In a thought-provoking conversation, Alexander Beiner, an author and journalist dedicated to transformative storytelling, delves into embracing change and creativity. He discusses the importance of understanding our place in a chaotic world and shares insights from his psychedelic experiences on free will and predestination. Beiner also highlights Indigenous wisdom, particularly the role of laughter in resilience, and stresses the need for narratives that encourage collective growth and connection in our fragmented society.
58:41
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
menu_book Books
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
insights INSIGHT
The End of the Liberal World Order
The liberal world order's assumptions are proving incomplete and possibly harmful, creating an opportunity for imagining new futures.
This is a complex problem affecting every level of human existence, requiring collective effort to navigate the uncertainty and potential threats.
insights INSIGHT
The Cosmic Dance
Humanity's survival matters greatly to individuals, yet on a grander cosmic scale, it may not hold the same significance.
What truly matters is the process of existence, a dance of free will and predestination, where the possibility of failure adds meaning to the story.
insights INSIGHT
Laughter, Connection, and the Mechanistic Worldview
Laughter is a shared experience, reflecting our cultural struggle with isolation and disconnection from the natural world.
The scientific revolution's focus on objectivity led to a mechanistic view of the world, impacting our thoughts, feelings, and relationship with the sacred.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Facing Humanity's Wrongs and the Implications for Social Activism
Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti
This book critiques the modernity narrative as a single story of progress, development, and civilization that is expiring. It argues that modernity, driven by expansion, colonialism, and resource extraction, has created significant harm and imbalance. Andreotti calls for 'hospicing' modernity, offering palliative care to its decline while nurturing new, potentially wiser systems. The book includes thought experiments and exercises to help readers reimagine learning, unlearn harmful behaviors, and expand their capacity to handle difficult and painful issues. It emphasizes the need for humility, accountability, and a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of human and natural systems.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Robert Pirsig
This classic novel by Robert M. Pirsig is a personal and philosophical odyssey that delves into the author's search for meaning. The narrative follows a father and his son on a summer motorcycle trip from the Midwest to California, intertwining a travelogue with deep philosophical discussions. The book explores the concept of 'quality' and how it informs a well-lived life, reconciling science, religion, and humanism. It also touches on the author's own struggles with his past and his philosophical quest, making it a touching and transcendent exploration of human experience and endeavor.
The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings, written by J.R.R. Tolkien, is an epic high fantasy novel set in Middle-earth. The story follows Frodo Baggins, a hobbit who inherits the One Ring from his uncle Bilbo. The Ring, forged by Sauron, holds the power to control all other Rings of Power and must be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom to prevent Sauron's return. Frodo is joined by a fellowship of other characters, including Gandalf the Grey, Samwise Gamgee, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Boromir, as they embark on a dangerous quest across Middle-earth. The novel explores themes of good vs. evil, the corrupting influence of power, and the struggle between fate and free will[3][4][5].
The End of Trauma
George Bonanno
The Bigger Picture, How Psychedelics Can Help Us Make Sense of the World
The Bigger Picture, How Psychedelics Can Help Us Make Sense of the World
Alexander Beiner
The Meat Paradox
The Meat Paradox
Rob Percival
The Seven Basic Plots
Christopher Booker
How do we shed the shackles of modernity and step into a new set of stories that could help us grow into the fullness of our potential?
Alexander Beiner is one of a small band of people in our culture who is shaping the cutting edge of possibility, crafting new ideas of who we are, at the deepest levels of our Self and out into the widest view of our place as conscious nodes in the web of life. Ali is an author, journalist and facilitator focused on bringing new ways of seeing and being from the margins of culture into the mainstream, through writing, and by creating transformative experiences that invite us to find ways to evolve and thrive in the chaotic times we live in. He's the author of The Bigger Picture: How psychedelics can help us make sense of the world that details his part in a psychedelic clinical trial that took him deep into what it is to be human and he has recently launched Kainos, an alternative media platform and studio on both Substack and YouTube. He says of it, 'in an age of upheaval, we tell stories that help people make sense of the world and imagine new futures. Our films, articles and experiences combine cultural sensemaking with hope, imagination and impact.'
He's an executive director of Breaking Convention, Europe's longest-running conference on psychedelic medicine and culture and was also one of the founders of Rebel Wisdom, which ran from 2017-2022 and explored the cutting-edge of systems change and cultural sensemaking.
This is where we need to be: the edge place where spirituality meets psychology and mythology, where culture meets politics meets our desperate yearning to grow up and become the good enough ancestors we know we can be. We need path-finders, people who have the courage to stretch out beyond the edges of our being and Alexander is so clearly one of these - his explorations of what makes us human in the psychedelic realm merge with his documentary making and Kainos takes up where Rebel Wisdom left off, delving deeply into the nature of the moment and how we might become more than we are. This was a genuinely inspiring conversation in a series that I hope is helping you to make sense of these times, to accept that the old system is gone and that something truly generative could arise - if we all take part in its making.
Accidental Gods 
