S2. Chapter 11: Pluribus. We Is Us.
Chapter 11 blends the Tao Te Ching with Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus as Lloyd Dobler examines hive minds, confusion, and the Taoist value of the empty center
S2. Chapter 10: I Gave Her My Heart. She Gave Me a Pen. Can I Write My Way Home?
Lloyd Dobler sits with one of the most personal moments of his past: a letter from Diane Court, written in 2011 and rediscovered in a box labeled IMPORTANT. What begins as a relic from an old life becomes a catalyst for self-recognition, softening, and stumbling toward the version of himself he thought he’d lost.
S2. Chapter 9: Do Your Job and Go the F* Home | Tao of Lloyd
In Chapter 9 of The Tao of Lloyd, Lloyd digs into the ancient wisdom of “Do your work, then step back,” and discovers it pairs surprisingly well with a viral TikTok urging everyone to “do your job and go the f* home.”
S2. Chapter 8: Be Water, My Friend (And Other Ways to Survive Empire)
Lloyd Dobler channels Lao Tzu, Bruce Lee, and Standing Rock to ask: how do we stay liquid in a country obsessed with hard takes? Be Water, My Friend is a meditation on softness as strength, ego as ice, and the radical art of flowing through empire.
S2. Chapter 7: Zohran Mamdani v. Donald Trump — TURN THE VOLUME UP.
S2. Chapter 6: The Algorithm in a Long Swinging Red Tie | The Tao of Lloyd
In this chapter, Lloyd reads Chapter 6 of the Tao Te Ching and wrestles with what it means to let go in an age where everything is engineered to keep you holding on. From AI hype and Trump-era theatrics to the quiet rebellion of washing one dish instead of arguing about it online, this episode finds softness in the absurd.
Chapter 5: Does the Center Hold?
Lloyd Dobler cracks open Chapter 5 of the Tao Te Ching and ends up between Lao Tzu and Yeats, trying to breathe through the noise of late-stage empire.
S2. Chapter 4: What If the Hippies Won?
Lloyd Dobler asks what the world might look like if peace, poetry, and protest had actually beaten profit. Chapter 4 of the Tao Te Ching meets Gen X nostalgia and political satire.
S2. Chapter 3: The Art of Letting Go When ICE Comes Calling
How do you practice not forcing when fascism’s testing the guardrails?
S2. Chapter 2: Solving for X in the Algorithm of Empire
Chapter 2 of The Tao of Lloyd explores wu wei, algorithmic pressure, and the Tao Te Ching’s guidance on letting go inside a system built on impulse and control.