To anyone with pronounced empathy, I suspect observing humanity causes great pain? Which you are either living with — or — you developed a strategy to insulate yourself from. Put another way: Being alive begets knowing the majority of the human population is suffering. Further, it may (or may not), lead one to question the […]
“The psychedelic ‘hook’ goes in way deeper than anything merely addictive. It’s a ‘conversionary’ stimulus of overwhelming personal ‘inspiration’ induced in many (not all) that ‘changes everything’ for those now exalted as ‘touched’ by that ‘angel’ – igniting a compulsion every bit as consuming and destructive as any addiction. But where an addict is driven […]
“[Life] sums itself up for me as a lucid invitation to live and to create, in the very midst of the desert.” Albert Camus What does it mean to embody freedom? An interview with no self, for the sake of no self. Dear self, you are hard to pin. When I think I’ve found you, […]
“A human being is a spatially and temporally limited piece of the whole, what we call the ‘Universe.’ He experiences himself and his feelings as separate from the rest, an optical illusion of his consciousness. The quest for liberation from this bondage [or illusion] is the only object of true religion. Not nurturing the illusion […]
The last of three essays regarding (apparent) aimless chaos of the human species. It is mystifying to watch humanity, seemingly, shoot itself in the foot. Meanwhile, it is simultaneously awesome and bewildering to watch culture become increasingly complex. These two forces seem to collude with one another… traditional governance and information spaces are in disarray. […]
Asking the question, “who am I?”, eventually dissolves into, “who are we?”. Then, what choice is there, other than to investigate BACKWARDS? As philosopher David Byrne once asked: “How Did I Get Here?“ For what it’s worth- hundreds of hours are behind these bullets (authoritative material linked). This is intentionally succinct, accentuating bits that’ve maximally […]
A human mind is a miraculous survival tool. An idle human mind, bored, freed from the wilderness, hallucinates all sorts of reasons to be worried, anxious, creative, frustrated, driven absolutely wild. A billion idle human minds, hooked up to the internet with AI chatbots. Yuh oh. Fear not, buckle up. “Everybody is sort of living […]
Dear Jay [Just returned from a 3 day retreat as a novice] Retreat was overall positive. I think I went in with the wrong expectations/goals and suffered a bit for it and also didn’t devote myself to the practice as much as I would’ve liked…frankly, it was very hard to try to remain mindful all […]
This phrase – “spontaneous celibacy” – isn’t a “thing”. It’s an imperfect label that arose while trying to describe my life, to a someone. It’s the best I can conjure – bearing in mind the utter failure of “labels” to ever actually fulfill their obligation. “Spontaneous celibacy? Oh, you poor thing…” Imaginary reaction from the […]
“YOU CAN’T EAT DONUTS UNTIL 1 HOUR AFTER COMMUNION!” My mom, to the nun: “F Off”. 7-year-old me: [watching… donut-in-hand — bewildered] I cherish this memory – the precise moment Catholic dogmatism collided spectacularly with my mom’s veteran pragmatism. There I was, just completed my “first communion” ceremony, in the church basement for coffee and donuts […]
“The moment we begin to see that there are infinitely many kinds of beautiful lives, we cease being captive to the myth of normalcy — the cultural tyranny that tells us there are a handful of valid ways to be human and demands of us to contort into these accepted forms of being” Maria Popova
The title says all. Go on – spend the rest of your life finding a better friend and guide than your inner one. [Shortcut: don’t. Look in the mirror]. I am no Potterhead, but there is one scene permanently etched into my memory. Harry has a premonition, looking across a lake, that his deceased father […]
Common sense might have you assume psychedelics are terrifying, and meditation is rather pointless. Rigorous science, on the other hand, is excavating another story- the emphasis being neither psychedelics nor meditation, but instead, the “important and transformative” question they irrevocably illuminate: Who the F, Are You? Below is one the most beautifully articulated 5-minute clips I’ve […]
“All our inventions are but improved means to an unimproved end.” Henry David Thoreau “We work so damn hard just to simply be alive. There’s no need to strive toward a place you already are.” What is “progress”? Humanity’s been at it a while. We’re roughly ten thousand years beyond agricultural abundance, written language, the […]
The implicit or explicit TLDR of spirituality is Let Go. Let go of what? Everything. And, OK, fine, but does that mean, give up on life? No! It means moving artfully, skillfully. In alignment with the flow of things. Not forcing it. This is beautifully captured in the concept of Wu Wei, as articulated here […]
Once upon a time in early adulthood, I was driving down the road with two friends during summer. It was a brief reprieve from full-throttle partying… a transitory moment between day festivities and night festivities. We were riding in silence, windows down, enjoying the golden hour breeze. My friend who was riding shotgun suddenly announced […]
The three greatest relationships we can hope for are, 1) relationship with self, 2) relationship with the world, 3) a best friend who tolerates us. In seeing self as the most intimate and understanding relationship we will possibly know, all else becomes a gift. Not one to expect, but one to appreciate when offered. Pause […]
Not me. Often when we encounter mental health labels, or labels in general, our mind plays a little “not me” game. It’s almost imperceptible. We view a person’s circumstances sympathetically – like an alien experience we may never know – as opposed to empathetically – literally feeling what the person feels as they describe it, […]
Four years ago on New Years Day 2019, I wrote the following distress-email to a career-oriented therapist. As I re-read and reflect, the concerns feel foreign and distant. Dear Doctor January 1, 2019 Hi Dr Smith, After about 18 years of professional life, I have ascended into one of the best possible positions, and now […]
Stutz’s Life Force I created the wellness stack in early 2022 as a way to help people. I started with three essential topics: sleep, nutrition, and mind/self (followed by others, but these three are huge). One year later, I found Phil Stutz in a documentary, sharing the same. It is validating to discover someone emphasizing […]
The future is rad and all, but it’s never here, so if we can’t be cool now, why defer? Our Future Fetish Just wait, until we land on the moon. How great everything will be! [producer whispers… off camera] Oh fuck me, sorry folks. I’m being told — we’ve done that. And it was indeed…
My optimism:pessimism ratio is solid 9:1. Hence why my editor finds this essay abhorrent. Very off-brand. It may beget our undoing… I’m publishing this while they’re on holiday. As pioneer Grace Hopper once imparted: ’tis easier to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission. What’s the problem? Me concluding – with suspiciously unshakable certainty -…
“The psychedelic ‘hook’ goes in way deeper than anything merely addictive. It’s a ‘conversionary’ stimulus of overwhelming personal ‘inspiration’ induced in many (not all) that ‘changes everything’ for those now exalted as ‘touched’ by that ‘angel’ – igniting a compulsion every bit as consuming and destructive as any addiction. But where an addict is driven…
“[Life] sums itself up for me as a lucid invitation to live and to create, in the very midst of the desert.” Albert Camus What does it mean to embody freedom? An interview with no self, for the sake of no self. Dear self, you are hard to pin. When I think I’ve found you,…
“A human being is a spatially and temporally limited piece of the whole, what we call the ‘Universe.’ He experiences himself and his feelings as separate from the rest, an optical illusion of his consciousness. The quest for liberation from this bondage [or illusion] is the only object of true religion. Not nurturing the illusion…
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