Behind Greatness by Inspire North

Carl joins us from Boston University. He shares with us how his path changed from pursuing the field of medicine to that of philosophy and the classics. Ever since that pivot in his life, Carl has been dedicating his life to find the truth to our human existence. Over 40 years ago, he pioneered research on the Dionysian mysteries of ancient and classical Greece. He was shunned and ostracized by some of his peers, but pursuing the truth was always more important to Carl than being relevant to current dogmatic beliefs. In this discussion, Carl brings his decades of learning and wisdom from studying the shamanic roots of Western culture – roots that have been unpopular to discuss until very recently. We discuss what our ancient ancestors were discovering about our existence, the prominence of the feminine divine and the Hellenic and pagan roots of modern Christian religious practice …. And there’s more: learning the reality of being what you are and also being what you think you are not and learning about how psychotropic medicines played an important part in the development of ancient Greek Philosophy, Mathematics and Art. In case you were wondering, we also discussed the dream state and the direct correlation to the out of body experiences that our Greek, Samothracian and Persian ancestors were actively pursuing to uncover their understanding to human consciousness. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors.  Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north.   So much revealed in this discussion, and so little time …   Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-ruck-90504118/ Website: https://www.bu.edu/classics/faculty-profiles/carl-ruck/ Books: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=carl+ruck&ref=nb_sb_noss_1   Behind Greatness website: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Antoni is based in Barcelona. He grew up Lleida, Spain partly under Franco’s totalitarian regime. The harsh political conditions didn’t deter Antoni’s parents, who chose to live lives dedicated to artistic endeavour. Antoni also realized at a young age that he wished to pursue his artistic curiosity and once he left his home town he began to explore his sculpting craft along with exploring the world outside of Lleida. In the early 90s, he left for Banff, Canada for a brief stint. He arrived with measuring tape and materials and left with something called an email address. From that point on, Antoni’s journey took the path of a digital artistic pioneer travelling and showcasing his works all around the globe. Based in Spain, he was also the first to create the world’s first digital “social” network – a network that was predicated on a decentralized-view of communication and a view that paid emphasis on participants, not users. We discuss how building platforms for the marginalized, the displaced, the demobilized - all over the world - has been a calling card for his art. Antoni explains how a “citizen’s network” is more meaningful than a social media network. We also understand that the artist creates the sublime when the artist sees themselves as a true mediator.  To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors.  Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north.   Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoni-abad-6800bb2b/ Websites: www.blind.wiki, www.megafone.net, www.deaf.city Behind Greatness website: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north The Behind Greatness theme music is provided by e-soundtrax, used under the Non-Commercial and Non-Monetized usage agreement. | Contact: info@esoundtrax.com | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmqmVRMWMj8pIW9K5bfuBjw

Anna joins us from Athens, Georgia. She was born in the Middle East of Indian parents who made sure that her education formally take place in their country of origin. As a student in India, Anna found her comfort zone in sports, non-academic endeavours and in the general exploration of people. She soon became attracted to the social sciences and developed a keen interest in the academic research of a curiosity that always held her: human creativity. Specializing in this ever since, Anna has become a leading researcher in the world in the discussion of the mystery of creativity. We explore exploration, the flow state, the creative impulse, the autotelic experience, human truth and death …. A fun chat discovering discovery. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors.  Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north.   Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/0-anna-abraham-0/ Website: http://www.anna-abraham.com/ Behind Greatness website: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Mike joins us from Southern Ontario. He grew up in a small town near Niagara Falls. As a kid he helped his father deliver milk by horse and cart and was paid in dairy. Finding out later that he was lactose intolerant, he knew this might be a sign. Eventually becoming a CPA and partner at a large firm, Mike spent ungodly hours building his career – putting a strain on his family life. Moving on to work as a CFO for a Multinational firm he lived a life of mergers, acquisitions and cultural takeovers. But we talk about his true passion – working with athletes in the Special Olympics. We discuss true focus, living in the present moment, the love of sharing success with others and the specialness of watching those who live closer to a truth … a truth from which we have all long been detached. A true lesson. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors.  Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north.   Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-lamontagne-ca-cpa-cbv-icd-d-81613b149/   Behind Greatness website: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Bruce grew up in the suburbs of NYC, where his upbringing was rooted both in healthy skepticism and in a strong curiosity about the material world. His father, a chemist, always urged young Bruce to blaze a trail. As a green intern in the 1970s, one of Bruce’s first patients revealed to him a peculiar experience that puzzled him. He habitually wrote off this type of experience with other patients as well - for a little while. Soon enough though, he realized that ignoring these phenomena was a simple choice in taking a dogmatic approach rather than a truly scientific one. So he made a switch. And with that switch he started to blaze a trail – a trail now of 50 years as the globe’s prominent scientist in the research and study of the near death experience (NDE). We hear from Bruce his findings about the brain vs the mind and he shares with us his message about making the big advances in science with things that we don’t understand. Bruce also tickles us with two experiences he had in dream state that spoke to perhaps something greater. What a treat. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors.  Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north.   To listen to an actual NDE account, we invite you to listen to episode 55 of our podcast with Dr. Tony Cicoria.   Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bruce-greyson-4154b4173/ Website: www.brucegreyson.com   Behind Greatness website: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north    

Cheryl was born in a small city near the Rocky Mountains nicknamed “Swan City” and a place originally settled by First Nations tribe the Danezaa. She grew up in a family where everyone pitched in and learned to do everything needed to get things done. With this example – and a little bit of a perennial impatience – Cheryl threw herself into her sports and finished highschool early. With a fierce determination she started a business in her 20s while her friends were travelling and studying. In her 30s she sold her business and focused on her true sport-love. In her 40s, she brought her team to win an Olympic silver in her home country. We learn from Cheryl the importance of playing to win and not playing not to lose and also not fixating on success as the marker of her identity. And, we discover how her real dream is not so far away from the ancient spiritual essence of her home town. A real-people, real salt of the earth discussion. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors.  Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north.     Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylbernard/ Website & Book: http://cherylbernard.com/category/between-the-sheets/ Hall of Fame Website: https://www.sportshall.ca   Behind Greatness website: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north    

Originally from Vicenza, Italy, Federico was born during WWII. As a little boy his family moved to a pre-industrial area of his region in order to escape the ravages of war. But there, little Federico soon developed a penchant for creating and building machines. As a young scientist, Federico moved to Silicon Valley where he invented and developed the 1st silicon designed micro-processor that was adopted by Intel to become industry standard. He became an entrepreneur and over the decades he founded widely successful companies where he continued to pioneer and invent, including the technology behind the touch pad and touchscreens for phones and tablets. He recounts an extremely profound out of body moment in his life in 1990 that forever changed the way he viewed the world and how he re-prioritized what was important to him. He has since then dedicated his life to supporting the science of consciousness – the marrying of science with spirituality. Get ready for a talk on the self, the quantum realm, the reality of reality, dreaming and consciousness. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors.  Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north.   Foundation: www.fagginfoundation.org Book: www.siliconthebook.com & https://www.amazon.com/dp/1949003418 Behind Greatness website: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Ken joins us from LA where he lives, works and breathes his life’s passion. Having grown up in a conservative immigrant family environment in Chicago, Ken felt that he wanted to explore more and differently than what was expected of him. Being very shy and emotionally-tuned, young Ken also understood that he needed to break out of his environment. But, as he explains, he spiralled downwards for several years into his early adulthood. It took a certain self-realization to have him turn it around. And boy, did he. We discuss with him many of life’s lessons that he’s learned along the way and how he weaves them into his work: having empathy for others and leading with compassion, the belief in making happen what you want, the confidence in your own creative self, the courage in leaving everything behind to focus on exploration. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north.   A key for Ken: spend your time imagining it. IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0158846/ Behind Greatness website: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Raine joins us from his studio in LA where he shares with us about growing up in Toronto and how disconnected he felt from artistic purpose – until he wasn’t. As a teenager at his boarding school he spent his nights in solitude, devouring music, learning to play guitar and writing songs. When his head-master asked him to cut his hair and quit his band, he knew what he needed to do. Through sheer passion, years of hard work and dedication to his art he went on to lead his rock band Our Lady Peace to sit as one of the most celebrated bands in North America of his era. But that was merely the start of things. Today, Raine is still that man creating music but he is also a conscientious father, a recognized humanitarian and a tech entrepreneur on fire focused on honouring the intellectual property of the artist. We discuss the natural human need to revere the arts and how we need to reverse the stigma of artistic endeavour in our lives. Raine also explains how many of us have let our “creative muscle” atrophy in our lives. We discuss the importance of “flying”, of exploring and of re-igniting the sparks of creative imagination from our childhood that have been so often (and methodically?) cut off by culture and curriculum. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north.   “We can’t afford not to be creative.”   Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raine-maida-5513a218/ Instagram: @rainemaida S!NG website: https://sing.link/ Band website: https://www.ourladypeace.com/ Behind Greatness website: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Mike grew up in an idyllic small-town setting near Niagara Falls, enjoying music, frog-hunting, exploring and sports. He decided to pursue his education through sports scholarship in North Carolina and his world opened up forever thereafter. After his India, Thailand and Scotland adventures, he landed back home with no clear path in sight. He decided to move to Toronto, knowing no one and starting from zero. But Mike likes blank canvases. We hear how he learned to listen to his instincts and both plan and “feel” his way through his personal and professional experiences. Today, Mike sees his role as a “path-clearer” for those around him to create and cross the boundaries of the conventional. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north.   Creating opportunities for others to paint their own work. The Medicis would be proud Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suttonmike/ Website: https://www.zulualphakilo.com/ Behind Greatness website: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north