling, deep philosophical reflections, and plenty of moments that will make you question what you think you know — without ever telling you what to believe.

This is a conversation about mankind, belief, identity, and why — in the end — everything might actually be okay.

🎙️ Listen now and decide for yourself what resonates — and what doesn’t.

Keywords / SEO tags:

Cults podcast, Temple Bar Podcast, consciousness podcast, cult psychology, belief systems, religion vs cults, David Koresh, Jim Jones, Scientology, Sikhism explained, Law of One, simulation theory, fame and power, Irish podcast, philosophy podcast, spirituality discussion, modern cults, fandom culture, free will, duality, Christmas party stories

Welcome to Episode 60 of the Temple Bar Podcast with Jim Wynne and Philip Noone — and we’re officially in the run up.

🎄 The run up to Christmas.

⚽ The run up to the playoffs.

💸 And the run up to Black Friday chaos.

Fresh back from Budapest, Jim shares the mad scenes from Hungary vs Ireland, the last-minute winner, the concourse mayhem, and why he suddenly became the chillest man in the stadium. Philip tries to price a taxi to Mayo, and we discuss the honour, horror and responsibility of becoming a “delicious” celebrity after meeting Garron Noone himself.

We also dive into:

🧁 Why Americans have pumpkin pie for Christmas

🔐 The real meaning behind “Black Friday”

💥 Hungarian ultras vs. Irish manners

🍺 “Black Eye Friday” on the border

🎸 Paul Mescal learning Blackbird from Paul McCartney

😳 Private concerts worth €6 million

🧘 A spicy rant about yoga rules, meat, and spirituality

💰 What celebrities really get paid for private gigs

👀 And how the fourth wall of media is collapsing live in front of us

Plus: the Mick Foley saga, who might be avoiding us, and why we might be flying to Prague just to sit in a pub and watch football anyway. 🇮🇪🍻

🔔 Subscribe, leave a comment and let us know:

Would YOU pay JLo €6 million to sing at your birthday?

Or would you get Post Malone instead?

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