Andrés
Appearances
Know Thyself
E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
So I don't want to interrupt too much, but it's interesting.
Know Thyself
E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
I think about how societally we're always building on the knowledge we have from our predecessors and how we often really inherit the axiomatic worldview of previous brilliant thinkers, which is amazing. And yet we are always in many ways limited working in a line of questioning that we started working on.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Yeah, I think on the path and pursuit of truth, anyone has to honestly ask themselves what is it they truly know versus what are beliefs, presumptions, and exploring the nature of reality. Consciousness is the one thing we're truly intimate with. It's like the one thing that I can actually be certain of in this moment is that I am, that I exist, that I am having an experience.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
And many of the things that we seem or claim to know in our external reality are really our relation to it is separate in the sense of I have an icon or an image or a projection of you inside of myself. And so it is interesting that consciousness is the one thing not publicly observable. And on the flip side, the one thing that we have direct access to.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
When you think about great thinkers of the past from Descartes to Newton to Galileo and how a lot of the fundamental positioning of understanding reality was reducing it to a set of mechanisms, where do you think we fundamentally went wrong?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
It certainly feels that way in deepening in different contemplative practices, which I'm excited to get your opinion on. But I would love for you to address the issue of the combination problem or how we think about how if matter arises from mind as opposed to mind arising from matter, which is the
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
kind of pervasive materialistic view that consciousness and humans at the very least is spawned from varieties of unconscious complexities building. And we turn that knob enough and we have a subjective experience called us and we can get into the hard problem of why that could even be. But if mind and consciousness is the fundamental substrate of reality,
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
And as you say, a very, very simple form of consciousness could be present in a quark. How would that translate and scale from that experience to the rich inner life of a human being?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
I do wonder what the inherent limitations of one such area of exploration are. If consciousness is what gives rise to mathematics, can we use mathematics to ever explain consciousness? Can we understand the totality from the limits of a part, in a sense? It's kind of like the chicken or the egg. In a sense, if consciousness is fundamental,
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
then would it not give rise to mathematics and therefore could not be perhaps explained by it? Say that last sentence again. Like if consciousness gave rise to mathematics, then mathematics and theory would not be able to explain it perhaps.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Yeah, it does deliver the goods in many ways. And as you shared, explains in many ways how the universe works, but doesn't quite crack what the universe is and why the universe is the way it is. And consciousness starts to crack the door into those explorations, I think, deeper. It does seem almost anti-intuitive as so much of deeper truths are paradoxical.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
I can tinker with your brain and your conscious experience radically changes. And so it seems pretty obvious that our consciousness is intimately linked with our brain. And it would be fair to assume for, you know, in our recent understandings of consciousness that it seems like our brain gives rise to consciousness.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
If consciousness is fundamental, how do you kind of wrestle with that clear sort of dilemma? Good. Yeah.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
How would you articulate why the hard problem is called hard as opposed to in physics and math and understanding the material universe, there are problems that we can just work out by essentially doing the math and the arising of consciousness seems particularly hard because I feel like we just can't fully understand why a subjective experience would arise out of matter, you know?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
So how would you articulate it?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
So many Eastern wisdom traditions, religious perspectives, they agree unanimously around, for the most part, around this nature of consciousness being a more fundamental aspect of reality. If that's true, if we actually came to experience that as true, if we believe that should be true, how would that change how we lived? If we zoom out, what would that actually change?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Even from a mechanistic view, the trees are very much so the lungs of the planet. We don't exist without them. How would that change how you would perceive consciousness in a rock versus scaling that sentience through plant and animal life, how we relate to it? Yeah.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
There's just so much incredible limitation if we try to project what our human conscious experience is like onto
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
other life forms inanimate objects like we kind of just have our own reference point um and so even when you're reflecting to what annika harris's possible perspective um what uh is or other thinkers on on the topic of what the conscious experience of if there is one in a chair in a rock
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
I think we project ourselves down into like, oh, I'm just like this little rock having this experience of just being stuck here next to this pond. But it's very limiting in thinking about what conscious experience is like if it's a more rudimentary level of a sort of type of subjective experience of oneself.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
And if that is the case, it kind of begs the question if there is a sort of ethical structure to reality, which I'm curious to get your thoughts on as we sort of take this, the steering wheel of this conversation into the more, you know, existential areas of exploration.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
And can we set the context for everybody? Because I think it's so hard to wrap our head around how improbable these numbers are, like the cosmological constants. So what are your favorite couple examples of how the universe is finely tuned?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
So, yeah, in regards to that cosmological constant... in your book you mentioned an example or you know we'll put the number up on screen for people to see how incredibly small it is it's no point no no no no no no no no no no you'd be doing that for a while right it's like as you mentioned uh rolling a die 70 times in it rolling six yeah 70 times in a row um
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Chat GPT told me yesterday that it would be like throwing a dart into the universe and hitting bullseye the size of an atom.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
So how do you then make sense of it? Because like you said, from one camp, it just looks incredibly unlikely and improbable. But from another perspective, it was a necessity and inevitable perhaps that for consciousness and structure in the cosmos to emerge, it had to be this way. I think that a lot of...
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
I think in that exploration, it's fascinating to just see how fundamentally limited we are as human beings using our sense perceptions to understand reality, yet they are, in a sense, our only direct access to reality. Aldous Huxley and his book, Doors of Perception, and many philosophers and thinkers throughout time have viewed the brain as a reduction valve for consciousness.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
you know people who follow monotheistic face really like to uh harp on this example because understandably so it seems against improbable odds it just makes sense oh somebody created it this way but then again that just begs the question and pushes it one step further okay well who created that god right um and so how do you make sense um and how does this sit with your view of the cosmos
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
As you say, either Team Darwin or Team Pope. Yeah. Which, by the way, rest in peace.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Yeah.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Thinking from the perspective that life is positioned uniquely in a way for the emergence of consciousness and complexity of life in a way.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
And we know through studies through neuroscience and perception mechanisms, how we have millions of bits of information accessible to us in any given moment. And yet what we are consciously aware of is a small, small fraction of that. And so in a sense, we really are getting a reduction of the possible inputs of stimulus around us.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
universal desire, in a sense, to whatever's going to create more value in the world. Is that right?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Have you rustled with this on your journey of... the thought of if there's intrinsic value in the universe versus the nihilistic view of reality. And I'm just curious in your own personal process of coming to terms with it all.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
And so we're kind of like looking through this, peeping through this little straw at reality, trying to understand it. What do you think about the limits of our sense perception when viewing reality from that kind of worldview of a mechanistic worldview, which, you know, not to put any shame on, has bared many fruits. But again, it's gone wrong in our understanding of consciousness and who we are.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Yeah, certainly through the view of Advaita, Vedanta, which you mentioned earlier, What I have come to really love about that understanding is there is a validity one can come to experientially within oneself. It doesn't require any concept belief systems or imagination of certain gods. The thought that everything is conscious and that we are connected to the ever-present conscious field
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
is a directly immediately verifiable experience within one's own being and to me that opens up so many doors about what we're talking about earlier about our connection to all life um how we could perhaps view this experience that philip and andre and everybody who's listening is having and
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
our childhood pets to the trees outside are all a part of this conscious field having a differentiated experience of the one field in which it originates. And from that perspective, the veil of forgetfulness and illusion of separation serves for the purpose of on one perspective, the joy of remembering that we're one again, of coming to that realization.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
But also, it is our uniqueness, like our own individual uniqueness across the board that permeates, pervades throughout the universe, is all these variations in the expression of the one consciousness. And I'm curious what you think about that, because to me, it makes a whole lot of sense.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
And I will say, not to cut you off, but I think for a lot of people that maybe do think that, there is a sort of valid reason in the Abrahamic faiths where it's called...
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
organized religion for a reason and where a lot of people, and certainly not everybody, like everybody has their own unique relationship to Christ, for example, but it can get in the aspect of the organized churchianity where it's,
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
you know, there is this monotheistic, I suppose, creator where the admittance of your acceptance of Jesus is sort of your ticket into the afterlife and there isn't sort of the living in alignment with the actions of Christ in a sense. Not to be judgmental of it, but just as an observation.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Yeah, I'm very fascinated at a lot of these Gnostic mystical originations of religions and various gospels that were perhaps submitted from, you know, the canonical Bible. We do kind of have this presumption that there is life is a riddle. It is a problem to be solved as opposed to that quote. Yeah. you know, a reality to be experienced.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
And I don't see how there could be anything arguable about that statement of absolute reality is the ultimate reality.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
But it invites this perspective of perhaps we're not meant to, like, meaning of life isn't to be discovered other than the fact that we are the meaning that is life. You know, like we give the universe meaning by our existence. And so from that perspective, it's like, The purpose of a dance is the dance. The purpose of singing, you know, this expression is the expression in and of itself.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
And I just think of like the existential angst that many of us maybe perhaps feel in life of like, what is the purpose? What is my purpose? What is the meaning of life? These questions always arrive first. usually out of a state of inner turmoil, of a state of consciousness that is lacking, that is perhaps fearful, that is not joyful.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Like when we're in joy, the question of the meaning of life usually doesn't arise. It's because we're living it in a sense.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Could you share what is it that you believe, I suppose? Or what do you mean when you say you're like a heretical Christian? What does that... I guess, where does that place you? You sort of elucidated how it changes your actions and living in alignment with sort of the rituals and seasons of life and connection to a lot of these things. But what does that mean?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Do you think Jesus was the Son of God? Do you think that's even ontologically possible for one person to be God?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Yeah, I'm trying to clarify. It seems like you've found an avenue that gives you a deeper trust and connection with life. But I guess I'm still a little confused as to... what's the Christian bit in terms of beliefs or the label or the identification with it? How does that come into the picture for you?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
think you seem quite agnostic in your approach to a lot of these explorations i mean unquestionably there was something unique about jesus that time period um the most influential individual to ever have existed whether or not you place some sort of ontological uniqueness or specialness there or just him as a being i don't know how you really even differentiate it um i suppose
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
The resurrection seems to be quite an important bit in terms of if it's a literal, if you truly believe that, or if you feel it was visionary. The virgin birth being another one.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
So this is, you get why it's a little bit confusing because I understand, it sounds like you just believe Jesus was a powerful individual, but he was also like sort of God, but also like didn't do all the God kind of things that people denote him with doing. Yeah. Does that make sense?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
I think we do lose a lot, obviously, of the poetic existential impactfulness in our desire for literal translation of certain events historically. And it sounds like in your exploration of the mystical traditions, you know, whether it's through Sufi, Kabbalah, or, you know, deeper research into the Gnostic faith and the Essenes.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
If we were just to pull one, I suppose, value or learning from the mystical side of faith from your studies that has most impacted your way of being, I'm curious if you want to share one.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Yeah.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
You only live once. From the Advaita perspective, there is that saying, the world is illusion, Brahman alone is real, the world is Brahman. With that perspective that the illusion of separation is still part of the totality of all that is.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
i think it does bring us back to the origination of the exploration between panpsychism and value and ethic inherent within life um really so much of this can get over complicated quite quickly when the reality is a lot of us just sense for a deeper sense of connection within all life you know there is
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
this felt sense that perhaps because at the most fundamental level we are one with everything, that to the degree we are disconnected from that experience, we feel a sense of lack in our life. And these mystical traditions, these practices, these teachings point to our inherent interconnectedness with life. And from that perspective, we're never alone. And so it, I think, positions us nicely
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
to understand a potential purpose for the reason of the existence of the universe and ourselves.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
yeah there is this actually this great quote from moritz schlick from he's the founder of the vienna circle in the early 90s he said that physics has ascended to summits hitherto visible only to philosophers whose gaze has however not always been free from metaphysical haziness very interesting quote in the way that it's phrased. I love it.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
i'm curious because as for example areas in quantum mechanics and ways of understanding the world through the lens of physics develop uh we start to see crossover again through a lot of what we're exploring and the fundamental And so I, you know, seems like a jump here, but maybe it's not quite as big as we think.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
From quantum mechanics and your exploration in the many worlds theory, because we mentioned and hinted at it earlier, what is going on there that has... You seem to be very courageous in your diversion and exploration and unique perspectives and interpretations on things, which I absolutely love. And what is that for The Many Worlds Theory?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
It's like we should all understand that we don't understand it. Yeah.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Philip Goff, thanks for being here.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
It talks in points to how our capacity for exploring physics has gone to realms that only used to be accessible to philosophers, right? And so, yeah, I just look at all the different ways in which we have our ability to probe reality, to understand it deeper. Before we fully move on from that last point,
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
I loved, you know, in my couple conversations with Don Hoffman, who, you know, you're friends with and have been in discussion with, his understanding of how fitness beats truth and how our sensory systems have been shaped to maximize survival, but not to actually see reality as it is.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Is the many worlds theory explaining that essentially these branches of different timelines are happening simultaneously? And how would that, I guess, be nested in something like a multiverse of infinite possibilities? Because it's quite trippy to think about. I mean, the many worlds theory in general is just quite trippy to think about, but how do you kind of put that into context?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Maybe there are different takes on that. I mean, in essence, if there are a very high number or an infinite amount of different choices one can make in any given moment, then through this perspective, there are that equal amount as many different branches.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
And I'm curious, as somebody who really thinks and is so philosophically minded about understanding reality, and I see your earnest desire to do so, how do you think our sensory systems misguide our intuitions about the true nature of reality?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Does this not at all go at odds with what we were exploring earlier about these teleological laws? Like if everything's happening all at once in a sense, what's the purpose of any other direction going above another if it's all going to happen anyways? Yeah.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
I think I'll leave it to someone else.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Yeah, thanks for coming all the way from where you were. And I have been very much so looking forward to this conversation because I am very much so keenly passionate about the intersection of philosophy physics, existential meanings in life, and certainly consciousness.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Also would probably align with local realism being proved false by another Nobel Prize winner recently, yes or no?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
What do you think?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Not quite. Not quite, but also, I don't know anything, so... No, quantum mechanics, nobody does, right?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
All right. We've explored a lot today. Yeah. I've done all right with my jet lag, haven't I? You've done amazing. This has been so fun. You make it so easy. Thanks. Yeah, and I have endless fascination about the quantum world and these different theories, and I would love to explore deeper with you another time. When I get the answers, I'll come back.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
When you find all the answers to this interesting universe, please come back and you can elucidate them for us. Oh, thank you very much. I'd love to. How do we wrap a ribbon on this conversation? I don't know. We went from the nature of consciousness to the quantum realm to the meaning of life and inherent value to a possible nihilistic universe to Schrodinger's cat to really all over the place.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
I think the last area that I'd like to have you share on is just that, because we live in a time where it is very divisive and there is so much self-righteousness attached to our dogmatic beliefs, which a lot of people really assert towards just religious ones, but atheism can become its own dogmatic positioning towards reality as well.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
And this agnostic sort of middle path approach to trying to understand reality as it is, And not throwing out the baby with the bathwater in terms of the importance of these religious practices and understandings, but not having blind faith also. And so how would you just succinctly put this sort of way of approaching to understand reality?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
I think it's a very important necessity for all of us, especially in a time so enchanted with uncertainty. the ever-accelerating access to information to acknowledge our own state of ignorance is like the birthplace of possible knowledge, you know? And I mean, humility, the etymology and root of that is humus, I believe, which literally means earth.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
And so it's like in these philosophical explorations, it can quite... easily, so quickly become very heady and less physical in a sense. And so that balance is necessary. And I think we've hopefully danced, danced, danced to this, maybe a little bit more in the head throughout this conversation. But I love your approach and balance of both.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
And I'm excited to see how your own practice evolves and your understanding of life, spirituality and everything. So...
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Your book, Why Galileo's Error, you have upcoming work and we'll leave links for people to be connected with you down below. But do you have any other last thoughts before we start to wrap up?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Yeah, well, I think those personal firsthand experiential practices and connecting to a greater intelligence, whatever futile English word or label we want to place on it, you know, has profound implications on that feeling of connection to more meaning and greater purpose. And yeah, again, thanks so much for your exploration and all this and conversation and to be continued, man. Appreciate you.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Hope so. Thanks a lot. Yeah. everybody that's been tuning into this episode of the nearly self podcast i'll see you next week let us know in what ways this episode was uniquely impactful provocative for you and catch you next week
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
And so for everybody that's tuning in, this conversation is going to be all the shallow topics that we like to typically explore here in life. And Philip is going to be our joint maestro in helping us explore these topics and points of exploration. Where I would love to start is actually around the topic of your first book, which was Galileo's Error.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
I'm looking forward to excavating that area more for sure. And your explorations more recently into the quantum world and the many worlds theory and all of that. But before we get too ahead of ourselves,
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
One of the fundamental, and I think of Kurt Gödel in this time of also the Vienna Circle and his incompleteness theorem and understanding how our initial presumptions and assumptions and any theorem, like there's those inherent limitations, right?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
And so trying to explain reality supposedly through the mechanistic lens excludes, as you've eloquently shared, many different possibilities about the true nature of consciousness. And so you have been one of the most well-known panpsychists and viewers of consciousness from that perspective. And I think it's really important to not just assume everybody understands what that entails.
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
And so could you share your definition of what panpsychist view is and your view on consciousness?
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E144 - Phillip Goff: Why Does The Universe Exist? Panpsychism, Fine-Tuning & Cosmic Purpose
Well, this is just one point that I've, you know, you know, in your book, Why, and I've talked about a lot how consciousness being the one thing that's not publicly observable. And so we don't fully know what the conscious experience of, for example, a sheep, a dolphin, an octopus is. you know, definitely a mantis shrimp who has 13 variations or cones of colors, right?
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E140 - Dr. Sue Morter: How To Awaken The Body’s Energy Field, “We Were Never Taught This!”
Yes.
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E140 - Dr. Sue Morter: How To Awaken The Body’s Energy Field, “We Were Never Taught This!”
Yes, indeed.
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E140 - Dr. Sue Morter: How To Awaken The Body’s Energy Field, “We Were Never Taught This!”
It's a joy to be here.
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E140 - Dr. Sue Morter: How To Awaken The Body’s Energy Field, “We Were Never Taught This!”
My old pal Rumi.
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E140 - Dr. Sue Morter: How To Awaken The Body’s Energy Field, “We Were Never Taught This!”
Oh, my. It's wonderful to be here. Thank you for having me. This was absolutely beautiful. A beautiful location. Beautiful to be with you.
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E140 - Dr. Sue Morter: How To Awaken The Body’s Energy Field, “We Were Never Taught This!”
So it's a joy. Thank you.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
human life process our reverence to has been divorced for so many different reasons um but i think voices like yours are really empowering because it helps remind us what's staring us at you know staring us in the face in terms of the intelligent beauty and design within life why i say it's empowering is because it returns our sovereignty back to us when we realize that we are and a part of a vast sea of intelligence that uh
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
Again, the mind has the capacity to divorce itself from at times, but we can sink back into it. And so is there another example that you see in nature that is a reflection as to remembering the innate intelligence within life? And you could take it from the animal kingdom or, you know, within us as humans.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
Yet the human mind is the one thing that loves to believe it's a separate individual and has the capacity to do so.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
And so when you think about the sort of relational reciprocity and interdependence as a way of being throughout all life and living life as an offering and how we can give in that way, what are your thoughts on how we can move from living as a separate individual identity to an interdependent being and recognizing that?
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
Thank you for sharing the vulnerabilities of your own journey in that process. If you're open, another theme here is death, rebirth, and the seasonal cycles of life that feel difficult and are difficult at times to move through. And yet nature has abundant reminders of the necessity for forest fires to clear the underbrush for sequoia germination and
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
variances of seeds of pine trees that only germinate after forest fires. And so when you think of death loss clearing as it has a unique capacity to create connection on the other side, what comes to mind there?
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
looking from that vantage point of like the absolute knowing and you could kind of get out of ourself for a little bit in this identity structure of andre and zach bush that are like living their life and there are these cycle seasons periods where we where we need to lose to make you know make space for what's to come
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
in hindsight we can connect those dots in the moment it feels uh it can feel very painful in terms of of death loss loss and grief and Again, this theme pulled straight from nature of the ever-present changing of seasons, genetic mutations, evolutionary path over different periods of time.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
When you think of the human being as they go through different seasons and different cycles in their own life, as winter could be compared to more of a, you know, death season, you
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
And there's the fallow season, you know, and in the periods where it doesn't seem like things are sprouting, but, you know, still action is happening beneath the surface of perception to the times where it's ready to reap, you know, things that we've been sowing for many years prior. What comes to mind is what's like important to remind people about embracing the seasonality of that journey.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
Hey everyone, sometimes I get asked what kind of tea we drink on the show and what I like to drink in my life in general. And so I just wanted to give a quick share. Not all tea is the same. Many tea companies are made with horrible ingredients and leak microplastics into your tea. And so one tea brand that I've been loving and drinking all the time, I love all their products, Peak Life.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
They have this pu-erh tea, which is not like normal tea. Puerh is fermented, meaning it's loaded with living probiotics and prebiotics that support your gut health. It's like a reset button for your whole microbiome. And it supports with your digestion, energy, metabolism, and your skin. Puera's green and black tea is wild harvested from 250 year old trees, triple toxin screened.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
So there's no junk, no pesticides, no weird additives, just the good stuff. It dissolves instantly into your hot or cold water. There's no steeping or tea bags. And because you're an awesome listener and And viewer of the show, they are hooking it up and giving you 20% off for life on their Puerh bundle, or just get one of them individually. It's an amazing product.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
They give you a free rechargeable father and beaker when you grab the bundle. It's an exclusive offer just for listeners of the show. And they're so confident that they'll give you a 90-day money-back guarantee. So if you don't like it, it's risk-free. You can go to peaklife.com slash know thyself to grab yours now. That's peaklife.com slash know thyself. I hope you enjoy.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
I think if that perspective was embraced, it would have a radical transformation instantly on contact for everybody who would experience it. Because In the belief of separation, of course, we have that scarcity paradigm baked in. And when somebody experiences the wholeness
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
that they are as opposed to the belief of separation that is pervasive, then you realize the impermanence of what all the reflections are around you and you don't have that stern expectation of deriving our joy from extracting it in others. I think that what you spoke to in prior relationships and ways of being
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
it's interesting because those experiences, like the reflection of who we're not helps reveal us the experience of who we are, the contrast of that experience, you know, of seeing where we've been out of alignment helps us know our values and what is an alignment, you know? And so it all serves as a part of the journey and it's beautiful in that aspect. And I directly think of that
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
as the stress and resistance that we often face in life can be viewed as a privilege in an aspect because of what it's revealing to us. And we see this throughout nature and how so much of nature's intelligence and growth is unlocked through the resistance of the external world from denser wood trees from that are exposed to windy areas to the coral reefs that are strengthened through hard tides.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
And so when you think about the human journey, what do you think is the unique relationship between stress and growth?
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
our own individual and collective growth, how important it is to discover our own unique, innate, one of one expression of life and how we contribute to the greater whole and our creator towards the greater whole.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
stress and resistance is the antithesis to the stagnancy that leads us to isolation and atrophy, then embracing and seeing stress and resistance and things that are hard in our life is actually a great immense opportunity to refine the capacities we have within us then on that journey, we can begin to discover our unique expression of life, the original design that we have that's one of one.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
And so we call this the fifth pillar of the biodiversity of being, how we all have a unique expression. And so when you think of us on our human journey, as we have the capacity to reveal that one of one expression of life through us, how do we come to embrace that and know that, discover that, remember that?
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
that there is a shedding of cultural homogenization and uh embracing more of a wild undomesticated self where our path is revelatory instead of just known and the
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
on the whiteboard, like we have all the things we want, we wanna get all the things and yet life is trying to unfold greater than we could imagine, which is a liberating reminder because it takes the pressure off of us being an individual source of creating all the things we want in our life.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
So this is where surrender to like a greater intelligence, which has been a through line throughout this whole conversation You know comes in I'm just really fascinated about that process of transformation through the natural world Through our natural world as a human being when something doesn't just change from one thing to another but it transforms from one thing to another when the seed
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
is encoded with the potential of the redwood tree, but they resemble nothing like each other. And so when I think of how to help
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
create the conditions for that to transpire for our own internal journey i would love to get your perspectives on like what those conditions are um and and perhaps this could kind of flow into one of the last pillars of of nature which is uh stillness which is spending time in that deeper knowing and imbibing in that place of not knowing to allow something greater to transpire what comes to mind as the conditions necessary for us to go through that transformation
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
That was really beautiful, man. Thank you for sharing all of that. I feel like...
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
that embracing of the stillness um becomes the bedrock for insight and for the transformation to happen like the background of of silence to any good musical piece you know it it allows for you know the symphony to to take to take space um i know certainly in my journey and it sounds like especially more recently a newfound depth and appreciation for stillness and embodiment of stillness
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
uh goes hand in hand with the appreciation of beauty and ability to perceive what what's the the intelligence around you and i think that's a it's an incredible reminder from nature as well anybody knows uh whatever their perceived calamities are in their life a simple walk in nature seems to do wonders for human biology and mind right and um exquisite and so yeah i think that's a
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
That's a powerful reminder for us all and thing we can... do even though as human beings we'd love for answers to or for things to do and we become human doings in so many regards but that space of non-doing actually in nature I feel like and it sounds like as well in your journey has been the bedrock for so much transformation.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
Couldn't have said it better myself. Yeah, that hit right on. If we could anthropomorphize what nature might say to this moment humanity finds itself in and see a prevailing message and reminder from nature as to the time we're in, what would she say right now? Fly. Fly, humans.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
It seems like earlier when you were mentioning on your own path, the perceived possibility of your own death was really masquerading as a...
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
death of an identity structure that needed to take place that was transpiring to take place and i think we're seeing that on the collective scale now as you said in this decade we've seen those paradigms and narratives of your guilt and shame play out to untold levels but also the the other polarity of it which is uh the immense capacity for beauty and it seems like with the evolution of any technology and growth of uh of a gen generations there is the capacity for both
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
the metacrisis unfolding in that way. And then also the complete recognition of everything is sacred. And what a time to be alive, you know?
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
Again, man, what a time to be alive in the revelation of these things that are going to be transpiring. I'm just curious, as a closing thought, what do you think are the main contributing factors that are going to
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
be the most obvious reason why the next five years is like the most is gonna transpire in the next five years from variances in our artificial intelligence to recognizing the technology that is the human body.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
When you look back in hindsight from 50 years from now, looking back on the phase shift that humanity is about to go through, what do you see as the biggest changes that are happening in the next five years in that aspect? We're gonna remember.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
How do you see that reality transpiring? What would be the initiating factors of that?
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
Zach, one of the things I love for you, even beyond the immense wealth of knowledge that you possess and how you can share that is just how much you care and how much you love and how much I get to witness that in the community and the individuals you meet and you're surrounded with. It's truly a gift to be around you. And I'm just so happy that you're here at this time.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
We all serve a unique purpose and the evolution of what humanity is going to take form next. And I do think that certain individuals have the life experience and the culmination of many different experiences that have led them to be able to articulate and be a leader in this time. And so I very much so see you as a leader and I love and appreciate you very much.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
My friend, that was the conclusion to the trilogy. Our third podcast. I appreciate you. Thank you. Any last words that you want to share before we close out? And then as well, anything, any exciting new projects maybe you want to, we'll link down below. But if you want to mention anything, let me know.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
So as it pertains and as a parallel to our own inner nature, the reason I bring it up as one of the first is because embracing the perspective shift from consumer to contributor and recognizing whatever term we want to use there, we don't live in a vacuum, nothing does. And so with that
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
Fly we shall, my friend. Appreciate you and thank you everybody for tuning into this episode. See you next week.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
acknowledgement with grace and wisdom can interact with our environment and all living life around us with that sort of empathy and understanding. And so when you think about that shift from consumer to contributor, what rings a bell there? That's beautiful.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
My friend, Zach Bush, welcome back to the show.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
that flows perfectly into the second pillar, which could be described as emergence, emergent wisdom, decentralized intelligence.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
You look at nature and these phenomena of startling murmurations and these complex systems and self-organizing systems, like you spoke to, we have the capacity to let nature speak through us through the most diverse microbiome to the intelligence that we hold the capacity for. as a human species and a human life.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
I thought as it's very in alignment with your work and also my area of passion as a framework for this conversation to pull from some core themes of nature's wisdom and how there are so many parallels to unlocking our inner nature, discovering that, embodying in it, embracing it, living in it, and how that can contribute to us living in harmony.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
And the shift and the deepening and the remembering like you spoke to from just the egoic mind of what we can logically know and deduce to allowing a greater intelligence to move through us is something I want to reflect on because in my perspective, those are kind of two polarities in which
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
are tied to the first thing that we were talking about from a scarce mindset to that kind of interabundance to allowing something greater to move through us. And so what comes to mind as it pertains to allowing that emerging deeper knowing that our body has the innate capacity for to take stage? I love that question.
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E147 - Zach Bush: 6 Powerful Lessons Nature Teaches Us About Being Human
And so the first one that would be thrilled to get your kind of framework and understanding around is We live in perhaps the most individualistic culture to have ever existed. And we look throughout all nature as it's a complex ecosystem where interdependence is the natural state of being in existence from all life.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
It seems as though, especially looking back in hindsight, that the challenges that occur in our life are in many ways designed just sweetly for our own evolution, you know, and it doesn't feel like it often in the moment. Right. But looking back, you really see how this kind of life in this realm on earth is set up in such to where we're going to get
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
And I've just found that so much for me in my own personal life of like true joy has come from living in alignment with what my version of a life well lived is. So what is in your opinion for your life and what you feel like what you've seen as a pattern in many people is a life well lived?
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
to varying degrees, challenges that really can be viewed as opportunities for growth.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Yeah, and so what do you, from that perspective, how do you see the challenges that come up in our life? Because everybody who's listening right now has a version of something in their life that is maybe not flowing as effortlessly as they wish it to be. Right, right, right. But I think shifting our perception and what these things can serve change our relationship to it.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Yeah, it's like what you mentioned last time about people transforming either through insight or crisis.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
You know, and I think we oscillate between both most of us throughout our life and those challenges that arise in our life, whether they be relationship dynamics, financial struggles, something inner with our mind or body or emotion, right? When perceived as opportunities for growth, what you resist persists in that thing, right?
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
So like when you accept it as a challenge, when you accept it as an opportunity for growth, then like when you go to the gym and you work out, you understand the challenge, you choose it, right? I feel like when you choose it, it just, our relationship completely changes and it allows us to have synergy with it instead of it's me versus life. I feel like so much of our time here often is like,
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
And this subtle but pervasive energy of the way my life is right now is not how it should be. Right. You know?
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Yeah. It makes me think about, uh, we just had Deepak on the show and, uh, he, he referred this quote, um, from victim shine about, you know, our life is a dream and we're asleep. And sometimes we become awake enough to know that we're dreaming and it, it,
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
you know we have these moments of insight of revelation where we kind of get our head above the the ocean you know uh tide and we can see this life and how it's set up in these different dynamics and then we come back into the weight room so to speak and live our life those moments where we do kind of get our head above the water and we see how this is very much like a similar simulation yes you know it's like all these it is a simulation yeah it's a matrix
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Yeah, yeah, there's that perspective and that balance of things can be real to us, but they're not in the absolute truth of how things are actually happening. You appear to be separate from me right now, and you appear to be over there, like a few feet away from me, but the reality is this image is being inverted. We know the whole story, right? You're happening.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
We are phenomenas appearing inside of ourself within one another.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Hey fam, we'll get right back to the show. But first, you probably have heard me talk a bunch about how when I meditate in the morning, I usually stack it with red light therapy. So if you don't know, there are over 4,000 peer-reviewed studies on red light therapy showing benefits of cellular healing, skin health by stimulating collagen, testosterone, sleep, mood, the list goes on and on.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
It's a great way to get healthy light exposure in the morning before sunrise. Just 10 to 20 minutes a day is all that it takes. benefits if you're looking for a red light therapy device bond charge is a solid option they have the lowest EMF levels on the market no flicker both near infrared and red light and one lightweight device they ship worldwide have an easy return policy and
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
and also offer other science-backed wellness products worth checking out, which you can do so on their website, bondcharge.com slash knowthyself and use coupon code knowthyself to save 15%. That's B-O-N-C-H-A-R-G-E.com slash knowthyself. Use code knowthyself to save 15% off. Bond Charge products are all HSA, FSA eligible, giving you tax-free savings of up to 40%. I hope you dig it.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Back to Michael Beckwith. That's amazing. I heard from a little bird that you maybe wrote a poem. You told me on your way in about this.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
I'm curious, where did that come up? Because you took a little hiatus this past month.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Yeah, we'd love to hear it.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
All right, that's a nice book you got there, too.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
That's a great gift.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Snaps. Snaps for Michael.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Yeah, poetry. I mean, talk about emergence, man. You know, getting quiet and really just allowing the words to flow is such an amazing practice.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
What art enables is a level of relaying truth and I feel like more of its direct essence, right? Because we get so literal in our logical way of deducing and explaining reality through our intellect that we lose the poetry of life.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Yeah, it brings it more into the feeling, you know, like some of those lines, what a scripted abstraction or a lucid dream in that landscape of time, or, you know, there is some, the lines in there that point to like the absolute truth of reality of like what this all is and this lila and this divine play, right?
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
And I love both sides of it too, because I love having physicists and consciousness researchers on the podcast and get into the, you know, into the nitty gritty of the scientific process of it. But that balance is necessary.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Yeah, I think that balance is necessary. And activating those dormant potentials and possibilities within us. I mentioned earlier, I think Howard Gardner has this great framework about, Frames of Mind is one of his books, about the different types of intelligence.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
He puts it into eight different categories from kinesthetic, bodily, intelligence, a lot of athletes, to musical, to linguistic, to logical, mathematical, which I think is put a little bit more on a pedestal societally. but it invites how intelligence weaves throughout all of our lives differently.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
And sometimes the resistance is simply because we haven't discovered and allowed to explore more of what comes naturally to us. You know, no one's going to disagree that Kobe Bryant or Steph Curry, you know, is an incredible form of intelligence, right?
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Yeah, I would like to get your perspective on that because allowing it to take place sounds really nice and something that I think everybody would want, wants to experience more of in their life. And yet there is this balance of like developing the skills and almost the unconscious competency.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
So you, your body knows and you can let the body intelligence, cosmic divine intelligence, whatever word you want to use, take over. And that's where you experience flow. Right. For example, on piano, there's the practicing of scales and different keys and chord progressions and voicings. And then you get out the way and stuff starts happening that emerges in ways you can't comprehend, right?
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
So what do you feel like the balance is of doing the work, building the skills, and then allowing something greater to take over?
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
I'm just using that as an example. For sure. It makes sense. You know, you take care of what you love, you take care of your gift, and then what you love takes care of you. Absolutely. You know, that gift takes care of you. Absolutely.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Yeah, it's so easy to live in the abstraction or the thought of the thing rather than the actual thing.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Have you heard of the parable of the cafe on the cliff? Do you ever- Cafe? Cafe on the cliff. Maybe. Yeah, it's roughly speaking, it's that analogy of, you know, say you're on the edge of a cliff and you're about to dive into the water, right?
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
And metaphorically speaking, that's representing you into actually living into the practice of these theories, you know, actually doing the deep work and facing off with the parts of ourselves that are uncomfortable and really getting deep into the water, you know? And it's like, the person that gets there and says, hold on, like, you know, let me stretch a little bit before I jump in, you know?
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
And then a friend comes by and be like, hey, I want to have a talk with somebody. And just like, let's have a conversation for a little bit right before we, right before I dive in. And he's like, you know, I'm actually kind of thirsty. Would you grab me a glass of water? And it's like, okay, yeah, all right. I think I'm ready to go in. actually, I'm kind of hungry.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
success societally is thought of as just getting what you want out of life. But taking it a step back and knowing what is worth wanting is even more important, right? Because we could spend our whole life going after what we thought we really wanted to come to find out it actually doesn't mean a whole lot to us.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Would you mind grabbing me a bagel? And it kind of keeps going and going where the more people come and they get a picnic table and they sit down and they have conversations and you end up building this cafe on the cliff. Instead of diving in. Yeah, and you start living on the cliff edge, right? You build this restaurant and you get like,
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
right there, but you actually fail to have recognized the most important part, which is doing the work, getting into the water. And it's just like that story of Siddhartha, right? That tension between being totally consumed by what we know to be true and living in the concepts of it.
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E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
You know, and that's why I think the sages throughout time have had a unique capacity to, through the futility of what we have, the capacity for the human language, be able to describe as close we can, right? The words will never do it justice, but they can get close.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
And so when you think of that, you mentioned last time you were on the show that your heart's desire and the divine will are the exact same thing. Absolutely. And so when you think of discovering what it takes to discover what is worth wanting and what our heart's desire and therefore divine will is, what comes to mind in supporting people with that?
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
It's a trip when we catch ourself in those moments of how we're seeing life through our own distorted perception of it and not as it actually is. And then you get those moments where you can sort of collapse the energy and you have that deeper connection. And you recognize, oh, we're all one. You see the humanity behind somebody.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
There's plenty examples where we could look online or see the things that are happening in the world and judge it and condemn it, hate it. Not to say that these things are right by any means, you know, but you're inviting like the deeper understanding of something leaves no space to judge it. Right.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
It feels like the... A real litmus test and yardstick for seeing where our own growth is in life and our own development is how we feel with ourself when we're alone. Oh, I love this. And I would love to get your perspective on this and we can get into the tools that continue to support this.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
But man, even in podcasting, it's easy to come on here and for people to put on a show for an hour or two. It's easy for us to go to work maybe even and put on a face of different things. We cannot lie to ourselves for extended periods of times. It's going to show up in distorted energy in so many different ways. So what comes to mind when you think about that?
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
I feel like the more that we bring like sincerity into our practice and bring heart into our alone time, right? Because there's alone time on social media and then there's alone time being in stillness, right? And the being in the stillness and like in these deepening of practices, I think we start to really perceive to the degree in which we're participating in the conflict in our life, you know?
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Like in our relationships, like our role and the conflict that we bring and how so much of it is perpetuated just from self-conflict.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Yeah, I feel like you really know what's meant for you and what's not meant for you in that space. And that cultivation of self-worth, it's the antithesis energy to what would be like a self-obsession, right?
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Where you're spending time to reinforce these beliefs you have about yourself, but in the absence of a perception of who you even are, then you need to allow that other space to emerge like you're speaking to. Absolutely.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
I'm really curious what you think about, because there are many practices that we can have and like, you know, things we can be devoted to that support the deepening of our experience of our true nature.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
And I found, and I've heard you speak to the really bedtime and like the time before sleep, our mornings and our nights are some of the, if not the most important times to guard because we're in a hypnagogic state, right? So if somebody wants to, um, really take responsibility for their life. They want to cultivate vitality. They want to know their true nature.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
What would be an example of a bedtime routine or something like at nighttime that can really help us guard that space?
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
it really just sounds like utilizing whether it's 30 minutes or an hour before bed to really transition your state, right? Because you're going to marinate in whatever that state you last were awake in. And that builds momentum in ways we don't even realize how much it builds momentum. And then we wake up in ways we're not even privy to. It's going to continue to infuse that energy
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
And so it's like, if we want to live a life filled with joy and gratitude, then releasing, which is that forgiveness stage, which you first said, those chains and ties we have to people, events, and situations in which we have resistance to throughout our day.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
I want to ask you a little bit more about forgiveness because in many ways, it's almost like the last illusion because we always think it's like me, I am forgiving the other person, but really it's like this inner process of letting go. Right. And, and just, continuing to not perpetuate the state of pain within us. So yeah, what do you think about what forgiveness and that point really is?
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Amazing. So like, you know, scanning our minds, scanning our emotions from the day, you know, what are the most prevalent things that come up, cutting those cords, so to speak, letting them go. Giving forth. Forgiveness is giving forth.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
So then that moves into the second part, which is essentially visualizing, energetically embracing the state that you want to see more of, you know, come into your life. And so have you gone back and forth, whether it's like visualizing a specific scenario event with people in a situation, or is it really just the energy?
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Yeah, that's great. Yeah. I've, I've more recently been experiencing with this, um, just like sleep in general, man, from, from lucid dreams to the time before bed and, uh, Before bed, having a committed 20 to 30 minute practice, just to transition and get any change of the day, if anything was picked up or whatever, and just really reset the body, the nervous system.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
I get a bougie version of it as I lay on a PEMF mat. I put my legs up against the wall and it's like a vagus nerve device. I have my earthing. Yeah. Put my legs up. Yeah, all of that. I like these binaural beats, too, from NuCalm. And I just kind of stack it all together and just go into this practice with, like, some breath.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
And, man, it's amazing how that transforms your sleep and how you wake up. Absolutely.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
It's amazing. It's a good reminder, I think, you know, because sometimes we... Right use of technology. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Amazing, man. That's great. I think, you know, would you say is there another predominant amplifier?
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Like in terms of, I think, sleep and like your morning kind of, you know, ritual or how you feel when you wake up and how you get into those states are probably some of the most important things.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
But for somebody that is in a phase where they realize they've been constricting their own potential, and as you said, the universe is in resistance to that in which we're constricting, if you had one other kind of practice that you've found really supportive?
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
And then you just got to taste it and you hit all five of them.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
I feel like on the process of that, in the process of actualizing our potential from the formless into the form you know from these states of the imaginative and the feeling to the physical um it feels like inevitably along with that comes a change in relationships people come and go they will just drop out of your life i'm just curious how do you feel like wisdom relates to this energy of
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
people, you know, that maybe were, you know, in your life for, lack of a better term, for a season or a reason, but not for, you know, another lifetime.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
For those of us that are in the so-called arena of life where maybe we're more in the public image, we're utilizing social media and technology for our message to be amplified out in the world, it's inevitable that criticism and praise are going to be a factor that we have to relate to, right?
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Again, because you've been in this game for a while and you've also worked with some of the biggest names in the world, and you've seen how it can really tear down people if they don't have that connection with themselves. Right. What wisdom have you gleaned from how to navigate the praise and blame?
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
You wouldn't say that if you didn't know yourself too, right? So it's like, I think for those of us that really do get swayed in an aspect, whether it's online in a bigger scale or, you know, our communities and local friend groups, to the degree we don't know ourselves, then we'll believe the lies other people tell, right?
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Because it's like, if I criticize you for something or if I name call you or say something about your character, if there's a part of you that believes it to be true, that's how we get offended, right?
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
One of the last things I'm curious about is that like, the more we live life, God willing, we have a long and bountiful life. And we see that there's patterns that emerge. There are like these cycles and seasons of life where at different phases and different times, different things are required of us. And some of those might be more solitude times. We're spending a lot of alone time.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Some of those feel like crisis and a breakdown moment. Some of those are a big building phase, you know? And so
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
In a society that views the most important timeline being the one where you have the most speed and you're the most urgent and you're accomplishing all of these things from society's success metrics, what have you really learned about the importance of honoring and acknowledging the cycle and season of life we're currently in?
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense how you, you mentioned on the level of the manifest and the physical reality, like nature has its cycles where there's a Pharaoh season, you know, or, um, it's going to be the season where you're reaping a lot of fruits from, from the seeds you planted a decade ago, maybe, you know, and, uh,
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
And so I think that, you know, of course, from the level of the absolute, it's all one thing happening, right? There aren't these fragmentations of different things. And the level from physical reality, it does breed some compassion and patience into acknowledging how, you know, thank God our life doesn't all come at once. And thank God it doesn't happen all the way we want to, you know?
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Yeah, it's great, right? And then they bring us, I feel like those illusions bring us to the place where we discover we want to discard them. And then we have a new idea of what a worthwhile life, a life well lived looks like.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Last thing that I would just ask is, because you mentioned in the beginning, a life well lived is when we're in service, you know, and we have many different forms of intelligences and different careers and ways of expressing, you know, God's unique intelligence through us in life. But
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
it does feel that the most fulfilling aspects of it come when it's in service to supporting others in some capacity, right? In some way, in some form. And so for those that strive to want to live in that, yeah, just if you want to share some more about the importance of that and living from service.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
I hope I'm answering your question. Yeah, yeah, no, I think that is like the living in the reciprocity of life, right? It's in collapsing the giver and the taker into just showing up and seeing what can I contribute to life today, you know?
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
We are one. It's trite, but true. It is. Yeah, man. It's great. And yeah, just a sincere appreciation for you, Matt. You've been in this game for so long. And when I say in this game, I just mean showing up in life from service and really desiring and actively supporting people on the path. It's so helpful.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
I think we've all had guides and teachers and individuals that have been way showers and they're so needed and so necessary.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. They live in that energy field.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
You can tap in. I'm glad you're here in the physical. Me too. I don't feel any age at all. I just feel, hey, I'm healthy.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Give us some more. Yeah, maybe some more poetry.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Yeah, I love it. I love it. Amazing, man. Well, do you have anything else going on that you want to share with our audience or what's coming up for you?
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Amazing. Yeah. Wonderful. Well, everyone, thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Know Thyself Podcast. Michael, thank you so much. Always a pleasure. Enjoy. Until next time, be well.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
as you said, getting back into the space where you discovered the joy in your being, then asking that question of what wants to emerge from within me, it completely changes your answer, right? Like what comes off of a person who is in a state of joy versus a state of anxiety, fear, and hard desire, like those are two completely different answers. And
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Well, Michael, it's good to have you back. Thanks for coming back in the studio. Absolutely.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
And I think it's a really important reflection again here is to have that practice that gets you into that state. So then you can ask that question because so much of our life has been up into this point. I think for many of us asking these questions of what do I want? How do I get it from a state of inner lack?
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
So what else have you discovered in the, I guess, the texture of what emerges? Because... I think it's so spot on, right? You look at nature. Nature is emergence from the growth of a redwood tree to the blossoming of a flower. As long as it gets what it needs and it's in the right environment, it naturally grows into its full potential. It's encoded within all of us.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
And so, yeah, what do you think about that process?
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
It's my honor, man. It's so good to jam. And our community responded so positively from our last conversation. We touched on a lot of amazing themes from the dark night of the soul to what it means to live a purpose, vision, intentional, you know, driven life. And so let's keep diving in.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
Man, no, it's great. I was just writing this piece the other day about the link between humility and intelligence.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
We live in a wild time where we're fed so much information and we have so much access to so much, which is incredible. It's easy to fall into the comparative trap of seeing what our life should be based off of what we think is attractive in others.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
And it's a lot of what you're speaking to here, you know, We can look at it in the grosser, denser example of somebody who uses drugs, who is exogenously seeking for the state changes. Failing to recognize we have our own endocannabinoids and these endogenous chemical factory within us that allows the capacity for all of these state experiences naturally.
Know Thyself
E143 - Michael Beckwith: Discover The Life You Were Designed to Live
And so making space for that condition like you spoke to for our natural emergence is one, a just really liberating perspective. And it kind of takes the pressure off of us because it's less of like us. Of course, there will be activity, but it's less us forcing to do something. And it's allowing and accepting something to emerge from within us, which feels way more effortless.
Know Thyself
E146 - Cory Muscara: Former Monk: “Stop Missing Your Life!” Here’s the Key To Lasting Happiness
That was flames. Fire flames.
Know Thyself
E146 - Cory Muscara: Former Monk: “Stop Missing Your Life!” Here’s the Key To Lasting Happiness
I love it.
Know Thyself
E146 - Cory Muscara: Former Monk: “Stop Missing Your Life!” Here’s the Key To Lasting Happiness
There you go. You're loaded and ready to go with all the offerings. Sweet.
Know Thyself
E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
And the structural differences of those different types of water, filtered, well, spring, tap.
Know Thyself
E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
They all correlate to have repeatable different structures.
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
I'm so fascinated at just in the topic of cymatics and seeing how sound and the reverberation of energy affects the physical, molecular, structural components of water and sand and just how the vibration carries information and correlates to certain geometric patterns. Because in many ways, geometry is like the silent language of nature. And we see that
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
it is carrying information and what geometry is showing. And for example, you look at a snowflake or you look at the structural component of water or how it's different and it comes from these different sources like in your hydroglyphs. There is a direct correlation between order, proportionality, symmetry, and beauty and geometry. And it's fascinating to me because often we think
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
when we see something beautiful, it's just, it looks pretty, but it's actually signifying deeper order behind what we're seeing. And when we look at like, what is the health of the water I'm drinking, for example, you know, water that is structured and both its appearance of how it looks But in its actual geometric form, it's going to have a better impact on our physiology when we drink it.
Know Thyself
E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
And I just, yeah, I just find it really fascinating, that link between beauty and geometry and the vitality of the water. Because, I mean, it's just, it's magic. You know, you look at like a snowflake and you see this incredible, unique design every time that's formed. And... There's no word or system of thought that can explain what that is. It's beyond, and it's really incredible.
Know Thyself
E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
And so I'm just curious what your thoughts are on geometry as sort of the silent language of nature and how it's portraying different information across different structures for water.
Know Thyself
E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
And so... And so in your study, you've like, for example, this is spring water and like in a cup like this, that of course the vessel water is held and affects the structure as well. You'll see a very different structure of the water versus filtered water that comes out of the tap.
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
that from happening a quick note on that by the way if you're curious about the water i personally drink and recommend it's natural spring water from alive waters they are the only unprocessed fresh spring water delivery service here available in the states some benefits of the water are its perfect mineral balance silica and it tastes great they sell these italian glass cups and they're
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
Glass for their jars are infinitely recyclable, and I feel it helps maintain the structure of the water as well. Currently, they deliver to most of California, New York, Austin area, South Florida, and Portland. If they don't service your area, they have resources on their website to help you find wherever you live in the world, find natural springs in your area, both hot and cold.
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
They were kind enough to give you guys half off your first order with them. So if you want to take advantage of that, just go to alivewaters.com and use code KNOWTHYSELF for 50% off your first water delivery and everything purchased with it. Link in the description. Stay hydrated, folks. And back to the episode. I'm curious how much of...
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
like physiological illness and disease could really be supported by drinking water as it was naturally intended to, which we're so divorced from in the modern world.
Know Thyself
E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
It's so fascinating because it's right in plain sight. When we look at water for its cleansing, purifying capacity... both in drinking and its ability to dissipate elements within our system and cleanse the system internally, but also anybody who's
Know Thyself
E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
like bathed in a river or like I was in Kauai about six months ago and there's this amazing cold river that I, creek that I love going to and just laying as it like wash over my head through my whole body, literally feel like reborn after. And I mean, it's actually, it's no coincidence that like baptism and like Jesus, you know, and being reborn is literally in water, funny enough.
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
So it's like, there's not an aspect of life in which water doesn't touch.
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
Which have a different chemical molecular makeup based off of tears of joy versus tears of sadness.
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
It's fascinating because Dr. Joe Dispenza, who's been on the podcast a couple of times, is doing actually work in his retreats where they're capturing tears. And there's three different types of tears that can come from our system and they'd have different chemical and hormonal makeups.
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
And it's fascinating what those reveal about, obviously, our emotional landscape as water is the element of the emotion. So, so fascinating.
Know Thyself
E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
What does it mean to you to become water-like?
Know Thyself
E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
To become like water.
Know Thyself
E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
because of course like when water is still we can see a reflection in it but it also in many ways reflects our emotional state and is responding to it and um i feel a difference and in the yogic tradition and eastern wisdom traditions it's said to like actually like hold your water with both hands and like be with it for a second as you drink it slowly and i know a lot of us especially in the western more flip it and drinking it with one hand and standing up and walking around but
Know Thyself
E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
It's best physiologically to be, you know, had sitting down and drinking intentionally, just like eating intentionally or an intention deficit, very much so across the board. But it is interesting to see the mirror-like aspects of water.
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
When you mentioned what it's like to become water-like, and most people are familiar with that Bruce Lee quote, and we look at the qualities of water, of how it adapts, changes, evolves, fits to its environment, flows, is reflective, all these things. What does that look like in a daily practice, like in a really practical aspect of being like water? What does that look like to you?
Know Thyself
E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
Yeah, I mean, without it, none of us exist, right? It's the connective tissue of the planet. And if we're looking for life out in the universe, we look for water. There is no life without water. And I love how you shared the interconnectedness that water is the binding force between us all and between all life. And it is...
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
poetic, existential to think about how the water that is in us now and that we drink tomorrow has been on the planet for a very long time and has gone through glaciers and rainforests and Jesus and, you know, the great sages of time. And it's interesting. And if water does continue and hold memory... then what does that say about the water that we're spending time in and around and drinking?
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
So like anything in life, you can look at something through multiple perspectives. We could look at water through the philosophical, the mystical, the energetic, the biological, the environmental, so many different components in which we could look at water and Perhaps because it is that analogy, like a fish doesn't know what water is because it's so ubiquitous within its environment.
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
I would love to bring this in a really practical aspect. In Ayurveda, disease, the first step of disease is accumulation. And water has the great capacity to dissipate, purify, cleanse through water fast and then just drinking good water throughout our day. And like you said, the humidity in the air, the water that we're bathing in and breathing in in hot showers, like
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
In today's day and age, because we have covered a good bit of the structural component, when it comes to a little bit more of the material aspect of what's in water, from the TDS to the mineral count to, unfortunately, a lot of fluoride, chlorine, heavy metals, and whatnot, for people that want to come into best relationship, bright relationship with water, what would you say are all the categories from a high-level overview that one would consider in having the best water?
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
Like we've always known water, it's been a part of our life. So we just, you know, we almost take it for granted. We forget to drink it. We don't recognize the power of bathing in it. And we don't understand the intelligence of it. And so before we dive deeper into your experiments...
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
And the work that you've been doing and the possibility of water being more than just a mere substance or liquid, as we know, H2O from a molecular standpoint. Why do you feel like it's important to have these conversations about what water is right now? Why is now an important time to be talking about all this?
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
course and you know it doesn't take away from like the the changes both structurally and how it feels in our system when we're intentional with the water and um and how we drink it and how we care for it and of course we live in a world where it will serve us and our loved ones and family and children best if we're really also mindful of of what before like how it gets to the stage before we're about to drink it or bathe in it you know and so
Know Thyself
E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
I really love all the emotional and intentional components to it and how it's important to it and how consciousness can affect structure of water and whatnot. But do you pay much attention to how chlorinated and the heavy metals that are in water and stuff like that?
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
That's interesting because I feel like you get to that point by drinking pure water for a while and then you can really actually smell water that has stuff in it. It's so strong. Yeah, it's pretty obvious.
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
Yeah, I think I have linen kind of covers over the spring water deliveries that we get here. And it just helps, I think, preserve the water and like algae after a month from building. Yeah.
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
It's just a good reminder and invitation to filter out a lot of the bad stuff that you're going to be... People don't realize also the effects of breathing in from showers and bathing even more so than drinking.
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
Yeah.
Know Thyself
E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
I think awareness that just leads to fear is going to perpetuate disease, but awareness that leads to action that empowers you, I think, is ultimately the goal.
Know Thyself
E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
What's one shift you wish humanity would make in its relationship to water?
Know Thyself
E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
What I love about getting to do this podcast is getting to talk to many people from disparate fields of different areas of study, you know, from philosophical and to the environmental and to water and to like seeing how intercorrelated every aspect of this all is. And you have shared a lot of reminders that I know are really impactful and needed right now. Like,
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
re-inviting that reverence to all life and the water that enables it all. So just this has been amazing. And yeah, sharing a lot of gratitude for you and for sharing your work. And before we close out, do you just have any last words you'd like to share with our audience or anything before we head out?
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
That's a big mic drop right there. The love that you share for water just radiates out of you and through your eyes and how you show up. And so it's been a joy and I'm looking forward to connecting and just being friends. So thanks for coming on.
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
Yeah. For everybody, thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of the Know Thyself podcast. Let us know what this episode has shifted in your perspective of what water is and your relationship to it. Until next time, be well.
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
There is something really unique in the perspective of us entering earth, being through amniotic fluid and in water and gestating in that period for a while. So there's a lot of really philosophical understandings that I'm excited to dive into. I love how you said the study of water is the study of self. And it's very on brand for this podcast. And what I'm very much so passionate about.
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
But when you started crystallography and taking photos of water in a certain state, right? Would you say it's not quite ice, but it's not liquid yet? How do you describe what is the stage in which you're taking photos of water that are infused with different intentions and stuff?
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
Ada Austin, thanks for being here.
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
What was the shift for you from seeing water as a substance to a living intelligence? When was that shift for you?
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
So the idea that thoughts and intentions can literally affect the molecular structure of water from a secular point of view is pretty out there. You know, it's not really widely accepted. I think a decent amount of people, especially in certain spaces, are familiar with Masaru Emoto's work.
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
And as his work wasn't as embraced by the scientific community for its kind of repeatability and the scientific approach of being able to kind of show this, I'm just curious because in your process, you're infusing intention or through music, through seeds, through words, through photos, different imagery, and you're seeing how water is responding to it, right?
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
And so before we kind of address the first thing that I mentioned, what are a couple of your favorite examples of this that you've done? I remember seeing the sunflower one, which was really beautiful. What are a few that stick out off the top of your mind?
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
That's incredible. Yeah, there's so many. And just flipping through some of the imagery in your book was really cool to see. It's so artistic and feels so creative, which I know is obviously like you see yourself also as a co-creator and lover of art in this whole process too. And I think that in pursuit of... I guess, total materialistic validity.
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E138 - Veda Austin: The Hidden Intelligence of Water: Structure, Memory & Healing
We kind of lose the metaphorical, poetic, and beauty of a lot of these things too. But how do you address head-on the criticism of pareidolia and the lack of potential repeatability with these things? Like ideally, we should be able to put a sunflower seed there every time and see this same result, right? So what do you say?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Pleasure is mine. I love to dive in off the bat. Let's dive in. And this area of exploration and the type of conversation that we're going to have today is one of my favorite because it's such a unifying area of exploration where the mass consciousness is pretty fragmented in exploring these different categories of life. And I love how you bring things together. And so when you look at
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
when we view reality from this kind of just third dimensional view um with subject and objects i think boehm's kind of referred to or quoted something like um the universe is not a collection of objects but a communion of subjects and so like the exploration of consciousness being more fundamental of this implicate order that boehm was exploring i would love to unpack this a little bit and then we can get into some more quantum stuff and then
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
all the alchemical, Kabbalistic, hermetic side of explorations and how they kind of interlink with each other. But for people that don't know and aren't familiar with the implicate order, what does that mean?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
External manifestations.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
life from the spiritual and the physics and the scientific lens. Going back in time, what do you feel like was the predominant divorce between seeing physics and metaphysics as two separate things?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Yeah, that's like the exploration and probing of the explicate order of the physical external manifestations, which are all tied in a possible deeper fundamental implicate sense of the world. And that to me just opens up and it intuitively just makes so much sense. And it definitely isn't, I feel like, talked about or explored as much in the mainstream narrative. But...
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
you know, when the understanding of quantum physics and that sort of exploration began, I think it started for many scientists and people that are exploring for truth on the spiritual side of things as well, really just kind of did a 180 on it. And just like,
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
took us from we think we know sort of how reality works and that we will through this one way of essentially measuring the explicate order of things to a deeper fundamental mysterious way of connectivity and entanglement that's happening beneath our sense perceptions and so
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
And I think it can, and I'm looking forward to getting your perspective on how it can go a little bit too far in terms of taking things out of their technical context. But when you study emergent complex systems and you see kind of how there's both in the explicate order and the macro side of things, there is reflection of what's happening.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
And there's like clues, hints, breadcrumbs of what's happening at a deeper sense. And so you study order, symmetry, beauty, like cues within nature, and you start to see this correlation between the micro and the macro. I don't know if you saw that. I'm sure you did that. Those entangled photons that look like the yin and yang symbol that was in a recent study. I don't know if you saw that.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
OK, cool. But like seeing those entangled photons and how they showed up and look like that, we'll put it on screen. It's just it's it's interesting to see the deeper the study goes, the relationship between those those two.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Yeah, I think for anybody who goes deep enough into many different fields, you start to see the similarities and interconnection of it, which makes sense, you know, if there's this deeper underlying thing in which all external manifestations originate and where mathematics, you know, or mathematicians discover higher dimensional objects like the amplituhedron and see the inherent
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
beauty in that complexity um and uh and how how that relationship between order efficiency and geometry is pervasive throughout the universe is you know it's just exciting when you start to actually like experience and and study truth and how things are really operating
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
It just provokes so much awe and wonder, especially when we're scientifically exploring, for example, what an electron is and these fundamental constituents and particles of the universe. And we realize, oh, we're also made of these things. you know, brings into question who we are and what our relationship is in the universe in a really, really interesting way.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
And one of these aspects, you know, take it where you will, but from the quantum perspective, looking at ourselves as a quantum being, looking at life from pure possibility instead of the Newtonian probability way of navigating life radically shifts and orients ourselves differently towards life. So what do you think about that?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Yeah, that holistic lens is really needed. I feel like any time we internally as an individual or societally just come out of a growth, like we grow into a new phase, we almost judge the prior version because we're so fresh out of it. And understanding things in the right place from the Newtonian view to the quantum view allows us to, again, just have a holistic lens in how they all work.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
are looking from different perspectives and lenses on, and there's no right or wrong, better or worse. They're just different, right?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
And it's so much so in that integration of polarities and different understandings that I feel like true vibrancy is born out of.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Like if we want to translate that model from the Newtonian and quantum view to our own personal lives, I would love to see what your thoughts are on how there are, you know, various things in our life that we need a sort of logical A to B sort of way of looking at things and taking care of logistics in our family, in our life.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
And then when it comes to like approaching uncertainty and like what we're gonna do with our life, how we wanna share in the world and maybe a new phase of life that's coming after growth spurred or transformation in our life, embracing that kind of quantum view is super necessary. So how do you think about the kind of the dance and weaving between both in our life?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Yeah.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Yeah. And it opens up so many doors about what the nature of intuition is.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
If the form is always informed by the formless, then when asking ourselves what we want to create in the world, what decisions I want to make in my life, what does, again, those words coherence and stillness are very important to sort of get out of our own way to be able to tap into and allow something greater to come through us instead of just from us and from our mind.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
That's where the fun begins.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
mudwater's original blend has four functional mushrooms and with only a fraction of caffeine as a cup of coffee you get natural energy without the jitters or crash of coffee they also have a matcha blend and two other ones with no caffeine rust and gold which is Amazing, I love it.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
One is the turmeric blend, the other one is their nighttime blend, and they contain ingredients like ashwagandha, chamomile to help you chill out, and I add a little bit of honey and their coconut creamer, and it's just bomb. Every single ingredient is 100% organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, sugar-free, and vegan.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
If you wanna try them out, you can just go to mudwater.com slash knowthyself and grab yourself a starter kit. It looks like this. comes with a frother. And yeah, our community right now gets an exclusive deal for 43% off. You get a free rechargeable frother and even free shipping. Again, that's up to 43% off at mudwtr.com slash know thyself. I hope you enjoy.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Getting to co-create with a deeper intelligence. And I think... you know, that saying of allowing life to unfold greater than you could imagine. If life happened exactly as we wanted all the time we wanted, it would be the most boring movie ever. You know, like the surprise and the mystery is what is so enchanting. Just because we touched on it, I am really fascinated.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
And I feel like this is a purging moment for the new age spiritual kind of movement and understanding around all these things, because we can get quite lazy with the language we use. And
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
I feel like it really denigrates the credibility of people that have amazing heart and capacity to impact the world using language in sort of that Dunning-Kruger way where you just know enough to kind of... Sound fancy? Yeah, almost like weaponized intellectual words. And it also ties into superiority sometimes.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
And I'm just curious your thoughts on how we bridge scientific rigor and mystical language without diluting either. Yeah.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Yeah, it's a new wardrobe. It's a new identity structure to kind of, again, Like our ego is so slippery in how it can use anything to build a sense of superiority. That's one aspect of it. But then there's also just the genuine innocent misunderstanding of these things, right?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
It's interesting to see how that's rippled out into the mass consciousness and especially the Western mind. But what kind of world do you feel like we'd be living in if... the emphasis wasn't solely mostly on sort of Newton's mechanical, mechanistic models of reality, but maybe explore some of his theological and metaphysical and alchemical works.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Yeah, Meister Eckhart, I remember saying something like scientists may disagree to infinitum, but, you know, mystics of the world speak the same language because reality can actually only be experienced intrinsically. Like we can, of course, know aspects of it through reality.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
the rational logical mind but through the embodied experience of such concepts does one actually begin to even know something the rest of it actually isn't knowledge it's it's it's not really a gnosis as a better better word there and so to make this fruitful for anybody who's listening because i'm sure we've all fallen in traps of you know doing this um and anytime we critique something i would love to kind of help replace the bad habit what's an example of
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Like language that's used out of its context that you would love to see a little bit more refinement with that you kind of tend to see often. Could you and yeah, how would how would you remedy that?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Yeah.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Yeah. in part to blame is the education system in which has raised us in a sense to like memorize facts as a form of intellectual knowledge, instead of following our deep innate curiosity to truly understand what something is, what something means.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
And therefore, when we use it, we can just approach these areas with humility and speak from what we know, instead of speaking from what we wish to sound like we know.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Yeah, it really feels like our own specialness or uniqueness gets born out of actually the letting go of the need to be perceived as unique and special. It's in that then like authenticity radiates and authenticity definitely has gotten a big PR agent over the past couple of decades.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
So it's a trendy term, but like the lack of agenda internally, I feel like allows for genuine connection both between you and other human beings, but also you and what you're here to be doing.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Another word that I think we just don't have as much understanding of what it really is and can be kind of judged from the scientific lens is, again, sort of this like spiritual new agey area of life is alchemy. And I love how you bring nature and the understanding of this. Again, it really grounds it. if somebody is just like just learning alchemy 101, what is fundamentally that process?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
it's so fascinating to me just the process of transformation both our inner alchemical journey you know of becoming more of our true self of knowing ourself and the bountiful examples in nature where the origination of something looks nothing like yet encoded within What it started from, obviously a great example is just seeds, right? You know, or an acorn that becomes a big tree.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
It doesn't look anything like each other, but the potential lies dormant within it. If you just got like plopped down onto earth and you held those two things and you knew nothing and you said that is going to come from this, be the most crazy thing ever, right? And so that process of transformation, how something and this emergent phenomena arises,
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
I love your analogy, if you want, from the caterpillar to the butterfly, which is obviously a cliche, but I love how you break down the seven stages of the alchemical process, because that can be applied to viewing our own journey as well.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Aptly named, whoever chose the name for those cells.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
So many parallels in terms of that process, which was very detailed, by the way. I love that.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
But so many through lines to our own personal growth and transformation process, right? Both from the perspective of the physical, but then also the mental and the emotional and how those bodies evolve over time in the subtle.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
I think it breeds so much compassion into understanding our current part of the process we're in, in our own life.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
You know, when we're growing or we're going through different changes where it's maybe that coagulation or fermentation process internally, you know, or it's like a dark night of the soul or whatever you want to call it, where we'd like to project our present moment experience onto the eternity of the rest of our life without honoring and just reflecting on how
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
we're in a certain phase of a process that is unfolding in a larger cycle that is ultimately all for a beautiful purpose. So what comes to mind when you think about how this can bring some more compassion into understanding what kind of part of the process we're internally in?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
For those that aren't familiar with the fundamental principles that were extracted in hindsight about Newton's Principia Mathematica and how that informed a lot of the direction we continue to explore from determinism to separability, could you kind of illuminate what those four tenets were?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
yeah we have such a it's like an instacart uber eats mentality for our own growth where we want it instantly you know and i do believe that we can open ourselves up and have spontaneous remissions for people experiencing disease and have big shifts in small periods of time but it also is important to reflect on the purpose each part of the cycle and process plays because
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
like one of the last phases before the butterfly is born you were mentioning how that struggle was necessary and if somebody came and helped it at that particular time it would not have developed the strengths and strength necessary for it to flourish into its full potential and i think about how in my own personal journey and i'm sure in yours and everybody who's listening there were previous struggles in our life that we were going through where if somebody came and helped us probably like we have wanted to in the moment we would not have developed the faculties and the strength
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
It's such a liberating perspective to recognize how all of nature is hardwired to reach its full potential as long as it's in the right environment, you know, and our own like aligning ourself with our own nature is will allow us to more ease attract what's meant for us and become who we're meant to in these aspects. And I feel like
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
if we decide we want to live in truth, that means that we need to face off with all the parts of ourselves that are a lie or are not true, and all the things we believe that are falsehoods, and that's hardly ever a glamorous process. And I think that personal growth can be seen as this glamorized thing because we're seeing everyone's highlight reel. We're seeing everyone's butterfly, you know?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
And yeah, I just want to get your perspective on how we honor those past survival strategies, these things that we need to let go of. Like so much of growth is a lot more of losing in some aspect. And of course, from the perspective of the absolute, we're not losing anything. But from the experience of the relative, we're losing a lot more in times than it feels like we're gaining.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Yeah, that was great. I think as you experience that process too, it helps us prioritize the devotion towards that inner fire because we can see how we can see the fruits of our previous pain or fire transmutation process, the fruits that it spared.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
And so we know that the challenges that arise or the opportunities for growth can be perceived as that instead of just resistance continually to life and existence around us. And ancient texts throughout for thousands of years in the yoga philosophy talk about tummo or the various different words and techniques that refer to this inner fire
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
the ability to purify impurities and emotional blockages and whatnot. And so any thoughts you have there on the inner alchemical process and what it means to sort of be an alchemist in our own internal life?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Is there a period of life for you that stands out as the most sort of transformative, alchemical in that way where you maybe resisted it at first, but you could like, in hindsight, look back, see how that was like the spawn of your biggest growth?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
So what do you think is happening at the more subtle levels as one goes through their own inner transformation journey, particularly in DNA? I'm curious your thoughts on what constitutes the potentially 1-2% of protein coding DNA versus the other that we label as junk DNA. The thoughts around how light and DNA can play with each other. Yeah, what are your thoughts on that?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Whoever came up with junk in the first place is quite audacious.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
So many doors were opened up from that. And if we're solely relying on our senses to inform us about reality, it's always going to ultimately be futile because we have this small perception capacity. And so What do you think of extrasensory perception? How with our physical senses, we're observing obviously less than 1% of the electromagnetic spectrum.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
We're exploring these possibilities of latent potential hidden in our DNA and the cells in our body.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
just opens up a big mysterious door of what's possible within being human and also uh what you know yogic traditions have referred to as cities and um different potentials which are very very philosophically exciting to talk about and i think uh we can we can shun it away so click so quickly if we don't logically know how you know these things would work but what does that open up for you in terms of possibility and your thoughts around extra sensory perception
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
The mantis shrimp has 13 cones of color. What the hell does that look like?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
And it's like, what?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Yeah, this is referred to, cognitively referred to as relevance realization to like our subconscious filtering systems that are gatekeepers to both before what we even consciously experience and perceive is. So we're like looking through a lens, through a lens, through a lens.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
David Eagleman is doing a really interesting work at this. Like he, with a study of individuals helped train them, develop a new sense of sensing the electromagnetic field of the earth and where true north is. And they were able to like develop that awareness and it was verified studies.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
That notion of materialism being fundamental creates the inherent separation of subject and object and views world. And again, like you said, scarce sort of mentality. And I know that in your educational studies at university, there was sort of the shift as you were having your own spiritual development alongside the shift from classical to the quantum view.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Yeah. I also have a lot of musician friends who speak about that too. And, and
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
michael jackson and prince were always quoted going back and forth about you know staying up late nights in the studio because they were gonna attune and catch a song that was in the field before the other and um how they're you know that the the sea of information and non-visible uh world that is just beyond our sense of
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
self uh that we take advantage of every day knowingly too through different radio frequencies and wi-fi and all and all this but then getting in deeper into the subtle subtleties it is fascinating and i i'm interested what a society would look like in previously if there have been some in the past where uh
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
from birth these things were not um only like known about but practiced studied strengthened and what a civilization would look like that was you know full-blown taking up the capacity of their of their potential and in that aspect so it might seem like a a random tangent but my friend asked me the other day of like a forecast of like what the next 10 years what do i think it's going to look like and i jokingly said uh technological cyborgs and autistic superheroes
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
The reason I bring it up is because we see how when there's other senses that are impaired and, you know, these studies that are happening with autistic children and their ability for all these extrasensory perceptions and cognitive capacities. And it's just fascinating to see what's on the horizon of human development.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
disconnected from that and now we're having to rediscover it but if it's a universal principle it's there for us to be discovering it again yeah yeah truth is always there to be rediscovered if forgotten for a period of time it brings to mind as you're you know said that you through your initiations and studies into the you know different mystery school teachings and understanding of vibration frequency prana chi whatever words we want to use there which again can be
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
And I would just be curious for you to share a little bit about your own personal journey during that time of like what shifted when you started exploring quantum physics and how that was much more exciting as opposed to the classical view.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
like the term razor vibration can be used in that context we were using earlier, which I don't really like the terms higher, lower, good, bad. I prefer coherence, coherent energy, and something's either incoherent or coherent. When somebody walks into a party and you get a quote-unquote bad vibe, that's incoherent energy. When we're experiencing disease, that's incoherence within our body.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
And so how do you think about what prana, what she is, and... aligning ourselves to experience more of a coherent sense of mind, body, and spirit.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Yeah, I think it's so great that we have a sense of agency to be able to work with the breath more consciously or continue to work and have it be an unconscious process where we're not working with it in a way that's going to be more beneficial for our system.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
When you think of our capacity to work with entrainment neurologically, physiologically, I think it's such an empowering perspective because it gives the power back to us and our ability to take life back into our own hands in a sense. So any thoughts you want to share there?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
What's up, everyone? Welcome back to the podcast. Our guest today holds a PhD in physics from the University of Washington.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Yeah, I'm such a big fan on crafting our environment as we create our environment and then our environment creates us in many ways because there is that sense of entrainment happening on a reciprocal fashion, right? So it's like if we can create an environment in which we're mostly spending, which is our home,
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
um to be conducive towards more of those coherent energies and then when we go out in the world we can be a sense of entrainment you know as people have talked about being in the presence of awakened beings alone not talking not working through practice or philosophy just alone being in the presence of something um that tuning fork starts to affect the vibration of the of those that are around it um and so yeah i think it's just such an important takeaway to
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
to craft an environment around you that is conducive.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Yeah, it's part of your environment in a sense too, right?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
I have found that it's probably one of the biggest factors in terms of... Because of course, like...
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
air that we breathe the the things that we smell what we see and feel in our environment these all obviously impact us um but people are very strong influences on energy right and so we can learn how to protect our own energy but then we can also learn how to be the one who's in training versus just the one who's being entrained like choosing to consciously spend time with people who are in that more of just like that clean energy is uh is so valuable so needed and
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
difficult choice at times when you see, you feel like, especially in earlier on your journey, you're starting to wake up to these truths and you're surrounded by people who have just no idea about it for better or worse. And again, it goes back to that, you know, that point of death and rebirth in terms of our relationships.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
You've sprinkled many things throughout, but in terms of like what you feel, at least for you personally, have been the most actionable, practical steps for people to practice and experience their interconnectedness in a fragmented world, you know, seemingly at times. Yeah, what have you seen move the needle the most for people?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Absolutely.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
yeah it's it's great and i think at least in my experience uh committing to like an immersive experience with a deep lineage whatever the tools are to like truly know and deepen and sink your teeth into a practice um i feel like bears so many fruits because then you go bringing that back back into your daily life and you know what to expect you know how to keep the guardrails around it you know what the practice really is and um
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Not that just searching a five minute meditation on YouTube's not beneficial in some contexts, but deepening and really getting the most out of that time is amazing.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Great. I agree full heartedly. What's one question you haven't been asked in an interview that you maybe wish you have?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
She is a teacher, writer, author, speaker, leader, synthesizer of really science and spirit in so many ways and taking what seems so oftentimes metaphysical, esoteric on the spiritual side and grounding it and also brings what can often be dense scientific material to parse through into science. understandable language as well. So Dr. Teresa, thank you so much for being here.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Amazing. Well, I love when the culmination of our path kind of Yeah, it cultivates into an offering that we feel like is most aligned to support people and how we uniquely have the capacity to. So it's really exciting. What's one thing you wish to remind people of more now than ever?
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Such an empowering share. I mean, thank you. Thank you so much for that. The perspective of remembering versus like external acquisition. And I think it orients herself different and it allows us to go inside and discover the answers that are already there instead of fighting for with control and that kind of, again, Newtonian way of navigating reality.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
It's a liberating perspective, but it's already there.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
It reminds me of Emerson's quote, which I've quoted before, that in the mind of geniuses, we find our own neglected thoughts. And it refers to what we were speaking earlier. If the universe is truly mental, then we all have access to this field. Of course, when somebody shares a truth or a deeper knowing, we can verify that within ourself because we also have access to it.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
We may not have consciously come to it as soon as somebody else, but that's what this whole journey is. And so much of your work is, what I do with my podcast, is bringing forth back into conscious awareness these things that we haven't paid enough awareness to.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Thank you. Yeah, it's, I enjoy getting to be a curator of all these touch points and doorways into different paths for people that resonate for people differently. Like, you know, the Kabbalistic or Hermetic path or yogic philosophy and understanding like perhaps because of whatever you want to say in previous lives or ancestral or genetic memory or just life current incarnated desires.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Like we all have our paths that we resonate more towards. And there are so many bountiful paths that are exciting to explore. And so that's what I've seen you do in your work too. And we haven't really even dove too much into hermeticism or the Kabbalah. Maybe next time. Yeah, yeah. I think maybe next time, but these touch points serve as just that for people. So this was an epic conversation.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
I think we did it.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
Yeah. Thanks. Pleasure's mine. And we'll leave links for what you mentioned you're up to as well down in the description where people can find you and upcoming courses and everything and anything else to go.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
It's a great thing to close out the Know Thyself podcast with. And so it is. Everybody, thanks for tuning into this episode. I love you. We love you. Until next time, be well.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
And so that led you down a further exploration of quantum physics, of like Bohm's implicate order and understanding how reality is connected at levels we're only beginning to be able to comprehend. And of course that would ignite your excitement again for the mystery of life because it's not, everything's not known or, you know, into logically, logically knowable.
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E145 - Dr. Theresa Bullard: Physicist Explores The Missing Link Between Alchemy & Quantum Mechanics
And in a sense, you know, there's a deeper sense of adventure in that pursuit.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
We've become so heady as a culture. And I know a lot of ancient wisdom traditions, cultures, tribes view the gut as like almost the first intelligence or more of the first brain.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Thanks for being here, man. Oh, amazing. Thank you for having me. If somebody's just tuning into this episode, and as often people do when they listen to podcasts, they ask themselves, what can I ought to be expecting to gain from this episode in particular? What's the promise of tuning into this episode and why people should stick around?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
The more that we see the different levels and depths of intelligence within us from the 40,000 neurites that live in our heart that store memory, there's so many different ways in which our body is vastly intelligent that we're not consciously privy to, but nonetheless, we take advantage of.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
And so when we talk about gut feelings and intuition in a society that really overly pedestalizes the intellect and our thoughts, how I would love for you to just elucidate what's your perspective on intelligence that's derived not just out of our intellect from up here, but lower down in the centers.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
What is the reality, and I would love for you to break down to whatever degree you'd like to... like intuition and these gut feelings, how they arise in our daily experience? Like what is the actual function in how information arises from our body, from our gut? Because it seems like
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
whether we walk into a room and we catch what we say is like a bad vibe or, you know, we're in a meeting or we have an interaction with somebody and something comes to us that we just seem like it seems in our conscious experience, it just comes from the abyss, like from the darkness of our conscious experience.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
And the reality is like we're exploring how intelligent this body is in ways we don't fully intellectually know yet. And so what is the reality of that?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
It's so fascinating to see how it guides us and how if our sense of preferences, our sense of self in many ways, what our cravings are, what we like, what we don't like, our emotional states are all being shaped by this microbiome, it begs the question of who and what am I? Of course, on this living dynamic ecosystem like we're speaking to,
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
But then it invites me also to think of like, okay, in what ways am I being influenced without fully being aware of by this living ecosystem in me?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
This is like where a pregnant woman will crave pickles or chalk. I've heard random things that there's maybe certain mineral makeup that their body's craving.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
The more that I've been diving into researching, prepping for this podcast, getting into your work more, there are so many avenues to explore. And so I want to kind of segment a few out, first starting with the very simple question of what is the microbiome fundamentally?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
And that's the first time a baby gets exposed to that world, the microbiome.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Is everyone's microbiome vastly different? How much in similarity are microbiomes?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
What comes to mind is just how casual so many people are kissing other people.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Yeah.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Hey fam, quick share. One thing that reliably brings me joy in my life in my morning ritual and routine is a warm beverage. One very much so like, gee, look at that, Mudwater. Mudwater is a healthy habits brand best known for its mushroom coffee alternative. Mudderwater's original blend has four functional mushrooms with only a fraction of caffeine as a cup of coffee.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
You get natural energy without the jitters or crash of coffee. They also have a matcha blend, which is amazing. Two other ones with no caffeine as well, Rest and Gold, which is their turmeric blend that contains ingredients like ashwagandha, chamomile, to help you chill out. I add a little bit of honey and their coconut creamer, and it's amazing.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Every single ingredient is 100% organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, sugar-free, and vegan. If you want to try them out, you can head to mudwater.com slash knowthyself and grab yourself a starter kit. Right now, our community gets an exclusive deal up to 43% off your entire order, plus a free rechargeable frother and even free shipping. It looks like this. Again, that's up to 43% off.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Just go to mudwater.com, M-U-D-W-T-R.com slash nilaself. I hope you enjoy. So if our experience of life is being shaped in pretty much every single way by the makeup of our microbiome, how does this account for the varying different levels of health advice and diet advice? Because it seems like there's so many people that seem to do well in so many different types of diets.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
And that's why all this kind of one size fits all health advice doesn't work and why there's so much disagreeance in the health space. So what's the reality of that?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
I love how you guys are bringing that to the level of the individual and where they're not perfect, but I do see so much value in Eastern medicine through Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, where they do focus on the individual on their healing journey. I think the East and West have definitely a lot to learn from each other. But it makes me think about this idea of like top down versus bottom up.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Like we've been speaking to how our microbiome affects our experience and cravings and so much. But then also like the outside world and the relationships that we have and the stress and all these kind of external things are also top down affecting. So it's like the symbiotic relationship. And I'm just curious for you to share how from the outside in and inside out, it's all changing.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
So what happens to our gut when let's say we get in an argument with a partner? Like what's changing on the physiological level in our gut then?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
In other words, our physiology is in a state in which we're trying to survive a lion, but there's actually no lion. It's just perceived stressors. That's right.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Whenever I hear stuff like this, I ask, what is the body doing that's right in this? Our body is so intelligent, and so it's protecting us in some way. What is our system trying to do in creating that sense of pain when we're in that sympathetic state?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
You mentioned potentially the biggest lever being nutrition and what we put in our mouth that affects our gut and microbiome. But you also mentioned how there's all these other factors. Of course, the environment in which we live is literally informing the environment within us and vice versa. And so I'm just curious about the link between unresolved stressors, unresolved trauma and gut issues.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Yeah, it's so fascinating how our sense of human agency is so directly affected by this. Can you give us a picture of how vast the microbiome is in and around us? When we say we're made up 95% from the genetic code, is made up of these, of this microbiome.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
would you say in a particular area usually? Because I know like there's the Chinese medicine map that has each organ relating to different emotions that kind of store different experiences. But when a traumatic experience happened that is beyond our capacity to kind of process it, and it leaves that emotional residue or scar.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
I'm just curious, like where physiologically and how does it stay and then affect our gut and these different organs?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
I'm curious what the first individuals who were discovering, even like, you know, at the microscopic level, the amount of quote unquote beings or life forms or whatever you want to call them exist in and within us. It really like, dissolves the idea of being a separate self.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
It makes sense why there's so many people who continue to have health issues that do all the quote unquote right things and the workouts and the saunas and the cold plunges and the diets. And yet there's this unresolved tension that's still like we're living through. And just think of like everybody, like what it feels like to let go of something.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
There is like, if we all just focus right now on like letting go some tension in our body, there is this release and also access to more energy. And putting that in reverse is like that fight or flight state or that survival state, just more tension. And it feels like so often we don't realize to the degree we're carrying that tension throughout our life.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
110%.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Is it true that 90% of serotonin is made in the gut? What's the reality to that?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Interesting. And I'm assuming there's different functions of how serotonin, like people probably relate serotonin to just like what makes us feel good. And I know there's other functions as well. Why is that important to know?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Rather, we are an interdependent community that's always walking and we are a living ecosystem, which is so different in understanding. So how vast is this microbiome?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
I mean, I agree. I love morning walks too in it.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
It's obvious within the experience of being human where you start to have this upward spiral and momentum of health that builds that when you wake up early because you went to bed earlier the night before and you get that morning walk and that morning light, then your willpower is stronger and you're eating healthier foods and you just go and you have more energy to exercise and deal with positive stress and all these things.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
It's... It's really exciting and empowering.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
What is that study about with depression and fecal transplant? I'm curious, what does that reveal about, yeah, what it means to be a happy individual for those that are suffering with different emotional swings and depression? How did that, yeah, what happened in that study?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
So they would take what poop from a human, put it in a rat or something, and that rat would get depressed?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
So then it would, in theory, I mean, and also through the study work in reverse, right? Like a happy individual take their gut or you take their poop. And you put it in somebody who's not feeling so good? For a human? Yeah.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Did he know about this?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Wow.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Do you think we're too flippant with antibiotic prescriptions in this country?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
I'm curious your perspective having worked in the Western medical system, but also I see you have a very holistic approach to understanding the human body. You look at everything in the DSM and how we are so quick to prescribe pills for issues and the link between our gut and our, as we talked to earlier, our gut-brain connection and how so much of our psychological woes and issues
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Why is diet one of the biggest levers we can pull? And for somebody that wants to take more responsibility in the course of their health, obviously we know how important nutrition is, but Can you break down how the food we eat is actively shifting, changing, evolving, shaping our microbiome?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
What is the legitimacy to that? Because I remember when I switched to a plant-based diet like eight years ago, I noticed within only like a couple weeks, my cravings completely changed as well. And so how does what we put in our mouth change what we want to then put more of in our mouth?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
So... When you eat, let's say you add or you have a plant-centric diet or you're eating a lot of spinach where you used to eat a bunch of just candy and lollipops and sugar-filled ultra-processed foods. When you start to make that healthier shift, what's happening to those cells? What's happening to your gut and your microbiome? Are they dying off and new ones are being spun up?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
How are they changing what they're craving?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Whoever's naming these. Some people name them after themselves, which I think is a bit egotistical. Very humble.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
That stuff. I mean, isn't 90% of pharmaceuticals fed through cattle?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Why is the absence of fiber, for example, on a meat-based diet, why is that an issue? And just generally, for those that aren't getting as much fiber in their diet, why is that such an important thing?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Was there not that study that showed for every five grams of fiber and increase, there was a 30% chance of survival for cancer?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
It is an important reminder that we are an ever-changing process. And I heard you mention on another podcast that there's 100 billion stars in a galaxy. We have then over 100 galaxies worth of stars of these microbes in our gut, which is just unfathomable to think about how many there are within us. 380 complete galaxies.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Why? Why is fiber so essential to a healthy gut and system?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
And what is it in all of those things that is the actual fiber? Like what is the, is the compound, the structural component of what brings it, make it like keeps stuff together.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
I used to have pretty foggy brain. Before I took out gluten, I was super bloated and foggy headed pretty regularly. And I took out gluten and things just changed drastically within a week. It was crazy. So fiber is very important. Everything that you just mentioned seems really helpful in understanding the process of prebiotic, probiotic, postbiotic.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
To make this super practical, could you just boil down the most important ways in which we can implement that knowledge into the changes and decisions we're making in life? Yeah. In terms of nutrition? Yeah.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Is there something people should watch out in how fiber is changed in the blending process?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Would you say similar for juicing? Like if you're going to juice a bunch of vegetables versus eating them?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
So increased fiber through a diversity of foods, ideally minimum 30 plus per week. But, you know, a smoothie can help take that, you know, take care of that for you. Smoothies, soups.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Yeah.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
How important is the realization that we are an ever-dynamic changing process rather than a fixed, solid, genetically predestined self? How important is that? Reminder.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
What would you put as a rung right under what you just said for ways to improve our nutrition? Number two? Yeah, would it be fermented foods? Yeah. Oh, dude, good work.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Sauerkraut, kimchi, so bomb.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
It's funny, too. I just remember like traveling Europe and because you hear people going to Europe and not having the same issue with wheat, you know, and just wanted to experiment and like had no issue. It's so fascinating.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Even Whole Foods, we've seen some really sketchy stuff there.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Where else would you see glyphosate? Is it just all or vast majority of non-organic foods that we would have?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
What's the one-liner that showcases how, why glyphosate is so bad for our system?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
So it's just destroying our microbiome. It's destroying our microbiome.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
That's trippy. Multiple football fields of surface area.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Any thoughts on, pick it up on any of these that you want, but parasites, cleanses, fasting, what comes to mind when people are exploring the reality of these?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. Today we are joined by a leading health gut expert and gastroenterologist and New York Times bestselling author. So often on this podcast, we explore themes around what it means to be filled with knowledge and live a life of wisdom. And a huge part of that that's inextricable from being human is our gut.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
It's not bad. That could be like, what, 10 to 8? Yeah. That's like... It's not bad. No. Yeah.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
I do often think about how at odds directly modern living is with how we ancestrally evolved to. And there's a lot to unpack there in the sterilization of our environment and from the isolation of community, like all these things that we've been programmed in many ways to kind of fear, which have all these deleterious,
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Got it. Fascinating. Any word on alcohol since you mentioned it? I'm just curious in what it's doing to the gut.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Some alcohol.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
No, but I mean, I feel like I'm all about, I think you're all about empowering people with the knowledge to make their own choice. And I think it's to come from an empowered place of really just knowing what that effect is because... then you're able to really engage with acts of self-love that help you build towards that healthy spiral of health. And that's exciting.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
And then you may get to the point where you just don't want to partake in things that are harming your health and you find other ways to... find indulgence or whatever it is. Or maybe even if you partake in certain things that are gonna create dysbiosis in your gut, you're more mindful and it's more of a once a month instead of once a week thing. That's exactly right.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
It goes back to what we talked about earlier on too, about where decisions are coming from. And if we're in a state of fear, making decisions too, that's also like you mentioned earlier, putting us in a sympathetic state where we're creating more dysbiosis in the gut too. So it's like, Making choices for the love of our health and our inner system is amazing.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Not doing something fun because we're fearful of the changes might be a powerful motivator to start, but I'm sure also have their own side effects.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
One of the last things I wanted to ask you about actually is skin. Because most of us aren't familiar with the microbes that live on us. Yeah. And how they communicate with the microbes in us. And I feel like we just got out of this COVID time and era where there's so many masks and hand sanitizers. Yeah. You know, and modern living in many ways is so sterile.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
And so what is that fundamentally doing and how it kind of changes the environment within us?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Wasn't there an example of this, like the sterile boy or something? There was a bubble boy.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Wow.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
So fascinating, man. There's just so many... There's so many exciting avenues to continue exploring with you on how all of this is intertwined into an ecosystem. And it can get complex because we are such complex creatures, but I love the simplicity you bring to the understanding of the choices that we make, build to the life that we have.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
And we can slowly, even just shifting the ship one degree over the course of a year, we're in a different area, you know? That's so true. I really believe that.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Yeah, I really feel like a wealthy individual. Finances is one vertical, but it's small in comparison to everything else that really cultivates into somebody living a life well-lived. And it just feels like we outsource Our lack of really being connected with others in search of so many different things without us being fully cognizant of it.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
There's that African proverb that says, a child who's not embraced by a village will burn it down to feel its warmth. We see that. And how many of us and throughout society are not embraced in a wider community, a family of families. And we search and we yearn for that connection and that unity because it's ancestrally wired. It's also what our hearts yearn for.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
And it's fundamentally, I believe, what we all are connected at that deeper level. When we live in a society that really kind of rewards this type of this sense of hyper individualism and separateness, we see that disconnection on so many levels.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
And it's been fascinating throughout this whole convo, how we see the link between the disconnection within others in our environment and within ourselves. So, yeah, it's powerful. I feel like we just brought it completely full circle.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Yeah, this is great, man. And it's just such a pleasure to connect with you. And I know so much of this value is going to resonate with our community and audience. So thank you. And yeah, do you have any other last notes before we head out where people can stay connected with you and then anything else you want to share?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
Sweet, man. I love it. Thanks for setting some over, by the way. I'm excited to get on that consistently. Definitely. All right, everybody, thank you so much for tuning into this episode of the Know Thyself podcast. Let us know in what ways you're going to apply anything that you learned and you found uniquely valuable from this conversation. Until next time, be well. Thank you, man.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
The more that I've grown on my journey, the more I've really, in many ways, recognize the vastness of my own ignorance, like how complex we are as human beings and how dynamic of a process we are, like we spoke to, and how many elements really affect our conscious, waking, living experience. And I think...
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
What I try best with this podcast is to bring forth conversations that help people take a sense of responsibility for improving their own sense of agency in their life and being, in many ways, the change in which others can look at and be inspired by in their life. And so I would love to kind of zoom in a little bit more on the individual level now.
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
We'll go into some of the health and science things, but first... This notion of the gut and brain connection, which we're familiar with as an aphorism, but what is the reality of how our gut and brain are interconnected?
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E137 - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: “Your Gut is Wiser Than Your Mind!” - Science of Intuition, Mood & Microbiome
our gut intuition, our gut feelings, our gut health, and how they're all enmeshed into one human being that is us. And our guest today, Dr. Will Bolzewicz, is going to be able to help us guide and give us information to make the most of our gut. And so our gut is so intertwined in our mind, our mood, our longevity, and life at large. And I'm excited to dive into all the nuance.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
To bring this down to the individual who is starting to wake up to this realization and for their whole life, since we were young, we've been put into these conceptual boxes of understanding the world, right? And even to ourself of strongly identifying with our form, with our thoughts, our emotions, and our body.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
What do you see as the most direct path to awakening to who you are beyond that, to the illusion of separation and a separate self?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Yeah. Thankfully, because of the internet and access to conversations like these, spirituality and these understandings are spreading at a rapid rate. And yet there is also the aspect of commodified spirituality, rather insight or advice that kind of soothes the ego instead of dissolves it. And I'm just curious, what do you think and what advice do you have for people to discern between the two?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Because even this all can become a concept one cherishes and holds and then misidentifies as forms.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Where does memory come into this? Memory is a very interesting thing, so you know. You've pushed back a lot on the idea that it's stored in the brain, right?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
I had some sweet potato and veggies, pretty boring.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Maybe electrical synapses.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
There's such a world of information on the path of awakening and self-realization that have been here for thousands of years that are getting more recognition, but it's so important. And I just really appreciate, you know, the work like similar people like you have been doing for decades, bringing this into understandable language in the modern times.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
I'm curious how your views have evolved and shifted on the non-locality and entanglement of consciousness over time, if they have at all.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
I do think how form is informed by the formless. Yes. And in many ways, the path of self-realization is called that because it's awakening to something that already is, as opposed to acquisition of something which we in the Western mind is more familiar with.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
I love that you took that leap. There's that Terence McKenna quote that says, this is how magic is done, by hurling yourself into the abyss and realizing it's a feather bed and trusting in that deep way. So then would you say that your views on consciousness and non-locality have evolved? They evolved.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
So it's just mind-boggling, the whole thing. What do you see as the consilience and the bridging together of what emerging science is saying and accompanying with ancient wisdom traditions about what this realm is and what this loka is? How is that?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
So in that perspective, it's removing what's in the way of what already is. And the yogic or kind of Sanskrit perspective on this is the five kleshas.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Could you share a little bit about that? And what is the barrier in between us and the continued recognition of virtue nature?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
It becomes everything.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
I like it a lot. Actually, it captures everything. Hey fam, quick share. One thing that reliably brings me joy in my life in my morning ritual and routine is a warm beverage. One very much so like, gee, look at that, Mudwater. Mudwater is a healthy habits brand best known for its mushroom coffee alternative.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Mudderwater's original blend has four functional mushrooms with only a fraction of caffeine as a cup of coffee. You get natural energy without the jitters or crash of coffee. They also have a matcha blend, which is amazing. Two other ones with no caffeine as well, rest and gold, which is their turmeric blend that contains ingredients like ashwagandha, chamomile to help you chill out.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
I add a little bit of honey and their coconut creamer and it's amazing. Every single ingredient is 100% organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, sugar-free, and vegan. If you want to try them out, you can head to mudwater.com and grab yourself a starter kit. Right now, our community gets an exclusive deal up to 43% off your entire order, plus a free rechargeable frother and even free shipping.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
It looks like this. Again, that's up to 43% off. Just go to mudwater.com, M-U-D-W-T-R.com slash nilaself. I hope you enjoy. That formula, this perspective, what we're talking about, what context does that give to somebody who's suffering in grief and pain? What does that reveal about the purpose that these things serve in our life?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
So how does somebody listening to this right now translate what you just said from the philosophical to the actionable? Like that wants to go to the source.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
What would you say to somebody that wants to go completely internally to be able to examine the... the source of their calamities, and they're maybe in a dark night, they're experiencing grief, like all these things that you're saying. What has really truly brought you solace in those moments in your life? What practice do you feel like you've kept coming back to?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
You're taking good care of yourself.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Yeah, and there's both the, I guess, top-down and bottom-way up looking at it. I'm curious, like... the joy you bring to things versus the joy you find in things. And like, because there's a lot of, you know, maybe people are working jobs or find themselves in a situation that they don't perceive as enjoyable.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
But I think that shift to perception you're offering allows you to bring joy into what you're doing and then move in the direction.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Yeah, everyone knows the feeling of a child's face and joy. It just beams source energy into your life. Absolutely. You said you do meditate on death, and I'm curious, what do you really feel like happens after consciousness the moment after we die? What is your best up-to-date understanding of what happens?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
So how do you grasp? You can't. So in many ways, clinging to something that is inherently impermanent and ever-changing.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Yeah. How in theory, if what's most irreducible about the aspect of ourselves is the space in this room, how could any continuity of individuality or memory go into another form?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
You do. So you like astral travel.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
See, I would say the only way we could be certain is if we have direct experience of it. Otherwise, it's another belief, right? So you're saying you're actually experiencing it.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
And that creates a barrier to intimacy with life because...
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Yeah, consciousness being the one thing that can't be an illusion. What do you say, because you've been talking about the nature of consciousness, non-locality, entanglement, and all this for quite some time.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
I love that. What do you say to the individuals that have criticized, I guess, the talk of quantum mechanics and taking them out of their technical context?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Yeah, no, I love that because I think we are in a society that is devoid of nutritious soul food when we're fed so much eye candy.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Systems of thought. This is good stuff. You're good. You're good. You've been doing this for a while. I love it. I want to zoom out just a little bit. Not that we haven't already been pretty zoomed out, but we live in a very interesting time in the 21st century with the exponential tech that's happening with super intelligent AGI. I'm curious.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
If a 25th century citizen, human being, was to look back on our time as 21st century people, what do you think, what observations do you think they would make about where we are on our human developmental journey?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
What do you make of that dichotomy where we are very adolescent in our development of emotional intelligence and yet we have this technological revolution and... That comes from the separate self.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
How do you see, for those of us that probably will be seeing it, you know, and live and see the next 50 plus years of this development, What do you see our capacity to maintain the sacredness of spirit and soul and like this understanding? Of course, it can't be tarnished. That's what that which is not tarnishable, you know, but like, yeah, what do you are you optimistic about our capacity to?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
you know, not reduce humans to biological machines?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Don't you think with every big evolutionary jump in our genome, it has gone through some sort of traumatic experience to transmute to that next iteration?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
What does AI reveal about the nature of intelligence and what intelligence is?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Do you think it's ever physically possible for a superintelligence system to be aware of itself and conscious?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Yourself with your selfie. I love you.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
If you solve the first one, meaning the recognition of who you are? Yeah.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
I'm going to write that down. That's great. It seems and it appears that it is becoming more and more conscious. Of course, if it can't be conscious, that's one thing. But it becomes this thing that you can talk to.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
So the awakening to yourself as consciousness, would you verbalize it like that, that you are the consciousness which enables the persona to exist?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Let's say you had a super intelligent AGI, the most developed version, let's say a few decades from now, or you could say source consciousness. What is the question you personally would find yourself asking? What is the most important question that you're still asking yourself?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
What do you make of how your life has turned out in your career? Magical.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Yeah, I mean, the recognition of the Leela and the play for the sake of it.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Yeah, it's fascinating. I really enjoy seeing the discourse and conversations around this topic. Well, thank you, I enjoyed it too. Couple of last questions before we close out, okay? What does true power mean to you?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
What's the relationship between spending time in silence and revealing our true power?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
And it's like the spontaneous creative inspiration that comes in the absence of thought.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Do you feel like you made a big shift in your life at one point from being driven or dragged by certain interior things to being called and pulled and inspired towards a shift in the planet you want to see?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Yeah, you feel like that's how you've lived your life?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Yeah. Was there a shift? Was there a moment where you let that go?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
I love that. What is your true definition of success at this age?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Yeah. If this was your last time speaking to an audience ever, which I know is a big question, what would you say? What would be your last message?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
About a month ago, I had a friend and teacher of mine pass away, Dr. Robert Gilbert. And as death tends to do, it brings this immediacy of experience, the recognition of the fragility of life and how important it is to recognize people while they're here and to tell them how important and impactful they've been. And, um,
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
So I just wanted to share that sincere thank you for being a lighthouse for millions of people for decades. And I just really appreciate your way of showing up. Thank you so much. All right, everybody. Thank you so much for tuning to this episode of the Know Thyself podcast. I love doing this so much and I love that we get to do it together. Let us know in what ways this has impacted you.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Until next time, be well.
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
We're seeing a revolution in emerging scientific understandings of the nature of consciousness, perhaps not as a development of unconscious complexity neuronally, but rather as more fundamental aspect, which Eastern, obviously Western... See, the neuronal activity or the neural correlates
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Have there been times where you've identified overly with the conceptual knowledge rather as the lived experience of what you're teaching?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Deepak, you have been and been called a spiritual teacher, a guide, a healer, a scientist. You've blended ontology and cosmology. You've really been a bridge for East and West in so many ways. If I were to ask you in this day and age right now, with no labels, no titles, who are you most fundamentally? How would you answer that question?
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E141 - Deepak Chopra: Mind, Memory & The Multiverse: What is Reality?
Yeah, and it is a useful magical lie in the aspect where the illusion of separation enables the one consciousness to differentiate itself and experience itself.