1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,400 Speaker 1: There really is a tension between being and becoming. On 2 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:07,720 Speaker 1: some level, being isn't enough because you know that life 3 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:11,520 Speaker 1: is also an unending series of problems to be solved, 4 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:12,960 Speaker 1: and we're all going to die, right, so we have 5 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:15,400 Speaker 1: to find some mode of being at peace within permanence. 6 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:17,080 Speaker 1: The best selling author and post. 7 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 2: The number one health and wellness podcast On Purpose with 8 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:24,560 Speaker 2: Jay Shetty. Hey, everyone, welcome back to On Purpose, the 9 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 2: number one health podcast in the world. Thanks to each 10 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 2: and every one of you that come back every week 11 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:33,559 Speaker 2: to become happier, healthier, and more healed. I'm so grateful 12 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 2: for our incredible community and all the love and support 13 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:39,600 Speaker 2: and energy that I've been seeing already at the beginning 14 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:42,520 Speaker 2: of this year, and I'm so excited to be talking 15 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 2: to you today. I can't believe it. My new book, 16 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:49,680 Speaker 2: Eight Rules of Love is out and I cannot wait 17 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:52,720 Speaker 2: to share it with you. I am so so excited 18 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 2: for you to read this book, for you to listen 19 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:57,120 Speaker 2: to this book. I read the audiobook. If you haven't 20 00:00:57,160 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 2: got it already, make sure you go to eight Rules 21 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:04,000 Speaker 2: of Love dot com. It's dedicated to anyone who's trying 22 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:07,080 Speaker 2: to find, keep, or let go of love. So if 23 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:10,240 Speaker 2: you've got friends that are dating, broken up, or struggling 24 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 2: with love, make sure you grab this book. And I'd 25 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:15,160 Speaker 2: love to invite you to come and see me for 26 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:20,040 Speaker 2: my global tour Love Rules. Go to jshellytour dot com 27 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:24,640 Speaker 2: to learn more information about tickets, VIP experiences, and more. 28 00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 2: I can't wait to see you this year. And today's 29 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 2: guest is someone that I've been reading his books for 30 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:32,720 Speaker 2: quite a while. We were just discussing beforehand. Probably started 31 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:37,119 Speaker 2: reading his work around thirteen years ago or thereabouts, and 32 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:39,600 Speaker 2: I just read his latest book, which I'm going to 33 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:41,319 Speaker 2: tell you about today, and we'll be discussing some of 34 00:01:41,319 --> 00:01:46,280 Speaker 2: that work today. And it's amazing to see how someone's deepened, expanded, 35 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:49,440 Speaker 2: continued their thought, especially when they write in a very 36 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 2: logical but also documentari way. And so I'm talking about 37 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:59,280 Speaker 2: Sam Harris and neuroscientist, philosopher, and author of five New 38 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 2: York Times best sellers. Sam's work covers a wide range 39 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:08,680 Speaker 2: of topics neuroscience, moral philosophy, religion, meditation, practice, rationality, and 40 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 2: Sam focuses on how a growing understanding of ourselves and 41 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:15,640 Speaker 2: the world is changing our sense of how we should live. 42 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:18,280 Speaker 2: Some of The books include the End of Faith, The 43 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:22,240 Speaker 2: Moral Landscape, which is the first book I read, Free Will, Lying, 44 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:26,359 Speaker 2: and Waking Up. Sam hosts the popular Making Sense podcast 45 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:29,920 Speaker 2: and is the creator of the Waking Up app. Please 46 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,000 Speaker 2: welcome to the show, Sam Harris. Sam, thank you for 47 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 2: doing this. 48 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:33,720 Speaker 1: Oh, yes, pleasure. Great to meet you. 49 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:35,239 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's great to meet you. This is the first 50 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 2: time we've never interacted before. This no messages, no text. 51 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:41,239 Speaker 1: First time in the same rooms. Yeah. 52 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:44,520 Speaker 2: Absolutely, But it's always I love diving in with an 53 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:47,440 Speaker 2: author that I've read before. And so, as you said 54 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:50,880 Speaker 2: a few brief moments ago, even though we've not met, 55 00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:54,040 Speaker 2: I hope that I have somewhat of an understanding and 56 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:57,200 Speaker 2: insight into your mind. But I always look to extend 57 00:02:57,200 --> 00:02:59,400 Speaker 2: and expand that. Today I want to dive straight in, 58 00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:02,960 Speaker 2: and I want to pick out a quote here from you. 59 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 2: You said, most of us spend our time seeking happiness 60 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:11,280 Speaker 2: and security without acknowledging the underlying purpose of our search. 61 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,240 Speaker 2: Each of us is looking for a path back to 62 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 2: the present. We're trying to find good enough reasons to 63 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:22,920 Speaker 2: be satisfied. Now, my question is what's worth pursuing or 64 00:03:22,919 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 2: what is worthy of pursuit in life, because I guess 65 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:28,640 Speaker 2: that's probably a good place to start. 66 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, well, there really is a tension between being and becoming, right, 67 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: I think we live with this tension every moment of 68 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 1: our lives, and I think the domain of our spiritual 69 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 1: concerns really focuses on the being part. 70 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 2: Right. 71 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 1: Just spirituality, for lack of a better word, is whatever 72 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 1: you put in the space, provided it is an answer 73 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:55,920 Speaker 1: to the question of how is it possible to be 74 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:01,520 Speaker 1: fulfilled in the present moment, in the midst of whatever's happening, 75 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:04,880 Speaker 1: Knowing that experience is always changing, Knowing that you can't 76 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 1: possibly create an experience that doesn't change, how is it 77 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: possible to be at peace with the flux? Right? So 78 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:19,279 Speaker 1: that's and really finding a mode of being that wherein 79 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:23,679 Speaker 1: you you can recognize a type of fulfillment that isn't 80 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 1: predicated on the next good thing happening. Right, the story 81 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,200 Speaker 1: you're telling yourself about the future that may in fact 82 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:34,200 Speaker 1: never arrive. On some level, being isn't enough because they 83 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:36,840 Speaker 1: are all the ways in the ways the world might be, right, 84 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:40,359 Speaker 1: I mean, there's the possibility space of what we can create, 85 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:43,880 Speaker 1: and what we want to create takes effort, and so 86 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:47,039 Speaker 1: there's all these things that are not actualized now, even 87 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: if we're content now. And I think the domain of 88 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:53,920 Speaker 1: our becoming, I mean, there's all kinds of healthy ways 89 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 1: of unhealthy ways of becoming, but the healthy mode of becoming, 90 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: at least one part of it is it really subsumes 91 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:05,440 Speaker 1: our ethical lives. Right, It's like, just what is it? 92 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:07,599 Speaker 1: What would be good to do? What is positive? What 93 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:09,839 Speaker 1: is pro social? How can we make the world a 94 00:05:09,839 --> 00:05:12,039 Speaker 1: better place? How can we raise our kids to be 95 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,240 Speaker 1: wise and honest and content? And I mean all of 96 00:05:15,279 --> 00:05:18,680 Speaker 1: these are projects that take work, and so it's not 97 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:23,280 Speaker 1: just a matter of just chilling out perfectly and watching 98 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:26,360 Speaker 1: what happens. We do have to do things. So the 99 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 1: tension really is in being at peace in the meditative 100 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 1: sense and the contemplative sense and the spiritual sense, even 101 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:40,240 Speaker 1: while you make great effort to accomplish things. And I 102 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 1: think the piece part comes when you recognize that your 103 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:47,479 Speaker 1: happiness is not actually predicated on getting any of those 104 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 1: things done. I mean that you have to learn to 105 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:51,680 Speaker 1: love the process. You have to learn to recognize that 106 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: goals themselves, as valid as they might be to achieve 107 00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:58,320 Speaker 1: the experience of achieving them is very brief, and it 108 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:02,000 Speaker 1: has this mirage like quality where it just it recedes. 109 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 1: I mean, you've been thinking about this thing for a 110 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: year and you finally get to that landmark, and what 111 00:06:08,839 --> 00:06:11,480 Speaker 1: is it. Well, it's just another moment of being alive. 112 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: And now you've got your thoughts about the past and 113 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:16,960 Speaker 1: the future still, and the question is can you actually 114 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:21,160 Speaker 1: make full contact with the present moment? And so in 115 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:25,120 Speaker 1: the quote you read, my main point was most people, 116 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: if you don't know how to meditate, you're basically trying 117 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 1: to arrange the world to give you a good enough 118 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:35,360 Speaker 1: reason to recognize that the present moment is enough. Right, 119 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:37,760 Speaker 1: And once you actually know how to meditate, you can 120 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:40,920 Speaker 1: sink into the present moment regardless of what else you're 121 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:44,680 Speaker 1: struggling to accomplish. And so you can be you can 122 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:49,240 Speaker 1: sort of take the goals as the path, right, I 123 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 1: mean kind of emotionally and cognitively, you sort of you've 124 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:55,360 Speaker 1: already arrived in terms of your own concerns about your 125 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:59,039 Speaker 1: own well being. And yet you know that life is 126 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:03,040 Speaker 1: also an unending series of problems to be solved. Right, 127 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:04,760 Speaker 1: But you're I mean, we're all going to die, right, 128 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:08,280 Speaker 1: It's not there's there's no solution to the the the 129 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:12,640 Speaker 1: massive problem of impermanence, right, so we have to find 130 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: some mode of being at peace with impermanence. And and 131 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:18,520 Speaker 1: that's really that's where the contemplate of life comes in. 132 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 2: So we're talking about pursuing peace. We're talking about pursuing 133 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:25,920 Speaker 2: this ability to navigate between, as you were saying, being 134 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:27,800 Speaker 2: at peace with where you are now, but at the 135 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:32,720 Speaker 2: same time growing and progressing and loving the process as well. 136 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:36,080 Speaker 2: How do you define, just for everyone who's listening, because 137 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:37,240 Speaker 2: I know you do this a lot in the book 138 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:39,120 Speaker 2: and in your work as well, how do you define 139 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 2: spirituality and how do you define religion so that people 140 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:44,320 Speaker 2: can just make sense of those terms as we use 141 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 2: them throughout this yeah conversation. 142 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:48,880 Speaker 1: Yeah, well, so I tend you, as you probably know, 143 00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:51,960 Speaker 1: I tend to be a critic of organized religion because 144 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:57,840 Speaker 1: it just forget about the tribalism that religion so often 145 00:07:57,840 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 1: in genders, and the conflict born of that tribal as. 146 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: I just think we need a twenty first century conversation 147 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:08,040 Speaker 1: about human wisdom and human happiness. And you know, spirituality 148 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:10,760 Speaker 1: is a word I use, although I use it somewhat 149 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:13,000 Speaker 1: in scare quotes because people have associations with it that 150 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:16,320 Speaker 1: I think are just not helpful. So my argument is, really, 151 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:19,520 Speaker 1: you can have a twenty first century conversation about reality 152 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:21,680 Speaker 1: and how to live within it, or you can have 153 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:25,680 Speaker 1: a seventh century conversation or a fifth century BC conversation. 154 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:28,640 Speaker 1: You can you can locate yourself at any point in 155 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:31,800 Speaker 1: human history, or you can at this moment decide to 156 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:35,600 Speaker 1: avail yourself of all of the best ideas and just 157 00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:40,200 Speaker 1: recognize that we have really a common inheritance of wisdom 158 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:44,800 Speaker 1: and insight and can we can use whatever works right, 159 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:47,880 Speaker 1: And ultimately we have to be the best judges of 160 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:52,479 Speaker 1: what works given the needs of the moment, given technological 161 00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:56,000 Speaker 1: changes that could never have been foreseen by our ancestors. Right, So, 162 00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:58,080 Speaker 1: whether we do this with the US Constitution, or we 163 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:00,080 Speaker 1: do it with the Bible, or we do it with 164 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:03,920 Speaker 1: with the Polycanon, you know, the Buddhist scripture, it's just 165 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:09,719 Speaker 1: you can There's no question that our ancestors have created 166 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:13,959 Speaker 1: documents and ways of thinking and methodologies, you know, science 167 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:18,040 Speaker 1: being one, the contemplative practice being another, that are incredibly 168 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:21,920 Speaker 1: valuable to us. But we have to recognize that, you know, 169 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:25,160 Speaker 1: in this moment in time, all we have is human 170 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:29,000 Speaker 1: conversation and human intuition and human insight by which to navigate. 171 00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:33,480 Speaker 1: And so I just for the religion piece to be 172 00:09:33,559 --> 00:09:36,920 Speaker 1: dogmatically attached to a specific religion, as though it were 173 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:39,840 Speaker 1: the one true way of seeing everything, that just doesn't 174 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:42,960 Speaker 1: make any sense to me at this moment. It's analogous 175 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:49,800 Speaker 1: to wanting to say that the physics is a Christian phenomenon, 176 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:52,640 Speaker 1: because the Christians, for the most part, were the first 177 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:55,240 Speaker 1: people to actually make real breakthroughs in physics. Well, it's 178 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:58,959 Speaker 1: just there's no reason to speak of Christian physics or 179 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:01,680 Speaker 1: Muslim algebra. And ultimately I think that there will be 180 00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:04,920 Speaker 1: no reason to speak of Christian or Buddhist or Hindu spirituality. 181 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:08,800 Speaker 1: I think we have a common human project, and whatever 182 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:13,120 Speaker 1: is true of the human mind and its possibilities, there 183 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:16,040 Speaker 1: has to be a way of talking about that that 184 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:21,120 Speaker 1: truly transcends culture. And certainly it isn't sectarian in any 185 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:24,520 Speaker 1: usual sense, in the same way that science, when it's 186 00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:28,480 Speaker 1: working transcends culture and isn't sectarian. I mean, there's no 187 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:31,880 Speaker 1: Japanese science versus American science versus you know, there's just 188 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:35,560 Speaker 1: there's just science spirituality for better or worse, is a 189 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:38,400 Speaker 1: word that I think we still need to use because 190 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:41,720 Speaker 1: I tend to. I also talk about the contemplative life 191 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:47,080 Speaker 1: or wisdom traditions and specific practices like meditation, but it 192 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:53,240 Speaker 1: names an approach to well being that isn't predicated on 193 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:57,480 Speaker 1: all of the usual seeking to become happy. Right, So 194 00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:00,680 Speaker 1: it's not about getting wealthier, it's not a it's not 195 00:11:00,679 --> 00:11:04,439 Speaker 1: about getting healthier and fitter. And those are all worthwhile 196 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:09,520 Speaker 1: projects and they're not in conflict with spirituality. But the 197 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:14,800 Speaker 1: spiritual piece in spirituality is how is it possible to 198 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:20,439 Speaker 1: pay attention in this moment so as to not suffer unnecessarily? Right? 199 00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:23,800 Speaker 1: And what are the actual mechanics of our psychological suffering 200 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:27,480 Speaker 1: such that we do suffer unnecessarily so much of the time, 201 00:11:27,679 --> 00:11:30,319 Speaker 1: And when you look closely at all that it really 202 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:33,120 Speaker 1: is a matter of being lost in thought almost all 203 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:35,880 Speaker 1: of the time, and there's kind of this living, this 204 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:39,600 Speaker 1: waking dreamscape of thought where we're talking to ourselves moment 205 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:41,920 Speaker 1: to moment, we're not aware of it, and so much 206 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:46,560 Speaker 1: of that conversation is an unhappy one. And meditation is 207 00:11:46,559 --> 00:11:48,960 Speaker 1: really a way of breaking that spell and waking up 208 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:52,840 Speaker 1: from the dream of discressivity and identification with thought such 209 00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:57,600 Speaker 1: you can recognize that consciousness that by which everything is 210 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:00,480 Speaker 1: seen and known and experienced and felt right, just the 211 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:06,680 Speaker 1: qualitative character of your own being in this moment. Consciousness 212 00:12:06,679 --> 00:12:12,360 Speaker 1: has certain qualities that are intrinsically peaceful and gratifying and 213 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:17,040 Speaker 1: not and free of problems, right. And it's really the 214 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:20,679 Speaker 1: layer of thought that we fail to recognize all that 215 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:23,360 Speaker 1: and feel that our you know, every waking moment is 216 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:26,480 Speaker 1: some form of emergency that has to be responded to 217 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:27,640 Speaker 1: or reacted to. 218 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:31,199 Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think the way you define spirituality, in 219 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:33,319 Speaker 2: the way you talk about it, I feel like it's 220 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:37,400 Speaker 2: definitely more and more appealing today. I think it's definitely 221 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:39,520 Speaker 2: something that, as you said, we need a twenty first 222 00:12:39,559 --> 00:12:42,760 Speaker 2: century version of what we're pursuing and how we think 223 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:47,560 Speaker 2: about reality. And I think those conversations are happening more 224 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 2: often and more strongly and in more important circles. I 225 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:54,960 Speaker 2: have this question because I've often thought about this. You've 226 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:58,880 Speaker 2: well documented the pitfalls of organized religion and the challenges 227 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:01,559 Speaker 2: that come with that. What do you think of the 228 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:05,800 Speaker 2: pitfalls or challenges of spirituality in the fact that we 229 00:13:05,960 --> 00:13:10,200 Speaker 2: move away from something, as you said earlier, was like, 230 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:13,320 Speaker 2: you know, this very defined, structured way of living that 231 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:15,280 Speaker 2: we've now come to look at it and gone, okay, 232 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:17,960 Speaker 2: that doesn't make sense all the time. And at the 233 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:23,839 Speaker 2: other end, we have a complete kind of open paradigm 234 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:29,360 Speaker 2: of spirituality, which can often be confusing, lacking structure, lacking 235 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:31,880 Speaker 2: somewhat of a map, Like do you see certain pitfalls 236 00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:37,319 Speaker 2: as to how we practice and become contemplative about spirituality? 237 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:40,679 Speaker 1: Yeah, well, so I should say that much that goes 238 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:43,760 Speaker 1: by the name of spirituality is also something that is 239 00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: worth being skeptical of. 240 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:46,040 Speaker 2: Right. 241 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:48,760 Speaker 1: There many beliefs that people form, and many of these 242 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:53,360 Speaker 1: are imported from religion. They just can't be squared with 243 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:58,120 Speaker 1: a sophisticated scientific view of just what reality is. Like. 244 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:00,000 Speaker 1: You know, it's not to say we've figured everything out. 245 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:03,160 Speaker 1: I mean we we certainly haven't, But we just know 246 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:09,560 Speaker 1: that that certain superstitious, magical, other worldly beliefs are just 247 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:13,920 Speaker 1: not likely to be true. And and yet the most 248 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:19,320 Speaker 1: important spiritual claims traditionally, like the fact that the unconditional 249 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:23,480 Speaker 1: love is a possible state of mind, right, or that 250 00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:28,520 Speaker 1: the self as it's normally felt and conceived is actually 251 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:31,160 Speaker 1: illusory right that we're taken in by a powerful illusion 252 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:33,840 Speaker 1: of separateness, and that's that feeling of separateness can be 253 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:38,520 Speaker 1: inspected and ultimately penetrated and felt through and felt beyond. 254 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:43,080 Speaker 1: Those are really those are the babies in the bathwater 255 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:46,040 Speaker 1: of religion and spirituality that I think everyone, if they 256 00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:48,800 Speaker 1: think about it long enough, wants to conserve. And yet 257 00:14:48,840 --> 00:14:53,640 Speaker 1: and and those are fully supported by a modern discussion 258 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:57,880 Speaker 1: of the human mind, and even a neuroanatomical discussion of 259 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:00,640 Speaker 1: the human mind. And there's no in my as you know, 260 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:02,560 Speaker 1: my phgs and neuroscience that I can tell you there's 261 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:06,200 Speaker 1: no place in the brain for a a an unchanging 262 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:08,840 Speaker 1: ego to be hiding, right, And the sense that we 263 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:11,960 Speaker 1: have a self that is unchanging, that's carried through from 264 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:15,320 Speaker 1: moment to moment, that is the place from which we 265 00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:20,320 Speaker 1: appropriate experience that is separate from experience that is just granted, 266 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:22,360 Speaker 1: it's a powerful illusion for many people, but it's a 267 00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:25,880 Speaker 1: it's an illusion that that can be dispelled, and once dispelled, 268 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:29,800 Speaker 1: it actually brings your your experience into closer register with 269 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:33,000 Speaker 1: what we have every reason to believe neuroscientifically about just 270 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:35,440 Speaker 1: the way the mind should be based on on the 271 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:38,200 Speaker 1: way the brain is. If you wander into the spiritual 272 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:40,400 Speaker 1: side of a bookstore, if you can even find a 273 00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:42,320 Speaker 1: physical bookstore these days, it's been it's been a while, 274 00:15:42,400 --> 00:15:47,840 Speaker 1: so I've been in one, but they're few and far 275 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:50,160 Speaker 1: between at the moments, definitely. But if you so in 276 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:52,240 Speaker 1: that section of the bookstore, there's a lot on the 277 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:55,520 Speaker 1: shelves that is bogus or semi bogus, or you know, 278 00:15:55,520 --> 00:16:01,000 Speaker 1: filled with wishful thinking and not so interesting intellectually or ethically, frankly, 279 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:04,840 Speaker 1: but there's there's a lot that is truly valid. And 280 00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:08,600 Speaker 1: I think we just have to become wiser curators of 281 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:13,920 Speaker 1: the totality of human conversation in the world's literature to 282 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:19,000 Speaker 1: find what is worthy of our credence at this point. 283 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:23,600 Speaker 1: And this is what we do this naturally, and I 284 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:26,960 Speaker 1: think we just need to be honest that we are 285 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:29,200 Speaker 1: the ones like when you go to an ancient text, 286 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:33,440 Speaker 1: when you go to the you take your your favorite 287 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:37,480 Speaker 1: spiritual or religious book. In almost all of them, there 288 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:42,160 Speaker 1: are passages that are obviously anachronistic and just not suited 289 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:46,360 Speaker 1: to a twenty first century view of just how we 290 00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:49,000 Speaker 1: should live. Right, So there's a lot about how to 291 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:51,560 Speaker 1: sacrifice goats, you know, in the in the Old Testament, 292 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:54,760 Speaker 1: and it's just if it was ever useful, it's not 293 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:59,240 Speaker 1: not especially useful. Now people effortlessly ignore those passages and 294 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:02,680 Speaker 1: that's fine. So you're you're performing editing on the fly, 295 00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:07,040 Speaker 1: and then you then you find, you know, a passage 296 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:10,840 Speaker 1: in an Ecclesiastes or Jesus you're giving the Sermon on 297 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:13,760 Speaker 1: the Mount and you know the Golden Rule, and you say, okay, 298 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:17,160 Speaker 1: this is this really encapsulates a lot of wisdom, and 299 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:19,159 Speaker 1: it's very hard to improve on the Golden rule. The 300 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:22,720 Speaker 1: Golden rules are fantastic heuristic for just living ethically with 301 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:26,560 Speaker 1: people so great there's nothing we need to believe on 302 00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:30,200 Speaker 1: insufficient evidence to use the Golden rule as a as 303 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:36,600 Speaker 1: a a great kind of navigation tool ethically. And when 304 00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:39,000 Speaker 1: you think about ethics and morality, it really is a 305 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:42,919 Speaker 1: question of what to do next. And we're always faced 306 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:48,199 Speaker 1: with this this navigation problem essentially, because there's this total 307 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:55,040 Speaker 1: space of possible experience individually and collectively, and we're trying 308 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:58,240 Speaker 1: to figure out how to navigate in this space given 309 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:02,040 Speaker 1: the possible expert is on offer. And the truth is 310 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:06,199 Speaker 1: there are horizons here which we can't see beyond. I mean, 311 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:09,920 Speaker 1: we don't know how good life could get for us 312 00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:13,000 Speaker 1: individually and collectively. And there's so many things that are 313 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:15,679 Speaker 1: in play now. I mean, we are living at a 314 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:19,040 Speaker 1: time where it's possible for us to change our own 315 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:21,639 Speaker 1: genomes ultimately, right, I mean, there's not not many people 316 00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:24,199 Speaker 1: doing that at the moment, but that is just a 317 00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:26,400 Speaker 1: few short years away where we're going to be confronted 318 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:28,560 Speaker 1: with the question of I mean, do you actually want 319 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:34,800 Speaker 1: to modify the genes that are expressed in your body 320 00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:38,640 Speaker 1: and brain and even in the germ line. So we're 321 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:42,239 Speaker 1: talking about the inheritance of future children, So we can 322 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:46,000 Speaker 1: do in a few short moments what evolution has been 323 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:48,920 Speaker 1: doing for hundreds of thousands of years in our case, 324 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:52,400 Speaker 1: and millions of millions and millions of years before that. 325 00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:56,960 Speaker 1: So these are choices that we have always had to make, 326 00:18:56,960 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: but now we're making them in the presence of increasingly 327 00:18:59,119 --> 00:19:03,959 Speaker 1: powerful technology, our engagement with the internet and information. I mean, 328 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:06,840 Speaker 1: we we have we're finding it hard to even have 329 00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:11,240 Speaker 1: a conversation about the most basic facts now at scale 330 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:14,679 Speaker 1: because there's so much misinformation, and we much of our 331 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:19,240 Speaker 1: conversation is being piped through the social media platforms, which 332 00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:24,600 Speaker 1: are essentially outrage machines. Right, They're a preferentially amplifying the 333 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:32,320 Speaker 1: most agitating and divisive content because that's what spreads faster. 334 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:38,320 Speaker 1: And they're ampling, amplfying misinformation more than the debunking of misinformation. Right. 335 00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:40,920 Speaker 1: So there's a kind of an asymmetric war of information here. 336 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:46,280 Speaker 1: And so we're we're suddenly we've got these functionally, we 337 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:48,800 Speaker 1: we have the genes we had you know, with a 338 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:51,359 Speaker 1: few tweaks we had that. We have the genes we 339 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:53,480 Speaker 1: have maybe seventy five thousand years ago. Right, So we're 340 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:58,240 Speaker 1: we are these ancient primates now armed with nuclear weapons 341 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:01,720 Speaker 1: and an internet and increasing and AI technology now and 342 00:20:02,880 --> 00:20:08,960 Speaker 1: we're faced with continually faced with the conundrum of what 343 00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:11,280 Speaker 1: to do with all of this, and how do we 344 00:20:11,359 --> 00:20:14,840 Speaker 1: solve these massive coordination problems where we get now eight 345 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:20,160 Speaker 1: billion strangers essentially to cooperate peacefully. The landscape of possibility 346 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:25,200 Speaker 1: here is always shifting, and so again we have human 347 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:29,239 Speaker 1: conversation as a means by which to navigate this. And 348 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:31,920 Speaker 1: so yeah, I mean to come back this a very 349 00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:33,800 Speaker 1: long way of getting back to your original question, which 350 00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:39,600 Speaker 1: is once you recognize that our legacy thought structures are 351 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:42,639 Speaker 1: not well suited to this right. So to be a 352 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:45,840 Speaker 1: fundamentalist Christian, or a fundamentalist Buddhist or a fundamentalist Hindu 353 00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:49,879 Speaker 1: in the face of these new opportunities and new challenges 354 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:53,919 Speaker 1: is not the best operating system for your mind. And 355 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:59,040 Speaker 1: you're forced to be far more eclectic and non sectarian 356 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:03,800 Speaker 1: and not dogmatic, and just open to the best evidence 357 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:08,240 Speaker 1: and the best arguments, really perpetually open to the best, 358 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:11,639 Speaker 1: to new evidence and better arguments. Where the guardrails right, 359 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:14,320 Speaker 1: there's no longer it's no longer simple, right, I can't. 360 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:17,040 Speaker 1: I can no longer just consult a single book or 361 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:20,399 Speaker 1: a single list of dos and don'ts to guide to 362 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:24,640 Speaker 1: guide me. Ultimately, it's a far more flexible and intelligent 363 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:29,120 Speaker 1: way to proceed, because we want me to ask yourself, 364 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:34,520 Speaker 1: do you want your next decision or your your decision 365 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:37,560 Speaker 1: ten years from now to be Do you want to 366 00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:40,640 Speaker 1: be available to the best evidence and the best arguments 367 00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:42,720 Speaker 1: at that moment when making that decision or not? Do 368 00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:48,600 Speaker 1: you want some belief system that guarantees your unavailability right? 369 00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:51,160 Speaker 1: Do you want some kind of cognitive and emotional closure 370 00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:55,880 Speaker 1: that walls you off from better arguments and better information. 371 00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:59,399 Speaker 1: I think I think almost no one would sign up 372 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:02,560 Speaker 1: for that kind of you know, that's that's ignorance by 373 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:06,680 Speaker 1: another name. Right, So I think we want to be persuadable. 374 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:10,560 Speaker 1: We want to be open to better arguments and new evidence. 375 00:22:11,119 --> 00:22:14,440 Speaker 1: We also want to be skeptical and and conservative in 376 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:17,000 Speaker 1: in how we revise our map of the world, because 377 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:20,879 Speaker 1: we know that most new you know, published studies have 378 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:23,359 Speaker 1: sent a very good chance of not being true or 379 00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:27,040 Speaker 1: you know, or not not being replicatable. Even in science, 380 00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:32,600 Speaker 1: we have a legacy, We have an inheritance of institutions 381 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:36,000 Speaker 1: that have proved themselves over generations, and so we shouldn't 382 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:39,960 Speaker 1: be eager to tear everything down to the studs and 383 00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:42,720 Speaker 1: and build again, right, I think we I think there's 384 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:45,480 Speaker 1: a there's a reason to be conservative with respect to 385 00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:49,720 Speaker 1: the institutions and norms. And I mean things that have 386 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:54,120 Speaker 1: worked for centuries there tend to be a reason why 387 00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:55,960 Speaker 1: they've worked for centuries. And so it's it's there's a 388 00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:58,680 Speaker 1: sort of a tinkering and and an iterative process here 389 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:02,960 Speaker 1: that I think makes sense. But ultimately, yeah, we want 390 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:10,280 Speaker 1: a modern wisdom. Wisdom tradition to be the common property 391 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:16,280 Speaker 1: of a non sectarian, non parochial, non provincial humanity at 392 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:16,800 Speaker 1: this point. 393 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:20,800 Speaker 2: That but that nicely comes back to the waking up 394 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:25,359 Speaker 2: part of your work, right the idea that we can't 395 00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:29,480 Speaker 2: create something or use something fully aligned with human values 396 00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:34,000 Speaker 2: because we as humans aren't fully aligned with human values 397 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:36,760 Speaker 2: in the in the collective sense. And the idea that 398 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:41,480 Speaker 2: I've always felt that the reason why we should be 399 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:45,320 Speaker 2: scared of technology is because I guess we're scared of 400 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:50,359 Speaker 2: some humans. So if humans have the ability to create something, 401 00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:54,919 Speaker 2: it will have all the imperfections that we have internally 402 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:59,000 Speaker 2: in the creator of it, and so it will inherit 403 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:05,199 Speaker 2: all the same manipulative tendencies, exploitative tendencies, the you know, 404 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:09,520 Speaker 2: it's hard to free something of that if you inherently 405 00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:13,560 Speaker 2: build something with that. And you see that with any 406 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:17,280 Speaker 2: sort of media social media technology today, that even if 407 00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:19,919 Speaker 2: it was built with the best intentions of trying to 408 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:23,400 Speaker 2: create good in the world, either it amplifies negative or 409 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:28,320 Speaker 2: inherently has some questionable morals and ethics to it as well. 410 00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:32,000 Speaker 2: And so it comes back to the waking up part 411 00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:36,879 Speaker 2: of your work, which is this self reflective contemplative idea 412 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:39,560 Speaker 2: of you know, who am I becoming? Who do I 413 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:42,320 Speaker 2: want to be? Who am I? I mean at the 414 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:45,800 Speaker 2: very deepest level, As you said, one word that I've 415 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:49,280 Speaker 2: always loved from my studies was this idea of the 416 00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:52,520 Speaker 2: word purifying, Like there was all this there was a needing, 417 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:58,600 Speaker 2: there was a need for purification of some of these elements. 418 00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:00,840 Speaker 2: And you talk about this in the beginning of your 419 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:03,720 Speaker 2: book when you I believe it's one of the first 420 00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:06,800 Speaker 2: times you did M D M A and then you 421 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:11,080 Speaker 2: had this feeling of like complete love for your friend, 422 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:15,560 Speaker 2: free of envy. And when when I was reading that, 423 00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:18,879 Speaker 2: I was thinking about how much this word purification is 424 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:23,000 Speaker 2: often not talked about, but it's probably my favorite word 425 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:25,879 Speaker 2: that I've I've learned through my study of wisdom traditions, 426 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:29,400 Speaker 2: because to me, I was thinking, Yeah, what's what's really required, 427 00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:32,280 Speaker 2: as you said, is that love's already there. It's already there. 428 00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:35,040 Speaker 2: It's not like you're finding or discovering something, but there's 429 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:37,639 Speaker 2: almost like a detox and a cleansing and letting go 430 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:41,960 Speaker 2: of these other things that cloud our ability to be there. 431 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:46,120 Speaker 2: Is that part of what you doing, what you feel 432 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:49,479 Speaker 2: meditation achieves or no, that's that's a completely different thing 433 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:50,560 Speaker 2: as well. 434 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:54,760 Speaker 1: The thing you want to accomplish is already accomplished, right, 435 00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:57,760 Speaker 1: So that they're dualistic and non dual ways of conceiving 436 00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:00,800 Speaker 1: this whole, the whole path of practice, and that the 437 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:04,840 Speaker 1: dualistic way is very much a purification model, which is, 438 00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:08,240 Speaker 1: there's something that's like currently currently dirty, right, and you 439 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:10,320 Speaker 1: can clean it, and you can it's going to take 440 00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:12,200 Speaker 1: effort to clean it, right, And so this is and 441 00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:15,919 Speaker 1: I would argue that most spiritual traditions are framed in 442 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:19,280 Speaker 1: that way, and there's definitely a place for that, But 443 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:25,080 Speaker 1: the mature approach to meditation practice is and the one 444 00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:28,120 Speaker 1: frankly that is just free of the of the stress 445 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:31,720 Speaker 1: of seeking, is to recognize that that consciousness as it 446 00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:37,679 Speaker 1: is to ordinary consciousness, regardless of what its current contents are, 447 00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:40,680 Speaker 1: regardless of what you're currently experiencing. You could be feeling 448 00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:44,720 Speaker 1: a classically negative emotion and you could have just gotten angry, right, 449 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:46,320 Speaker 1: and then you remember, oh wait a minute, I'm I'm 450 00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:51,199 Speaker 1: supposed to be meditating, Okay, what's true now, right, And 451 00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:55,160 Speaker 1: the physiology of anger hasn't even had time to dissipate yet, right, 452 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:58,600 Speaker 1: So that that that'll happen over you know, tens of seconds, right, 453 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:01,760 Speaker 1: but still in the in this if if you know 454 00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:04,920 Speaker 1: how to recognize you know what what I call over 455 00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:09,560 Speaker 1: and waking up consciousness without without a center, in that 456 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:13,280 Speaker 1: first moment of just just recognizing that you are the 457 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:18,000 Speaker 1: condition in which anger and everything else is appearing, there's 458 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:21,240 Speaker 1: already no center to that condition. There's already no ego 459 00:27:21,359 --> 00:27:24,600 Speaker 1: in the middle of it. And it doesn't actually get 460 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:27,360 Speaker 1: emptier of self than that ever, And it's and even 461 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:30,080 Speaker 1: if you have a very different experience, I mean you 462 00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:32,200 Speaker 1: take M D M A and you feel unconditional love, 463 00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:34,159 Speaker 1: or you go on a long meditation retreat and you 464 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:38,200 Speaker 1: get really concentrated and you're having just regularly having experiences 465 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:41,399 Speaker 1: of bliss. Say so, it can be very you know, 466 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:44,960 Speaker 1: drug like all of the those changes in the contents 467 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:47,120 Speaker 1: of consciousness are transitory. I mean, you take a drug 468 00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:49,320 Speaker 1: and it's going to wear off. You get very concentrated 469 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:53,280 Speaker 1: and you feel bliss. But when you're you know, watching 470 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:55,960 Speaker 1: Netflix two weeks later, you're not You're not concentrated in 471 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:57,399 Speaker 1: that way, and you're doing you're doing something else with 472 00:27:57,440 --> 00:27:59,920 Speaker 1: your attention, and presumably you're not going to be bliss 473 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:02,840 Speaker 1: out in the same way. So all of those changes 474 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:06,960 Speaker 1: in the contents are temporary. What's not temporary is the 475 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:11,280 Speaker 1: availability of this recognition that there's just this open condition 476 00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:15,040 Speaker 1: which everything is spontaneously appearing thoughts and sights and sounds 477 00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:19,040 Speaker 1: and sensations and emotions and moods and the energetics of 478 00:28:19,119 --> 00:28:27,320 Speaker 1: experience is always occurring in a condition that is fundamentally mysterious, really, 479 00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:31,280 Speaker 1: And it's not because if you engage it prior to concepts, 480 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:33,000 Speaker 1: I mean you couldire's a layer at which you can 481 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:36,240 Speaker 1: just think about it and describe it. In psychological terms, 482 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:40,080 Speaker 1: there's a lot to understand, you correlating changes in our 483 00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:43,400 Speaker 1: minds with changes in the brain. Right, So there's a 484 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:47,280 Speaker 1: possible neuroscience of contemplative experience, and people are doing that work. 485 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:50,680 Speaker 1: But as a matter of your own experience, there's this 486 00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:54,959 Speaker 1: ever present mystery that anything is any way at all. 487 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:57,000 Speaker 1: I mean, you don't know what you're going to think 488 00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:00,840 Speaker 1: next until the thought itself arises, right, It's just because 489 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:03,080 Speaker 1: you'd have to think it before you thought it in 490 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 1: order to know what it is. Right, So it's just 491 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:09,400 Speaker 1: on some level you are a witness to everything that's appearing. 492 00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:13,840 Speaker 1: And in the beginning it feels like the witness has 493 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:18,000 Speaker 1: the structure of a self, of a subject. But as 494 00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:21,840 Speaker 1: you look into that more and more, that structure goes away, 495 00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:25,120 Speaker 1: and there's just this condition in which everything is appearing 496 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:28,520 Speaker 1: and it doesn't and that doesn't feel like I. It 497 00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:32,080 Speaker 1: doesn't feel like me. And whatever feels like I or 498 00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:34,560 Speaker 1: me as yet more appearance. You know, it can be 499 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:36,920 Speaker 1: just a pattern of energy on your face or a 500 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:40,160 Speaker 1: contraction in the body. So as you keep dropping back 501 00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:44,719 Speaker 1: and witnessing that it has, you know, the purification model 502 00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:50,360 Speaker 1: makes less and less sense, because what is there to purify? Right, 503 00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:53,680 Speaker 1: There's not like even even even anger is no longer anger. 504 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:58,720 Speaker 1: Right in the moment of recognition, it's just this. It's 505 00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:01,640 Speaker 1: just a feeling of heat on your face, right, It's 506 00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:03,440 Speaker 1: just a feeling. It's just it's a feeling of tension 507 00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:08,440 Speaker 1: in your chest. And there's no one to whom those 508 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:13,280 Speaker 1: feelings refer, right, And and so the moment you recognize 509 00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:16,800 Speaker 1: that you have by definition broken the connection to whatever 510 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:19,200 Speaker 1: thoughts were telling you why you were angry and why 511 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:20,960 Speaker 1: you should be angry, and why you have every right 512 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:23,000 Speaker 1: to be angry, and what you're going to say to 513 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:25,280 Speaker 1: that person next time you see them, you've broken that 514 00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:31,640 Speaker 1: spell of thinking, and so the emotion is dissipating, and 515 00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:36,600 Speaker 1: so it's anger is no longer anger, but it's in 516 00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:40,760 Speaker 1: purification mode. It is still possible to do that dualistically, 517 00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:43,440 Speaker 1: I mean, in the beginning, when you're practicing what I 518 00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:47,280 Speaker 1: tend to teach in over waking up is a technique 519 00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:51,920 Speaker 1: called mindfulness, which most people engage dualistically in the beginning, 520 00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:56,440 Speaker 1: where they're strategically being aware of sights and sounds and 521 00:30:56,480 --> 00:31:01,520 Speaker 1: sensations and the breath and thoughts, emotions, and so even 522 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:07,360 Speaker 1: even dualistically, you can learn the difference between being lost 523 00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:10,920 Speaker 1: in thought and identified with an emotion like anger and 524 00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:15,120 Speaker 1: just witnessing it from the point that seems to be 525 00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:18,680 Speaker 1: outside of that thought and that that emotion, And even 526 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:22,200 Speaker 1: if it feels like a subject that's paying attention strategically 527 00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:26,400 Speaker 1: to to the physiology of anger or or the arising 528 00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:29,760 Speaker 1: and cessation of thought, that's fine. I mean, that's a 529 00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:33,360 Speaker 1: that's a starting point, that's and a necessary one for 530 00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:41,280 Speaker 1: virtually everyone, and that does accomplish this deidentification from the 531 00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:43,680 Speaker 1: whole process that's given you this negative emotion. So there 532 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:48,080 Speaker 1: is a freedom even in the dualistic awareness of of 533 00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:51,280 Speaker 1: you know, the flow of thought and emotion. But ultimately, 534 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:55,440 Speaker 1: and and that very much has this character of purifying 535 00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:57,440 Speaker 1: the mind. It's like you're like, this is a this 536 00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:01,360 Speaker 1: is a anger is a classically negative thing to be 537 00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:05,000 Speaker 1: stuck in and identified with and acting out of. And 538 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:07,880 Speaker 1: it's divisive. It's you're going to say the thing you regret, 539 00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:09,720 Speaker 1: and that for what you have to apologize for. And 540 00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:13,239 Speaker 1: it's just you know, you're and the normal person who 541 00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:15,400 Speaker 1: doesn't know how to be mindful and doesn't it doesn't 542 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:18,320 Speaker 1: know the difference between being lost and thought and not 543 00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:23,360 Speaker 1: is really the mere hostage of that process. They're going 544 00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:25,040 Speaker 1: to stay as angry as they're going to stay for 545 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:26,800 Speaker 1: as long as they're going to stay that way, and 546 00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:28,640 Speaker 1: they're going to do all of the things that are 547 00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:33,960 Speaker 1: life deranging and and reputation harming they might do on 548 00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:35,880 Speaker 1: the basis of that emotion for as long as they're 549 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:37,160 Speaker 1: going to do those things, and then they're gonna have 550 00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:39,440 Speaker 1: all the reaction to what they did and said. And 551 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:42,160 Speaker 1: it's that's the you know, the complication of life born 552 00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:45,000 Speaker 1: of that. You know, one moment where you got angry. 553 00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:47,840 Speaker 1: Even dualistic mindfulness gives you a degree of freedom that 554 00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:49,560 Speaker 1: most people don't have, and it is a kind of 555 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:51,560 Speaker 1: superpower to be able to say, oh, well, I just 556 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:54,960 Speaker 1: got angry. How long do I want to stay angry for? 557 00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:59,600 Speaker 1: For me, an emotion like anger or fear is useful 558 00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:02,320 Speaker 1: and so far ours it is. It is a salience cue. 559 00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:05,400 Speaker 1: It's telling you that something just happened that's worth paying 560 00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:07,800 Speaker 1: attention to. Right, So, there's somebody just walked into the 561 00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:10,880 Speaker 1: room who you know doesn't have your your well being 562 00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:13,440 Speaker 1: at heart, you know at heart, right, I mean they've 563 00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:19,240 Speaker 1: got some intention that is that is in conflict with 564 00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:21,840 Speaker 1: with something that you were trying to accomplish, say, or 565 00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:25,360 Speaker 1: it's it's telling at minimum, is telling you something about 566 00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:28,560 Speaker 1: yourself and about your own priorities, and about about what 567 00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:30,400 Speaker 1: you were trying to do in the world. And you know, 568 00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:33,640 Speaker 1: for better or worse. So it's worth paying attention to. 569 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:37,120 Speaker 1: But it's almost never the state of mind you want 570 00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:39,440 Speaker 1: to be in. Too. Then solve the problem you that 571 00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:42,920 Speaker 1: just you just noticed. So I'm not saying that we 572 00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:47,000 Speaker 1: The goal is to be completely without any capacity for 573 00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:49,640 Speaker 1: anger or fear or any any of these emotions. But 574 00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:54,440 Speaker 1: it's I do think psychological health and just the health 575 00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:58,680 Speaker 1: of one's relationships and and just the whole project of 576 00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:03,440 Speaker 1: living wisely in the world is more and more the 577 00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:07,160 Speaker 1: result of being able to get off to unhook from 578 00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:11,120 Speaker 1: that negative emotion more and more quickly. I mean, I 579 00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:14,879 Speaker 1: think you want to stay angry and fearful and even 580 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:19,759 Speaker 1: sad for much shorter periods of time, and then you can. 581 00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:23,160 Speaker 1: Then there's just more to recognize about the circumstance. It 582 00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:26,280 Speaker 1: gives you a degree of freedom by which to navigate. 583 00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:31,279 Speaker 2: Yeah. No, I fully agree with that. Whenever I get 584 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:33,120 Speaker 2: asked that question, which I'm sure you get asked a lot, 585 00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:35,399 Speaker 2: is like, well, don't you ever get angry or don't 586 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:39,520 Speaker 2: you ever you know, get upset or sad? And and 587 00:34:39,960 --> 00:34:41,960 Speaker 2: what you just said has always been my response that 588 00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:44,799 Speaker 2: I still feel angry, I still feel sadness, I still 589 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:48,880 Speaker 2: feel envy. I still always believe I always will feel 590 00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:51,640 Speaker 2: all of these things, just for less and less time. Yeah, 591 00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:54,480 Speaker 2: And that I don't think I'll ever get to zero 592 00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:58,640 Speaker 2: Just as you could never run a mile in zero seconds, 593 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:01,080 Speaker 2: I will never get to a point where I'm able 594 00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:03,080 Speaker 2: to deal with it in zero seconds. It's just not 595 00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:05,640 Speaker 2: going to be possible, right, because it needs to live. 596 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:13,880 Speaker 1: I think there are more impersonal and ethically necessary modes 597 00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:16,800 Speaker 1: for these emotions that I don't think we want to 598 00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:20,520 Speaker 1: get rid of them. I think I think outrage, moral 599 00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:24,319 Speaker 1: outrage has its place, and it is the basis from 600 00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:28,400 Speaker 1: which we would we would react to grave injustice in 601 00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:30,279 Speaker 1: the world. But it's not it doesn't have to be. 602 00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:34,200 Speaker 1: It's not a personal anger, right, but it can. It's 603 00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:38,440 Speaker 1: just you see something, You see something, some unnecessary harm 604 00:35:38,560 --> 00:35:44,000 Speaker 1: being created deliberately by you know, deeply unwise people in 605 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:46,839 Speaker 1: the world, and you just think, all right, this is 606 00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:50,719 Speaker 1: this is an emergency, this is worth responding to, right, 607 00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:53,520 Speaker 1: and and it's and that can feel that the energy 608 00:35:53,560 --> 00:35:56,960 Speaker 1: of anger can be behind that, and you know, so 609 00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:59,440 Speaker 1: I would tend to call that outrage rather than anger, 610 00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:02,919 Speaker 1: but that I think moral outrage is useful. But it's 611 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:06,800 Speaker 1: just the question is when does a tip over into 612 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:11,600 Speaker 1: personal psychological suffering that actually diminishes your capacity to do 613 00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:14,960 Speaker 1: something useful. And that's that's where that's the line I 614 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:16,400 Speaker 1: think we want to be more aware of. 615 00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:18,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, let's use that as an example and take it 616 00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:21,520 Speaker 2: through that process, because I think that's that's exactly it. 617 00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:23,640 Speaker 2: Like I was going to bring that up earlier, the 618 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:29,239 Speaker 2: idea that just as the outrage or the emotional experience 619 00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:32,360 Speaker 2: can stop us from being practical so to not to 620 00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:34,640 Speaker 2: go down this road again, but so too can this 621 00:36:34,719 --> 00:36:37,200 Speaker 2: skeptical Like if you know, you can be overly skeptical 622 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:41,840 Speaker 2: and overly analytical and never practically apply anything because you 623 00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:45,120 Speaker 2: can constantly find flaws in pretty much most ideas in 624 00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:48,080 Speaker 2: the world if you keep looking for them. So let's 625 00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:50,719 Speaker 2: take the outrage idea, like, how do you what does 626 00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:53,600 Speaker 2: someone do they feel that outrage, the moral outrage where 627 00:36:53,640 --> 00:36:57,600 Speaker 2: they feel pain for the suffering of another. Where do 628 00:36:57,640 --> 00:37:01,239 Speaker 2: you go from there through your process? Like what's step two, three, four? 629 00:37:01,719 --> 00:37:07,640 Speaker 1: Well, I think it's important to be again cautious and 630 00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:13,320 Speaker 1: skeptical of one's own emotional hijacking. Right, So it's like 631 00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:14,880 Speaker 1: you want to know, you want to know that this 632 00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:20,600 Speaker 1: isn't a personal, petty, ecocentric reaction and it actually is 633 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:22,960 Speaker 1: born of what it purports to be, you know, a 634 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:25,400 Speaker 1: compassionate engagement with the world, like you actually want the 635 00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:29,200 Speaker 1: best for other people, perhaps including yourself. But also I mean, 636 00:37:29,320 --> 00:37:31,439 Speaker 1: it's like we're all on the same team. That's that's 637 00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:34,799 Speaker 1: the mode that you're you're in and so it's not 638 00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:39,760 Speaker 1: an expression of your own greed and narcissism and and 639 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:46,480 Speaker 1: you know, of the self focused and divisive emotion. 640 00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:49,040 Speaker 2: But it probably will start at that, right. 641 00:37:49,920 --> 00:37:53,760 Speaker 1: Well, I think you can have something of that character 642 00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:56,440 Speaker 1: in that it's it can have the character of contraction. 643 00:37:56,560 --> 00:38:00,319 Speaker 1: I mean, outrage feels like anger. It's like you, you 644 00:37:59,719 --> 00:38:03,040 Speaker 1: know you, it is the same thing that would get 645 00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:05,160 Speaker 1: you to raise your voice if you were angry. Right, 646 00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:07,480 Speaker 1: It's like it's like you're going to raise your voice 647 00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:12,160 Speaker 1: if you're going to raise your voice in defense of humanity. Right, Well, 648 00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:15,319 Speaker 1: you're still raising your voice, right, And so it's just 649 00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:18,000 Speaker 1: that there's energy behind it, and I think that energy 650 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:23,560 Speaker 1: at times is necessary or to take another somewhat adjacent 651 00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:28,759 Speaker 1: situation but analogous. It's like, you know, if you're in 652 00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:33,280 Speaker 1: a situation which you have to defend yourself from actual 653 00:38:33,280 --> 00:38:35,360 Speaker 1: physical violence or defend someone close to you. You know, 654 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:38,440 Speaker 1: someone's attacked you and your child, So what should you do? 655 00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:42,480 Speaker 1: They're just going to lie down and offer yourself up 656 00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:45,200 Speaker 1: as a human sacrifice. And no, like I think pacifism 657 00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:52,120 Speaker 1: is not actually morally the wisest position ethically. So I 658 00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:56,440 Speaker 1: think the energy that would allow you to violently defend 659 00:38:56,480 --> 00:39:01,279 Speaker 1: yourself against an aggressor should available, right. But the question 660 00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:05,320 Speaker 1: is but, and it's you know, it's not necessarily anger, 661 00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:08,919 Speaker 1: but it could look a lot like anger and feel 662 00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:12,200 Speaker 1: a lot like anger. It's certainly not necessarily hatred. And 663 00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:15,040 Speaker 1: and here I would I would ask you to consider 664 00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:18,000 Speaker 1: how you would feel like, I mean, defending yourself against 665 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:20,880 Speaker 1: a person. You know, you think of somebody who is 666 00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:24,200 Speaker 1: there some you know, malicious psychopath who's who's broken into 667 00:39:24,239 --> 00:39:26,960 Speaker 1: your house and is now wanting to harm you in 668 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:29,480 Speaker 1: your family, because that's you know, what he likes to do. Right, 669 00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:33,400 Speaker 1: that's like the quintessential circumstance where one you'd feel, you 670 00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:35,520 Speaker 1: feel fear, you'd feel a lot of things, but you'd 671 00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:38,279 Speaker 1: probably also feel hatred for this person, right, Like like 672 00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:43,719 Speaker 1: what there's there are few circumstances where hatred feels more 673 00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:49,560 Speaker 1: apropos than that. But I do view hatred as always 674 00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:55,239 Speaker 1: been somehow extra even in extremists like that, because imagine 675 00:39:55,320 --> 00:39:59,200 Speaker 1: just how you'd feel very a superficially similar situation. You know, 676 00:39:59,239 --> 00:40:02,279 Speaker 1: you're still you have an attacker in your house, and 677 00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:05,160 Speaker 1: you have to defend yourself violently. But that attacker now 678 00:40:05,239 --> 00:40:08,400 Speaker 1: is not a person, it's a it's a wild animal. 679 00:40:08,440 --> 00:40:10,600 Speaker 1: You know, a grizzly bear has broken into your house, 680 00:40:10,680 --> 00:40:13,960 Speaker 1: or you know, a mountain lion. Right, how You's still 681 00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:17,520 Speaker 1: it's still an absolute emergency. Right, You're still going to 682 00:40:17,560 --> 00:40:20,600 Speaker 1: have to fight for your life. You're still looking for 683 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:25,080 Speaker 1: a weapon to defend yourself with. Right, You're still contemplating 684 00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:28,440 Speaker 1: killing a living being to defend yourself, right in your kids. 685 00:40:29,160 --> 00:40:32,720 Speaker 1: But there's an emotional shaving there. Like you as energized 686 00:40:32,760 --> 00:40:35,320 Speaker 1: as you would be in the presence of a mountain 687 00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:38,600 Speaker 1: lion or in the presence of a grizzly bear, there's 688 00:40:38,680 --> 00:40:42,959 Speaker 1: this layer of the layer of hatred doesn't quite fit, 689 00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:43,640 Speaker 1: you know. 690 00:40:43,640 --> 00:40:45,080 Speaker 2: Because you feel they have less choice. 691 00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:47,719 Speaker 1: Yes, of course, a mountain lion is going to be 692 00:40:47,719 --> 00:40:49,400 Speaker 1: a mountain lion, you know. It's like like a mountain 693 00:40:49,480 --> 00:40:53,000 Speaker 1: lion can't be other than a mountain lion on some level. 694 00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:56,880 Speaker 1: A malicious psychopath can't be other than a malicious psychopath. Right, 695 00:40:56,920 --> 00:40:58,920 Speaker 1: So I think it's I think we do have to 696 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:05,799 Speaker 1: view people on some level as equivalent to forces of nature, right, 697 00:41:05,800 --> 00:41:08,200 Speaker 1: you know, we don't. We don't get angry at hurricanes. 698 00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:11,960 Speaker 1: But and if we certainly don't hate hurricanes and in 699 00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:14,200 Speaker 1: the same way that we could hate another human being, 700 00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:17,880 Speaker 1: But if we could lock hurricanes in prison, we would, right, 701 00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:20,680 Speaker 1: I mean, they're immensely destructive. You know, we're still trying 702 00:41:20,680 --> 00:41:22,759 Speaker 1: to figure out what to do about them, but it 703 00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:26,040 Speaker 1: never gets that we never take this extra step of 704 00:41:26,280 --> 00:41:29,200 Speaker 1: actually hating them. And I do think we could have 705 00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:33,600 Speaker 1: ethically speaking and psychologically speaking, we can. We can have 706 00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:38,120 Speaker 1: a similar relationship to even the worst human beings while 707 00:41:38,160 --> 00:41:40,160 Speaker 1: doing all the things we need to do to defend 708 00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:42,399 Speaker 1: ourselves against them. We can put people in prison. We can, 709 00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:45,120 Speaker 1: you know, we can. I'm not in favor of the 710 00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:50,239 Speaker 1: death penalty for actually these reasons, but because I don't 711 00:41:50,239 --> 00:41:52,880 Speaker 1: think anyone creates themselves. I think I don't think anyone 712 00:41:52,920 --> 00:41:57,399 Speaker 1: is truly at bottom responsible responsible for being who they are. 713 00:41:57,440 --> 00:41:59,600 Speaker 1: I mean, if you had the same genes and the 714 00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:04,360 Speaker 1: same life life experience of whoever Jeffrey Dahmer, you'd be 715 00:42:04,440 --> 00:42:07,359 Speaker 1: Jeffrey Dahmer, right, So like there's no there's no mystery there. 716 00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:12,640 Speaker 1: But so I think so I think at bottom, when 717 00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:17,000 Speaker 1: you're when you're looking at these these very stark differences 718 00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:20,680 Speaker 1: in life outcomes. You're looking at differences in luck, right. 719 00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:23,919 Speaker 1: I mean there's there's biological luck, there's circumstantial luck, there's 720 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:26,719 Speaker 1: all kinds of luck, and there's and there's what we 721 00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:29,399 Speaker 1: do with the luck. But your capacity to do good 722 00:42:29,440 --> 00:42:32,960 Speaker 1: things with even your bad luck is yet more good luck, right, 723 00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:35,480 Speaker 1: I mean, something is given you. There's some genetic and 724 00:42:35,600 --> 00:42:40,719 Speaker 1: environmental reason why you were set up to pick yourselves up, 725 00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:43,080 Speaker 1: pick yourself up by your bootstraps, when somebody else in 726 00:42:43,080 --> 00:42:49,080 Speaker 1: the similar situation wasn't right. And so on some level, 727 00:42:49,120 --> 00:42:54,360 Speaker 1: there's we have an ethical imperative to acknowledge the massive 728 00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:57,799 Speaker 1: role that luck plays in our lives, and I think 729 00:42:57,800 --> 00:43:01,319 Speaker 1: we should want to cancel the most egregious differences in 730 00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:03,440 Speaker 1: good and bad luck between people. Like so, when we 731 00:43:03,480 --> 00:43:07,960 Speaker 1: look at a whole society that is suffering from immense 732 00:43:08,040 --> 00:43:11,120 Speaker 1: bad luck because it didn't have the natural resources that 733 00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:14,440 Speaker 1: some other society did, or it had those resources, but 734 00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:17,399 Speaker 1: even those resources created perverse incentives, and so it has 735 00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:21,520 Speaker 1: got some terrible political outcome based on all the level 736 00:43:21,560 --> 00:43:23,799 Speaker 1: of corruption that's layered on top of the resources, and 737 00:43:23,840 --> 00:43:28,799 Speaker 1: there's just terrible disparities in luck there, right, And so 738 00:43:28,880 --> 00:43:33,319 Speaker 1: I think we as a as a global civilization, more 739 00:43:33,360 --> 00:43:36,360 Speaker 1: and more as we grow grow wealthier and wealthier and 740 00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:41,760 Speaker 1: can take advantage of good luck over here, we should 741 00:43:41,840 --> 00:43:47,000 Speaker 1: want to engineer a tide that raises upon which most 742 00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:51,440 Speaker 1: are all boats rise more and more. It's not to 743 00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:53,359 Speaker 1: say that capitalism is wrong. It's not to say that 744 00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:56,000 Speaker 1: we're ever going to completely nullify differences in luck. And 745 00:43:56,520 --> 00:43:59,879 Speaker 1: I think some asymmetries may in fact be the off 746 00:44:00,080 --> 00:44:05,080 Speaker 1: them a way to encourage people's creativity and innovation. Right. 747 00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:08,600 Speaker 1: So it's like I'm not an agnostic as to be 748 00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:11,319 Speaker 1: on some of the questions of how to organize a 749 00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:14,680 Speaker 1: society and an economy there, But I do think more 750 00:44:14,719 --> 00:44:18,000 Speaker 1: and more we need to recognize that so many of us, 751 00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:19,800 Speaker 1: I mean, certainly anyone has got the free time to 752 00:44:20,640 --> 00:44:23,480 Speaker 1: listen to this conversation right now, stands a pretty good 753 00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:26,439 Speaker 1: chance of being in the top ten percent or even 754 00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:30,520 Speaker 1: one percent of humanity with respect to luck. You know, 755 00:44:30,719 --> 00:44:34,600 Speaker 1: all the variables, whether it's respective health and wealth and education, 756 00:44:34,760 --> 00:44:38,000 Speaker 1: and just just having the free time and attention to 757 00:44:38,040 --> 00:44:39,880 Speaker 1: listen to this and be interested in this and to 758 00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:42,680 Speaker 1: be asking the kinds of questions we're trying to address 759 00:44:42,680 --> 00:44:45,960 Speaker 1: in a conversation like this. We're immensely lucky, and with 760 00:44:46,120 --> 00:44:52,000 Speaker 1: that comes a certain responsibility, but also opportunity to spread 761 00:44:52,080 --> 00:44:53,600 Speaker 1: the luck around. 762 00:44:53,840 --> 00:44:58,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, to create luck for others. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, Yeah. 763 00:44:58,239 --> 00:45:00,520 Speaker 2: I loved where we were going with that. Loved where 764 00:45:00,520 --> 00:45:04,680 Speaker 2: we went. But going back to the outrage piece, the 765 00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:11,799 Speaker 2: understanding of you know, almost differentiating our hate from outrage, 766 00:45:12,200 --> 00:45:16,000 Speaker 2: almost extracting some piece of the ego from it being 767 00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:22,640 Speaker 2: petty and individualistic, but that it's for a greater cause. Then, yeah, 768 00:45:22,640 --> 00:45:24,960 Speaker 2: how do you go forward with that? Like, what do 769 00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:27,600 Speaker 2: you do with that thought, that idea, that feeling. So 770 00:45:27,640 --> 00:45:29,920 Speaker 2: you feel pain when someone else is in pain, you 771 00:45:29,960 --> 00:45:33,359 Speaker 2: feel stressed, you feel outrage. As you said, there may 772 00:45:33,400 --> 00:45:36,680 Speaker 2: be a petty personal anger to it that triggered us 773 00:45:36,680 --> 00:45:38,919 Speaker 2: in the first place, but we were able to carve 774 00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:41,480 Speaker 2: that out and understand that that wasn't the basis of 775 00:45:41,520 --> 00:45:44,160 Speaker 2: our real outrage, that there was something bigger. 776 00:45:44,560 --> 00:45:46,759 Speaker 1: Yeah, well, it just then it really just depends on 777 00:45:46,800 --> 00:45:49,560 Speaker 1: what the problem is and what the situation is and 778 00:45:49,560 --> 00:45:51,719 Speaker 1: whether you can influence it, right, I mean, if you 779 00:45:51,719 --> 00:45:53,840 Speaker 1: can't do anything about it, well, then it's not useful 780 00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:58,080 Speaker 1: to be just grinding your gears with outrage. I mean 781 00:45:58,120 --> 00:46:01,160 Speaker 1: that your outrage needs some kind of outlet, you know, 782 00:46:01,239 --> 00:46:03,759 Speaker 1: so if you have some kind of platform upon which 783 00:46:03,800 --> 00:46:06,160 Speaker 1: to try to make sense on these important topics, we'll 784 00:46:06,160 --> 00:46:11,320 Speaker 1: then do that. But yeah, it's it's it's never useful 785 00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:15,960 Speaker 1: to just be privately seething with outrage that has no outlet, right, 786 00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:18,520 Speaker 1: so you have to figure out one what, what pragmatically 787 00:46:18,520 --> 00:46:21,520 Speaker 1: can you do to accomplish anything useful on the basis 788 00:46:21,520 --> 00:46:25,040 Speaker 1: of this emotion. And if there's nothing to do, it's 789 00:46:25,120 --> 00:46:26,759 Speaker 1: great to have the tools. By what you can just 790 00:46:26,840 --> 00:46:30,759 Speaker 1: let go of it, right like? And that's and again 791 00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:33,759 Speaker 1: that's where meditation comes in. I mean that really is 792 00:46:33,960 --> 00:46:36,080 Speaker 1: a kind of superpower. You can just decide, Okay, there's 793 00:46:36,120 --> 00:46:40,040 Speaker 1: there's nothing to do here with this negative emotion, so 794 00:46:40,120 --> 00:46:42,240 Speaker 1: now I can just let go of it. And that's 795 00:46:42,840 --> 00:46:47,040 Speaker 1: and that's true. It's true for public facing emotion like outrage, 796 00:46:47,040 --> 00:46:51,279 Speaker 1: but it's true for a and inwardly facing one like 797 00:46:51,640 --> 00:46:54,840 Speaker 1: just anxiety about something that is coming up in the future. Right, So, 798 00:46:55,000 --> 00:46:58,759 Speaker 1: like you've got some medical condition, now you need to 799 00:46:58,760 --> 00:47:01,640 Speaker 1: get an MRI to see if you've got something scary, 800 00:47:02,320 --> 00:47:05,160 Speaker 1: and you can't get the MRI until next Tuesday, right, 801 00:47:05,200 --> 00:47:06,960 Speaker 1: So now you've got this time to wait. So the 802 00:47:07,040 --> 00:47:11,840 Speaker 1: question is, in the intervening days, how captured are you 803 00:47:11,920 --> 00:47:14,239 Speaker 1: going to be by this feeling of anxiety? Is is 804 00:47:14,280 --> 00:47:19,280 Speaker 1: there any utility in feeling anxious between now and Tuesday? 805 00:47:19,760 --> 00:47:23,000 Speaker 1: And if there's not, wouldn't it be great to actually 806 00:47:23,120 --> 00:47:25,680 Speaker 1: just let go of it? Right? And most people feel 807 00:47:25,760 --> 00:47:28,799 Speaker 1: like that's that's pretty hard to do, right, I mean, 808 00:47:29,239 --> 00:47:32,800 Speaker 1: most people don't have tools apart from just diverting themselves, 809 00:47:33,000 --> 00:47:35,879 Speaker 1: getting distracting themselves with something else to take their mind 810 00:47:35,920 --> 00:47:38,000 Speaker 1: off the thing that they're really sort of thinking about 811 00:47:38,440 --> 00:47:40,760 Speaker 1: in the background that they don't want to think about, 812 00:47:40,760 --> 00:47:44,239 Speaker 1: but they're helplessly, you know, perseverating on it. But as 813 00:47:44,280 --> 00:47:45,759 Speaker 1: far as you know, as far as as far as 814 00:47:45,800 --> 00:47:47,879 Speaker 1: acting in the world so as to make the world 815 00:47:47,880 --> 00:47:51,080 Speaker 1: a better place, I think, you know, based on outrage 816 00:47:51,160 --> 00:47:54,560 Speaker 1: or some other emotion, you know, I'm impressed more and 817 00:47:54,640 --> 00:47:59,680 Speaker 1: more by how much that's a story of changing in 818 00:47:59,760 --> 00:48:04,120 Speaker 1: saneives at the system level more than it is a 819 00:48:04,160 --> 00:48:08,120 Speaker 1: story of improve getting individuals to improve themselves. I think, 820 00:48:08,160 --> 00:48:10,320 Speaker 1: I think individuals should want to improve themselves. And I 821 00:48:10,440 --> 00:48:12,759 Speaker 1: know I want to improve myself, and I you know, 822 00:48:13,000 --> 00:48:15,520 Speaker 1: ins far as I can share wisdom about how to 823 00:48:15,560 --> 00:48:18,960 Speaker 1: do that, I do that, you know more or less 824 00:48:18,960 --> 00:48:23,879 Speaker 1: full time. But there's a there's another level of analysis 825 00:48:23,920 --> 00:48:27,680 Speaker 1: and another level of discussion that needs to be applied 826 00:48:27,680 --> 00:48:30,480 Speaker 1: to the to the systems in which we're all functioning. 827 00:48:30,640 --> 00:48:34,560 Speaker 1: And we need to recognize that in so many places 828 00:48:34,560 --> 00:48:40,160 Speaker 1: we have systems of incentives that are aligned. So it's 829 00:48:40,200 --> 00:48:43,399 Speaker 1: to make it actually hard to be a good person, right, 830 00:48:43,480 --> 00:48:44,800 Speaker 1: like you need you need to be some kind of 831 00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:49,080 Speaker 1: moral hero to be truly ethical given how the system 832 00:48:49,160 --> 00:48:54,720 Speaker 1: is tuned. And conversely, totally normal people can be lured 833 00:48:54,800 --> 00:48:58,840 Speaker 1: into behaving more and more like psychopaths in a badly 834 00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:01,880 Speaker 1: tuned system where the incentives are all wrong, right, And 835 00:49:01,960 --> 00:49:04,040 Speaker 1: I think more and more we need to be alert 836 00:49:04,080 --> 00:49:08,400 Speaker 1: to that, and we need to want to design systems 837 00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:12,960 Speaker 1: where it just becomes easier and easier for ordinary, conflicted, 838 00:49:13,880 --> 00:49:17,440 Speaker 1: mediocre people, people who are not even thinking about ethics 839 00:49:17,480 --> 00:49:20,399 Speaker 1: all that much, right, don't want to, They just want 840 00:49:20,400 --> 00:49:25,000 Speaker 1: what they want. It's easier for them to behave more 841 00:49:25,080 --> 00:49:29,120 Speaker 1: and more like saints because the incentives are aligned. That 842 00:49:29,200 --> 00:49:34,279 Speaker 1: way to take a example that's recently top of mind. So, 843 00:49:34,360 --> 00:49:37,240 Speaker 1: like we have a problem with the problem of climate change, 844 00:49:37,800 --> 00:49:40,960 Speaker 1: you will well intentioned people want to do something about it. 845 00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:45,319 Speaker 1: We don't want to create the most profligate harms for 846 00:49:45,360 --> 00:49:48,640 Speaker 1: ourselves unnecessarily, right, So it'd be great to have a 847 00:49:49,239 --> 00:49:54,160 Speaker 1: system of incentives and economic opportunities and technologies that just 848 00:49:54,200 --> 00:49:56,880 Speaker 1: made it easier and easier to be wise with respect 849 00:49:56,920 --> 00:50:01,160 Speaker 1: to carbon or carbon footprint. There are a lot of 850 00:50:01,160 --> 00:50:03,080 Speaker 1: great ideas in this space, and you know, one of 851 00:50:03,120 --> 00:50:05,520 Speaker 1: them is a well, let's let's buy electric cars. Right, 852 00:50:05,800 --> 00:50:10,520 Speaker 1: Let's let's transition from a fossil fuel economy of transportation 853 00:50:10,600 --> 00:50:13,520 Speaker 1: to an electric one. Well, that sounds wonderful. And I've 854 00:50:13,560 --> 00:50:15,960 Speaker 1: you know, I just I've had an electric car, and 855 00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:18,279 Speaker 1: I've i just had to get a new car, and 856 00:50:18,320 --> 00:50:20,799 Speaker 1: I was poised to buy an electric another electric car. 857 00:50:21,320 --> 00:50:23,600 Speaker 1: But then I hear on Joe Rogan's podcast from this 858 00:50:23,640 --> 00:50:27,479 Speaker 1: guy who's just published a book it's coming out. I've 859 00:50:27,719 --> 00:50:29,480 Speaker 1: forgive me, I've forgotten his name. I think it's uh 860 00:50:30,800 --> 00:50:33,440 Speaker 1: Shri Ram Krishnan, but I could have that wrong. But 861 00:50:34,239 --> 00:50:37,400 Speaker 1: he's put his book coming out called Cobalt Read but 862 00:50:37,440 --> 00:50:41,440 Speaker 1: it interested to our podcast with Rogan, which was just 863 00:50:41,760 --> 00:50:47,719 Speaker 1: this litany of horrors that attend what the extraction of 864 00:50:47,760 --> 00:50:50,799 Speaker 1: cobalt from Congo. Right, it's like two percent of the 865 00:50:50,800 --> 00:50:54,120 Speaker 1: world's cobalt is in Congo. We use cobalt in all 866 00:50:54,160 --> 00:50:58,600 Speaker 1: of our batteries. Basically our supply chain for cobalt is 867 00:50:58,640 --> 00:51:01,799 Speaker 1: on top of just slave labor and child labor and 868 00:51:01,840 --> 00:51:04,000 Speaker 1: just you know, kids getting buried alive. I mean, it's 869 00:51:04,040 --> 00:51:06,880 Speaker 1: just it was just as bad as you could imagine. 870 00:51:08,800 --> 00:51:12,600 Speaker 1: And so how here we have a system where we 871 00:51:12,680 --> 00:51:14,879 Speaker 1: all we just we all want to buy the next 872 00:51:14,880 --> 00:51:17,520 Speaker 1: electric car because this is the good thing, that this 873 00:51:17,680 --> 00:51:19,879 Speaker 1: was the virtuous thing to do. But now we find 874 00:51:19,880 --> 00:51:23,120 Speaker 1: out that the batteries are are soaked in blood. There's 875 00:51:23,160 --> 00:51:25,600 Speaker 1: no good option, right, And now we have to and 876 00:51:25,719 --> 00:51:28,440 Speaker 1: we have to pretend that that we didn't hear that 877 00:51:28,520 --> 00:51:31,520 Speaker 1: podcast or the the and the people you know built 878 00:51:32,080 --> 00:51:34,160 Speaker 1: designing the batteries, or pretending that they don't know where 879 00:51:34,200 --> 00:51:37,319 Speaker 1: the cobalt comes from. And there's like we need to 880 00:51:37,400 --> 00:51:40,319 Speaker 1: figure out I mean, this is this this itself, it 881 00:51:40,320 --> 00:51:42,120 Speaker 1: should be a simple problem to solve, and it would 882 00:51:42,120 --> 00:51:46,120 Speaker 1: just it's probably a few percentage points of profit margin 883 00:51:46,640 --> 00:51:50,960 Speaker 1: that would make the extraction of cobalt a an ethically 884 00:51:52,760 --> 00:51:56,840 Speaker 1: defensible practice, right, and that's probably there's probably some cobalt 885 00:51:56,840 --> 00:52:00,200 Speaker 1: free technology, uh that we could design in the few sure, 886 00:52:00,239 --> 00:52:04,360 Speaker 1: but it's just to get these things right really matters. 887 00:52:04,480 --> 00:52:07,280 Speaker 1: And if you don't get them right, you've got people 888 00:52:07,360 --> 00:52:11,120 Speaker 1: who are deeply conflicted about what they're doing or not 889 00:52:11,320 --> 00:52:14,120 Speaker 1: or just not completely unaware of what they're doing and 890 00:52:14,280 --> 00:52:18,359 Speaker 1: creating these these massive negative externalities that they might not 891 00:52:18,360 --> 00:52:20,799 Speaker 1: even know about, Like like like I could I literally was. 892 00:52:21,200 --> 00:52:24,120 Speaker 1: I mean, I was twenty four hours from buying another 893 00:52:24,360 --> 00:52:28,000 Speaker 1: EV right. So it's like it's not that it's not 894 00:52:28,040 --> 00:52:30,840 Speaker 1: that my loan purchase or not are or not of 895 00:52:31,120 --> 00:52:33,000 Speaker 1: a single car it's going to matter that much in 896 00:52:33,040 --> 00:52:35,640 Speaker 1: the scheme of things. But it's like I would have 897 00:52:35,800 --> 00:52:39,480 Speaker 1: had I not heard this particular episode of Joe's podcast, 898 00:52:40,080 --> 00:52:42,880 Speaker 1: I would have bought that EV thinking I was doing 899 00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:46,840 Speaker 1: an unimpeachably virtuous thing, right, And now I have a 900 00:52:46,960 --> 00:52:50,040 Speaker 1: much more conflicted decision to make around, you know, what's 901 00:52:50,160 --> 00:52:52,120 Speaker 1: the right car to drive in light of my climate 902 00:52:52,239 --> 00:52:56,399 Speaker 1: change concerns. This is just to say that the individual 903 00:52:57,440 --> 00:53:01,040 Speaker 1: can't solve the cobalt supply chain problem, right, So like 904 00:53:01,080 --> 00:53:02,880 Speaker 1: we need we need these solutions to come at the 905 00:53:02,880 --> 00:53:06,000 Speaker 1: system level and at the institution level. And and that's 906 00:53:06,080 --> 00:53:12,880 Speaker 1: and that's where being a good person is sort of 907 00:53:12,960 --> 00:53:16,719 Speaker 1: beyond the scope of anyone's individual choices, Like like you 908 00:53:16,760 --> 00:53:21,719 Speaker 1: need to we need to collectively solve a massive coordination 909 00:53:21,840 --> 00:53:27,839 Speaker 1: problem together where in the act of getting gratifying our desires, 910 00:53:28,360 --> 00:53:33,120 Speaker 1: we are we are are creating less and less harm 911 00:53:33,160 --> 00:53:36,080 Speaker 1: and doing more and more good, more or less effortlessly. 912 00:53:36,200 --> 00:53:38,879 Speaker 1: And that's and that really is. You can have people 913 00:53:38,920 --> 00:53:44,800 Speaker 1: who are just not thinking about purifying anything, behaving in 914 00:53:45,080 --> 00:53:50,040 Speaker 1: really impeccable ways given good incentives. And that's that's more 915 00:53:50,080 --> 00:53:51,040 Speaker 1: and more I'm thinking about that. 916 00:53:51,160 --> 00:53:53,319 Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that you're thinking about that, and I 917 00:53:53,360 --> 00:53:56,319 Speaker 2: think it's an idea to put forward though, is that 918 00:53:56,400 --> 00:53:58,080 Speaker 2: it's also that the people that are setting up the 919 00:53:58,080 --> 00:54:00,480 Speaker 2: institutions and the systems are all too individual, so it's 920 00:54:00,480 --> 00:54:03,399 Speaker 2: like a vicious cycle. It's like the leaders at the top, 921 00:54:03,480 --> 00:54:06,120 Speaker 2: the people have made all these decisions to go out 922 00:54:06,200 --> 00:54:09,040 Speaker 2: and you know, take all this cobo and make sure 923 00:54:09,080 --> 00:54:13,600 Speaker 2: that it was picked by child slaves or child labor 924 00:54:13,640 --> 00:54:16,120 Speaker 2: or whatever it may be. I haven't listened to the podcast. 925 00:54:16,160 --> 00:54:20,080 Speaker 2: I don't have the context. But someone made that decision 926 00:54:20,600 --> 00:54:24,840 Speaker 2: and some system never thought to correct that because that 927 00:54:24,960 --> 00:54:27,279 Speaker 2: was led by some people. So I think, I mean, 928 00:54:27,440 --> 00:54:29,520 Speaker 2: I agree with you, but I think it's both. It's like, 929 00:54:30,440 --> 00:54:36,000 Speaker 2: you know, I think even where systems have been made tight, 930 00:54:36,120 --> 00:54:39,080 Speaker 2: you still see people trying to find a loophole. I mean, 931 00:54:39,120 --> 00:54:42,560 Speaker 2: that's how the human mind is set up. And so 932 00:54:42,760 --> 00:54:46,279 Speaker 2: you've got the loophole mindset of like, Okay, well let 933 00:54:46,280 --> 00:54:48,279 Speaker 2: me find a way to exploit this or manipulate this 934 00:54:48,360 --> 00:54:51,680 Speaker 2: towards my benefit anyway, And so you've got both. I 935 00:54:51,960 --> 00:54:54,520 Speaker 2: think both are important. I think like if you were 936 00:54:54,560 --> 00:54:58,360 Speaker 2: the decision maker, if you were building EVS, you would 937 00:54:58,360 --> 00:55:00,799 Speaker 2: be able to make that system a company and you'd 938 00:55:00,800 --> 00:55:02,120 Speaker 2: set it out, but that would come back to you. 939 00:55:02,400 --> 00:55:07,280 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, but it could like if we taxed carbon 940 00:55:08,640 --> 00:55:11,919 Speaker 1: instead of taxing incomes. I don't know how that works 941 00:55:11,920 --> 00:55:14,200 Speaker 1: out in terms of the balance sheet, but something like that, 942 00:55:14,800 --> 00:55:18,560 Speaker 1: we're we're using a tax to disincentivize something. We want 943 00:55:18,560 --> 00:55:24,839 Speaker 1: to disincentivize pollution, and we're not penalizing something that's intrinsically good, 944 00:55:24,960 --> 00:55:27,640 Speaker 1: just you know, creating value. And being paid for that value, 945 00:55:27,640 --> 00:55:30,160 Speaker 1: which is you know, what income in the best case 946 00:55:30,239 --> 00:55:32,640 Speaker 1: is coming from. So there's that, and then like all 947 00:55:32,640 --> 00:55:34,759 Speaker 1: of a sudden, people would all right, if if it's 948 00:55:35,000 --> 00:55:38,319 Speaker 1: costing me money to be polluting, well then I'm going 949 00:55:38,360 --> 00:55:41,839 Speaker 1: to figure out how to not do that. And uh, 950 00:55:42,080 --> 00:55:44,040 Speaker 1: that's just going to be our interests are going to 951 00:55:44,040 --> 00:55:46,600 Speaker 1: be a line there, right, And so there there's probably 952 00:55:46,680 --> 00:55:49,160 Speaker 1: you know, one hundred or a thousand cases like that. 953 00:55:49,200 --> 00:55:52,640 Speaker 1: But where I was going was I've been thinking a 954 00:55:52,640 --> 00:55:56,920 Speaker 1: lot about what has come to be called the effect 955 00:55:56,960 --> 00:55:59,640 Speaker 1: of altruism movement. I mean, just how to do good 956 00:56:00,960 --> 00:56:04,959 Speaker 1: more reliably, more systematically. Many of us have been disillusioned 957 00:56:05,000 --> 00:56:08,520 Speaker 1: with with how philanthropy has been done traditionally. It's like 958 00:56:08,560 --> 00:56:12,719 Speaker 1: there's a there's a distinction between This actually comes back 959 00:56:12,760 --> 00:56:15,759 Speaker 1: to some of what we've been talking about with the 960 00:56:15,800 --> 00:56:21,200 Speaker 1: difference between being led by one's emotions and actually understanding 961 00:56:21,480 --> 00:56:24,879 Speaker 1: what the outcomes are in the world that one is accomplishing. 962 00:56:25,320 --> 00:56:27,160 Speaker 1: When you're trying to do good in the world, when 963 00:56:26,719 --> 00:56:30,600 Speaker 1: you're giving to a you know, a children's hospital, say, 964 00:56:30,600 --> 00:56:32,640 Speaker 1: I mean that just seems an intrinsically good thing to do, 965 00:56:33,560 --> 00:56:37,160 Speaker 1: But so much we know that so much of our 966 00:56:37,920 --> 00:56:41,360 Speaker 1: impulse to do good, our impulse toward algruism, or impulse 967 00:56:41,400 --> 00:56:49,360 Speaker 1: toward effective compassion, is driven by the single compelling story, 968 00:56:49,440 --> 00:56:52,040 Speaker 1: the single you know, the single identifiable protagonist, you know, 969 00:56:52,080 --> 00:56:54,640 Speaker 1: the one little girl who's you know, god cancer and 970 00:56:54,680 --> 00:56:57,640 Speaker 1: we can help her. Right, And that we sort of 971 00:56:57,680 --> 00:57:01,400 Speaker 1: go to sleep when we're told statistics, right, So like 972 00:57:01,520 --> 00:57:04,640 Speaker 1: we we don't we perversely we care more about the 973 00:57:04,680 --> 00:57:07,120 Speaker 1: one little girl than we care about the tens of 974 00:57:07,160 --> 00:57:09,680 Speaker 1: thousands of little girls just like her, maybe even the 975 00:57:09,719 --> 00:57:12,839 Speaker 1: tens of thousands of little girls including her. Right. It's 976 00:57:12,880 --> 00:57:15,920 Speaker 1: like you can run psychological experiments where you you show 977 00:57:15,960 --> 00:57:18,160 Speaker 1: people one little girl and you ask them how how 978 00:57:18,200 --> 00:57:20,840 Speaker 1: much they're inclined to help, and how much money they'd give. 979 00:57:21,440 --> 00:57:24,320 Speaker 1: They give the maximum amount, you know, under those conditions. 980 00:57:24,480 --> 00:57:26,560 Speaker 1: If you show them the same little girl and you 981 00:57:26,680 --> 00:57:28,400 Speaker 1: lay her on a story of just how many of 982 00:57:28,400 --> 00:57:31,680 Speaker 1: the other girls there are like her, they're the people's 983 00:57:31,840 --> 00:57:33,800 Speaker 1: compassionate impulse reliably diminishes. 984 00:57:33,920 --> 00:57:34,040 Speaker 2: Right. 985 00:57:34,040 --> 00:57:38,160 Speaker 1: So it's this is clearly a moral bug of our 986 00:57:38,480 --> 00:57:42,320 Speaker 1: operating system. So we know that the good feels we 987 00:57:42,440 --> 00:57:46,080 Speaker 1: get from giving are separable from the from the actual 988 00:57:46,080 --> 00:57:48,600 Speaker 1: effects of of our of our giving in the world. 989 00:57:49,000 --> 00:57:52,000 Speaker 1: So anyway, I've thought, you know more about this, and 990 00:57:52,040 --> 00:57:56,160 Speaker 1: I've brought on, you know, various moral philosophers to speak 991 00:57:56,160 --> 00:57:58,360 Speaker 1: about this on but both on the app and on 992 00:57:58,400 --> 00:58:02,600 Speaker 1: my podcast. And one change I made in response to 993 00:58:02,600 --> 00:58:04,880 Speaker 1: one of these conversations with I was just decided that 994 00:58:05,640 --> 00:58:07,960 Speaker 1: Waking Up as a company would give a minimum of 995 00:58:08,000 --> 00:58:10,920 Speaker 1: ten percent of its profits to the most effective charities 996 00:58:10,920 --> 00:58:14,160 Speaker 1: each year, and I personally would give a minimum of 997 00:58:14,960 --> 00:58:19,120 Speaker 1: ten percent of my pre tax income to charity each year. Now, 998 00:58:19,120 --> 00:58:22,960 Speaker 1: I was already giving money away to charity, and that 999 00:58:23,000 --> 00:58:27,240 Speaker 1: felt good. But once I decided, all right, here's the formula. 1000 00:58:27,280 --> 00:58:30,280 Speaker 1: I have to give this minimum amount. This minimum amount 1001 00:58:30,360 --> 00:58:34,919 Speaker 1: is already allocated to these ends. And what's more, these 1002 00:58:35,040 --> 00:58:38,560 Speaker 1: ends have to be not just charities and causes that 1003 00:58:38,640 --> 00:58:42,640 Speaker 1: I feel really personally engaged by, or just things that 1004 00:58:42,680 --> 00:58:45,240 Speaker 1: I want to support, like you know some you know, 1005 00:58:45,280 --> 00:58:47,680 Speaker 1: I want to give money to a college or a symphony, 1006 00:58:47,760 --> 00:58:50,200 Speaker 1: or it's like something that I or I see somebody's 1007 00:58:50,200 --> 00:58:53,280 Speaker 1: GoFundMe page and it tugs at my heartstrings. I want 1008 00:58:53,280 --> 00:58:56,600 Speaker 1: to give money to that. No, that's all separate. Here's 1009 00:58:56,680 --> 00:59:00,560 Speaker 1: ten percent that's going to charities that I and sober 1010 00:59:00,680 --> 00:59:04,200 Speaker 1: rational Analysis have decided are going to do the most good, 1011 00:59:04,800 --> 00:59:07,200 Speaker 1: irrespective of how I feel about these things, because there 1012 00:59:07,200 --> 00:59:11,920 Speaker 1: are certain causes that I just don't find especially sexy, 1013 00:59:12,320 --> 00:59:14,200 Speaker 1: you know that just not like I just can't. I 1014 00:59:14,240 --> 00:59:18,360 Speaker 1: have to continually rethink my my interest in them, you know, 1015 00:59:18,520 --> 00:59:22,760 Speaker 1: but they are objectively if you want to want to 1016 00:59:22,800 --> 00:59:25,720 Speaker 1: save a life, you know, per unit, per per dollar 1017 00:59:25,800 --> 00:59:27,600 Speaker 1: put into the system, this is the best use of 1018 00:59:27,760 --> 00:59:28,520 Speaker 1: your dollars. 1019 00:59:28,600 --> 00:59:28,720 Speaker 2: Right. 1020 00:59:29,280 --> 00:59:32,680 Speaker 1: One has been you know, malaria mitigation in sub Saharan 1021 00:59:32,680 --> 00:59:36,000 Speaker 1: Africa just just bed malarial bed nets, right Like, that's 1022 00:59:36,360 --> 00:59:39,200 Speaker 1: I just can't get too excited about handing out bed nets, right, 1023 00:59:39,240 --> 00:59:43,120 Speaker 1: but that's something that's worth supporting. So I just decided that, okay, 1024 00:59:43,960 --> 00:59:46,440 Speaker 1: GiveWell dot org is it has not run this analysis. 1025 00:59:46,600 --> 00:59:52,640 Speaker 1: They're a great source of information about effective charities. Here 1026 00:59:52,640 --> 00:59:55,280 Speaker 1: are their top ten charities. Whether I find these sexy 1027 00:59:55,360 --> 00:59:58,040 Speaker 1: or not, I know I can outsource the cognitive labor 1028 00:59:58,080 --> 01:00:00,880 Speaker 1: to these people because I've spoken to them enough, I've 1029 01:00:00,960 --> 01:00:03,480 Speaker 1: analyzed what they've done. They're doing enough. This is their 1030 01:00:03,480 --> 01:00:06,360 Speaker 1: full time job, all right, you know, until I hear otherwise, 1031 01:00:06,960 --> 01:00:10,800 Speaker 1: I'm going to take their advice. It doesn't matter how 1032 01:00:10,800 --> 01:00:12,960 Speaker 1: I feel about these charities, right, I'm going to get 1033 01:00:12,960 --> 01:00:16,280 Speaker 1: my good feels elsewhere. But what's happened is once I 1034 01:00:16,400 --> 01:00:20,040 Speaker 1: decided that I'm going to give this amount of money 1035 01:00:20,080 --> 01:00:23,520 Speaker 1: to charity each year, and it's happening by default, whether 1036 01:00:23,600 --> 01:00:25,920 Speaker 1: I'm thinking about it or not, whether I'm gratified by 1037 01:00:26,000 --> 01:00:28,880 Speaker 1: it or not. A very interesting thing flipped one is 1038 01:00:29,480 --> 01:00:32,600 Speaker 1: when I confront all these other opportunities to give money 1039 01:00:32,600 --> 01:00:37,439 Speaker 1: away that are tugging on my heartstrings, they almost show 1040 01:00:37,520 --> 01:00:40,040 Speaker 1: up as a as a kind of guilty pleasure. Like 1041 01:00:40,200 --> 01:00:42,400 Speaker 1: I literally have had the feeling of giving money to 1042 01:00:42,440 --> 01:00:46,840 Speaker 1: a children's hospital or giving money to somebody's GoFundMe page, 1043 01:00:46,920 --> 01:00:53,240 Speaker 1: And it's almost leveraging the same greedy circuits in the 1044 01:00:53,280 --> 01:00:56,800 Speaker 1: brain as you'd get if you're like opening a catalog 1045 01:00:58,120 --> 01:01:01,360 Speaker 1: and you want everything on both pages. It's like it's 1046 01:01:01,400 --> 01:01:05,600 Speaker 1: like like it's it is a it's a very visceral 1047 01:01:05,640 --> 01:01:11,680 Speaker 1: experience of selfishness and selflessness totally merging. And it's like 1048 01:01:11,840 --> 01:01:15,240 Speaker 1: it's like why selfishness is the same thing as selflessness, 1049 01:01:15,640 --> 01:01:18,000 Speaker 1: But it has the energy of like I really I 1050 01:01:18,080 --> 01:01:21,480 Speaker 1: want to do this and because I sort of know 1051 01:01:21,600 --> 01:01:26,280 Speaker 1: I I've rationally allocated to this a certain amount of 1052 01:01:26,320 --> 01:01:29,520 Speaker 1: doing this good kind of automatically sort of even out 1053 01:01:29,560 --> 01:01:31,120 Speaker 1: of side and out of mind. I'm not spending a 1054 01:01:31,120 --> 01:01:32,960 Speaker 1: lot of time thinking about where that money is going. 1055 01:01:33,560 --> 01:01:36,680 Speaker 1: It's sort of changed my relationship to all these other 1056 01:01:36,720 --> 01:01:40,160 Speaker 1: occasions where I'm having to decide on the basis of 1057 01:01:40,160 --> 01:01:42,439 Speaker 1: my intuitions moment to moment whether I want to give 1058 01:01:42,440 --> 01:01:44,440 Speaker 1: and how much to give. And it's it's really just 1059 01:01:44,560 --> 01:01:47,040 Speaker 1: kind of flipped everything upside down in a way that's interesting. 1060 01:01:47,720 --> 01:01:50,439 Speaker 1: And again it's it's it's all based on having made 1061 01:01:50,480 --> 01:01:55,600 Speaker 1: a sort of system level default change that is a 1062 01:01:55,720 --> 01:01:58,960 Speaker 1: sort of hidden structure in which I'm now moving, right. 1063 01:01:59,280 --> 01:02:02,320 Speaker 1: It's because again I'm not, until you make a decision 1064 01:02:02,400 --> 01:02:06,560 Speaker 1: like that, you're constantly rethinking what you want to do. 1065 01:02:06,600 --> 01:02:08,120 Speaker 1: It's almost like going on a diet. Like if you 1066 01:02:08,160 --> 01:02:11,000 Speaker 1: decide like I don't need dairy anymore, right, so, once 1067 01:02:11,040 --> 01:02:13,520 Speaker 1: you don't need dairy anymore, I eat a lot of dairy. 1068 01:02:13,520 --> 01:02:17,320 Speaker 1: But if one it didn't eat dairy anymore, you just 1069 01:02:17,360 --> 01:02:19,600 Speaker 1: it's just a bright line. And then you you're not 1070 01:02:19,720 --> 01:02:22,720 Speaker 1: you're not constantly rethinking whether you're going to have ice cream? 1071 01:02:22,760 --> 01:02:25,080 Speaker 1: And if so, how much? And and so it's it's 1072 01:02:25,080 --> 01:02:26,160 Speaker 1: massively clarifying. 1073 01:02:26,760 --> 01:02:29,120 Speaker 2: That's that's a great example that really hit true. Yeah, 1074 01:02:29,160 --> 01:02:33,640 Speaker 2: the clarity of constraints right, having having borders and boundaries 1075 01:02:33,680 --> 01:02:37,200 Speaker 2: and constraints allowing you to not waste as much time 1076 01:02:37,240 --> 01:02:42,520 Speaker 2: and energy on on figuring that out moment by moment. Yeah, 1077 01:02:42,560 --> 01:02:44,960 Speaker 2: I've got I've got two more questions for you, some 1078 01:02:45,440 --> 01:02:47,720 Speaker 2: that I want to make sure I ask you today. 1079 01:02:48,080 --> 01:02:50,000 Speaker 2: How does someone like you, as a as a meditator 1080 01:02:50,120 --> 01:02:53,000 Speaker 2: for so many years, as someone who's so thoughtful about 1081 01:02:53,040 --> 01:02:56,040 Speaker 2: these topics, as somebody who wants to see change in 1082 01:02:56,080 --> 01:02:58,560 Speaker 2: the systems and institutions as well, how do you interact 1083 01:02:58,600 --> 01:03:01,439 Speaker 2: with the news Because I find that to be such 1084 01:03:01,480 --> 01:03:04,040 Speaker 2: a source of anxiety and stress for so many people 1085 01:03:04,440 --> 01:03:07,120 Speaker 2: who are probably listening to us right now, and so 1086 01:03:07,320 --> 01:03:12,080 Speaker 2: i'd love to hear how you've built a healthier, hopefully systematic, 1087 01:03:12,440 --> 01:03:14,040 Speaker 2: logical relationship with the news. 1088 01:03:14,360 --> 01:03:18,680 Speaker 1: Well, it changed recently for me because I deleted my 1089 01:03:18,720 --> 01:03:21,480 Speaker 1: Twitter account, which was where I was getting a lot 1090 01:03:21,520 --> 01:03:24,160 Speaker 1: of my news. I was not getting the news from 1091 01:03:24,200 --> 01:03:26,360 Speaker 1: Twitter per se, but I was just seeing I was 1092 01:03:26,360 --> 01:03:29,120 Speaker 1: following lots of smart people and seeing what articles they 1093 01:03:29,120 --> 01:03:31,400 Speaker 1: were recommending. As I was going through that as a 1094 01:03:32,200 --> 01:03:35,919 Speaker 1: it was kind of like my news feed. So I still, 1095 01:03:35,960 --> 01:03:37,280 Speaker 1: you know, I read the New York Times, I read 1096 01:03:37,280 --> 01:03:40,280 Speaker 1: The Atlantic. There's so many things I read, and so 1097 01:03:41,640 --> 01:03:45,640 Speaker 1: I see the news in various channels. But I was 1098 01:03:45,760 --> 01:03:51,200 Speaker 1: using Twitter as the first filter on that, and that, 1099 01:03:51,320 --> 01:03:56,760 Speaker 1: for a variety of reasons, became really toxic for me, 1100 01:03:56,840 --> 01:04:00,680 Speaker 1: and and toxic in a way that I was convinced misleading. 1101 01:04:00,720 --> 01:04:02,200 Speaker 1: I mean, that was the thing that got me to 1102 01:04:02,240 --> 01:04:04,280 Speaker 1: finally just kind of rip the band aid off, because 1103 01:04:04,360 --> 01:04:06,720 Speaker 1: I it wasn't just that I was seeing the worst 1104 01:04:06,760 --> 01:04:10,200 Speaker 1: of people and that was having a certain effect. I 1105 01:04:10,360 --> 01:04:14,640 Speaker 1: was convinced that I was seeing people at their worst 1106 01:04:14,680 --> 01:04:16,800 Speaker 1: who are actually not as bad as they were seeming 1107 01:04:16,800 --> 01:04:19,320 Speaker 1: to me on Twitter. Like what Twitter was calling out 1108 01:04:19,560 --> 01:04:22,880 Speaker 1: of them was just a misleading picture of who they 1109 01:04:22,880 --> 01:04:25,240 Speaker 1: actually are, because in some cases I knew, I knew 1110 01:04:25,240 --> 01:04:27,600 Speaker 1: the people in real life, and I'm seeing them behave 1111 01:04:28,120 --> 01:04:30,880 Speaker 1: in abominable ways on Twitter, and I just think, all right, 1112 01:04:30,920 --> 01:04:33,400 Speaker 1: this is this isn't all. This is just a fun 1113 01:04:33,440 --> 01:04:37,560 Speaker 1: house mirror that isn't psychological, psychologically healthy, to keep staring 1114 01:04:37,600 --> 01:04:40,920 Speaker 1: into day after day after day, and also just so 1115 01:04:40,920 --> 01:04:43,080 Speaker 1: many of the things that I was It was it 1116 01:04:43,160 --> 01:04:47,560 Speaker 1: was amplifying stories that I was, you know, as a podcaster, 1117 01:04:47,680 --> 01:04:50,120 Speaker 1: I was tempted to react to and I felt like 1118 01:04:50,160 --> 01:04:52,360 Speaker 1: I was getting a misleading signal as to just how 1119 01:04:53,200 --> 01:04:57,280 Speaker 1: salient or representative those stories are of the way the 1120 01:04:57,280 --> 01:04:59,440 Speaker 1: world is. Right, So like, it's just it was just 1121 01:04:59,520 --> 01:05:02,960 Speaker 1: the phenomenal and being too online ultimately, right, Yeah, So 1122 01:05:03,000 --> 01:05:06,520 Speaker 1: my so ins far as Twitter was news or a 1123 01:05:06,560 --> 01:05:09,440 Speaker 1: simula crom of news, that has really changed for me. 1124 01:05:09,520 --> 01:05:13,280 Speaker 1: I just I just am not seeing it and now 1125 01:05:13,360 --> 01:05:17,120 Speaker 1: I just yeah, I mean, I have a few sources 1126 01:05:17,200 --> 01:05:20,800 Speaker 1: of news that I go to, as you know, more 1127 01:05:20,880 --> 01:05:26,919 Speaker 1: or less reflexively. But again it's it's more and more 1128 01:05:27,080 --> 01:05:32,280 Speaker 1: I'm asking the question, what do I want my moment 1129 01:05:32,440 --> 01:05:35,320 Speaker 1: to moment life to be like, you know, and who 1130 01:05:35,360 --> 01:05:36,680 Speaker 1: do I want to be at the end of the 1131 01:05:36,760 --> 01:05:39,720 Speaker 1: day when I'm hanging out with my wife and kids, right, 1132 01:05:39,720 --> 01:05:44,080 Speaker 1: and what are the consequences of having spent my attentional 1133 01:05:44,120 --> 01:05:48,760 Speaker 1: budget over the previous hours in one way versus another? 1134 01:05:49,080 --> 01:05:52,440 Speaker 1: And Twitter, for me, honestly was it was a big 1135 01:05:52,600 --> 01:05:55,160 Speaker 1: change because it was like getting out of an unhealthy relationship. 1136 01:05:55,160 --> 01:05:57,360 Speaker 1: And that was just for all my talk about meditation 1137 01:05:57,480 --> 01:06:00,480 Speaker 1: and being able to unhook from anger and other days. 1138 01:06:01,040 --> 01:06:02,920 Speaker 1: I mean, I could unhook and I could let go 1139 01:06:03,000 --> 01:06:05,680 Speaker 1: of of negative emotion and et cetera. And it's not 1140 01:06:05,720 --> 01:06:09,840 Speaker 1: that the tools don't work, but I was spending a 1141 01:06:09,880 --> 01:06:15,960 Speaker 1: lot of time looking into this very deranging space. And 1142 01:06:16,400 --> 01:06:18,840 Speaker 1: it's not deranging for everybody but for me because because 1143 01:06:19,080 --> 01:06:21,920 Speaker 1: what's unique about my job. But my approach to my 1144 01:06:22,040 --> 01:06:24,880 Speaker 1: job is that, you know, I criticize the right and 1145 01:06:24,960 --> 01:06:28,320 Speaker 1: left politically, you know, a lot, and you know, with 1146 01:06:28,480 --> 01:06:32,080 Speaker 1: sort of equal ferocity, and so I get so I'm 1147 01:06:32,080 --> 01:06:34,680 Speaker 1: not I'm not tribally aligned with anyone, and I get 1148 01:06:34,760 --> 01:06:38,320 Speaker 1: a lot of pain from both sides. And it's it's 1149 01:06:38,360 --> 01:06:40,880 Speaker 1: a lot of it's it's not honest pain. It's not 1150 01:06:40,920 --> 01:06:44,040 Speaker 1: like it's it's not like honest criticism of views I 1151 01:06:44,080 --> 01:06:46,600 Speaker 1: actually hold. It's like lots of lying about views that 1152 01:06:46,640 --> 01:06:49,640 Speaker 1: I don't hold. And you know, it's just it's just misrepresentations. 1153 01:06:49,640 --> 01:06:52,360 Speaker 1: And people take, you know, clips out of context, and 1154 01:06:52,400 --> 01:06:55,320 Speaker 1: I mean people people cut together clips of my podcast 1155 01:06:55,360 --> 01:06:57,680 Speaker 1: that where I am seeming to say the opposite of 1156 01:06:57,720 --> 01:06:59,680 Speaker 1: what I in fact said in context, and they release 1157 01:06:59,720 --> 01:07:02,880 Speaker 1: those and the people with big platforms, you know, retweet them. 1158 01:07:02,960 --> 01:07:08,040 Speaker 1: So it was a pervasive experience for me of seeing 1159 01:07:08,120 --> 01:07:13,360 Speaker 1: myself lied about and then wondering whether there's anything I 1160 01:07:13,360 --> 01:07:15,720 Speaker 1: should do about that, right, And so it was this 1161 01:07:16,000 --> 01:07:20,600 Speaker 1: very sticky invitation to getting sucked in because like, Okay, 1162 01:07:21,000 --> 01:07:23,480 Speaker 1: that's not what I said, that's not what I meant that. 1163 01:07:23,760 --> 01:07:26,200 Speaker 1: Now I'm seeing the evidence of lots of people being 1164 01:07:26,280 --> 01:07:31,160 Speaker 1: misled by this misrepresentation, and it bothers me. And I'm 1165 01:07:31,160 --> 01:07:33,680 Speaker 1: pretty sure it should bother me because I's like, this 1166 01:07:33,720 --> 01:07:35,800 Speaker 1: is not the outcome I want, right, And it's not 1167 01:07:35,840 --> 01:07:37,600 Speaker 1: why I have a podcast, and it's not why I 1168 01:07:37,600 --> 01:07:40,320 Speaker 1: went on that other person's podcast, And so there's some 1169 01:07:40,400 --> 01:07:43,440 Speaker 1: burden on me to try to clarify the misunderstanding. And 1170 01:07:43,480 --> 01:07:47,959 Speaker 1: I was continually getting sucked into the illusion that clarification 1171 01:07:48,120 --> 01:07:50,040 Speaker 1: was possible, right, So I would try because I really 1172 01:07:50,040 --> 01:07:52,840 Speaker 1: wanted to use Twitter as a channel of communication. It 1173 01:07:52,880 --> 01:07:55,160 Speaker 1: was the only social media platform I ever used. I'd 1174 01:07:55,160 --> 01:07:58,520 Speaker 1: never used Facebook, or I have Facebook and Instagram accounts, 1175 01:07:58,520 --> 01:08:01,520 Speaker 1: but those are just marketing, you know, channels from my team. 1176 01:08:01,560 --> 01:08:04,400 Speaker 1: I'm never on those so I was on Twitter. It 1177 01:08:04,440 --> 01:08:07,440 Speaker 1: really was me, and I was, you know, as much 1178 01:08:07,440 --> 01:08:09,400 Speaker 1: as I could step away from it because it seemed 1179 01:08:09,440 --> 01:08:12,960 Speaker 1: unhealthy for a time, I kept seeing the evidence of 1180 01:08:13,000 --> 01:08:17,080 Speaker 1: confusion and misrepresentation. I thought, I'm just going to try 1181 01:08:17,080 --> 01:08:20,080 Speaker 1: again to clarify things right, And that was that was 1182 01:08:20,120 --> 01:08:22,679 Speaker 1: such an unrewarding experience that it was just it was 1183 01:08:22,800 --> 01:08:28,200 Speaker 1: it was creating a residue of despair and contempt. I mean, 1184 01:08:28,240 --> 01:08:30,720 Speaker 1: I just I just felt it just felt polluted by 1185 01:08:31,320 --> 01:08:34,120 Speaker 1: I just felt like I had met like all the 1186 01:08:34,160 --> 01:08:36,680 Speaker 1: psychopaths in the world on a daily basis, Like there 1187 01:08:36,680 --> 01:08:39,640 Speaker 1: can't be as many psychopaths in the world as I 1188 01:08:39,760 --> 01:08:42,840 Speaker 1: was seemed to be meeting online. As much as I 1189 01:08:42,880 --> 01:08:46,280 Speaker 1: could step away from it and just say and put 1190 01:08:46,320 --> 01:08:49,599 Speaker 1: it down, I kept picking it up again, and so 1191 01:08:49,640 --> 01:08:53,120 Speaker 1: I just thought, this is crazy. So I just ripped 1192 01:08:53,160 --> 01:08:56,320 Speaker 1: it off. And that's been an immense change. I mean, 1193 01:08:56,320 --> 01:08:58,479 Speaker 1: it's really it's so sometimes you need to actually do 1194 01:08:58,600 --> 01:09:01,000 Speaker 1: the thing that is you can you can't just keep 1195 01:09:01,760 --> 01:09:06,040 Speaker 1: putting yourself in this dysfunctional situation and then processing your reaction. 1196 01:09:06,400 --> 01:09:08,080 Speaker 1: It's like you have to ask yourself, why are you 1197 01:09:08,120 --> 01:09:09,679 Speaker 1: doing this? Why are you spending your time and attention 1198 01:09:09,720 --> 01:09:12,240 Speaker 1: this way in the first place, And so for me 1199 01:09:12,280 --> 01:09:14,800 Speaker 1: it was Twitter. I mean I understand other people, you know, 1200 01:09:14,840 --> 01:09:17,080 Speaker 1: depending on what they could just be putting. If they're 1201 01:09:17,080 --> 01:09:19,680 Speaker 1: sharing cat videos on Twitter, they're just getting nothing but love, right, 1202 01:09:19,680 --> 01:09:21,519 Speaker 1: and they have no idea what I'm talking about. But 1203 01:09:21,720 --> 01:09:24,559 Speaker 1: trust me, it's possible to have a truly lousy experience 1204 01:09:24,600 --> 01:09:25,000 Speaker 1: on Twitter. 1205 01:09:25,400 --> 01:09:27,639 Speaker 2: What if anything would bring you back? Because I love 1206 01:09:27,680 --> 01:09:30,679 Speaker 2: what you're saying there that you know, if you're doing 1207 01:09:30,720 --> 01:09:32,599 Speaker 2: the same thing, it's giving you the same result. You've 1208 01:09:32,600 --> 01:09:34,040 Speaker 2: tried a new thing with it, it's giving you the 1209 01:09:34,040 --> 01:09:36,880 Speaker 2: same result. Sometimes you have to cut it off to 1210 01:09:37,240 --> 01:09:40,960 Speaker 2: create a healthier balance, to reconfigure to do the work 1211 01:09:41,000 --> 01:09:43,080 Speaker 2: you want to do. What if anything would allow you 1212 01:09:43,120 --> 01:09:45,479 Speaker 2: to go back to it, or how would you see 1213 01:09:45,520 --> 01:09:48,280 Speaker 2: yourself if you were to go back to it in 1214 01:09:48,320 --> 01:09:50,679 Speaker 2: a healthier way. I'm thinking of all the people who 1215 01:09:51,120 --> 01:09:53,759 Speaker 2: cut things out their lives because they need to feel 1216 01:09:53,760 --> 01:09:56,599 Speaker 2: that distance from it because it's taken a hold of them. 1217 01:09:57,120 --> 01:09:59,160 Speaker 2: But then they know that in reality they might have 1218 01:09:59,200 --> 01:09:59,880 Speaker 2: to go back it work. 1219 01:10:00,760 --> 01:10:03,880 Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I'm not planning to go back. I don't 1220 01:10:04,439 --> 01:10:06,519 Speaker 1: really see that. I don't I don't think, I mean, 1221 01:10:06,600 --> 01:10:09,400 Speaker 1: for marketing, I don't need it. Yeah, it's not well, 1222 01:10:09,479 --> 01:10:11,040 Speaker 1: I missed it. I missed the good parts of it. 1223 01:10:11,439 --> 01:10:13,559 Speaker 1: I mean, because I was following a lot of smart, 1224 01:10:13,600 --> 01:10:16,040 Speaker 1: funny people and the just entertaining. But the truth is, 1225 01:10:16,080 --> 01:10:22,760 Speaker 1: even the good parts were ultimately diverting in a way 1226 01:10:22,800 --> 01:10:25,720 Speaker 1: that in retrospect feels like a bit of a just 1227 01:10:25,720 --> 01:10:27,400 Speaker 1: a waste of time. You know. It's just like I'm 1228 01:10:27,400 --> 01:10:30,920 Speaker 1: getting I didn't have to spend as much time even 1229 01:10:30,960 --> 01:10:33,200 Speaker 1: with the good parts of it. You know, It's just 1230 01:10:33,400 --> 01:10:37,120 Speaker 1: it was kind of like, you know, just like too 1231 01:10:37,120 --> 01:10:39,800 Speaker 1: many carbs in that part of my information diet. You know. 1232 01:10:39,960 --> 01:10:42,160 Speaker 1: That's what Twitter was. It was all carbs. I mean, 1233 01:10:42,200 --> 01:10:44,320 Speaker 1: if I went back, I would just yeah, I would 1234 01:10:44,360 --> 01:10:47,920 Speaker 1: probably use it much more like I use or don't 1235 01:10:47,920 --> 01:10:49,800 Speaker 1: even use my other social media channels. I would just 1236 01:10:49,920 --> 01:10:52,200 Speaker 1: use it as I would have someone post for me 1237 01:10:52,320 --> 01:10:54,519 Speaker 1: or I would post and without ever looking about what's 1238 01:10:54,520 --> 01:10:55,800 Speaker 1: coming back and me. And there are people, there are 1239 01:10:55,840 --> 01:10:58,320 Speaker 1: people who get a lot of negative stuff coming back 1240 01:10:58,320 --> 01:10:59,519 Speaker 1: at them and they just never see it because they 1241 01:10:59,640 --> 01:11:02,479 Speaker 1: just never And that's I could have been one of 1242 01:11:02,520 --> 01:11:05,080 Speaker 1: those people. And I was that sort of person for 1243 01:11:05,320 --> 01:11:08,960 Speaker 1: you know, some periods of time. But I just kept 1244 01:11:09,520 --> 01:11:15,480 Speaker 1: getting lured by the technology, by the promise of clarifying confusion, 1245 01:11:15,640 --> 01:11:18,040 Speaker 1: you know, because here the like the person just says 1246 01:11:18,040 --> 01:11:19,600 Speaker 1: something to me and I can say something back, and 1247 01:11:19,720 --> 01:11:22,280 Speaker 1: why not, you know, and for strangely it did. None 1248 01:11:22,280 --> 01:11:25,920 Speaker 1: of the other social media platforms have ever hooked hooked 1249 01:11:25,920 --> 01:11:27,760 Speaker 1: me in that way. I've never been tempted to get 1250 01:11:27,800 --> 01:11:31,160 Speaker 1: on Facebook or Instagram and use it in that way. 1251 01:11:31,200 --> 01:11:33,559 Speaker 1: And I'm not looking for a substitute for Twitter, I mean, 1252 01:11:33,600 --> 01:11:36,879 Speaker 1: so that that is interesting. There's many people are recommending 1253 01:11:36,880 --> 01:11:39,800 Speaker 1: substitutes where they're you know, building a new platform, you know, 1254 01:11:39,880 --> 01:11:43,160 Speaker 1: they got off Twitter for whatever reason. But it's not 1255 01:11:43,600 --> 01:11:46,400 Speaker 1: I'm just not tempted to fill that the Twitter shaped 1256 01:11:46,439 --> 01:11:48,920 Speaker 1: hole in my life with anything else. So that's good. 1257 01:11:49,000 --> 01:11:50,920 Speaker 2: I love that, all right. And then one last question 1258 01:11:50,960 --> 01:11:54,880 Speaker 2: before we dive into the final five is we spoke 1259 01:11:54,880 --> 01:11:57,120 Speaker 2: about this right at the beginning, and you men mentioned 1260 01:11:57,120 --> 01:12:01,040 Speaker 2: the you know, the problem, the impact eminent problem, like 1261 01:12:01,360 --> 01:12:05,800 Speaker 2: how do you see yourself thinking about or meditating on, 1262 01:12:05,960 --> 01:12:10,479 Speaker 2: or preparing for death or the the impermanence of life, 1263 01:12:10,520 --> 01:12:14,440 Speaker 2: Like how does that come into your consciousness? 1264 01:12:15,160 --> 01:12:17,840 Speaker 1: Well, there are really two sides to it. I mean, 1265 01:12:17,880 --> 01:12:20,559 Speaker 1: there's your own death and then there's the deaths of 1266 01:12:20,760 --> 01:12:23,799 Speaker 1: everyone you care about, and that's those are really different 1267 01:12:23,840 --> 01:12:28,840 Speaker 1: problems in a way. And it's yeah, so when I 1268 01:12:28,880 --> 01:12:32,400 Speaker 1: when I think of the the experience of having those 1269 01:12:32,439 --> 01:12:36,400 Speaker 1: close to me die, that's I mean, I know, I 1270 01:12:36,479 --> 01:12:38,519 Speaker 1: mean it's already happened, and I've gone through that with 1271 01:12:38,720 --> 01:12:42,240 Speaker 1: in the cases of certain people. And you know, if 1272 01:12:42,360 --> 01:12:44,360 Speaker 1: if I'm lucky enough to live a long time, well 1273 01:12:44,360 --> 01:12:47,160 Speaker 1: then it's going to it's going to happen. So I'm 1274 01:12:47,160 --> 01:12:50,720 Speaker 1: sure many times again. And I mean it's a fundamentally 1275 01:12:50,800 --> 01:12:55,400 Speaker 1: mysterious thing. I mean, the fact that we drop out 1276 01:12:55,439 --> 01:12:59,880 Speaker 1: the bottom of this place is just it's it's truly imponderable, 1277 01:13:00,080 --> 01:13:06,000 Speaker 1: you know. And yet I know that it's possible to 1278 01:13:06,120 --> 01:13:10,519 Speaker 1: be happy in the absence of everyone, right, I mean, 1279 01:13:10,520 --> 01:13:12,360 Speaker 1: there's there's some paradoxes here. Like you and I are 1280 01:13:12,400 --> 01:13:17,120 Speaker 1: having this conversation now, basically everyone we love is not here, 1281 01:13:17,520 --> 01:13:18,920 Speaker 1: you know, like you and I just met, you know, 1282 01:13:18,960 --> 01:13:21,720 Speaker 1: so it's like, so we're just we're just getting to 1283 01:13:21,720 --> 01:13:24,479 Speaker 1: know each other. You know. My mom's not here, my 1284 01:13:24,520 --> 01:13:26,439 Speaker 1: wife's not here, my kids are not here. You've got 1285 01:13:26,439 --> 01:13:28,240 Speaker 1: your list of people you love who are not here. 1286 01:13:28,720 --> 01:13:31,040 Speaker 1: It's okay to not be with the people we love, 1287 01:13:31,280 --> 01:13:34,000 Speaker 1: so we know that, right and to take the other side, 1288 01:13:34,080 --> 01:13:37,960 Speaker 1: or like what it's like to personally die, say, you know, 1289 01:13:38,000 --> 01:13:41,840 Speaker 1: we we go to sleep each night and we were 1290 01:13:41,840 --> 01:13:46,880 Speaker 1: not It's not only is it okay to completely relinquish 1291 01:13:47,040 --> 01:13:49,679 Speaker 1: our hold on this world. I mean we we we 1292 01:13:49,680 --> 01:13:52,200 Speaker 1: we we yearn for it. Like if you're if you 1293 01:13:52,240 --> 01:13:55,679 Speaker 1: got insomnia, if you can't fall asleep, that becomes a problem. 1294 01:13:56,000 --> 01:14:00,439 Speaker 1: You're desperate to lose your your seeing and hearing, smelling 1295 01:14:00,479 --> 01:14:03,240 Speaker 1: and tasting and touching and thinking. You just want to 1296 01:14:03,439 --> 01:14:09,000 Speaker 1: you want to completely get zeroed out every night. And 1297 01:14:09,080 --> 01:14:12,240 Speaker 1: that's you know, if if if nothing happens after death, 1298 01:14:12,280 --> 01:14:14,559 Speaker 1: I mean, people we can leave aside the possibility that 1299 01:14:14,560 --> 01:14:17,679 Speaker 1: that they're you know that death is in some sense 1300 01:14:17,720 --> 01:14:20,040 Speaker 1: an illusion. But if if you really just get a 1301 01:14:20,080 --> 01:14:22,960 Speaker 1: dial tone after you die, right, if really there's just nothing, 1302 01:14:23,600 --> 01:14:26,200 Speaker 1: it's somewhat analogous to sleep. I mean, it's like the 1303 01:14:26,280 --> 01:14:29,920 Speaker 1: lights go out right every night. We do that and 1304 01:14:29,960 --> 01:14:32,720 Speaker 1: we do it happily, and it's not as there's no 1305 01:14:33,479 --> 01:14:36,519 Speaker 1: you know, I guess some people have sleep issues where 1306 01:14:36,520 --> 01:14:39,280 Speaker 1: they're afraid to fall asleep, but that's certainly not the 1307 01:14:39,280 --> 01:14:43,400 Speaker 1: common case, right, and so to the contrary, we yearn 1308 01:14:43,479 --> 01:14:48,519 Speaker 1: for it. So it is somewhat paradoxical that these like 1309 01:14:48,800 --> 01:14:51,920 Speaker 1: the worst thing about life, that the thing that that 1310 01:14:52,240 --> 01:14:55,320 Speaker 1: people are terrified to experience themselves, and it's they're terrified 1311 01:14:55,360 --> 01:14:58,360 Speaker 1: to experience in the case of of losing the people 1312 01:14:58,360 --> 01:15:02,840 Speaker 1: they love. We in the most routine way, we have 1313 01:15:03,040 --> 01:15:07,400 Speaker 1: really analogous experiences that are fine, right, So, like you're 1314 01:15:07,439 --> 01:15:10,000 Speaker 1: fine alone in a room and you're fine to go 1315 01:15:10,040 --> 01:15:12,479 Speaker 1: to sleep, and these are there's a there's a bit 1316 01:15:12,520 --> 01:15:14,920 Speaker 1: of death in both of these things, because you're everyone 1317 01:15:14,960 --> 01:15:19,040 Speaker 1: you love really is absent, and when you fall asleep, 1318 01:15:19,080 --> 01:15:21,400 Speaker 1: you really forget everything about your life in this world, 1319 01:15:21,520 --> 01:15:23,599 Speaker 1: you know, until until you start dreaming, and then you're 1320 01:15:24,200 --> 01:15:27,120 Speaker 1: completely confused about your life and some other circumstance unless 1321 01:15:27,120 --> 01:15:30,360 Speaker 1: it's elucid dream, which is to say that it's actually 1322 01:15:30,400 --> 01:15:37,559 Speaker 1: it's it's possible to be okay ultimately even with the 1323 01:15:37,600 --> 01:15:40,080 Speaker 1: with the reality of death from both from either side. 1324 01:15:40,200 --> 01:15:43,720 Speaker 1: You know, I'm not I'm I'm certainly expecting to to 1325 01:15:43,880 --> 01:15:46,360 Speaker 1: grieve with the next time someone close to me dies. 1326 01:15:46,400 --> 01:15:48,840 Speaker 1: You know, I'm not expecting the place, but that is 1327 01:15:48,880 --> 01:15:52,439 Speaker 1: a I understand that that as an expression of love. 1328 01:15:52,560 --> 01:15:55,720 Speaker 1: First of all, ask yourself if you'd even want to 1329 01:15:55,720 --> 01:15:59,280 Speaker 1: be without the experience of grief. I mean, ask yourself, 1330 01:15:59,439 --> 01:16:02,880 Speaker 1: for instance, what you would want to do in the 1331 01:16:02,920 --> 01:16:08,640 Speaker 1: event that we had designed a perfect cure for grief, right, Like, 1332 01:16:08,680 --> 01:16:10,599 Speaker 1: let'll say a pill like like the perfect and it's 1333 01:16:10,640 --> 01:16:14,320 Speaker 1: not an antidepressant, but it's an anti sadness pill, you know, 1334 01:16:14,520 --> 01:16:18,360 Speaker 1: and that's not conceptually incoherent. I mean, we might one 1335 01:16:18,400 --> 01:16:20,680 Speaker 1: day have that pill. You know, it might be a 1336 01:16:20,680 --> 01:16:23,280 Speaker 1: pill that you would compassionately want to Like, there are 1337 01:16:23,280 --> 01:16:29,759 Speaker 1: people who who are suffering some just intractable, unendurable bereavement 1338 01:16:29,880 --> 01:16:31,639 Speaker 1: that just never lifts and they're just you know, they 1339 01:16:31,680 --> 01:16:34,920 Speaker 1: can't get their life back together. And there you'd want 1340 01:16:34,960 --> 01:16:36,800 Speaker 1: to give that pill to that person. But the question 1341 01:16:36,880 --> 01:16:38,920 Speaker 1: is how soon would you want to take that pill? 1342 01:16:38,960 --> 01:16:41,639 Speaker 1: And would you want to take that pill fifteen minutes 1343 01:16:41,680 --> 01:16:45,040 Speaker 1: after your closest connection in this life died? You know, 1344 01:16:45,040 --> 01:16:47,800 Speaker 1: it's like that's the body is still warm, and would 1345 01:16:47,800 --> 01:16:50,600 Speaker 1: you be popping this pill? I don't think so. I 1346 01:16:50,600 --> 01:16:53,240 Speaker 1: think I mean this is something like, how care free 1347 01:16:54,320 --> 01:16:57,800 Speaker 1: do you want to feel in the in the immediate 1348 01:16:57,840 --> 01:17:01,240 Speaker 1: aftermath of a person you love dying? You know you 1349 01:17:01,320 --> 01:17:03,599 Speaker 1: want it, You want the gravity of that to land. 1350 01:17:03,920 --> 01:17:06,479 Speaker 1: You know, you want to feel you want to feel 1351 01:17:06,520 --> 01:17:12,640 Speaker 1: that loss because that's in some sense the only appropriate 1352 01:17:14,080 --> 01:17:18,439 Speaker 1: register of what they meant to you, you know, and 1353 01:17:18,479 --> 01:17:20,800 Speaker 1: just and the life you live together, right, you know 1354 01:17:20,840 --> 01:17:22,679 Speaker 1: you like so if you if you pop the grief 1355 01:17:22,680 --> 01:17:25,320 Speaker 1: bill and then you're just saying, Okay, what's on Netflix, right, 1356 01:17:25,360 --> 01:17:28,479 Speaker 1: that would be a kind of a desecration of all 1357 01:17:28,520 --> 01:17:30,479 Speaker 1: that you would share it with this person. So, I 1358 01:17:30,479 --> 01:17:33,200 Speaker 1: don't know if it's a very interesting question where you 1359 01:17:33,240 --> 01:17:37,640 Speaker 1: would because I think ultimately you would want to be 1360 01:17:37,640 --> 01:17:39,960 Speaker 1: able to give that pill to someone whose life had 1361 01:17:40,000 --> 01:17:43,360 Speaker 1: become completely derailed by grief. But just where it? Just 1362 01:17:43,400 --> 01:17:46,160 Speaker 1: where's the line? I mean, that's that's an interesting question. 1363 01:17:46,479 --> 01:17:50,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great answer. Yeah, all right. So we 1364 01:17:50,360 --> 01:17:53,800 Speaker 2: end every episode with a final five which have to 1365 01:17:53,800 --> 01:17:57,320 Speaker 2: be answered in one sentence maximum each each want it's 1366 01:17:57,320 --> 01:17:59,000 Speaker 2: a challenge for me, this is a challenge for you, 1367 01:17:59,120 --> 01:18:01,280 Speaker 2: for sure. I'm excited to hear some of your answers. 1368 01:18:01,439 --> 01:18:03,360 Speaker 2: The fifth question, which we've asked to every guest on 1369 01:18:03,400 --> 01:18:06,640 Speaker 2: the show is perfectly designed for you after today's conversation. 1370 01:18:06,800 --> 01:18:09,600 Speaker 2: So and I just want to say on camera. We 1371 01:18:09,720 --> 01:18:12,800 Speaker 2: just cut because the cameras were getting reset because we've 1372 01:18:12,800 --> 01:18:14,479 Speaker 2: been taping for so long. But I was just saying 1373 01:18:14,520 --> 01:18:16,720 Speaker 2: that the conversation I've had with Sam today has been 1374 01:18:16,760 --> 01:18:19,160 Speaker 2: so different from the one I thought i'd have with 1375 01:18:19,240 --> 01:18:21,400 Speaker 2: him after reading his book, and that to me is 1376 01:18:21,400 --> 01:18:23,639 Speaker 2: the sign of a good conversation because it was true 1377 01:18:24,160 --> 01:18:28,839 Speaker 2: curiosity and mystery and creation in the moment and presence 1378 01:18:28,880 --> 01:18:31,120 Speaker 2: in the moment from both of us. So nice, I 1379 01:18:31,160 --> 01:18:34,560 Speaker 2: love that question Number one, what is the best meditation 1380 01:18:34,680 --> 01:18:36,799 Speaker 2: advice you've ever heard, received or given? 1381 01:18:37,479 --> 01:18:39,360 Speaker 1: You are not this next thought. 1382 01:18:40,880 --> 01:18:43,559 Speaker 2: Second question is what is the worst meditation advice you've 1383 01:18:43,560 --> 01:18:44,920 Speaker 2: ever heard, received or given? 1384 01:18:45,760 --> 01:18:48,840 Speaker 1: Well, I practiced for a long time in a very 1385 01:18:48,880 --> 01:18:51,800 Speaker 1: goal oriented tradition where it was just you know, I 1386 01:18:51,960 --> 01:18:57,799 Speaker 1: spent months and months on retreats with Burmese meditation masters 1387 01:18:57,800 --> 01:19:03,639 Speaker 1: who had a very dualistic, goal oriented seeking kind of model. 1388 01:19:03,760 --> 01:19:05,760 Speaker 1: It's it's not to say you couldn't benefit from that, 1389 01:19:05,840 --> 01:19:08,840 Speaker 1: but I will get you a sentence out of this. 1390 01:19:08,960 --> 01:19:13,280 Speaker 1: But I set up to the sentence that the primary 1391 01:19:13,520 --> 01:19:18,040 Speaker 1: analogy being used was you're going to rubbing two sticks 1392 01:19:18,080 --> 01:19:21,720 Speaker 1: to get fired, and the moment you stop, they cool off. Right, 1393 01:19:21,760 --> 01:19:24,280 Speaker 1: So it's just it's so whatever the sentence is, it's 1394 01:19:24,320 --> 01:19:27,240 Speaker 1: just like meditation is like rubbing two sticks together to 1395 01:19:27,240 --> 01:19:30,120 Speaker 1: get fired. You have to continuously do it, and the 1396 01:19:30,120 --> 01:19:33,080 Speaker 1: moment you break, you're back to zero. Right, You've made 1397 01:19:33,080 --> 01:19:33,639 Speaker 1: no product. 1398 01:19:34,360 --> 01:19:39,120 Speaker 2: Wow, that's yeah, that's a painful. That's really painful. Yes, okay. 1399 01:19:39,240 --> 01:19:42,200 Speaker 2: Question number three, what's the biggest lesson you learned in 1400 01:19:42,240 --> 01:19:43,400 Speaker 2: the last twelve months. 1401 01:19:44,000 --> 01:19:47,360 Speaker 1: Honestly, it's humbling to to admit it, but it really 1402 01:19:47,479 --> 01:19:50,800 Speaker 1: was getting off twitter just we're just with the recognition 1403 01:19:51,880 --> 01:19:57,920 Speaker 1: that the whole super set of preoccupation here was not 1404 01:19:58,120 --> 01:20:01,920 Speaker 1: worth it and not healthy, even the good stuff. I mean, 1405 01:20:02,080 --> 01:20:07,120 Speaker 1: just every side of this diabolical jewel was sort of 1406 01:20:07,240 --> 01:20:09,920 Speaker 1: ugly when I really looked at it. And yeah, so 1407 01:20:09,960 --> 01:20:10,920 Speaker 1: that was that was it. 1408 01:20:11,360 --> 01:20:16,759 Speaker 2: Great. Question numberfore, what's something you think people value highly 1409 01:20:17,439 --> 01:20:19,479 Speaker 2: but you don't value anymore? 1410 01:20:20,160 --> 01:20:24,200 Speaker 1: Identity in what sense? I mean really, in every sense. 1411 01:20:24,200 --> 01:20:29,840 Speaker 1: I mean just just tribal identity. You know, your religious identity, 1412 01:20:29,880 --> 01:20:32,960 Speaker 1: your ethnic identity, your I don't even think you need 1413 01:20:33,000 --> 01:20:35,639 Speaker 1: to identify with the face you see in the mirror 1414 01:20:35,640 --> 01:20:37,519 Speaker 1: each day, right, So I say, how much less should 1415 01:20:37,560 --> 01:20:40,200 Speaker 1: you have to identify with people who just superficially resemble 1416 01:20:40,240 --> 01:20:44,560 Speaker 1: you in any way? So, but even just the identity 1417 01:20:44,600 --> 01:20:50,479 Speaker 1: of feeling like like in my career or in any 1418 01:20:50,520 --> 01:20:53,240 Speaker 1: mode in which I'm showing up in the world, it's 1419 01:20:53,360 --> 01:20:57,640 Speaker 1: less like who I feel I am while doing that 1420 01:20:58,600 --> 01:21:01,240 Speaker 1: is less and less substanti like. I don't. I don't really, 1421 01:21:01,280 --> 01:21:03,599 Speaker 1: it's not really graspable, you know, And so I don't 1422 01:21:04,720 --> 01:21:06,040 Speaker 1: like I you know, I spend a lot of time 1423 01:21:06,120 --> 01:21:11,960 Speaker 1: teaching meditation in on waking Up. But because it's because 1424 01:21:11,960 --> 01:21:15,200 Speaker 1: of the technology, because it's an app, I don't actually 1425 01:21:15,240 --> 01:21:16,519 Speaker 1: feel like a meditation teacher. 1426 01:21:16,720 --> 01:21:16,840 Speaker 2: You know. 1427 01:21:16,840 --> 01:21:18,800 Speaker 1: I'm not showing up in the world as a meditation teacher. 1428 01:21:18,840 --> 01:21:20,360 Speaker 1: I don't have there's no place you can go sit 1429 01:21:21,160 --> 01:21:24,240 Speaker 1: with me in a in a hall, you know. So 1430 01:21:24,320 --> 01:21:27,679 Speaker 1: I don't have students in the ordinary meditation teacher way. 1431 01:21:28,360 --> 01:21:31,120 Speaker 1: But the reality is that through waking up. You know, 1432 01:21:31,320 --> 01:21:33,200 Speaker 1: it seems strange to say it, but I could be 1433 01:21:33,280 --> 01:21:39,120 Speaker 1: teaching nondual mindfulness to more people than anyone on earth 1434 01:21:39,120 --> 01:21:40,800 Speaker 1: at this moment. I mean, it's just it's really quite 1435 01:21:40,960 --> 01:21:43,479 Speaker 1: crazy how it has scaled. But yet I don't I 1436 01:21:43,520 --> 01:21:46,000 Speaker 1: never think of myself in that role. So like the 1437 01:21:46,720 --> 01:21:49,120 Speaker 1: role based identity. You know, I'm a writer, I have 1438 01:21:49,200 --> 01:21:50,640 Speaker 1: got a bunch of books, but I you know, I'm not. 1439 01:21:50,680 --> 01:21:53,400 Speaker 1: I don't really think of myself as a writer as 1440 01:21:53,479 --> 01:21:55,400 Speaker 1: much as I used to. I mean, there's just no 1441 01:21:55,600 --> 01:22:00,200 Speaker 1: I just don't feel like there's no anything that I 1442 01:22:00,240 --> 01:22:02,320 Speaker 1: would any way in which I would label what I'm doing. 1443 01:22:02,960 --> 01:22:06,679 Speaker 1: The label really does feel like it's it's it's barely 1444 01:22:06,720 --> 01:22:09,720 Speaker 1: adhesive to the to the project. You know, it's just 1445 01:22:09,760 --> 01:22:14,600 Speaker 1: it's it's it's there just for the for the the 1446 01:22:14,720 --> 01:22:17,280 Speaker 1: utility of just summarizing, you know, just like what do 1447 01:22:17,320 --> 01:22:19,160 Speaker 1: you put on this form? You know, what's what's your 1448 01:22:19,320 --> 01:22:21,400 Speaker 1: what's your occupation? Right, But it's like it's just doesn't 1449 01:22:21,439 --> 01:22:23,920 Speaker 1: get at what I'm actually doing, and it doesn't get 1450 01:22:23,920 --> 01:22:26,680 Speaker 1: how I see myself. So the identity is something that 1451 01:22:26,720 --> 01:22:30,519 Speaker 1: I mean people think, yes, I'm sure there's some stage 1452 01:22:30,520 --> 01:22:32,479 Speaker 1: in life where you want a healthy identity, like I've 1453 01:22:32,520 --> 01:22:35,439 Speaker 1: I've got two daughters. I want them to have healthy identities. 1454 01:22:35,439 --> 01:22:41,720 Speaker 1: I want them to have healthy egos. But Ultimately, it's 1455 01:22:41,800 --> 01:22:45,600 Speaker 1: not about being someone in any kind of sense. That 1456 01:22:45,680 --> 01:22:49,000 Speaker 1: feels it's like identity feels like a fist, you know, 1457 01:22:49,040 --> 01:22:51,760 Speaker 1: and I really want an open hand in life. And 1458 01:22:51,800 --> 01:22:53,439 Speaker 1: that's and so it's not that it's not that I 1459 01:22:53,479 --> 01:22:55,600 Speaker 1: never make a fist, but it's like you want to 1460 01:22:55,640 --> 01:22:58,479 Speaker 1: you want to relax that as soon as you notice it. 1461 01:22:58,479 --> 01:23:01,120 Speaker 2: It's it's really interesting from a personal practice point of 1462 01:23:01,200 --> 01:23:04,960 Speaker 2: view and from a human scale practice point of view, 1463 01:23:05,000 --> 01:23:08,960 Speaker 2: because what you just said is the perfection of the 1464 01:23:09,000 --> 01:23:10,880 Speaker 2: idea almost the way I see it is like with 1465 01:23:10,920 --> 01:23:12,519 Speaker 2: your daughters. I don't know how old they are, but 1466 01:23:13,200 --> 01:23:14,320 Speaker 2: you know, I'm guessing. 1467 01:23:14,040 --> 01:23:15,519 Speaker 1: That not nine and fourteen. 1468 01:23:15,560 --> 01:23:17,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, right, And so it's like you want them to 1469 01:23:17,920 --> 01:23:20,160 Speaker 2: have a healthy sense of identity because at that stage 1470 01:23:20,200 --> 01:23:24,120 Speaker 2: of life, that's such an important thing. And it's almost 1471 01:23:24,160 --> 01:23:26,160 Speaker 2: like the evolution of the idea is like, well, there's 1472 01:23:26,160 --> 01:23:28,800 Speaker 2: a stage of life where that isn't you know, the 1473 01:23:29,120 --> 01:23:32,160 Speaker 2: directive thing? And I think that's what's so hard, because 1474 01:23:32,200 --> 01:23:36,000 Speaker 2: you find everyone who's listening, watching experiencing life. It's such 1475 01:23:36,120 --> 01:23:39,680 Speaker 2: different levels and it's almost like someone being able. It's 1476 01:23:39,680 --> 01:23:41,519 Speaker 2: the same as what I was saying earlier with the 1477 01:23:41,600 --> 01:23:44,840 Speaker 2: identity from a systematic point of view. It's like some 1478 01:23:44,880 --> 01:23:48,040 Speaker 2: people that's where they are, that that's just where they are, 1479 01:23:48,080 --> 01:23:51,240 Speaker 2: where their identity is what gives their life meaning, and 1480 01:23:51,280 --> 01:23:53,519 Speaker 2: then you see as someone So yeah, it's just it's 1481 01:23:53,520 --> 01:23:57,040 Speaker 2: fascinating to me how at different stages of life identity 1482 01:23:57,040 --> 01:23:58,000 Speaker 2: can mean different things. 1483 01:23:58,040 --> 01:24:02,320 Speaker 1: And it's really the emotion of pride really crystallizes it 1484 01:24:02,360 --> 01:24:05,680 Speaker 1: for me. It's like for my daughter is it's it's 1485 01:24:05,760 --> 01:24:08,120 Speaker 1: totally appropriate for them to feel pride. I want them 1486 01:24:08,120 --> 01:24:11,799 Speaker 1: to feel pride in the right moments, and I feel proud. 1487 01:24:12,120 --> 01:24:15,479 Speaker 1: It's some it's not quite the right framing, but something 1488 01:24:15,560 --> 01:24:18,720 Speaker 1: like pride for them. It's I want to play that 1489 01:24:18,720 --> 01:24:21,880 Speaker 1: that healthy pride game with them. But I don't feel 1490 01:24:21,880 --> 01:24:24,840 Speaker 1: pride in my life at all. Like pride just does 1491 01:24:24,880 --> 01:24:27,000 Speaker 1: not maple. I just have the right shape to map 1492 01:24:27,040 --> 01:24:29,160 Speaker 1: on to my sense of what it is to be 1493 01:24:29,200 --> 01:24:32,280 Speaker 1: a person. Really, you know, it's like, I'm not responsible 1494 01:24:32,320 --> 01:24:34,479 Speaker 1: for any of my gifts, such as they are. It's 1495 01:24:34,520 --> 01:24:37,800 Speaker 1: like I just again it comes back to luck in 1496 01:24:37,840 --> 01:24:39,720 Speaker 1: so many ways and what you do with that luck. 1497 01:24:39,760 --> 01:24:41,960 Speaker 1: But again, even the doing with the luck is more 1498 01:24:42,680 --> 01:24:45,920 Speaker 1: more good luck, you know. So I just feel immensely 1499 01:24:46,040 --> 01:24:49,679 Speaker 1: grateful for everything that has gone well in my life. 1500 01:24:49,800 --> 01:24:54,440 Speaker 1: And I just mean, it's just the gratitude is overwhelmingly 1501 01:24:55,479 --> 01:24:58,559 Speaker 1: my primary positive emotion now. It's just so much to 1502 01:24:58,600 --> 01:25:02,240 Speaker 1: be grateful for. And pride just pride just does not fit. 1503 01:25:02,280 --> 01:25:04,960 Speaker 1: It's a puzzle piece that you maybe once fit and 1504 01:25:05,000 --> 01:25:10,080 Speaker 1: maybe and you know, granted, if you're if you're a kid, yes, yeah, 1505 01:25:10,160 --> 01:25:12,680 Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's it's again, it's it's a it's 1506 01:25:12,720 --> 01:25:15,800 Speaker 1: a totally appropriate game at a certain stage of life, 1507 01:25:15,800 --> 01:25:18,000 Speaker 1: but later on it's it's a game you just really 1508 01:25:18,000 --> 01:25:18,719 Speaker 1: you have to outgrow. 1509 01:25:19,040 --> 01:25:21,679 Speaker 2: Yeah, I can. I can relate to that completely and fully. 1510 01:25:22,040 --> 01:25:25,080 Speaker 2: Fully loved that. I loved hearing that fifth and final question, 1511 01:25:25,760 --> 01:25:27,479 Speaker 2: If you could create one law, this is the one 1512 01:25:27,520 --> 01:25:29,519 Speaker 2: that I said. We've asked every guest, but I feel 1513 01:25:29,520 --> 01:25:31,920 Speaker 2: like it's perfectly designed for you. If you could create 1514 01:25:31,960 --> 01:25:34,320 Speaker 2: one law that everyone in the world had to follow, 1515 01:25:34,360 --> 01:25:34,960 Speaker 2: what would it be. 1516 01:25:35,720 --> 01:25:40,559 Speaker 1: The price we pay for for dishonesty at every level 1517 01:25:40,600 --> 01:25:45,439 Speaker 1: of society is so enormous, and there's so little price 1518 01:25:46,200 --> 01:25:48,479 Speaker 1: paid for a lying. I mean that like when when 1519 01:25:48,560 --> 01:25:52,320 Speaker 1: when a when a politician is found to be lying right, 1520 01:25:52,479 --> 01:25:55,880 Speaker 1: or you know, the person who has immense responsibility is 1521 01:25:55,880 --> 01:25:59,280 Speaker 1: found to be lying. You know, but for like specific 1522 01:25:59,360 --> 01:26:02,800 Speaker 1: cases of raw that are actionable, like like like lying 1523 01:26:02,960 --> 01:26:05,680 Speaker 1: is just under the purview of free speech. Really, it's 1524 01:26:05,720 --> 01:26:09,479 Speaker 1: like it's not illegal to lie, right, I think, I mean, 1525 01:26:09,640 --> 01:26:11,240 Speaker 1: it's not so much a law. I think if we 1526 01:26:11,320 --> 01:26:15,120 Speaker 1: had lie detection technology that that was we could rely on, 1527 01:26:15,160 --> 01:26:18,679 Speaker 1: which is the various interesting reasons why we we don't 1528 01:26:18,760 --> 01:26:20,920 Speaker 1: have that and may never have that. But if we 1529 01:26:20,960 --> 01:26:24,720 Speaker 1: had that, if lie detection technology was like you know, 1530 01:26:24,800 --> 01:26:27,120 Speaker 1: DNA analysis in a court of law, like you just 1531 01:26:27,160 --> 01:26:29,479 Speaker 1: put someone on the witness stand and you could tell 1532 01:26:29,520 --> 01:26:31,960 Speaker 1: whether they were lying, right, I think that would be 1533 01:26:32,080 --> 01:26:35,200 Speaker 1: the overnight that would be the biggest ethical change we 1534 01:26:35,479 --> 01:26:39,200 Speaker 1: could ever imagine in society. So I think so anything 1535 01:26:39,240 --> 01:26:44,280 Speaker 1: that that brought the appropriate level of approbrium to lie, right, 1536 01:26:44,600 --> 01:26:51,200 Speaker 1: especially lying when it matters, that would be some version 1537 01:26:51,240 --> 01:26:54,400 Speaker 1: of that law, the the you can't lie when it 1538 01:26:54,479 --> 01:26:57,640 Speaker 1: matters law, whatever that is, you know. So, but I 1539 01:26:57,680 --> 01:26:59,760 Speaker 1: do think it would be a technological solution if we 1540 01:26:59,840 --> 01:27:02,160 Speaker 1: just more and more, if people knew that they were 1541 01:27:02,200 --> 01:27:04,920 Speaker 1: in a situation where they actually can't get away with 1542 01:27:05,000 --> 01:27:08,120 Speaker 1: lying right, because the technology is such or the information 1543 01:27:08,160 --> 01:27:11,839 Speaker 1: space is such that it's but the the the added 1544 01:27:12,000 --> 01:27:16,840 Speaker 1: piece is that the norm, the norm violation needs to 1545 01:27:16,880 --> 01:27:20,840 Speaker 1: be just more urgent, you know, because people, most people 1546 01:27:20,880 --> 01:27:23,760 Speaker 1: are walking around with the sense everybody lies, all politicians lie. 1547 01:27:23,800 --> 01:27:25,640 Speaker 1: There's like a normal lie. What do you expect? You 1548 01:27:25,680 --> 01:27:28,800 Speaker 1: know it's and so it's not. But the just the 1549 01:27:28,840 --> 01:27:31,800 Speaker 1: amount of harm and the amount of good that would 1550 01:27:31,840 --> 01:27:35,519 Speaker 1: be accomplished if you just knew people were being honest 1551 01:27:35,680 --> 01:27:37,839 Speaker 1: and you know, you're not going to be unpleasantly surprised 1552 01:27:37,840 --> 01:27:41,679 Speaker 1: by Yeah, so there's a lot of growth, cultural growth 1553 01:27:41,680 --> 01:27:42,240 Speaker 1: in that direction. 1554 01:27:42,320 --> 01:27:46,960 Speaker 2: But yeah, I hope you get involved in changing some 1555 01:27:47,040 --> 01:27:51,280 Speaker 2: systems from some of the stuff you've said today. I like, 1556 01:27:51,640 --> 01:27:55,320 Speaker 2: it would be great if you were influencing the influences. 1557 01:27:54,439 --> 01:27:58,439 Speaker 1: And well, we try with our humble podcasts. Yeah, that's 1558 01:27:58,439 --> 01:27:58,880 Speaker 1: what we do. 1559 01:27:59,080 --> 01:28:02,200 Speaker 2: Everyone has been listening watching. The podcast is called Making Sense. 1560 01:28:02,280 --> 01:28:05,320 Speaker 2: The app is called Waking Up. The book is also 1561 01:28:05,360 --> 01:28:08,559 Speaker 2: called by the same title. We'll put the links in 1562 01:28:08,640 --> 01:28:11,120 Speaker 2: the captions in the notes that you have access to 1563 01:28:11,520 --> 01:28:14,360 Speaker 2: all of Sam's work. Go make sure you grab a 1564 01:28:14,400 --> 01:28:17,320 Speaker 2: copy of the book, meditate with him on the Waking 1565 01:28:17,400 --> 01:28:20,840 Speaker 2: Up app and of course subscribe to the podcast Making 1566 01:28:20,960 --> 01:28:22,880 Speaker 2: Sense Sam. I hope this is the first of many 1567 01:28:22,880 --> 01:28:26,920 Speaker 2: conversations we get to have pleasure. Yeah, it's really really been. 1568 01:28:28,280 --> 01:28:30,400 Speaker 2: It's really been a phenomenal conversation. I hope we have 1569 01:28:30,400 --> 01:28:33,760 Speaker 2: many offline too, And anyone who's been listening and watching, 1570 01:28:33,880 --> 01:28:37,920 Speaker 2: make sure you grab your favorite segments, points, insights that 1571 01:28:37,960 --> 01:28:40,439 Speaker 2: really stood out to you, share them with a friends, 1572 01:28:40,479 --> 01:28:44,479 Speaker 2: start a conversation based on it. Tag me and Sam 1573 01:28:44,520 --> 01:28:46,000 Speaker 2: and let me know what really stood out to you, 1574 01:28:46,040 --> 01:28:48,360 Speaker 2: what resonated with you, maybe some things that are making 1575 01:28:48,360 --> 01:28:51,479 Speaker 2: you question or think differently. I'd love to see what 1576 01:28:51,680 --> 01:28:53,200 Speaker 2: came out of it for you. This has been a 1577 01:28:53,280 --> 01:28:56,360 Speaker 2: very different type of conversation on On Purpose, and I 1578 01:28:56,400 --> 01:28:58,680 Speaker 2: know you're can to appreciate it. But a big thank 1579 01:28:58,720 --> 01:29:00,920 Speaker 2: you to Sam again for his generous time. Big thank 1580 01:29:00,960 --> 01:29:02,479 Speaker 2: you to every single one of you have been listening 1581 01:29:02,520 --> 01:29:05,080 Speaker 2: and watching, and we'll see you again for another episode 1582 01:29:05,120 --> 01:29:08,200 Speaker 2: of On Purpose. Thank you guys. If you love this episode, 1583 01:29:08,479 --> 01:29:12,720 Speaker 2: you'll love my interview with doctor Gabor Matte on understanding 1584 01:29:12,760 --> 01:29:16,639 Speaker 2: your trauma and how to heal emotional wounds to start 1585 01:29:16,720 --> 01:29:18,080 Speaker 2: moving on from the past.