Emerge: Making Sense of What's Next

Zak Stein and Daniel Thorson discuss the myriad risks of emerging AI tutoring technologies. AI tutoring is being developed now and will be deployed over the course of the next two to five years, bringing radical changes to our educational systems. This conversation explores the risks of this emerging technology while simultaneously proposing how, if designed correctly, this technology could solve the meta-crisis. Timestamp 0:00 - Intro 5:20 - Shift in Awareness of AI 10:08 - GAI Risk 15:51 - AI Alignment & Human Alignment 17:18 - Risks of Generalized Nature of AI 19:08 - Accelerating Misaligned Institutions 20:26 - AI Assistance & Anthropomorphism 25:35 - Instantaneous Media Interfacing 29:48 - AI Tutoring Risk 38:44 - Obsoleting Human Relationship 41:52 - AI Perfecting Propaganda 43:22 - Humanity's Educational Relationship 46:21 - Breaking the Human Nervous System 50:14 - AI Tutoring Risk Continued 55:17 - Building Aligned AI Tutoring Technology 59:56 - Importance of Non-Anthropomorphizable AI 1:02:10 - Irreducibility of Human Goodness 1:04:42 - The Limits of Computationalism 1:07:10 - AI Tutoring Guardrails 1:11:44 - Implementation of AI Tutoring Technology 1:17:36 - AI Planetary Tutoring System 1:21:59 - Solving the Meta-Crisis with AI Planetary Tutoring 1:25:06 - The Emergence of the New Human 1:29:18 - Right Relationship with Emerging AI Technology 1:35:18 - Conclusion ⁠Support the Emerge Podcast on Patreon⁠ ⁠Learn more about the Anti Fragile Heart Retreat at the Monastic Academy⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/emerge/support

A conversation about how emergence can be the foundation a new society. We talk about how societies can create containers for healthy decision making. And how sacred containers can allow for the emergence of the planetary movement we're longing for. David Sauvage asks, how do we create the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible? In my first episode after returning from the Emerge gathering in Austin, we discuss the future of collective decision-making, reflect on our shared past with Occupy Wallstreet, and consider the role of participatory democracy in what is emerging. David puts preliminary words to a vision originating from the gathering this summer. https://www.davidsauvage.com [00:00:00] Introducing David [00:05:24] David's Vision from the Emerge gathering. [00:10:35] Occupy Wallstreet [00:29:30] The future of politics. [00:44:55] The Third Attractor. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Gary Sheng is a US-based technologist and civic entrepreneur dedicated to building tools, systems, and movements that accelerate human and planetary flourishing. He was recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30 for his work building Civics Unplugged. In this conversation we offer some friendly critiques of the emerging network and discuss how we can empower the next generation to actualize Game B. https://www.garysheng.com [0:00:00] Introducing Gary [0:16:40] Civics Unplugged [0:21:05] Dream DAO [0:39:11] Gary's view of the emerging network from the outside in. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Steve March is the creator of an integrated ecology of practice and founder of Aletheia Coaching. In this episode we get into the history of coaching, depth and the fourth generation of coaching, going from self-improvement to self-unfoldment, Heidegger's view on technology and attunement, depth ontology, eclecticism to integration, parts conflict in ecologies of practice, four depths of self-contact, internal family systems. Aletheia Coaching: https://integralunfoldment.com Steve's Paper on the Neuroscience of Transformation: https://libraryofprofessionalcoaching.com/research/brain-behavior/the-neuroscience-of-enduring-transformation/ [0:02:36] Introducing Steve [0:09:00] First, Second, Third Generation Coaching [0:13:43] Aletheia and the Fourth Generation of Coaching [0:18:10] What if we are already whole? [0:18:47] Reservations about the term “coaching” [0:20:38] Exploring Unfoldment [0:24:57] Technological Attunement and Poetic Attunement [0:44:53] Invoking Poetic Attunement [0:53:20] Deeping eclecticism into integration [1:37:00] Scaling Psychotechnologies --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Circling Europe co-founder Sean Wilkinson and I explore what it's like to practice across paradigms, the limits and transformational potential of circling, and the interplay between mediation, circling, and trauma work. Sean shares from his experience about the problems with static orientations to practice, subtle grasping to personal growth, and the orientation of trust. Sean Wilkinson is a Circling Europe co-founder with an enduring passion for self-awareness, human potential, wisdom traditions and an ongoing inquiry into life. His focus includes extensive academic research, spiritual and psychological practice, coaching, and therapeutic training. [0:02:53] Introducing Sean [0:06:00] What is at the edge of meditation, circling, and trauma work? [0:10:00] Discovering the limits of circling [0:16:55] Exhausting an Orientation to Practice [0:33:50] Scale Invariance [0:39:10] Eclecticism to Integration [0:49:10] The Orientation of Trust [1:05:10] The Feeling Process [1:25:20] A short guided meditation [1:41:20] Metamodernism and the Meta-Crisis (mesa crisis?) [1:42:42] The Paradigm of Leadership If you'd like to explore the practice of Circling MAPLE is hosting the SAS 6-month Circling Training starting in June. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

In this episode fellow Monastic Academy resident Ellen McSweeney and I explore the relationship between Circling and Soulmaking in an attempt to make sense of the experience we shared co-facilitating the Anti-Fragile Heart retreat in March. Towards the end there is a Q+A with retreat participants. If you'd like to explore the practice of Circling MAPLE is hosting the SAS 6-month Circling Training starting in June. This conversation was recorded in the meditation hall at the Monastic Academy, and the audio is a little wonky... --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

In this episode Mark Feenstra guides me through his 'accompanying' process. This process, which Mark has developed after 25 years of experimentation, is something like a systems collapse aware mixture of Circling, Internal Family Systems, and Imaginal practice...but really it's totally unique (and very potent!). Mark is offering a workshop on this approach on December 11th/12th. If you'd like to join you can click here: https://public.3.basecamp.com/p/3domHkJiNhPctmd6zboebQhb --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Layman Pascal is an author, speaker, and body-mind-soul at large in the Integral and Metamodern scenes. In this episode we dive into Layman's 'integration surplus' model of spiritual practice. This model offers an integrative lens through which to view all transformative practices. Through my work at the Monastic Academy I developed a startlingly similar 'harmonization model' of spiritual practice, which forms the conceptual basis of the curriculum for the Willow Intensive. You can learn more about that in this companion episode with John Vervaeke. In this conversation with Layman we explore some of the deeper ramifications and affordances of this way of looking at transformative practice. If you'd like to explore this way of approaching practice more deeply we are offering two online courses: October 19 - November 9 at 11:30 a.m. ET: Intro to Harmonization: A New Ecology of Practices Register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/intro-to-harmonization-a-new-ecology-of-practices-tickets-182786668847 October 22 - November 12 at 6:00 p.m. ET: Jade Method Meditation Course Register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/jade-method-meditation-course-tickets-182814672607 -------------------------- In this conversation Layman and I speak about: - How the harmony model arose out of Layman's spiritual & philosophical practice - That all spiritual practices can be framed in terms of harmonization, and why that is so significant - Why it's important that this model is ‘ontologically agnostic' - The common confusion between harmony and unison - The role of meeting conflict in order to reveal a deeper harmony - The four fundamental proto-skills to help us harmonize any system - How super abundant harmony can help us identify what is valuable and good in any context - The value and limitation of awakening, and why it can sometimes lead to unskillful behavior --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

John Vervaeke speaks with Seishin and myself about the ecology of practices we are exploring in the Willow Intensive. This was originally recorded on The Stoa. This episode includes a brief overview of the Harmony model and the five aspects we've been training to harmonize. We discuss the obstacles and opportunities of birthing a new kind of wisdom institution in the modern world, and the necessity of having an ecology of practices to adequately transform the human mind during a time of planetary crisis (and much more). The conversation ends with a Q&A. We are offering two online courses for those who would like to explore these practices more deeply: October 19 - November 9 at 11:30 a.m. ET: Intro to Harmonization: A New Ecology of Practices Register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/intro-to-harmonization-a-new-ecology-of-practices-tickets-182786668847 October 22 - November 12 at 6:00 p.m. ET: Jade Method Meditation Course Register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/jade-method-meditation-course-tickets-182814672607 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Is it still possible to create a more beautiful future for life on earth, or are we now merely stewards for the dying process of our world? How do we live with the weight of this uncertainty? Soryu Forall responds to these questions during a recent lecture at the Monastic Academy. Soryu is the founder and head teacher at the Monastic Academy for the Preservation of Life on Earth (MAPLE). You can hear my previously recorded conversation with Soryu by clicking here. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Rob McNamara is an author, leadership coach, advisor and consultant with expertise in adult development and human performance. He is a co-founder of the leading consulting firm Delta Developmental, a faculty member for the Ivey School of Business' LIFT Advanced Coaching Program, and is a Senior Monk and Integral Zen Dharma Holder training with Diane Musho Hamilton Roshi. McNamara's coaching focuses leaders on clarifying life purpose, growing critical leadership skills to advance value creation and fostering organizational development to enhance learning and innovation. MAPLE Fundamentals Online Training (Cohort Begins August 8th) Vision Quest at the Monastic Academy (September 10th - 19th) Show Notes: 00:02 Who do we need to become to navigate this planetary meta-crisis? 00:05 “Revolutionary enfoldment” / new vectors of development 00:10 Limitations of just adding more complexity 00:18 Takes 10 years. Do we even have that? XR: “sacrifice for future generation” — Hero frame 00:26 Exploring other distinctions / sovereignty and surrender 00:33 “If we're not willing to die, we don't get to touch the ineffable grace of life” 00:36 The diversification of identity 00:43 The illumined reality / world as image structure 00:51 What needs to happen in public? / education 00:55 How do we cultivate the capacity to attune to image? / image is prior to language 01:04 Circling / need for community 01:08 “giving someone an image that is not their own” 01:11 Omniwin / “image structure is not an exhaustible resource” 01:14 Finite and infinite games / “switching arena of pathos to soul-making” / “game on, forever” 01:16 How to increase access to this? 01:19 Organizational development / “If this is our last thing, what do we do?” 01:22 How do we ground this in community? / problem-solving / play 01:25 Robert = “bright counselor” 01:28 Wrap-up --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

In this first conversation after a year sabbatical from the Emerge project I'm speaking with Zak Stein. This is a far ranging conversation about ethics, education, trauma, the erotics of moral understanding, and more. Support me on Patreon Show Notes 0:00 Opening 0:03 How to create the kinds of humans who can respond to the meta-crisis? 0:08 “We're not sure what it means to be good anymore” / what's worth loving 0:09 Eros and Ethics / Ensoulment 0:17 Moral development 0:23 “How do you get someone interested in what is truly good?” 0:25 Linking / meta-psychology 0:29 Community ethics feedback loops 0:33 Objective ethics 0:37 Embodied ethical sensing 0:38 Intersection between Trauma & Ethics, desensitization, somatic de-armoring 0:43 Trust, return of the Sacred 0:47 The Moral Exemplar 0:52 Exposure to the full ethical range 0:54 “Trauma” in culture 0:62 Evil 0:68 Practices for Wellbeing 0:72 “Enlightenment is your greatest disappointment” 0:74 Eros & Ethics 0:77 Human as ethical actor, intimacy and obligation 0:81 Circling, following “aliveness”, co-discovering moral landscape 0:85 Path = compromising moral integrity increasingly intolerable 0:88 Ethics in Community, MAPLE's advantage 0:90 Closing --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Emerge is back! This is a solo episode where I share a few life updates and thoughts about the evolution of the Emerge podcast. Support me on Patreon --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Emerge invites you to a new kind of monastery for a (meta)modern world... Learn more at: https://growingwillow.org/summer2021 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

I've decided to put this project on hold and dedicate myself more fully my work and training at the Monastic Academy. In this episode I share some of the thinking and feeling that went into my choice. If you'd like to support me in my training and work you can do so through Patreon. A few recent pieces I've read that are relevant to this episode: Cutting Through Spiritual Colonialism by Vinay Gupta Mindfulness: Developing Agency in Urgent Times by Jamie Bristow & Rosie Bell --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

In the first episode after my 75 day silent retreat I sat down with Zak Stein to speak about the the current cultural moment and how we can respond to the chaos and uncertainty of the world with love and integrity. This is part two of a two part episode. In this episode we discuss: - An overview of Zak’s metapsychology - How the psyche is a triple of development, ensoulment, and transcendence and why one must work on all three - How much of the talk about ‘sense making’ is missing two thirds of the picture - The noetic function of love - The relationship between language, image and symbol - How ensoulment lags behind development and transcendence in terms of emphasis in transformational culture - Why working with image and ensoulment might be the most important work that can be done right now - What image has to do with the resolution of the meaning crisis - Zak’s theory that, at some point, a shared cultural image will spontaneously create collective coherence - How ethics is implicated in Zak’s metapsychology - How virtue ethics is the antidote to virtue signaling --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

In the first episode after my 75 day silent retreat I sit down with Zak Stein to speak about the the current cultural moment and how we can respond to the chaos and uncertainty of the world with love and integrity. This is part one of a two part episode. We discuss: - My experience coming out of retreat into a 'post-covid' world - How strange and problematic it is that people speak with confidence about the world right now - How our media ecology forces us to take on perspectives even when uncertainty and ambiguity is more trustworthy - That sense-making has everything to do with acting from embodied love, and NOT about having the correct meta-narrative - How ideology acts on our lives to make it difficult to love and see each other - How we get captured by the simulation of reality being played out on social media and how that debases our lived relationships - How to respond to the psychotic break our culture is going through - Why we need to pull out of mainstream culture, reorient, and pull together a critical mass of coherence and sanity The NY Times article about my experience coming out of retreat COVID-19: A War Broke Out in Heaven by Zak Stein --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Soryu Forall is the founder and head-teacher of the Monastic Academy. Soryu has a decade of intensive monastic training, a degree in Economics from Williams College, and extensive experience in social and environmental justice. He was ordained in 1998 at Sogen Temple under the tutelage of the Zen Master Shodo Harada. The day this recording goes live I'll be beginning an 80(ish) day silent solo retreat here on the land of the Monastic Academy. By the end of this episode, I hope you'll understand why I would do such a thing. We discuss: How awakening enables us to be of true service in times of crisis How easy it is to fool ourselves about the depth of our experience and insight Soryu’s personal crisis upon learning of the Japanese Zen traditions participation in the atrocities of World War Two A vision of awakening that is adequate to the meta-crisis Whether it makes sense to disconnect Waking Up, Growing Up, and Cleaning Up Does awakening make us more ethical? Better at making decisions? The difference between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ enlightenment according to the Buddhist eightfold path What kind of monsters ‘wrong’ enlightenment creates Why transformative practices disconnected from ethical training is so dangerous How the cultural assumptions of liberalism, humanism, and materialism distort our understanding of what awakening is How your aspiration creates your understanding of the path Why it’s necessary to do these practices in community Soryu’s definition of awakening And more!

Andrew J Taggart is a practical philosopher, Zen Buddhist, and entrepreneur. Recently Andrew wrote an article called 'Psychotechnologies of Self-Transformation' that led me to reach out to him and schedule a conversation. This episode was recorded a few months ago, but it occurs to me as exactly the right time to release it. If you are feeling panicked about the Corona Virus, I'd encourage you to slow down, get a hot cup of tea (or go for a walk outside) and enjoy this warm-spirited philosophical conversation. We inquire about: Why aren't human beings kinder to each other, let alone to all sentient beings? Is liberalism, humanism, and nihilism at the root of the meta-crisis? How social media requires a self-enclosed narcissistic humanism to function How do we move beyond humanism into a new cosmological sense of being? Is it possible to install new modes of being in time to confront the planetary challenges facing us? The necessity of existential openings as a portal to self-inquiry Whether we need to administer 'gentle shocks' to help people enter into spiritual crisis as quickly as possible How can we help ensure that instances of emergency and crisis can touch the heart and open the spirit? How do we precipitate mass existential opening? How do we help others encounter the truths of their heart? What Andrew has learned about having skillful philosophical conversations The importance of becoming sensitive in conversation to what Andrew calls 'existential weight' Why we must change our lives according to our existential truths, and the consequences of not doing so What is an adequate new definition of the human being that supports the emergence of a broadly contemplative culture Does wisdom arise from awakening, or does awakening arise from wisdom? What are the most important virtues to be cultivated now, in this time between worlds? Andrew's Home on the Internet --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Jonathan Reams works at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), serves as Editor-in Chief of Integral Review, and is a co-founder of the Center for Transformative Leadership and of the European Center for Leadership Practice. He brings awareness based leadership development practices to his work, focusing on how the inner workings of human nature can develop leadership capacities for today’s complex challenges. His recent research and practice has focused on subjects such as; the impact of Immunity to Change based coaching, theoretical foundations of resistance to change, the integration of psychological and cognitive skill based assessments and the use of narrative based tools combined with developmentally informed reflection prompts for scaling development. We inquire into: What do we mean when we talk about human development? Why are there so many different models of adult development? Are higher stages of adult development all one thing or are there many different types of maturity? The various types of developmental models and the key differences between them How do we develop as moral and ethical beings? How does seeing the 'virtual' nature of the self help us become more mature and wise humans? And more! Enjoy. ❤️ Check out http://jonathanreams.com/ to see more about Jonathan's work and writing. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Robert Kegan is a psychologist who teaches, researches, writes, and consults about adult development, adult learning, and professional development. His work explores the possibility and necessity of ongoing psychological transformation in adulthood. He is perhaps most well known as the author of The Evolving Self, In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life, and An Everyone Culture. In this conversation we talk about: What is a good definition of an 'adult'? The phasic vision of adult development The variety of developmental logics in the human mind A tour of the 5 stages of adult development What people get wrong about his 5 Stage model of human development Why you are almost certainly not ‘Stage 5’ if you're under the age of 40 The gap between philosophical understanding and developmental attainments Why you might take on a Stage 5 philosophical orientation from the Stage 4 developmental level (and what that might look like) The most important developmental stage transition for the majority of humans What transcending the limits of the socialized mind means for our planetary culture The Monastic Academy Awakened Leadership Bootcamp --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

In this episode, I'm speaking with Mark Feenstra. Mark is co-founding a consulting and training ecosystem and incubator, called New Mainstream, which focuses on large scale change that starts with ourselves and the possibility of a new mainstream. Mark is also in the process of founding a land-based community to ground the possibility of actualizing a new mainstream, initially in Golden Bay, New Zealand. Over the last year or so I’ve been lucky enough to have a number of conversations with Mark. He, as much as anyone I’ve encountered, really lives the sort of inquiry that I’ve been attempting to embody on this show. Every time I speak with Mark I feel like I’m falling into some wormhole of understanding and coherence. Mark has an amazing ability to bring these topics down to earth without sacrificing the ambiguity and playfulness that is the lifeblood of beautiful conversation. We talk about: Shifting from a Game A to Game B mental operating system The fractal nature of the meta-crisis and how it lives within each of us What integrity really means (and whether a crisis of integrity at the heart of the meta-crisis) Whether the split between individual transformation and systems transformation is an artifact of Game A consciousness Why attempting to fix or heal the crisis is a red herring Integrity as an emergent property of coming into relationship with wholeness How noticing the lack of integrity is a proximal cause of integrity The relationship between integrity and omni-win decision making And the beautiful impossibility of true omni-win decision making Monastic Academy Awakened Leadership Bootcamp --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

On this episode I'm joined once again by meditation teacher and author Rob Burbea. For this conversation Jamie Bristow and I talk with Rob about his approach to emptiness, and how it can be a route beyond postmodern nihilism and into a vibrant and sacred participation in the world. We talk about: An overview of the ‘ways of looking’ approach to emptiness,  the participatory nature of perception & the world,  how perception gets fabricated through our participation,  the limitations of a purely cognitive deconstruction ala postmodernism,  how Rob would define emptiness if asked about it at a cocktail party,  How emptiness reveals a path beyond post-modernity,  how hidden commitments limit our ability to explore perspectives,  the unavoidability of participation and the impossibility of neutrality,  the middle way between existence and non-existence, how this approach to emptiness offers a way forward in a ‘post-truth’ world,  how your experience right now is constellated by your way of seeing (whether you know it or not),  and the necessity of practice to realize the deeper dimensions of emptiness. Seeing that Frees [Amazon] Rob on the Deconstructing Yourself Podcast 2009 Emptiness Retreat Dharma Talks --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Jamie Bristow joins the show to respond to critiques against the mindfulness revolution and to make the case for mindfulness as a key metamodern cultural technology. Jamie is Director of The Mindfulness Initiative, the world's first policy institute about mindfulness. Jamie now works with politicians around the world to help them make capacities of mind and heart serious considerations of public policy. Topics discussed include: A snapshot of the current state of the mindfulness revolution, where we are at in the ‘hype cycle’ of mindfulness, a response to the current crop of critiques of mindfulness and in particular Ronald Pursers ‘McMindfulness’ critique, how mindfulness allows us to rescue our attention the clutches of the attention merchants, the attentional capacities of mindfulness as fundamental ground for mass action and civil disobedience in the 21st century, the symmetry between mindfulness and the concept of Sovereignty as promoted by Jordan Greenhall and Daniel Scmachtenberger, and what might be available at the deeper end of practice...

A solo episode where Daniel shares his vision for the next turn in the inquiry of the Emerge podcast. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

David Fuller, Mike Gilliland and I spend time jamming on the conversational space that we have been participating in, and attempt to make sense of where this all might be going... --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

This week I'm speaking with Ronan Harrington about Extinction Rebellion. We talk about the strategic dilemmas of Extinction Rebellion, and how it functions as a practical exploration of metamodern theory. Previous Emerge episode with Ronan We chat about: - The limits of philosophical conversation and the need for practical movement building - The challenge of moving from collective awareness to collective action - The possibility of inspiring an ethos of sacrifice as a portal to action - Extinction Rebellions upcoming actions beginning October 7th, which are positioned to be the largest direct action in UK history - Our mutual desire to move beyond conversations and into experimental action And much more... Extinction Rebellion International Rebellion --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

In this episode I'm speaking with Guy Sengstock. Guy is the creator/discoverer of Circling, a relational meditation practice that is quickly spreading across the world. In this conversation, we cover such topics as: - Guy’s take on what Circling is - How Circling has revealed itself over the years to Guy - What it means to obey what we discover in our practice(s) - How we know to get interested in something - The mystery at the heart of the practice of Circling - Where the sacred and the divine live in Circling - Why other people are terrifying - Circling and Collective Intelligence - How conversations make the world - How making fine distinctions brings the world into being The Circling Institute --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

In this episode, I'm speaking with writer, educator and futurist Zak Stein. We discuss 'Metapsychology', Zak's attempt to answer the question 'what is the human?' brought up in our previous conversation about a vision for metamodern education. This is part two of a two part conversation. It's recommended that you listen to my previous conversation with Zak on Education and the Meta-Crisis before you listen to this episode. Apologies for the sound quality on this episode, it's a little rough around the edges.

In this episode I'm speaking once again with writer, educator and futurist Zak Stein. We discuss 'Metapsychology', Zak's attempt to answer the question 'what is the human?' brought up in our previous conversation about a vision for metamodern education. This is part one of a two part conversation. It's recommended that you listen to my previous conversation with Zak on Education and the Meta-Crisis before you listen to this episode. Apologies for the sound quality on this episode, it's a little rough around the edges.

Today on Emerge I’m speaking with Euvie Ivanova and Mike Gilliland, hosts of the Future Thinkers podcast. In this conversation we explore the concept of Sovereignty, how we are practicing it in our lives, and why it’s such a significant tool in service of the evolution of consciousness. Topics include: -What is sovereignty -What is sense-making, and why it is broken for so many people right now - How to diagnose corrupted sense-making, and what to do about it - Questions to ask yourself to increase your sovereignty - How to work on your sovereignty when you can’t trust what you perceive - The relationship between awakening and sovereignty - How Mike and Euvie see sovereignty playing a role in the future of the human experiment - Predictions about the emergence of new collective intelligences Future Thinkers Podcast A Course in Personal Evolution --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

This week I'm speaking with Mette Böll (Boell). Mette is a biologist by training, specializing in the evolution of complex social systems, mammalian play behavior and philosophy of nature. Mette has a Ph.D. in organizational ethology from the Center for Semiotics, Aarhus University, and holds additional degrees in contemplative leadership and the philosophy and history of science. She uses her training in these diverse areas to research how moods and feelings are transmitted in social relations and how the resulting relational fields in turn shape the larger systems human beings are parts of, with a particular focus on education. We talk about the study of social fields, generative vs. degenerative fields, the relationship between fields and systems, how generative fields create ‘magical classrooms’, the characteristics of a generative field, how the combination of systems science and systems sensing can help educate people to respond to the complex challenges of our world, and what generative fields in the K-12 education setting looks like, and the need to empower young people and get out of their way. Mette also shares inspiring stories from the early prototypes of this work in the American education system. Center for Systems Awareness --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

This week I'm speaking with Christopher Life. Christopher Life is the founder of OneNation, a new American political party dedicated to installing an all-win paradigm and rebirthing our democratic systems. Christopher and I talk about systems change as the next great social issue, the two party system as a hegemonic duopoly, OneNation as a generative alternative to the current system, omni-win vs win-lose, how the omni-win vision is the center of the shift needed to remake all the systems of society, win-lose thinking as a psycho-technology that is no longer adaptive, how empire uses polarization to maintain power, the need to create new collective intelligences and to experiment with new decision making systems, how OneNation will pull the disenfranchised and disengaged into a new political conversation, and the plan to make all-win cool and win-lose lame. Freakonomic Duopoly Episode Bill Moyers Stages of Social Change OneNation Party USA --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

This week I'm speaking with Daniel Schmachtenberger. Daniel is a social engineer and evolutionary philosopher and strategist. He is the Founder of Critical Path Institute, The Emergence Project, and Co-Founder of The Neurohacker Collective. You can find his writing at Civilization Emerging. We talk about the current state of the phase shift, whether we are past the point of no return for social collapse, Daniel’s three generator functions of existential risk, the definition of an adequate social architecture that avoids existential risk, how technology creates asymmetric advantage that debases the planetary life support system, why we need to create technology that leads to ‘metastability’, the pollution of the epistemic commons, why we need to define problems in a comprehensive way where the solutions don’t create worse problems, the vows Daniel made as a teenager, what progress is being made at solving the generator functions of existential risk, the auto-poetic nature of trauma, and the necessity of a mature relationship between certainty and uncertainty. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

This week I am joined by Danilo Vaz, Stratis Karad, Jocelyn, and Felipe Duarte to explore all things Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs). We talk about what DAOs are and why they are significant, where the space is at (and what it’s evolving into), how DAOs might allow for teal/horizontal/distributed organizations to scale, what are some of the most exciting DAOs currently active, the need for wacky proposals, and more. Participants Danilo Vaz (@emergir_co) - Fascinated by everything Complexity related, from fungi mycelium, to cultural evolution, to distributed computer networks. He’s worked as a community manager at DAOstack during the project’s ICO. Co-host of DAOCast. Statis Karad (@stratiskarad) - Passionate about free thought, free speech and free market. Marketing & bizdev at DAOstack, and co-host of DAOCast. Jocelyn (http://kattfantastiskt.nu/) - Artist interested in sociotechnical artifacts; her current work explores imagination processes, magic, and code. She works with electronic literature, installations, and performances within the contexts of decentralized organizations, female narratives, and the human love affair with the Internet. Felipe Duarte (@facilitator23) - Originally an artist and activist, his experience on the ground during the social upheavals of Brazil have shifted his reflections towards society and organizations. Participant in the Genesis Alpha DAO and to becoming the Organiser of DAOfest. Related Episodes Richard Bartlett - Occupy Wall Street as Bootstrapping Collective Intelligence Jordan Greenhall - Anti-Rivalry, QAnon, and SOCIs (Oh my!) Max Borders - The Coming Social Singularity Moritz Bierling - Metamodern Politics + Holochain =

Joe Edelman is a philosopher, social scientist, designer, and founder of Human Systems, a global community for those redesigning institutions and social spaces so as to better support meaningful lives and human values. In this conversation we discuss why designing systems in alignment with human values is the way forward for social transformation, the difference between advancing values and practicing values, the anti-rivalrous nature of values, how to name your values with the same specificity that you name your goals, why the breakdown of systems is a wonderful opportunity for redesign, the relationship between meaningfulness and values, and what this all has to do with the possibility of social collapse. Notes on the Show, Including the Referenced Political Compass with Bonnitta Roy, Jordan Hall, et all --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

In this conversation Tom Murray and I explore Tom’s model of ‘Wisdom Skills’. In this model Wisdom Skills are made up of both the movement of complexification and development (ascending), and the movement of simplicity and subtraction (descending). We explore the relationship between simplicity and complexity in the development of wisdom, sort out some confusions about the relationship between spirituality and human development, why spiritual teachers ‘do bad things’, why development without deconstruction is problematic, why spirituality is more ‘down and in’ rather than ‘up and out’, how deconstruction releases complexity and opens possibility, why development is dangerous without spiritual clarity, and how this model allows us to talk bout spiritual realization without unnecessary metaphysical claims. To read a draft of Tom's work in progress on the "wisdom skills" material we discussed. send him an email at tommurray.us@gmail.com. The title of the manuscript is "Metamodernism, Complexity, Simplicity, and Spirituality." The other paper we mentioned is "Knowing and Unknowing Reality: A Beginner's and Expert's Developmental Guide to Post-Metaphysical Thinking" (here) Tom's Wisdom Skills Model (image) and Progressive Summarization of his Metaphysics Paper Other links to Toms work include: Tom's home page: www.tommurray.us A list of Tom's papers: www.perspegrity.com The StageLens technology for developmental assessment: www.stagelens.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Today I'm speaking with Bayo Akomolafe. Bayo is a an academic, poet and philosopher who dedicates his life to mediating between the spiritual and the scientific. He is the Executive Director and Chief Curator for The Emergence Network, and the author of ‘These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to my Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home‘. We talk about what emergence is and why it is such a relevant idea for our time, the scandal at the heart of modernity, why it's a good idea to be uncertain about the possibility of systems collapse, why the urgency of our times is an invitation to slow down, the problems with spiritual tourism, why identity politics can often seem so broken, how the social justice movement is mistakenly using modernist constructs of power, how inclusion can reinforce the structures of exploitation and oppression, and why we cannot ‘out-think the crisis’. Bayo's Profile on Emerge The 25 Billion Ton Biomass at the Bottom of the Ocean --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Today on the show I'm speaking with Bonnitta Roy about her presentation 'Six Ways to Go Meta'. We cover such topics as what it mean to ‘go meta’, why the anthropocene is driving humans to discover new ways of ‘going meta’, how deconstructing our experience through meditation creates a clean palette to experiment with new ways of going meta, how previous guests like Adam Robbert, Jordan Greenhall, Nora Bateson, and Rob Burbea fit into Bonnitta’s meta-meta-model, and why it’s vital that we create new educational forms that help create and discover new human minds. Six Ways to Go Meta Presentation Danny J's New Single - Rob the Infirmary --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Today's conversation is with Zak Stein. Zak is a writer, educator and futurist working to bring a greater sense of sanity and justice to education. This recording was made in person at Zak's house in Northern Vermont. We chat about why the meta-crisis is fundamentally an educational crisis, a metamodern vision for the future of education, the difference between education and schooling, how to build an education system that can prepare humans for an unknowable and rapidly changing future, the postmodern erosion of ‘teacherly authority’, the relationship between education, passion, curiosity, and eros, and the possibility of education becoming a collective movement of soul-making. Previous episode with Zak Stein Education in a Time Between Worlds (Amazon Link) --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

An inside baseball podcast about podcasting with Jason Snyder and Jared Janes of the Both/And podcast. We chat about what we are seeing in the emerging [metamodern/metasystematic/metarational] subculture, skillful disagreement, and how podcasting can be a practice of personal growth and transformation. Jared and Jason's Favorite Episodes so far: Both/And #6 with Euvie Ivanova - http://bothand.libsyn.com/6-thriving-in-modernity-with-euvie-ivanova Both/And #11 with David Collins - http://bothand.libsyn.com/11-simply-awake-with-david-collins --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

This week I'm speaking with Dr. Douglas Tataryn. Doug has created an elegant and effective system for emotional healing and understanding. This work makes insights from years of study and practice as a clinical psychologist accessible to the everyone. In this conversation we will explore a simple technique for emotional clearing that you can begin practicing immediately, and look at how emotions play a role in meditation, human development, and cultural transformation. Doug and I discuss how emotions obstruct concentration in meditation practice, the 9 core feelings, the difference between feelings and emotions, how crying is part of the natural healing sequence of the emotional brain, the role of language in accessing our feelings, the role of emotions in moving from traditional to modern to postmodern developmental stages, a developmental assessment of the social justice warrior phenomenon, the difference between functional and dysfunctional postmodernism, and how to deal with the deep gunk of our psyche. List of 9 Core Feelings (Evernote) https://www.evernote.com/l/AJb9liB6SnJDdo75svt_T6NKTSoivOV5sPg The 9 Core Feelings (Diagnostic) http://tinyurl.com/BEFcore Bio-Emotive Meditation Retreat at the Monastic Academy (June 21-23) https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bio-emotive-emotional-processing-meditation-retreat-maple-june-21-23-tickets-61696587153 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

My guest today is Catherine McGee. Catherine has been teaching Insight Meditation retreats internationally since 1999, and since 2014 has been collaborating with Rob Burbea in shaping and teaching the Soulmaking Dharma. In this conversation we explore how the Soulmaking Dharma can open up our relationship to the topic of collapse and possible human extinction. We talk about Catherine's experience participating in the Extinction Rebellion through the lens of the Soulmaking Dharma, the weaving together of justice and soul and beauty in a time of crisis, the eros-psyche-logos dynamic, the difference between suffering (dukkha) in the classical Buddhist context and in the Soulmaking Dharma, and the possibility of enchanting catastrophe. Catherine McGee : Key Ideas of a Soulmaking Dharma (Part 1 - The Why and What) - https://dharmaseed.org/talks/audio_player/41/51516.html Catherine McGee : Key Ideas of a Soulmaking Dharma (Part 2 - The Eros-Psyche-Logos Dynamic) - https://dharmaseed.org/talks/audio_player/41/51517.html Soulmaking Dharma Email List - http://www.soulmakingdharma.net Monastic Academy Circling Intensive - https://eventbrite.com/e/circling-social-meditation-retreat-july-19-25-2019-tickets-60579783764 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Todays guest is Jeremy Johnson. Jeremy is the author of the new book 'Seeing Through the World: Jean Gebser and Integral Consciousness'. Jeremy is also the host of the wonderful Mutations podcast, and the editor of the anthology Mutations: Art, Consciousness, and the Anthropocene. Together we explore Gebser’s idea of ‘origin’, the move from the non-perspectival to perspectival to aperspectival consciousness (aka integral), the way creative innovations emerge out of presence, Gebser’s relationship with metamodernism, the difficulty of trying to articulate anything beyond the mental structure of consciousness, how to experience the past and the future in the present, and feeling our way into the diaphanous nature of the anthropocene. Seeing Through the World (Amazon) Mutations Podcast Circling Intensive at the Monastic Academy --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Today's guest is John Vervaeke, PhD. John is an award-winning lecturer at the University of Toronto in the departments of psychology, cognitive science and Buddhist psychology. John joins Emerge to discuss the meaning crisis, it's consequences, and how we might design ecologies of practice to chart a path to new vistas of meaningfulness. We cover: what is the meaning crisis, how does the meaning crisis intersect with the ecological and political crisis, how our consciousness prioritizes what is most meaningful out of the totality of perception and how much flexibility we have in adjusting and transforming what we find meaningful, why it’s problematic to ‘unbundle’ and decontextualize practices like mindfulness from a larger integrated ecology of practice, how everything from literacy to rationality to mindfulness could be considered a ‘psychotechnology’, what the highest leverage practices for resolving the meaning-crisis in our own lives, how to think about building the religions of the future, why new communities of practice ought to focus on process instead of personality, John’s own journey in amplifying the meaning in life, and how our bodies can function as ‘meaningfulness’ compasses in our lives. Awakening from the Meaning Crisis --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

My guest today is Skinner Layne. Skinner is the founder of Exosphere, a learning & problem-solving community and startup laboratory. We talk about how collapse is woven into the DNA of our system, how those who grew up in the modern west are equivalent to trust fund babies, why marxism dies from cancer, fascism dies from heart attack and consumerism dies from diabetes, how Apple is the perfection of fascist production and marxist aesthetics, why preserving the status quo is unacceptable, how collapse is more like falling down a hill than falling off a cliff...and why it may be a good idea to head down the hill preemptively, before you are pushed. Outro music by Danny J --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

A short making sense episode with frequent guest of the show Bonnitta Roy. We have a chat about the recent episodes with Jem Bendell and Vinay Gupta, and how what new paths forward may lie in the wake of the collapse narrative. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

A short making sense episode with friend and fellow monastic Peter Park. We have a chat about the recent episodes with Jem Bendell and Vinay Gupta, and how the idea of collapse is playing out in our own lives. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

This episode's guest is Vinay Gupta (@leashless). Vinay is the founder of Mattereum, the creator of the hexayurt, and part of the team that launched the Ethereum project. Vinay is also a deep spiritual practitioner, and in this two part episode we explore the intersection of awakening, social collapse, and the possibility of human extinction.  We talk about Vinay’s esoteric spiritual path and subsequent awakening to the planetary crisis, why we ought to abandon all causes except the avoidance of total human extinction, why our situation is not just a repackaged mythical eschatology, why the victors of global capitalism are becoming the new losers, why we live in a ‘monster factory’, the reality that poverty IS collapse, why love is not enough, why a UBI might be the best thing we can do to escape the worst impacts of collapse, Vinay’s critique of the idea of ‘consciousness revolution’ as a real solution to the problems of a world, the problem with the mindfulness and yoga movements in the West, why anything that’s not leading towards enlightenment is not spiritual practice, why Salvador Dali is a Buddha, what expression of awakening can serve in a planetary crisis, why grace is a form of ‘not giving a fuck’, how to get in touch with the hellish aspect of the world, and why we need to 'saw off' the 60s.  This is part two of a two part conversation.  Outro music by Danny J. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

This episode's guest is Vinay Gupta (@leashless). Vinay is the founder of Mattereum, the creator of the hexayurt, and part of the team that launched the Ethereum project. Vinay is also a deep spiritual practitioner, and in this two part episode we explore the intersection of awakening, social collapse, and the possibility of human extinction. We talk about  Vinay’s esoteric spiritual path and subsequent awakening to the planetary crisis, why we ought to abandon all causes except the avoidance of total human extinction, why our situation is not just a repackaged mythical eschatology, why the victors of global capitalism are becoming the new losers, why we live in a ‘monster factory’, the reality that poverty IS collapse, why love is not enough, why a UBI might be the best thing we can do to escape the worst impacts of collapse, Vinay’s critique of the idea of ‘consciousness revolution’ as a real solution to the problems of a world, the problem with the mindfulness and yoga movements in the West, why anything that’s not leading towards enlightenment is not spiritual practice, why Salvador Dali is a Buddha, what expression of awakening can serve in a planetary crisis, why grace is a form of ‘not giving a fuck’, how to get in touch with the hellish aspect of the world, and why we need to 'saw off' the 60s. This is part one of a two part conversation. Outro music by Danny J. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Today I'm speaking with Dr. Jem Bendell. Jem exploded onto the internet with the release of his 'Deep Adaptation' paper, which has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times. The paper makes a very persuasive argument for what Dr. Bendell calls 'Inevitable near term social collapse' due to climate change. In this conversation we talk about non-linear self-reinforcing negative feedback loops in climate systems, Dr. Bendell’s experience of grief in coming to terms with the reality of collapse, Extinction Rebellion as an expression of fierce love, the meaningfulness and joy on the other side of collapse acceptance, collapse as an invitation to face the reality of our own inevitable death, how to approach the idea of collapse in a helpful way, and whether the United States and Europe will escape the worst impacts as systems de-cohere. Deep Adaptation Paper Positive Deep Adaptation Facebook Group --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support