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Emerge: Making Sense of What's Next

Emerge: Making Sense of What's Next

By Daniel Thorson

A podcast based inquiry into the next phase of the human experiment.
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Rebel Wisdom // Future Thinkers // Emerge - Making Sense of the Sensemaking Web

Emerge: Making Sense of What's NextOct 14, 2019

00:00
01:25:34
John Churchill - Attunement as World Medicine

John Churchill - Attunement as World Medicine

John Churchill joins Daniel to discuss the relationship between Attachment Theory and the process of awakening. Weaving together strands from Buddhist psychology and developmental psychology, John describes the Bodhisattva path and the development of a Planetary Dharma through the lenses of attunement and attachment. Topics covered include the development of the heart, the definition and various dimensions of attunement, and the difficulty of finding trustworthy spiritual teachers and community. John also shares theory and practice perspectives on the development of healthier attachment and offers words of encouragement for community building in difficult times.


0:00 Introduction and background for the talk

2:43 Western and Eastern Psychology and Attachment Theory

5:01  The attachment and attention systems and the sense of self

10:37 Addressing the split between the heart and the mind

16:21 Buddhist perspectives on the healing of the attachment system

21:26 Right relationship, attunement, and the dimensions of the heart

26:42 Developmental psychology and attunement

28:42 Levels of attunement and the significance of intuition

36:46 Collective psychological and structural components of attunement 

40:52 Awakening with and without the heart as a central point of focus

48:09 Discernment on the Buddhist path and a developmental model of the Bodhisattva

52:32 The significance of time in spiritual development

55:50  Finding trustworthy teachers and avenues of practice

1:04:30 Putting the difficulty of finding a reliable spiritual path in perspective

1:07:33 Theoretical perspectives and practical advice for developing healthier attachment 

1:20:23 Summarizing the development of healthy attachment and the Bodhisattva path from the perspective of attachment theory

1:23:37 Closing thoughts: Coming together and taking care of each other

Mar 09, 202401:29:37
Jordan Hall Converts to Christianity

Jordan Hall Converts to Christianity

Daniel and Jordan Hall discuss Jordan’s recent conversion to Christianity and the evolution of his worldview. How did a tech pioneer and futurist intellectual who would have said his chances of being baptized were “exactly zero” only five years ago become a convert? Daniel and Jordan talk about their respective “paths to humility” and the importance of religious community and traditional wisdom in the modern world.

Topics include the tension between innovation and tradition, Game A and Game B,  the search for deeply connected communities, the importance of grief, the evolution of modern Christianity, cultural attitudes towards Christianity, and the power of committing to Truth.


0-3:34 Jordan’s recent conversion to Christianity

3:35 The evolution of Jordan’s worldview and his relationship to religion since childhood

9:11 The 2008 financial crisis and the birth of “Game B”

16:55 Searching for “Civium” (seeking out a philosophically aligned community) 

23:07 Going to Black Mountain, North Carolina

31:18 Reflections on attending church and turning towards religion

42:06 Getting to humility

47:56 The importance of grief

49:54 “Religion that is not a religion” and the “Two Worlds Mythology”

53:26  Addressing the condemnation of Christianity in modern culture

1:02:57 Jordan’s thoughts on shifts in modern Christianity

1:06:36 The value of religious community and tradition in a neophilic culture

1:12:47 Committing to Truth

1:14:07 Wrap-up



Jan 31, 202401:18:39
Bob Falconer - Internal Family Systems and Spirit Possession

Bob Falconer - Internal Family Systems and Spirit Possession

After a long career using many therapeutic modalities, for more than a decade, Bob Falconer has devoted his practice exclusively to Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy. Bob has completed all levels of IFS training and continues to study with many of the senior IFS trainers. He co-authored the book Many Minds, One Self with IFS founder Richard Schwartz and has helped to train more than a thousand people in IFS. 

For the past several years, Bob has been devoted to completing the extensive research and writing of his new book, The Others Within Us, which deals with “unattached burdens,” “guides” and what has sometimes traditionally been referred to as spirit possession.

In this episode, Daniel and Bob discuss Bob’s personal trauma and the historical fight for the cultural and professional recognition of abuse, trauma and PTSD. They then delve into the history of psychotherapy and its connections to capitalism and colonialism and Bob’s perspectives on Internal Family Systems (IFS). While exploring the major themes of Bob’s book, they discuss the porous nature of mind, differing cultural models of mind, psychosis and spirit possession, Bob’s personal experiences with “the others within us,” the imaginal realm, and how Western psychology might shift from a “mono-mind” perspective to a “porous mind” one in the future.


Timestamps

  • 03:39 Intro
  • 05:29 Bob’s Abusive Upbringing and Early Spiritual Experiences
  • 11:07 How Internal Family Systems Has Helped Bob Become a “Man of Joy”
  • 13:37 The History and Evolution of Modern Cultural Conceptions of Abuse, Trauma and Mind
  • 21:03 Competition, Capitalism and Colonialism in Psychotherapy
  • 23:42 Internal Family Systems and Multiplicity of Mind
  • 28:43 Bob’s Book and His Perspectives on The Porous Nature of Mind
  • 31:48 “Something Foreign In My Mind”: The Client Who Changed Bob’s Perspective
  • 39:09 “The Others Within Us”: The Core Claim of Bob’s Book
  • 45:36 Generational Trauma and Different Cultural Approaches to “The Others Within Us”
  • 49:19 How Forces Not Clearly Linked To Our Personal History Might Get Into Us
  • 52:53 Limitations of the Western Conception of Mind and Differing Cultural Interpretations of “Psychosis”
  • 57:39 Possible Portals To A More Widespread Recognition of The Porosity of Mind
  • 1:00:05 Navigating The Imaginal Realm
  • 1:03:51 How Coaches and Practitioners Can Make Space for Porosity of Mind and The Others Within Us
  • 1:09:20 Closing



The Others Within Us



Jan 06, 202401:13:42
Tasshin - Fullstack Harmony for Maximum Deep Benefit

Tasshin - Fullstack Harmony for Maximum Deep Benefit

Tasshin – which means “to reach or achieve truth” – describes himself as an “online pilgrim wandering this precious world for the benefit of all beings.”

In this episode, Daniel talks with Tasshin about some of the lessons he has learned and his unique insights into what it means to “live your vow,” from clarifying one’s sense of unique purpose to effectively coordinating with individuals and groups. While breaking down a statement on “bottlenecks” from Tasshin’s recent article, they outline a powerful framework that connects inner and outer work and service.

Topics covered include productivity, psychology, ethics, effective coordination, the technological and poetic attunements (as described by Heidegger), the pathology of trying to “solve the world’s problems,” and the duo’s friendship, which dates back to their two-plus years together at the Monastic Academy.


Tasshin's Home on the Internet

Support Emerge on Patreon


Timestamp

02:15 Daniel and Tasshin’s Personal Connection and Mutual Inspiration 10:29 Overview of Tasshin’s Recent Article and Reading of His “Bottleneck” Statement 16:33 “Finding Your Vow Is The Bottleneck On Productivity” 24:02 Living One’s Vow/Purpose As An Iterative Process 28:23 Addressing Doubts Regarding The Concept of “Vow”or “Unique Purpose” 31:53 “Productivity Is The Bottleneck On Strategy” 44:37 “Strategy Is The Bottleneck On Effective Coordination” 47:57 Different Levels of Harmonization 54:17 Trusting Yourself, Trusting Experience, Trusting Life 58:52 From Solving The World’s Problems to Focusing On Goodness, Truth, Beauty, and Playing One’s Part 1:07:52 Closing

Oct 05, 202301:12:14
John Churchill - The Three Strands of Awakening [From the Coach's Rising Podcast]
Aug 21, 202301:32:05
Vince Horn - Meditate with AI

Vince Horn - Meditate with AI

Vince Horn and Daniel discuss the evolution, benefits, and potential of social meditation. They explore the new meditatewith.ai app created by Vince and Interbeing Inc. co-founder Chris Ewald. The app allows users to practice social meditation with an AI partner, with the ultimate goal of deepening the realization of human interconnectedness in everyday life. Vince and Daniel discuss how social meditation can affect relationships and networks, and how the practice might help address core issues of alienation from self, other, and world at the heart of the meta-crisis.

Vince Horn is part of a new generation of teachers translating age-old wisdom into 21st century code. A computer engineering dropout turned modern monk, Vincent spent his 20s co- founding the Buddhist Geeks project while doing a full year of silent meditation practice on retreat.

Timestamps

3:54 Intro

5:36 Intro to Social Meditation

11:23 Evolution of Social Meditation

16:33 The Role of Language in Meditation

21:50 Significance of Meditation Moving into the Inter-Relational Context

24:53 Social Meditation’s Effects on Relationships

26:04 The Meditatewith.ai App & The Issues It Addresses

30:11 Intra-Connection, Interconnection & How Social Meditation Can Impact Groups

34:19 Vince’s Inspiration For This Work

38:43 How AI Is Used in the App

49:09 Social Meditation and the Unfolding of the Spiritual Path

53:36 Creating and Refining a Protocol for Social Meditation

57:30 Value of Social Meditation for the Meta-Crisis

1:01:12 Next Steps for the App

1:03:09 Wrap-up


Try the app at meditatewith.ai

Jul 23, 202301:07:51
Bonnitta Roy, John Vervaeke, Thomas Steininger - Wisdom & Complexity [RSPND Network]

Bonnitta Roy, John Vervaeke, Thomas Steininger - Wisdom & Complexity [RSPND Network]

In this conversation, John, Bonnie, and Thomas discuss various frameworks on what wisdom is, how it functions, and the different types and scales of complexity in which wisdom may arise. The conversation explores themes of wisdom and complexity with both depth and breadth, navigating the topic philosophically and pragmatically, and ultimately arriving at wisdom's relationship with the "It" beyond all relationship.


This conversation is brought to us by the Respond Network. The Respond Network is a distributed research network focused on addressing the meta-crisis by researching and cultivating wisdom.


Respond Network Practitioners taking place August 7th – 12th, 2023 in Bergerac, France

Daniel's Patreon


Timestamps

0:00 - Intro

5:59 - Virtue Reactivation

8:19 - Wisdom vs. Development & Complexity vs. Rootedness

12:47 - Wisdom as a function of Domains of Complexity

17:48 - Wisdom as a function of Relationship

20:30 - Wisdom as the Interplay between Sophia & Phronesis

25:35 - Moving between Scales of Sophia & Phronesis

30:37 - Vertical and Horizontal Axes of Wisdom & Complexity

35:41 - Letting Go of Complexity into New Emergence

38:35 - Receptivity to Spontaneity

40:20 - Reorientation Towards Rootedness

42:50 - Accessing What is Fundamental Through Rootedness

49:59 - John Explicating Bonita's Demonstration of the Topic

51:22 - Mindfulness Mirroring

56:27 - Recognizing the Exemplification of the Sacred as a Function of Wisdom

1:02:34 - The World as a grounding agent for Wisdom

1:05:24 - When and How did 'It' show up?

1:12:10 - The 'It' is Beyond Relationship

1:24:14 - In Story'ing

1:26:14 - Mindfulness Mirroring II

Jun 08, 202301:29:42
Jill Nephew - Using ChatGPT is Like Eating Plastic for Your Cognition

Jill Nephew - Using ChatGPT is Like Eating Plastic for Your Cognition

In this conversation I speak with Jill Nephew. Jill, a former AI black box algorithm engineer with extensive experience in developing software architectures, holds a highly heterodox perspective on the risks associated with LLM AIs. In this conversation we explore Jill's argument that using LLMs like ChatGPT or Bard are like eating plastic for your cognitive agency and natural intelligence, how it is that AIs could cause the rise of new 'supercults', and how another world is possible, if only we learn to ask the right questions.

If you enjoy this podcast and want to support it please consider becoming a Patreon supporter.


  • [3:52] The critical difference between cognition and thinking
  • [9:49] Why is using LLMs like eating plastic for our cognition?
  • [16:04] What LLMs represent in the context of the meta-crisis
  • [24:51] How LLMs signal trustworthiness and use randomness to confuse us and unground our cognition
  • [36:00] What we can expect to see as LLMs introduce more plastic into our cognition
  • [38:29] What ways of interacting with LLMs might be safe?
  • [47:52] What are cults and how do they function in relationship to our cognition?
  • [53:29] The possibility of an AI 'supercult'
  • [55:27] The most dangerous thing we do to each other
  • [59:48] The deep meaningfulness and richness of grounded cognition, going beyond trauma healing, beyond the monkey mind
  • [1:07:17] Technology to reclaim natural intelligence, the practice of inquiry, the difference between 'good' inquiry and 'bad' inquiry
  • [1:12:31] The rigorous engineering behind good inquiry forms
  • [1:13:29] The power of inquiry, the feeling of insight, how to achieve a quiet mind
  • [1:18:29] Jill's advice for how to respond to the acceleration of planetary destruction


Jill's Conversation with Layman Pascal on the Integral Stage⁠

Inqwire, the software Jill has developed to help people reclaim their natural intelligence.

Support Daniel on Patreon

May 20, 202301:29:36
John Vervaeke, Zak Stein, Nora Bateson - What is Transformation? [RSPND Network]

John Vervaeke, Zak Stein, Nora Bateson - What is Transformation? [RSPND Network]

John Vervaeke, Zak Stein, and Nora Bateson discuss transformation and its complex, cross-domain dimensionality. This episode addresses topics such as how does transformation take place and in what contexts? How does western culture misunderstand transformation? How is transformation naturally interwoven within the larger narrative of our lives?

This conversation is brought to us by the Respond Network (https://rspnd.network). The Respond network is an initiative to address the meta-crisis by researching and cultivating wisdom. Respond is a network of researchers and practitioners who develop and deploy ecologies of practices (EoP) for personal and systemic transformation.


0:00:00 - Introduction, the Respond Network, Patreon

0:03:41 - Transformation Dimensionality

0:09:05 - Consequences of Transformation

0:13:13 - Transformation is not Chosen

0:19:11 - Virtue in Response to Fate

0:24:28 - Transformation is Ecological

0:29:41 - Re-Humanization of Transformational Spaces

0:32:05 - Necessary Tension within the Mythology of Hero

0:41:41 - Shifts in Intergenerational Transmission

0:44:08 - Ecology of Communication

0:50:58 - Necessity of Cultural Cognitive Grammar

0:53:20 - The Contextuality & Transferability of Transformation

1:08:23 - How Skills are Interwoven & Transferable


Support Daniel on Patreon

May 18, 202301:11:05
Zak Stein - AI Tutor Apocalypse

Zak Stein - AI Tutor Apocalypse

Zak Stein and Daniel Thorson discuss the myriad risks of emerging AI tutoring technologies. AI tutoring is being developed now and will be deployed over the course of the next two to five years, bringing radical changes to our educational systems. This conversation explores the risks of this emerging technology while simultaneously proposing how, if designed correctly, this technology could solve the meta-crisis.


Timestamp

0:00 - Intro

5:20 - Shift in Awareness of AI

10:08 - GAI Risk

15:51 - AI Alignment & Human Alignment

17:18 - Risks of Generalized Nature of AI

19:08 - Accelerating Misaligned Institutions

20:26 - AI Assistance & Anthropomorphism

25:35 - Instantaneous Media Interfacing

29:48 - AI Tutoring Risk

38:44 - Obsoleting Human Relationship

41:52 - AI Perfecting Propaganda

43:22 - Humanity's Educational Relationship

46:21 - Breaking the Human Nervous System

50:14 - AI Tutoring Risk Continued

55:17 - Building Aligned AI Tutoring Technology

59:56 - Importance of Non-Anthropomorphizable AI

1:02:10 - Irreducibility of Human Goodness

1:04:42 - The Limits of Computationalism

1:07:10 - AI Tutoring Guardrails

1:11:44 - Implementation of AI Tutoring Technology

1:17:36 - AI Planetary Tutoring System

1:21:59 - Solving the Meta-Crisis with AI Planetary Tutoring

1:25:06 - The Emergence of the New Human

1:29:18 - Right Relationship with Emerging AI Technology

1:35:18 - Conclusion


⁠Support the Emerge Podcast on Patreon⁠

⁠Learn more about the Anti Fragile Heart Retreat at the Monastic Academy⁠

Apr 24, 202301:36:59
David Sauvage - The Future of Collective Decision-Making
Aug 06, 202201:20:54
Gary Sheng - To Actualize Game B, Empower Gen Z
Jun 15, 202201:29:37
Steve March - An Integrated Ecology of Practice for the Meta-Crisis

Steve March - An Integrated Ecology of Practice for the Meta-Crisis

Steve March is the creator of an integrated ecology of practice and founder of Aletheia Coaching. In this episode we get into the history of coaching, depth and the fourth generation of coaching, going from self-improvement to self-unfoldment, Heidegger’s view on technology and attunement, depth ontology, eclecticism to integration, parts conflict in ecologies of practice, four depths of self-contact, internal family systems.

Aletheia Coaching:  https://integralunfoldment.com

Steve's Paper on the Neuroscience of Transformation: https://libraryofprofessionalcoaching.com/research/brain-behavior/the-neuroscience-of-enduring-transformation/


[0:02:36] Introducing Steve

[0:09:00] First, Second, Third Generation Coaching

[0:13:43] Aletheia and the Fourth Generation of Coaching

[0:18:10] What if we are already whole?

[0:18:47] Reservations about the term “coaching”

[0:20:38] Exploring Unfoldment

[0:24:57] Technological Attunement and Poetic Attunement

[0:44:53] Invoking Poetic Attunement

[0:53:20] Deeping eclecticism into integration

[1:37:00] Scaling Psychotechnologies

Jun 13, 202201:46:32
Sean Wilkinson - Circling, Meditation & Trauma
May 23, 202201:57:49
Circling & Soulmaking with Ellen McSweeney & Daniel Thorson

Circling & Soulmaking with Ellen McSweeney & Daniel Thorson

In this episode fellow Monastic Academy resident Ellen McSweeney and I explore the relationship between Circling and Soulmaking in an attempt to make sense of the experience we shared co-facilitating the Anti-Fragile Heart retreat in March. Towards the end there is a Q+A with retreat participants. 

If you'd like to explore the practice of Circling MAPLE is hosting the SAS 6-month Circling Training starting in June.

This conversation was recorded in the meditation hall at the Monastic Academy, and the audio is a little wonky...


Apr 14, 202201:14:37
Mark Feenstra - Renormaling: Fractal Harmony in Action
Dec 04, 202101:50:15
Layman Pascal - Spiritual Practice as Harmonization

Layman Pascal - Spiritual Practice as Harmonization

Layman Pascal is an author, speaker, and body-mind-soul at large in the Integral and Metamodern scenes. 

In this episode we dive into Layman's 'integration surplus' model of spiritual practice. This model offers an integrative lens through which to view all transformative practices. Through my work at the Monastic Academy I developed a startlingly similar 'harmonization model' of spiritual practice, which forms the conceptual basis of the curriculum for the Willow Intensive. You can learn more about that in this companion episode with John Vervaeke. In this conversation with Layman we explore some of the deeper ramifications and affordances of this way of looking at transformative practice. 

If you'd like to explore this way of approaching practice more deeply we are offering two online courses:

October 19 - November 9 at 11:30 a.m. ET: Intro to Harmonization: A New Ecology of Practices

Register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/intro-to-harmonization-a-new-ecology-of-practices-tickets-182786668847

October 22 - November 12 at 6:00 p.m. ET: Jade Method Meditation Course

Register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/jade-method-meditation-course-tickets-182814672607

--------------------------

In this conversation Layman and I speak about:

- How the harmony model arose out of Layman’s spiritual & philosophical practice

- That all spiritual practices can be framed in terms of harmonization, and why that is so significant

- Why it’s important that this model is ‘ontologically agnostic’

- The common confusion between harmony and unison

- The role of meeting conflict in order to reveal a deeper harmony

- The four fundamental proto-skills to help us harmonize any system

- How super abundant harmony can help us identify what is valuable and good in any context

- The value and limitation of awakening, and why it can sometimes lead to unskillful behavior

Oct 12, 202101:16:10
Harmonizing to Emerge with John Vervaeke

Harmonizing to Emerge with John Vervaeke

John Vervaeke speaks with Seishin and myself about the ecology of practices we are exploring in the Willow Intensive. This was originally recorded on The Stoa.

This episode includes a brief overview of the Harmony model and the five aspects we've been training to harmonize. We discuss the obstacles and opportunities of birthing a new kind of wisdom institution in the modern world, and the necessity of having an ecology of practices to adequately transform the human mind during a time of planetary crisis (and much more). The conversation ends with a Q&A.

We are offering two online courses for those who would like to explore these practices more deeply:

October 19 - November 9 at 11:30 a.m. ET: Intro to Harmonization: A New Ecology of Practices

Register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/intro-to-harmonization-a-new-ecology-of-practices-tickets-182786668847

October 22 - November 12 at 6:00 p.m. ET: Jade Method Meditation Course

Register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/jade-method-meditation-course-tickets-182814672607

Oct 12, 202101:28:48
Soryu Forall - Responding to Collapse: Virtue and Possibility at the World's End
Aug 12, 202126:22
Rob McNamara - Adult Development & Ensoulment

Rob McNamara - Adult Development & Ensoulment

Rob McNamara is an author, leadership coach, advisor and consultant with expertise in adult development and human performance. He is a co-founder of the leading consulting firm Delta Developmental, a faculty member for the Ivey School of Business' LIFT Advanced Coaching Program, and is a Senior Monk and Integral Zen Dharma Holder training with Diane Musho Hamilton Roshi. McNamara’s coaching focuses leaders on clarifying life purpose, growing critical leadership skills to advance value creation and fostering organizational development to enhance learning and innovation.

MAPLE Fundamentals Online Training (Cohort Begins August 8th)

Vision Quest at the Monastic Academy (September 10th - 19th)


Show Notes:

00:02 Who do we need to become to navigate this planetary meta-crisis?
00:05 “Revolutionary enfoldment” / new vectors of development
00:10 Limitations of just adding more complexity
00:18 Takes 10 years. Do we even have that? XR: “sacrifice for future generation” — Hero frame
00:26 Exploring other distinctions / sovereignty and surrender
00:33 “If we’re not willing to die, we don’t get to touch the ineffable grace of life”
00:36 The diversification of identity
00:43 The illumined reality / world as image structure
00:51 What needs to happen in public? / education
00:55 How do we cultivate the capacity to attune to image? / image is prior to language
01:04 Circling / need for community
01:08 “giving someone an image that is not their own”
01:11 Omniwin / “image structure is not an exhaustible resource”
01:14 Finite and infinite games / “switching arena of pathos to soul-making” / “game on, forever”
01:16 How to increase access to this?
01:19 Organizational development / “If this is our last thing, what do we do?”
01:22 How do we ground this in community? / problem-solving / play
01:25 Robert = “bright counselor”
01:28 Wrap-up

Jul 24, 202101:39:38
Zak Stein - The Eros of Ethics

Zak Stein - The Eros of Ethics

In this first conversation after a year sabbatical from the Emerge project I'm speaking with Zak Stein. This is a far ranging conversation about ethics, education, trauma, the erotics of moral understanding, and more. 

Support me on Patreon

Show Notes

  • 0:00 Opening
  • 0:03 How to create the kinds of humans who can respond to the meta-crisis?
  • 0:08 “We’re not sure what it means to be good anymore” / what’s worth loving
  • 0:09 Eros and Ethics / Ensoulment
  • 0:17 Moral development
  • 0:23 “How do you get someone interested in what is truly good?”
  • 0:25 Linking / meta-psychology
  • 0:29 Community ethics feedback loops
  • 0:33 Objective ethics
  • 0:37 Embodied ethical sensing
  • 0:38 Intersection between Trauma & Ethics, desensitization, somatic de-armoring
  • 0:43 Trust, return of the Sacred
  • 0:47 The Moral Exemplar
  • 0:52 Exposure to the full ethical range
  • 0:54 “Trauma” in culture
  • 0:62 Evil
  • 0:68 Practices for Wellbeing
  • 0:72 “Enlightenment is your greatest disappointment”
  • 0:74 Eros & Ethics
  • 0:77 Human as ethical actor, intimacy and obligation
  • 0:81 Circling, following “aliveness”, co-discovering moral landscape
  • 0:85 Path = compromising moral integrity increasingly intolerable
  • 0:88 Ethics in Community, MAPLE’s advantage
  • 0:90 Closing
Jun 28, 202101:34:57
Emerge Returns: Solo Episode
Jun 28, 202123:54
The End of Emerge (For Now)

The End of Emerge (For Now)

I've decided to put this project on hold and dedicate myself more fully my work and training at the Monastic Academy. In this episode I share some of the thinking and feeling that went into my choice.

If you'd like to support me in my training and work you can do so through Patreon.

A few recent pieces I've read that are relevant to this episode:

Sep 18, 202019:29
Zak Stein - American Culture's Psychotic Break (pt. 2)

Zak Stein - American Culture's Psychotic Break (pt. 2)

In the first episode after my 75 day silent retreat I sat down with Zak Stein to speak about the the current cultural moment and how we can respond to the chaos and uncertainty of the world with love and integrity.

This is part two of a two part episode.


In this episode we discuss:

- An overview of Zak’s metapsychology

- How the psyche is a triple of development, ensoulment, and transcendence and why one must work on all three

- How much of the talk about ‘sense making’ is missing two thirds of the picture

- The noetic function of love

- The relationship between language, image and symbol

- How ensoulment lags behind development and transcendence in terms of emphasis in transformational culture

- Why working with image and ensoulment might be the most important work that can be done right now

- What image has to do with the resolution of the meaning crisis

- Zak’s theory that, at some point, a shared cultural image will spontaneously create collective coherence

- How ethics is implicated in Zak’s metapsychology

- How virtue ethics is the antidote to virtue signaling

Jul 09, 202059:05
Zak Stein - American Culture's Psychotic Break (pt. 1)
Jul 01, 202001:09:22
Soryu Forall - Manufactured Awakenings

Soryu Forall - Manufactured Awakenings

Soryu Forall is the founder and head-teacher of the Monastic Academy

Soryu has a decade of intensive monastic training, a degree in Economics from Williams College, and extensive experience in social and environmental justice. He was ordained in 1998 at Sogen Temple under the tutelage of the Zen Master Shodo Harada.

The day this recording goes live I'll be beginning an 80(ish) day silent solo retreat here on the land of the Monastic Academy. By the end of this episode,  I hope you'll understand why I would do such a thing.

We discuss:

How awakening enables us to be of true service in times of crisis

How easy it is to fool ourselves about the depth of our experience and insight

Soryu’s personal crisis upon learning of the Japanese Zen traditions participation in the atrocities of World War Two

A vision of awakening that is adequate to the meta-crisis

Whether it makes sense to disconnect Waking Up, Growing Up, and Cleaning Up

Does awakening make us more ethical? Better at making decisions? 

The difference between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ enlightenment according to the Buddhist eightfold path

What kind of monsters ‘wrong’ enlightenment creates

Why transformative practices disconnected from ethical training is so dangerous

How the cultural assumptions of liberalism, humanism, and materialism distort our understanding of what awakening is

How your aspiration creates your understanding of the path

Why it’s necessary to do these practices in community

Soryu’s definition of awakening

And more!

🧘‍♂️🧘‍♀️

Monastic Academy Podcast

Donate to the Monastic Academy

Mar 13, 202001:46:16
Andrew J. Taggart - Existential Openings & Psychotechnologies of Self-Transformation

Andrew J. Taggart - Existential Openings & Psychotechnologies of Self-Transformation

Andrew J Taggart is a practical philosopher, Zen Buddhist, and entrepreneur. Recently Andrew wrote an article called 'Psychotechnologies of Self-Transformation' that led me to reach out to him and schedule a conversation.

This episode was recorded a few months ago, but it occurs to me as exactly the right time to release it. If you are feeling panicked about the Corona Virus, I'd encourage you to slow down, get a hot cup of tea (or go for a walk outside) and enjoy this warm-spirited philosophical conversation.

We inquire about:

Why aren't human beings kinder to each other, let alone to all sentient beings?

Is liberalism, humanism, and nihilism at the root of the meta-crisis?

How social media requires a self-enclosed narcissistic humanism to function

How do we move beyond humanism into a new cosmological sense of being?

Is it possible to install new modes of being in time to confront the planetary challenges facing us?

The necessity of existential openings as a portal to self-inquiry

Whether we need to administer 'gentle shocks' to help people enter into spiritual crisis as quickly as possible

How can we help ensure that instances of emergency and crisis can touch the heart and open the spirit?

How do we precipitate mass existential opening?

How do we help others encounter the truths of their heart?

What Andrew has learned about having skillful philosophical conversations

The importance of becoming sensitive in conversation to what Andrew calls 'existential weight'

Why we must change our lives according to our existential truths, and the consequences of not doing so

What is an adequate new definition of the human being that supports the emergence of a broadly contemplative culture

Does wisdom arise from awakening, or does awakening arise from wisdom?

What are the most important virtues to be cultivated now, in this time between worlds?


Andrew's Home on the Internet


Mar 11, 202001:34:36
Jonathan Reams - Waking Up & Growing Up: How Seeing the Virtuality of Self Supports Adult Development

Jonathan Reams - Waking Up & Growing Up: How Seeing the Virtuality of Self Supports Adult Development

Jonathan Reams works at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), serves as Editor-in Chief of Integral Review, and is a co-founder of the Center for Transformative Leadership and of the European Center for Leadership Practice. He brings awareness based leadership development practices to his work, focusing on how the inner workings of human nature can develop leadership capacities for today’s complex challenges.

His recent research and practice has focused on subjects such as; the impact of Immunity to Change based coaching, theoretical foundations of resistance to change, the integration of psychological and cognitive skill based assessments and the use of narrative based tools combined with developmentally informed reflection prompts for scaling development.

We inquire into:

What do we mean when we talk about human development?

Why are there so many different models of adult development?

Are higher stages of adult development all one thing or are there many different types of maturity?

The various types of developmental models and the key differences between them

How do we develop as moral and ethical beings?

How does seeing the 'virtual' nature of the self help us become more mature and wise humans?

And more! Enjoy. ❤️


Check out http://jonathanreams.com/ to see more about Jonathan's work and writing.

Mar 11, 202001:24:35
Robert Kegan - The Five Stages of Adult Development (And Why You Probably Aren't Stage 5)
Mar 06, 202001:11:51
Mark Feenstra - The Inner Dimension of the Meta-Crisis

Mark Feenstra - The Inner Dimension of the Meta-Crisis

In this episode, I'm speaking with Mark Feenstra. Mark is co-founding a consulting and training ecosystem and incubator, called New Mainstream, which focuses on large scale change that starts with ourselves and the possibility of a new mainstream. Mark is also in the process of founding a land-based community to ground the possibility of actualizing a new mainstream, initially in Golden Bay, New Zealand. 

Over the last year or so I’ve been lucky enough to have a number of conversations with Mark. He, as much as anyone I’ve encountered, really lives the sort of inquiry that I’ve been attempting to embody on this show. Every time I speak with Mark I feel like I’m falling into some wormhole of understanding and coherence. Mark has an amazing ability to bring these topics down to earth without sacrificing the ambiguity and playfulness that is the lifeblood of beautiful conversation.  

We talk about: 

Shifting from a Game A to Game B mental operating system 

The fractal nature of the meta-crisis and how it lives within each of us 

What integrity really means (and whether a crisis of integrity at the heart of the meta-crisis) 

Whether the split between individual transformation and systems transformation is an artifact of Game A consciousness 

Why attempting to fix or heal the crisis is a red herring Integrity as an emergent property of coming into relationship with wholeness 

How noticing the lack of integrity is a proximal cause of integrity 

The relationship between integrity and omni-win decision making 

And the beautiful impossibility of true omni-win decision making  


Monastic Academy Awakened Leadership Bootcamp

Mar 01, 202001:01:16
Rob Burbea - Emptiness, Postmodernism, and Sacred Participation

Rob Burbea - Emptiness, Postmodernism, and Sacred Participation

On this episode I'm joined once again by meditation teacher and author Rob Burbea. For this conversation Jamie Bristow and I talk with Rob about his approach to emptiness, and how it can be a route beyond postmodern nihilism and into a vibrant and sacred participation in the world. We talk about: An overview of the ‘ways of looking’ approach to emptiness,  the participatory nature of perception & the world,  how perception gets fabricated through our participation,  the limitations of a purely cognitive deconstruction ala postmodernism,  how Rob would define emptiness if asked about it at a cocktail party,  How emptiness reveals a path beyond post-modernity,  how hidden commitments limit our ability to explore perspectives,  the unavoidability of participation and the impossibility of neutrality,  the middle way between existence and non-existence, how this approach to emptiness offers a way forward in a ‘post-truth’ world,  how your experience right now is constellated by your way of seeing (whether you know it or not),  and the necessity of practice to realize the deeper dimensions of emptiness. Seeing that Frees [Amazon] Rob on the Deconstructing Yourself Podcast 2009 Emptiness Retreat Dharma Talks
Nov 25, 201901:51:06
Jamie Bristow - Mindfulness as Metamodern Psychotechnology

Jamie Bristow - Mindfulness as Metamodern Psychotechnology

Jamie Bristow joins the show to respond to critiques against the mindfulness revolution and to make the case for mindfulness as a key metamodern cultural technology.

Jamie is Director of The Mindfulness Initiative, the world's first policy institute about mindfulness. Jamie now works with politicians around the world to help them make capacities of mind and heart serious considerations of public policy. 

Topics discussed include:

  • A snapshot of the current state of the mindfulness revolution,
  • where we are at in the ‘hype cycle’ of mindfulness,
  • a response to the current crop of critiques of mindfulness and in particular Ronald Pursers ‘McMindfulness’ critique,
  • how mindfulness allows us to rescue our attention the clutches of the attention merchants,
  • the attentional capacities of mindfulness as fundamental ground for mass action and civil disobedience in the 21st century,
  • the symmetry between mindfulness and the concept of Sovereignty as promoted by Jordan Greenhall and Daniel Scmachtenberger, 
  • and what might be available at the deeper end of practice... 🤩


Jamie's Article on OpenDemocracy

Nov 18, 201901:28:05
The Future of the Emerge Podcast

The Future of the Emerge Podcast

A solo episode where Daniel shares his vision for the next turn in the inquiry of the Emerge podcast.

Nov 04, 201922:35
Rebel Wisdom // Future Thinkers // Emerge - Making Sense of the Sensemaking Web

Rebel Wisdom // Future Thinkers // Emerge - Making Sense of the Sensemaking Web

David Fuller, Mike Gilliland and I spend time jamming on the conversational space that we have been participating in, and attempt to make sense of where this all might be going...

Oct 14, 201901:25:34
Ronan Harrington - Extinction Rebellion: Collective Sacrifice and Metamodern Praxis

Ronan Harrington - Extinction Rebellion: Collective Sacrifice and Metamodern Praxis

This week I'm speaking with Ronan Harrington about Extinction Rebellion. We talk about the strategic dilemmas of Extinction Rebellion, and how it functions as a practical exploration of metamodern theory. 

Previous Emerge episode with Ronan

We chat about:

- The limits of philosophical conversation and the need for practical movement building

- The challenge of moving from collective awareness to collective action

- The possibility of inspiring an ethos of sacrifice as a portal to action

- Extinction Rebellions upcoming actions beginning October 7th, which are positioned to be the largest direct action in UK history

- Our mutual desire to move beyond conversations and into experimental action

And much more...


Extinction Rebellion International Rebellion  

Oct 03, 201901:10:24
Guy Sengstock - Circling Towards Meaningfulness & Collective Intelligence
Sep 23, 201901:20:41
Zak Stein - Metapsychology, Soul, and Collapse (Pt. 2)

Zak Stein - Metapsychology, Soul, and Collapse (Pt. 2)

In this episode, I'm speaking with writer, educator and futurist Zak Stein. We discuss 'Metapsychology', Zak's attempt to answer the question 'what is the human?' brought up in our previous conversation about a vision for metamodern education. This is part two of a two part conversation.

It's recommended that you listen to my previous conversation with Zak on Education and the Meta-Crisis before you listen to this episode.

Apologies for the sound quality on this episode, it's a little rough around the edges. 😕

We talk about:

- What is soul?

- How to understand suicide and collapse from a soul perspective

- The symmetries between suicide and the movement towards collapse we are collectively moving towards

- How metapsychology helps us understand what the human being is

- How our entertainment industry functions to repress our encounter with death

- Why you can't do educational design without metapsychology

- The difference between spirit and soul

Sep 17, 201955:14
Zak Stein - Metapsychology, Soul, and Collapse (Pt. 1)

Zak Stein - Metapsychology, Soul, and Collapse (Pt. 1)

In this episode I'm speaking once again with writer, educator and futurist Zak Stein. We discuss 'Metapsychology', Zak's attempt to answer the question 'what is the human?' brought up in our previous conversation about a vision for metamodern education. This is part one of a two part conversation.

It's recommended that you listen to my previous conversation with Zak on Education and the Meta-Crisis before you listen to this episode.

Apologies for the sound quality on this episode, it's a little rough around the edges. 😕

We talk about:

- What is soul?

- How to understand suicide and collapse from a soul perspective

- The symmetries between suicide and the movement towards collapse we are collectively moving towards

- How metapsychology helps us understand what the human being is

- How our entertainment industry functions to repress our encounter with death

- Why you can't do educational design without metapsychology

- The difference between spirit and soul

Sep 10, 201901:04:10
Future Thinkers - Cultivating Human Sovereignty

Future Thinkers - Cultivating Human Sovereignty

Today on Emerge I’m speaking with Euvie Ivanova and Mike Gilliland, hosts of the Future Thinkers podcast. In this conversation we explore the concept of Sovereignty, how we are practicing it in our lives, and why it’s such a significant tool in service of the evolution of consciousness.


Topics include:

-What is sovereignty

-What is sense-making, and why it is broken for so many people right now

- How to diagnose corrupted sense-making, and what to do about it

- Questions to ask yourself to increase your sovereignty

- How to work on your sovereignty when you can’t trust what you perceive

- The relationship between awakening and sovereignty

- How Mike and Euvie see sovereignty playing a role in the future of the human experiment

- Predictions about the emergence of new collective intelligences


Future Thinkers Podcast

A Course in Personal Evolution


Sep 02, 201901:01:59
Mette Böll - Cultivating Generative Social Fields
Aug 26, 201901:06:49
Christopher Life - OneNation: An Omni-Win US Political Party

Christopher Life - OneNation: An Omni-Win US Political Party

This week I'm speaking with Christopher Life. Christopher Life is the founder of OneNation, a new American political party dedicated to installing an all-win paradigm and rebirthing our democratic systems.

Christopher and I talk about systems change as the next great social issue, the two party system as a hegemonic duopoly, OneNation as a generative alternative to the current system, omni-win vs win-lose, how the omni-win vision is the center of the shift needed to remake all the systems of society, win-lose thinking as a psycho-technology that is no longer adaptive, how empire uses polarization to maintain power, the need to create new collective intelligences and to experiment with new decision making systems, how OneNation will pull the disenfranchised and disengaged into a new political conversation, and the plan to make all-win cool and win-lose lame.


Freakonomic Duopoly Episode

Bill Moyers Stages of Social Change

OneNation Party USA

Aug 12, 201901:33:24
Daniel Schmachtenberger - Utopia or Bust: Designing a Non Self-Terminating Civilization

Daniel Schmachtenberger - Utopia or Bust: Designing a Non Self-Terminating Civilization

This week I'm speaking with Daniel Schmachtenberger.

Daniel is a founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue.

The throughline of his interests has to do with ways of improving the health and development of individuals and society, with a virtuous relationship between the two as a goal.

Towards these ends, he’s had particular interest in the topics of catastrophic and existential risk, civilization and institutional decay and collapse as well as progress, collective action problems, social organization theories, and the relevant domains in philosophy and science.

Motivated by the belief that advancing collective intelligence and capacity is foundational to the integrity of any civilization, and necessary to address the unique risks we currently face given the intersection of globalization and exponential technology, he has spoken publicly on many of these topics, hoping to popularize and deepen important conversations and engage more people in working towards their solutions. Many of these can be found here.

We talk about the current state of the phase shift, whether we are past the point of no return for social collapse, Daniel’s three generator functions of existential risk, the definition of an adequate social architecture that avoids existential risk, how technology creates asymmetric advantage that debases the planetary life support system, why we need to create technology that leads to ‘metastability’, the pollution of the epistemic commons, why we need to define problems in a comprehensive way where the solutions don’t create worse problems, the vows Daniel made as a teenager, what progress is being made at solving the generator functions of existential risk, the auto-poetic nature of trauma, and the necessity of a mature relationship between certainty and uncertainty.

Aug 05, 201901:26:50
State of the DAO Panel Discussion

State of the DAO Panel Discussion

This week I am joined by Danilo Vaz, Stratis Karad, Jocelyn, and Felipe Duarte to explore all things Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs).

We talk about  what DAOs are and why they are significant, where the space is at (and what it’s evolving into), how DAOs might allow for teal/horizontal/distributed organizations to scale, what are some of the most exciting DAOs currently active, the need for wacky proposals, and more.


Participants

Danilo Vaz (@emergir_co) - Fascinated by everything Complexity related, from fungi mycelium, to cultural evolution, to distributed computer networks. He’s worked as a community manager at DAOstack during the project’s ICO. Co-host of DAOCast.

Statis Karad (@stratiskarad) -  Passionate about free thought, free speech and free market. Marketing & bizdev at DAOstack, and co-host of DAOCast.

Jocelyn (http://kattfantastiskt.nu/) - Artist interested in sociotechnical artifacts; her current work explores imagination processes, magic, and code. She works with electronic literature, installations, and performances within the contexts of decentralized organizations, female narratives, and the human love affair with the Internet.

Felipe Duarte (@facilitator23) - Originally an artist and activist, his experience on the ground during the social upheavals of Brazil have shifted his reflections towards society and organizations. Participant in the Genesis Alpha DAO and to becoming the Organiser of DAOfest.


Related Episodes

Richard Bartlett - Occupy Wall Street as Bootstrapping Collective Intelligence

Jordan Greenhall - Anti-Rivalry, QAnon, and SOCIs (Oh my!)

Max Borders - The Coming Social Singularity

Moritz Bierling - Metamodern Politics + Holochain = 🔥💞🌎🤸

Jul 29, 201901:34:38
Joe Edelman - Designing Systems for Human Flourishing

Joe Edelman - Designing Systems for Human Flourishing

Joe Edelman is a philosopher, social scientist, designer, and founder of Human Systems, a global community for those redesigning institutions and social spaces so as to better support meaningful lives and human values.

In this conversation we  discuss why designing systems in alignment with human values is the way forward for social transformation, the difference between advancing values and practicing values, the anti-rivalrous nature of values, how to name your values with the same specificity that you name your goals, why the breakdown of systems is a wonderful opportunity for redesign, the relationship between meaningfulness and values, and what this all has to do with the possibility of social collapse.


Notes on the Show, Including the Referenced Political Compass with Bonnitta Roy, Jordan Hall, et all

Jul 22, 201901:10:22
Tom Murray - Wisdom Skills

Tom Murray - Wisdom Skills

Jul 16, 201901:31:57
Bayo Akomolafe - The Insurgency of the Invisible

Bayo Akomolafe - The Insurgency of the Invisible

Today I'm speaking with Bayo Akomolafe. Bayo is a an academic, poet and philosopher who dedicates his life to mediating between the spiritual and the scientific. He is the Executive Director and Chief Curator for The Emergence Network, and the author of ‘These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to my Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home‘.

We talk about what emergence is and why it is such a relevant idea for our time, the scandal at the heart of modernity, why it's a good idea to be uncertain about the possibility of systems collapse, why the urgency of our times is an invitation to slow down, the problems with spiritual tourism, why identity politics can often seem so broken, how the social justice movement is mistakenly using modernist constructs of power, how inclusion can reinforce the structures of exploitation and oppression, and why we cannot ‘out-think the crisis’.


Bayo's Profile on Emerge

The 25 Billion Ton Biomass at the Bottom of the Ocean

Jul 08, 201901:16:31
Bonnitta Roy - Six Ways to Go Meta
Jul 01, 201901:32:20
Zak Stein - The Meta-Crisis is a Human Development Crisis: Education in a Time Between Worlds
Jun 24, 201901:15:59
Intermission with Both/And - Podcasting as a Spiritual Practice
Jun 13, 201901:15:53
Dr. Douglas Tataryn - Emotions in Meditation and Human Development
May 20, 201901:28:41