#51 - Everything Everywhere All at Once, with Jonny Miller
Mar 31, 2023
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Jonny Miller, emotional resilience researcher, and Christofer discuss authenticity, emotions in decision making, vulnerability, working with inner darkness, effective altruism, emotional fluidity, Christopher Bache's LSD-insights, ethics, reason, healing with others, and more. They also explore retreat experiences, the transformative power of circling, self-awareness, and the intersection of Buddhism, psychedelics, and philosophy.
Embracing and exploring our darker aspects can lead to generative wisdom and vitality.
Genuine connection and ethical decision-making require embracing and expressing our true emotions and needs.
Combining emotional fluidity with reasoning enhances our ability to make informed and ethical choices.
Balancing our own well-being with altruism allows for more genuine and effective contributions to the world.
Deep dives
Unveiling the Dark Side
The light dark retreat focuses on embracing and exploring the darker aspects of ourselves. It emphasizes the inherent perfection in everything, even in the parts we often judge and reject. The retreat includes exercises like embodying different dark archetypes and allowing scenes to play out, all in a safe and supported environment. By fully expressing these shadowy aspects, participants can discover the generative wisdom and vitality within them.
Authenticity and Ethics
Embracing and expressing our true emotions and needs allows for genuine connection and ethical decision-making. It is important to be open and honest about our own experiences and communicate our needs to others, even if it feels uncomfortable. Suppressing or denying our true selves can lead to harm, both in personal relationships and societal interactions. By embracing our full range of emotions and desires, we can nurture ourselves and others authentically and create more ethical and compassionate connections.
The Connection Between Reason and Emotion
Our emotions and rationality are interconnected. Emotional fluidity enhances our reasoning abilities, allowing us to make sound decisions based on genuine understanding and empathy. Reasoning alone, detached from emotion, can lead to distorted beliefs and ineffective actions. By combining reason with emotional intelligence, we can make more informed and ethical choices that align with our genuine needs and values.
Finding Balance in Altruism
Altruism, or doing good in the world, should not come at the expense of our own well-being and authenticity. While acts of charity and effective altruism can be valuable, true ethical action stems from nurturing ourselves and others in a way that aligns with our unique gifts and needs. Balancing our own needs with the desire to make a positive impact allows for more genuine and effective contributions to the world.
Exploring the nature of thoughts and ideas
The podcast episode delves into the emptiness of thoughts and ideas, emphasizing the importance of observing their context and understanding their limitations. The speaker highlights the power of words and how they can be both meaningful and empty, emphasizing the tool-like nature of ideas. The episode explores the vertigo-inducing experience of realizing the ineffability of ultimate truth and the powerful insights gained from stepping back and observing thoughts.
The left and right hemispheres and the nature of reality
The podcast examines the left and right hemispheres of the brain and their contrasting ways of perceiving reality. The left hemisphere is associated with rationality, division, and abstract thinking, while the right hemisphere appreciates the fluidity and interconnectedness of the bigger picture. The episode suggests that while rationality and abstract thinking are valuable, they may detach us from a closer representation of reality. It discusses the potential of using intellect to transcend its own limitations and experience a deeper interconnectedness of all things.
Healing with others and the nature of suffering
The podcast explores the need for healing trauma with the support of others. It discusses the idea of presenting what is alive in the present moment during conversations and the transformative power of collective space. The episode also delves into the nature of suffering and critiques the notion of escaping suffering through enlightenment. It highlights the purification process and the role of suffering in facilitating deeper levels of awareness and perception. The episode also touches upon the importance of witnessing and being witnessed by others in fostering genuine connections.
Christofer and nervous system specialist Jonny Miller speak about the path to authenticity in this episode of Do Explain. They discuss a recent Sacred Sons-retreat, the role of emotions in decision making, being vulnerable, circling, working with inner 'darkness', effective altruism, ethics, how emotional fluidity is a superpower, meaning, Christopher Bache's LSD-insights, reason, whether healing requires other people, and other related topics.
Jonny Miller is an emotional resilience researcher, host of the Curious Humans podcast and founder of Nervous System Mastery — a cohort based course for cultivating calm and agency over your internal state.
