Rebel Wisdom

As Russia looks poised to invade Ukraine, we speak to a friend of ours inside Ukraine. Vytas Bucianas is a developmental coach based in Kiev. In this conversation we discuss the recent history of Ukraine, what a conflict might mean for the region and the world, and whether the developmental map from disciplines like Integral theory can help illustrate what's going on.

Jerry Hyde is a shadow therapist with 25 years clinical experience, who rejects many of the conventionally held views of the mainstream psychotherapy world.  He works primarily with men, and has run men's groups for decades, which have years-long waiting lists to join.  He has just released a documentary based on the experience of leading men’s groups, called Make Me a Man, directed with partner Mia Hua: https://www.jerryhyde.co.uk/film We are releasing this as Rebel Wisdom restarts our weekend men's retreats after a two year break for Covid, check out the details here: https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/retreats

One of the biggest problems with talking about something as vast and impactful as the pandemic is to find the right level of analysis. In this epic piece, we look at the deeper religious and theological forces playing out below the surface of our day to day conflicts over topics like vaccines, authoritarianism and safety. We pull apart the hidden religiosity of "both sides" of the pandemic, that seems to be accelerating, even as the rapid spread of the Omicron variant brings us towards the pandemic endgame. It features interviews with the cognitive scientist John Vervaeke, Unherd writer Mary Harrington, the author Paul Kingsnorth, emergency doctor Rocky Jedick and many more. We have recently launched the Rebel Wisdom Substack for all our written content, and to host exclusive videos for members (just $5). The full length conversations with John, Mary & Rocky are available there for subscribers: https://substack.com/rebelwisdom  We are running our groundbreaking Sensemaking 101 course again in February, check the website for more details: https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/courses/sensemaking-101-page  Pieces referenced in the film include: Joe Rogan with Peter McCullough: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0aZte37vtFTkYT7b0b04Qz?si=1f7ce5a6705b463e  Joe Rogan with Robert Malone: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3SCsueX2bZdbEzRtKOCEyT?si=5a8207578958440e  Breaking the Polarity Spell of the Covidiots and Covidians, Peter Limberg: https://thestoa.substack.com/p/breaking-the-polarity-spell-of-the  Vaccine purity has infected the West, Mary Harrington: https://unherd.com/2022/01/vaccine-purity-has-infected-the-west/  This Vaccine Moment, Paul Kingsnorth: https://paulkingsnorth.substack.com/p/the-vaccine-moment-part-one  Paul Kingsnorth: Why I changed sides in the vaccine wars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_uAwsVn10Y  Covid & the Sensemaking Crisis, BJ Campbell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IjW16FCpkA  Covid could still save Boris, Freddie Sayers: https://unherd.com/2022/01/covid-could-still-save-boris/  The Age of Breach, Alexander Beiner: https://medium.com/rebel-wisdom/the-age-of-breach-gamestop-wokeism-and-the-capitol-8e3ac46efaf9  Tortoise, Pfizer's War: https://www.tortoisemedia.com/audio/pfizers-war/  Robert Malone goes full anti-science on Joe Rogan's podcast, Debunk the Funk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjszVOfG_wo&t=1s  Robert Malone & Peter McCullough: A litany of untruths, Decoding the Gurus: https://decoding-the-gurus.captivate.fm/episode/robert-malone-peter-mccullough-a-litany-of-untruths  No, Ivermectin Did Not Help Japan Bring Down Covid-19 Coronavirus Delta Surge, Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2021/11/27/no-ivermectin-did-not-help-japan-bring-down-covid-19-coronavirus-delta-surge/?sh=717ea5842938  Ivermectin Didn’t Save Uttar Pradesh From Covid-19, Gideon M-K: https://gidmk.medium.com/ivermectin-didnt-save-uttar-pradesh-from-covid-19-17684f49d8b3  Walking the Talk on Free Speech? With Triggernometry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdGUp0y-bzc&t=1472s    Episode Overview:  00:00:00 Intro 00:00:50 The return of religion and the 'post secular' 00:04:55 The Covid Thesis vs Covid Antithesis 00:05:43 The Religiosity of the Thesis Narrative 00:08:39 The Religiosity of the Antithesis Narrative 00:14:25 Covid Synthesis? 00:16:47 What makes us intelligent leads to self-deception 00:20:24 We're all biased  00:24:48 Mary Harrington, vaccine purity codes & theology 00:33:44 The scapegoat dynamic 00:37:45 Religion, Egregores & 'Mass Formation' 00:44:53 John Vervaeke, suspicion is eating itself 00:48:45 Dialogos & the 'hermeneutics of beauty' 00:56:50 'Pfizer are shitbags' 00:58:53 Responsible heterodoxy vs conspiracy thinking 01:01:25 Making sense of Robert Malone's claims 01:10:44 An ER doctor evaluates Robert Malone, Rocky Jedick MD 01:20:00 Understanding the red flags 01:27:14 Our broken information landscape 01:32:07 Understanding motivation vs ad hominem 01:35:42 Epistemic humility & holding perspectives 01:43:44 The 'uncanny valley' of truth seeking 01:51:00 The incentive landscape for the antithesis, Paul Kingsnorth 01:57:49 The ethics of alternative media 02:06:23 Truth as a sacred value

John McWhorter is one of America's most incisive, outspoken heterodox commentators on race. His latest book, 'Woke Racism', is a full frontal attack on what he considers to be a new hidden racism, coming from the left. In Woke Racism, McWhorter outlines the workings of what he believes is a new religion, from the original sin of “white privilege” and the weaponization of cancel culture to ban heretics, to the evangelical fervor of the “woke mob.” He shows how this religion that claims to “dismantle racist structures” is actually harming his fellow Black Americans by infantilizing Black people, setting Black students up for failure, and passing policies that disproportionately damage Black communities. The new religion might be called “antiracism,” but it features a racial essentialism that’s barely distinguishable from racist arguments of the past. This was a conversation in Rebel Wisdom's Digital Campfire, to join conversations like this, sign up as a Rebel Wisdom member: https://www.patreon.com/rebelwisdom

Why does our response to Covid seem perfectly calibrated to create maximum division and disagreement? How has it made the problems of sensemaking so much worse and dragged us all into it? BJ Campbell is the creator of the Handwaving Freakoutery blog, focused on the crisis of finding truth, or Sensemaking. In this conversation with David Fuller he explains his perspective on how the nature of social media has created hive minds, or 'Egregores' that are competing for space in the attention economy. Rebel Wisdom is running our groundbreaking Sensemaking 101 course again in February 2022, with practices and techniques for better sensemaking, and live sessions from faculty including John Vervaeke, Diane Musho Hamilton, Sara Ness & Daniel Schmachtenberger. See more here: https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/courses/sensemaking-101-page

Breathwork and Embodiment has always been hugely important to many of the practices we talk about on Rebel Wisdom. This is a conversation with breathworker Prema McKeever about the history of embodiment and breath practices, and how they are becoming ever more popular. We are running a course with Prema beginning in January 2022, it will be five deep sessions around different holding patterns and character structures. To find out more about it and to sign up, check out: https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/courses/breathwork

What are we getting wrong with Covid, and what does it mean to adapt to it becoming an endemic disease? William Eden is a biotech and healthcare expert who has been paying close attention to the progress of the pandemic from many different angles. He recently posted a viral Twitter thread on the topic: https://twitter.com/WilliamAEden/status/1470271294398558210 In this conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller they cover how the pandemic became politicised, how the authorities have been slow to adapt, and how the mandates are likely to backfire. To join conversations and practice sessions with some of the world's top facilitators, check out becoming a Rebel Wisdom member: https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/campfire-events We're running our groundbreaking course in better Sensemaking, with guest faculty including John Vervaeke, Sara Ness, Diane Musho Hamilton and Daniel Schmachtenberger, starting in February 2022, find out more and join here: https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/courses/sensemaking-101-page We've also just created a new self-study course called Essential Philosophy for Modern Life with Jules Evans. This looks at hot topics like Cancel Culture & Free Speech, or Identity, through a lens of the great philosophers of the past, find out more here: https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/courses/essential-philosophy-for-modern-life

Happy Christmas! The Sensemaking Companion introduction film is listed on our new home on Substack: https://rebelwisdom.substack.com/p/our-christmas-gift-to-you-the-sensemaking Register your email address to be sent the full version when it's live. We're now hosting all our exclusive member content there, and there's a library of around 100 films - including our brilliant recent conversation with John McWhorter - and also talks with people like Iain McGilchrist, John Vervaeke, Ayishat Akanbi, Nora Bateson, Jamie Wheal - all the sessions from our festivals, unseen behind the scenes material with Jordan Peterson and more. If you are already a member - we've registered you already and given you access, so don't worry. If you'd like to join us however - come and check it out.

Meghan Daum is a writer and journalist, and host of the Unspeakable podcast. After a long time in the heart of the legacy media, she was becoming increasingly unhappy with the groupthink and narrow perspectives. After discovering what later became known as the Intellectual Dark Web, she wrote an article that went viral called Nuance, a Love Story: https://gen.medium.com/nuance-a-love-story-ae6a14991059 In this conversation with David Fuller they discuss which conversations are still difficult to have in the mainstream, where the concept of the IDW failed, and more.

Can psychedelics change culture? In this new documentary, Alexander Beiner speaks with leaders in the field including Robin Carhart-Harris, Dennis McKenna, Bia Labate, Rick Doblin, Jamie Wheal and Kat Conour to find out if the original vision of the psychedelic counterculture - that they can radically transform society - is still alive. In the age of psychedelic capitalism, with pharma and wellness companies driving the narrative, this piece explores what it would take for an experience of the sacred to overcome market forces and change our cultural operating system. An essay accompanies this film. Read 'The Psychedelic Trojan Horse' on our Substack: https://rebelwisdom.substack.com/p/the-psychedelic-trojan-horse?r=ye9pq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Join us for a live with Jamie Wheal and other guests in the film by become a Rebel Wisdom Member on www.rebelwisdom.co.uk/plans Earlybird tickets for our next Sensemaking 101 online course are now available - read more on www.rebelwisdom.co.uk/sensemaking101