LIMINAL NEWS with Daniel Pinchbeck

I sat down with former British diplomat turned anarchist thinker Carne Ross to explore the collapse of the rules-based global order and the rise of techno-authoritarianism in the US and beyond. Carne and I unpack the Trump phenomenon, Christian nationalism, Gaza, Israel, and the radical possibilities of democratic confederalism inspired by Murray Bookchin and practiced in Rojava. We explore historical parallels to Weimar Germany, the architecture of state surveillance, and why Carne believes anarchism is not only viable—but necessary. 💬 We also dive into Carne's ongoing work advising the autonomous region of Rojava in northeastern Syria, his reflections on digital resistance, and what a realistic lifeboat strategy might look like for those concerned about the U.S.'s political future. https://carneross.substack.com/ ================================== Please subscribe to the LIminal News Substack Newsletter! https://substack.com/@danielpinchbeck Please buy my books! https://tinyurl.com/mrsmtpwv Please join my online seminars and community at THE LIMINAL INSTITUTE: www.liminal.news Instagram: @danielpinchbeck Official Website: www.pinchbeck.io/ #LiminalNews #CarneRoss #Anarchism #Trump2024 #Authoritarianism #Rojava #IsraelGaza #SurveillanceState #Fascism #Bookchin #Ocalan #Collapse #Resistance #Palantir #SubstackVoices #danielpinchbeck #podcast

In this episode of Liminal News, I speak with political writer, civic tech pioneer, and longtime democracy advocate Micah Sifry about the creeping authoritarianism in the United States—and whether there's still time to reverse course. Micah and I talk about everything from grassroots resistance to digital surveillance, from the failures of liberal institutions to the underestimated power of local organizing. We also explore what's happening beneath the radar—why the media isn't telling the full story, and what real, distributed defiance might look like. Micah brings decades of hard-won insight to the table—from co-founding Personal Democracy Forum and Civic Hall to writing about third-party movements and campaign finance reform. I found this conversation both sobering and energizing, and I hope it sparks some sense of strategic urgency in you, too. 🧠 About: MIcah Sifry is a writer, speaker, and organizer focused on democratic innovation. He co-founded Civic Hall and the Personal Democracy Forum and authored Spoiling for a Fight: Third-Party Politics in America. He's spent years helping build digital tools and communities to support more participatory democracy. https://micahsifry.com/ ================================== Please subscribe to the LIminal News Substack Newsletter! https://substack.com/@danielpinchbeck Please buy my books! https://tinyurl.com/mrsmtpwv Please join my online seminars and community at THE LIMINAL INSTITUTE: www.liminal.news Instagram: @danielpinchbeck Official Website: www.pinchbeck.io/ #MichelSifry #LiminalNews #CivicTech #DigitalDemocracy #GrassrootsOrganizing #SurveillanceState #DemocracyUnderThreat #Authoritarianism #DanielPinchbeck #PoliticalAwakening #ProgressivePolitics #Indivisible #Resistance #HopeAndAction

In this special episode of LIMINAL NEWS, I sit down with cultural theorist Douglas Rushkoff and author/flow-state expert Jamie Wheal for a wide-ranging conversation on the dark evolution of psychedelia, the rise of techno-fascism, and how we might reclaim our collective soul in an age of chaos. We dive into the uncomfortable truths about how sacred tools are being co-opted for power, wealth, and control. From ayahuasca at country clubs to crypto-funded authoritarianism, we explore how spirituality, capitalism, and politics have become dangerously entangled—and what can still be done to shift the tide. 👉 Follow Jamie Wheal on Substack: https://jamiewheal.substack.com/ 👉 Follow Douglas Rushkoff on Substack ("Team Human"): https://rushkoff.substack.com/ ================================== Please subscribe to the LIminal News Substack Newsletter! https://substack.com/@danielpinchbeck Please buy my books! https://tinyurl.com/mrsmtpwv Please join my online seminars and community at THE LIMINAL INSTITUTE: www.liminal.news Instagram: @danielpinchbeck Official Website: www.pinchbeck.io/ #LiminalNews #DanielPinchbeck #DouglasRushkoff #JamieWheal #PsychedelicRenaissance #TechnoAuthoritarianism #Ayahuasca #MAPS2025 #Collapse #FutureOfConsciousness #Hermeticism #NewMythos #AI #CryptoPolitics

🎧 What kind of future is AI creating—and what deeper forces are driving it? I sit down with journalist and trauma educator Matthew Green to explore the spiritual, psychological, and political implications of artificial intelligence. We dive into the darker undercurrents of the AI revolution—from mass surveillance and job loss to mythic archetypes and occult prophecy. Matthew has been a participant in several of my courses, and I've deeply appreciated his clarity and depth. Together, we explore questions that I believe are essential for our time. Here, we discuss: 🔹 How AI may destabilize society on a massive scale 🔹 Why authoritarianism and tech oligarchs are fusing into a new power structure 🔹 Rudolf Steiner's prophecy of Ahriman and its uncanny parallels to today 🔹 The war on memory, cognition, and human agency 🔹 The rise of AI mysticism and synthetic religions 🔹 What kinds of practices and communities we need to respond 🔗 FOLLOW MATTHEW GREEN ON SUBSTACK https://substack.com/@matthewgreenglobal ================================== Please subscribe to the LIminal News Substack Newsletter! https://substack.com/@danielpinchbeck Please buy my books! https://tinyurl.com/mrsmtpwv Please join my online seminars and community at THE LIMINAL INSTITUTE: www.liminal.news Instagram: @danielpinchbeck Official Website: www.pinchbeck.io/ #ArtificialIntelligence #AIandConsciousness #SpiritualTechnology #Apocalypse #Ahriman #DanielPinchbeck #MatthewGreen #RudolfSteiner #LiminalNews #AIProphecy #TechnoMysticism #AIandAuthoritarianism #CollectiveTrauma #FutureofAI #Mysticism #AIandEthics #SyntheticReligion #AIcult #DigitalSpirituality #EsotericPodcast #BreakingTheAIBarrier #tech #bigtech #AI

Daniel Pinchbeck convenes a soul-searching dialogue with Grammy-winning artist Kimbra ‪@kimbramusic‬ (Vows, The Golden Echo) and author-futurist Jamie Wheal (Stealing Fire, Recapture the Rapture). Together, they explore the possibilities for a new religious imagination grounded in mysticism, direct experience, and sacred community. Kimbra shares her early mystical encounters and evolving relationship with Christian mysticism, while Jamie unpacks how myth, Spiral Dynamics, and cultural architecture could birth a "Church of the Good, the Beautiful, and the True." Together, they examine the paradox of post-Christian yearning: How do we reclaim the sacred while resisting both fundamentalist revivalism and New Age drift? From psychedelic mysticism to the rise of muscular techno-Christianity among Silicon Valley elites, this conversation pulls no punches. A deep dive into archetypes, esoteric traditions, collective ecstasy—and the future of soul in an age of collapse. ✨ Topics include: 🌌 Mysticism vs. organized religion 👩‍🎤 Feminine divinity, art & direct revelation 📜 Reclaiming Christ consciousness 🧠 Spiral Dynamics & developmental faith 🛐 Gnosticism, Hermeticism & sacred community 🧬 Psychedelics, music & aesthetic transmission 📉 The collapse of liberal Christianity 🔥 Can we ignite a new spiritual renaissance? ================================== Please subscribe to the LIminal News Substack Newsletter! https://substack.com/@danielpinchbeck Please buy my books! https://tinyurl.com/mrsmtpwv Please join my online seminars and community at THE LIMINAL INSTITUTE: www.liminal.news Instagram: @danielpinchbeck Official Website: www.pinchbeck.io/ #ChristConsciousness #Mysticism #JamieWheal #Kimbra #SpiritualAwakening #Esotericism #NewReligion #LiminalNews #DanielPinchbeck #PsychedelicChristianity #GreatAwakening #FutureOfFaith #SpiralDynamics #GnosticRevival #PostChristian #podcast

In this urgent and far-reaching conversation, Daniel speaks with poet-philosopher and activist Drew Dellinger about the convergence of spiritual emergency, ecological collapse, and rising authoritarianism. A student of Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme, Dellinger critiques the troubling ideological drift of RFK Jr., Charles Eisenstein, and others in the New Age and eco-spiritual world. They explore: 🌌 The spiritual power of cosmology in an age of collapse ⚠️ The threat of Project 2025 & RFK Jr.'s alliance with Trump 🌀 Charles Eisenstein's rhetorical collapse & rightward turn 🤖 The role of AI, technocracy & surveillance in the New Age 🚫 False equivalence, epistemological nihilism, and the loss of discernment 🗣️ The danger of demobilizing narratives dressed up as "balance" 🎤 The poet's role in speaking truth to rising fascism 🕊️ A call for a united front for democracy, ecology, and justice 📝 The conversation ends with Drew's fiery original poem: "To the Quislings" — a stirring indictment of complicity in an age of creeping authoritarianism. 📚 About: Drew Dellinger is a poet, professor, and founder of Planetize the Movement. Known for integrating cosmology, activism, and justice into a prophetic philosophical framework. 📘 Love Letter to the Milky Way 🌐 https://www.drewdellinger.org 🔗 https://www.planetizethemovement.org ================================== Please subscribe to the LIminal News Substack Newsletter! https://substack.com/@danielpinchbeck Please buy my books! https://tinyurl.com/mrsmtpwv Please join my online seminars and community at THE LIMINAL INSTITUTE: www.liminal.news Instagram: @danielpinchbeck Official Website: www.pinchbeck.io/ #danielpinchbeck #liminalnews #podcast

In this episode of LIMINAL NEWS, Daniel Pinchbeck speaks with technologist and regenerative systems builder Samuel Delesque about his experimental community in Portugal, the Traditional Dream Factory. Together, they explore how blockchain, Web3 governance, and ecological land stewardship can converge to support new models of post-capitalist civilization. The conversation weaves together themes of decentralized coordination, land that "owns itself," the crisis of modern liberal democracies, and how indigenous values and sacred economics are informing the next generation of intentional communities. 👤 About: Samuel Delesque is the founder of the Traditional Dream Factory and co-creator of Closer, a governance tool designed for decentralized ecovillages. His work bridges blockchain infrastructure with real-world regenerative projects. 🌐 Learn more: https://traditionaldreamfactory.com 🛠️ Explore the tools: https://closer.earth 📸 Instagram: @traditionaldreamfactory ================================== Please subscribe to the LIminal News Substack Newsletter! https://substack.com/@danielpinchbeck Please buy my books! https://tinyurl.com/mrsmtpwv Please join my online seminars and community at THE LIMINAL INSTITUTE: www.liminal.news Instagram: @danielpinchbeck Official Website: www.pinchbeck.io/ #danielpinchbeck #liminalnews #podcast

In this episode of LIMINAL NEWS, Daniel Pinchbeck speaks with economist and writer Grace Blakeley about the rise of vulture capitalism, the convergence of tech elites and authoritarianism, and what a leftist path forward might look like in an era of social disintegration and political despair. The conversation explores AI, neoliberalism, historical fascism, and the role of organizing in reclaiming democracy. 👤 About Grace Blakeley: Grace Blakeley is a staff writer at Tribune Magazine and author of: 📘 Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts and the Death of Freedom 📘 The Corona Crash: How the Pandemic Will Change Capitalism 📘 Stolen: How to Save the World from Financialisation She's a former economics commentator for The New Statesman, a former Research Fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research, and a frequent commentator across BBC Question Time, Good Morning Britain, Piers Morgan Uncensored, and MTV News. 🌐 Official Site: https://graceblakeley.co.uk/ 📬 Substack: https://graceblakeley.substack.com/ ================================== Please subscribe to the LIminal News Substack Newsletter! https://substack.com/@danielpinchbeck Please buy my books! https://tinyurl.com/mrsmtpwv Please join my online seminars and community at THE LIMINAL INSTITUTE: www.liminal.news Instagram: @danielpinchbeck Official Website: www.pinchbeck.io/ #danielpinchbeck #liminalnews #podcast

Sarah Wilson welcomes Daniel Pinchbeck, an influential author and founder of The Liminal Institute. They explore the rise of sovereign individuals amid societal collapse and the profound impact of psychedelics on personal transformation. The duo discusses how ecological and geopolitical crises call for resilience and community values. They also delve into the risks posed by AI to the job market and the necessity of redefining meaningful work. The conversation wraps with insights on faith, consciousness, and the potential for transformative change in a rapidly evolving world.

I had a chance to talk with Starhawk about a wide range of topics on a Substack Livestream on 4/21/25. Hope you enjoy! Starhawk is an author, activist, permaculture designer and teacher, and a prominent voice in modern earth-based spirituality and ecofeminism. She is the author or co-author of thirteen books, including The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess and the ecotopian novel The Fifth Sacred Thing, and its sequel City of Refuge. Her most recent non-fiction book is The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups, on group dynamics, power, conflict and communications. Starhawk founded Earth Activist Training, teaching permaculture design grounded in spirituality and with a focus on activism. She travels internationally, lecturing and teaching on earth-based spirituality, the tools of ritual, and the skills of activism. Starhawk Official Site: https://starhawk.org/ Starhawk on Substack: https://starhawk.substack.com/ ================================== Please subscribe to the LIminal News Substack Newsletter! https://substack.com/@danielpinchbeck Please buy my books! https://tinyurl.com/mrsmtpwv Please join my online seminars and community at THE LIMINAL INSTITUTE: www.liminal.news Instagram: @danielpinchbeck Official Website: www.pinchbeck.io/ #danielpinchbeck #liminalnews #podcast #starhawk