Rebel Wisdom

Iain McGilchrist has been outlining for many years that a fundamental problem in the way we are perceiving the world is likely to lead us into trouble. Now in 2022 he believes the situation is reaching a crucial turning point and we need to wake up urgently.  In this conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller he talks about how our current culture's domination by a 'left brain', reductionistic, materialist and literalist perspective had reached crisis point.  He explains how this is manifesting as a 'war on reality', and a series of attacks on free speech. Iain's work can be found here: https://channelmcgilchrist.com/ 

Are we going about self development in the wrong way? That's the question tackled by our new film and course with the long time coach Steve March. Steve's work, Aletheia Coaching, has been welcomed and embraced by the likes of John Vervaeke and others in what's been described as the Liminal Web, as it consciously addresses what's called the Meaning Crisis or Meta Crisis. This is released at the same time as a short course with Steve to learn the basics of the Unfolding method, which teaches a powerful new approach to development known as 'unfoldment'. You'll learn: - How to attune to yourself, others, and the world in a way that promotes deeper connection and purpose. - Practices to help you deeply participate in your present-moment experience - Techniques and practices to help you create unfolding partnerships with others To find out more, check here: https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/courses/unfolding

Iain McGilchrist has been outlining for many years that a fundamental problem in the way we are perceiving the world is likely to lead us into trouble. Now in 2022 he believes the situation is reaching a crucial turning point and we need to wake up urgently. In this conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller he talks about how our current culture's domination by a 'left brain', reductionistic, materialist and literalist perspective had reached crisis point. He explains how this is manifesting as a 'war on reality', and a series of attacks on free speech. Iain's work can be found here: https://channelmcgilchrist.com/  

Many people have observed that the conversation we have been curating on Rebel Wisdom has featured many more men than women. Of course we have regularly been asking ourselves why that is, and whether there is a more ‘feminine' contribution to the dialogue that is not being heard? This was the topic I explored with two fascinating women recently, Schuyler Brown and Samantha Sweetwater. Check out Schuyler's work here, 'The Art of Emergence': https://www.artofemergence.com/  And Samantha here: https://www.samanthasweetwater.com/ 

There has been a lot of focus on the damage that social media is doing to all of us, its users. This growing awareness was partly fuelled by the work of Tristan Harris, through the breakout hit documentary The Social Dilemma. But there has been less attention on how this new landscape also affects creators, through factors like audience capture and feedback loops that distort truth seeking.  Tristan Harris is the director of the Centre for Humane Technology, trying to re-envision a healthier relationship with the technological tools we are using: https://www.humanetech.com/ 

Where are we headed as a species? What is the landscape of risks and challenges that we need to confront over the next decades, and are there a small number of key factors that we need to solve to avoid catastrophe? These are the questions Daniel Schmachtenberger is laying out in a new two part series on Rebel Wisdom, called 'In Search of the Third Attractor'. As he describes it, the power of ever increasing technological capacity (exponential tech) means that both destructive and creative capacities are increasing exponentially. Two of the most likely outcomes (attractors) are either some kind of chaotic breakdown, or the development of powerful control systems in response, oppressive authoritarian control. Given this, what does a third option, a 'third attractor' look like? Daniel will be speaking at the Rebel Wisdom festival, 'the Last Campfire' in London on November 5th. To check it out and buy tickets, go to: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/r...  To find out more about the topics Daniel is discussing, check out his work on civilisation, at Civilization Emerging: https://civilizationemerging.com/ And for more on his work around the Sensemaking crisis, check out the Consilience Project: https://consilienceproject.org/   TIMECODES: UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM: 00:00:00 BENEVOLENT DICTATORSHIP DOESN'T WORK: 00:06:21 HYPER AGENTS: 00:15:06 GREAT GAME OF POWER: 00:26:55 EGREGORES: 00:34:38 TECHNOLOGY & ETHICS: 00:42:50 TECHNOLOGY CHANGES SOCIETY: 00:49:45 INFRASTRUCTURE, SOCIAL STRUCTURE, SUPERSTRUCTURE: 00:59:49 WISDOM OF GODS: 01:13:14 EDUCATION: 01:30:40 CLOSING THOUGHTS: 01:42:08

Where are we headed as a species? What is the landscape of risks and challenges that we need to confront over the next decades, and are there a small number of key factors that we need to solve to avoid catastrophe? These are the questions Daniel Schmachtenberger is laying out in a new two part series on Rebel Wisdom, called 'In Search of the Third Attractor'. As he describes it, the power of ever increasing technological capacity (exponential tech) means that both destructive and creative capacities are increasing exponentially. Two of the most likely outcomes (attractors) are either some kind of chaotic breakdown, or the development of powerful control systems in response, oppressive authoritarian control. Given this, what does a third option, a 'third attractor' look like? Daniel will be speaking at the Rebel Wisdom festival, 'the Last Campfire' in London on November 5th. To check it out and buy tickets, go to: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/rebelwisdom/718672  To find out more about the topics Daniel is discussing, check out his work on civilisation, at Civilization Emerging: https://civilizationemerging.com/  And for more on his work around the Sensemaking crisis, check out the Consilience Project: https://consilienceproject.org/  Timecodes: INTRODUCTION: 00:00:00 SENSEMAKING: 00:02:10 THE TWO ATTRACTORS: 00:06:09 EXISTENTIAL HOPE?: 00:09:01 INTERCONNECTEDNESS: 00:14:33 FAILURES OF ACTIVISM: 00:18:33 CATASTROPHIC RISK: 00:25:08 THE POST WW2 SYSTEM: 00:38:40 EXPONENTIAL DESTRUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY: 00:45:02 NEAR-TERM RISKS: 00:50:48 THE ENERGY TRAP: 00:58:10 PERVERSE INCENTIVES: 01:03:54 PRIVATE GAINS, EXTERNAL LOSSES: 01:09:38 BIOTECH RISKS: 01:14:13 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: 01:19:29 MULTIPOLAR TRAPS: 01:29:03 CORPORATIONS VERSUS INDIVIDUALS: 01:46:54 NEW GOVERNANCE SYSTEMS: 01:53:27 NETWORK DYNAMICS: 01:58:41 SOLVING MULTI-POLAR TRAPS?: 02:06:51 CENTRALISING POWER: 02:17:47 COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE: 02:33:00

One of the most frequently referenced names among many of the thinkers we've been following on Rebel Wisdom has been that of Rene Girard. He was a French polymath, historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science, who introduced the idea of memetic desire, and an explanation of the function of the 'scapegoat' in organising societies. He was described as the "new Darwin of the human species".  Luke Burgis has just written a book about Girard's work called 'Wanting, the Power of Memetic Desire in Everyday Life': https://lukeburgis.com/wanting/  He joined us to introduce this fascinating thinker and to answer RW members' questions about why this work is so significant now.

This is part 2 of an exclusive conversation between Jonathan Pageau and John Vervaeke recorded in Toronto recently.  In it John and Jonathan reflect on the recent ‘War on Reality' piece with Paul Kingsnorth and Mary Harrington: https://youtu.be/x4kms2jkKbA  They ask whether we have replaced virtue with value. They also take a turn into the question of the occult, where Jonathan and John talk about whether concepts such as ‘demons' can be explained as independently existing patterns of reality.

In the conversation Rebel Wisdom has been tracking, what's missing? Layman Pascal believes we're not paying enough attention to the irrational, the realms of the imaginal and the occult.  "Layman Pascal was incarnated on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest. He used to be a meditation teacher, yoga instructor & public speaker — but he's feeling much better now." He is one of the hosts of the podcast The Integral Stage: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaA4zkLRnR3lGm8Y7c5Tvdw 

In this conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller, Ken Wilber reflects on the turbulent dynamics of the last few years, and particularly the trajectory of the figures in what was called the Intellectual Dark Web (IDW) including Jordan Peterson and Dave Rubin. This is released shortly after a recent Substack piece by David Fuller called 'What Happened to Jordan Peterson?': https://rebelwisdom.substack.com/p/what-happened-to-jordan-peterson  Ken Wilber is the creator of Integral theory, it attempts to place a wide diversity of theories and models into one single framework. The basis is a "spectrum of consciousness," from archaic consciousness to ultimate spirit, presented as a developmental model. This is a follow up to conversations we recorded back in 2019, which were published as: Ken Wilber: 'Jordan Peterson and the evolution of thought': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDjCnFvz11A  Ken Wilber: The Intellectual Dark Web, an Integral Conversation? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2XK812tSmM 

A wide-ranging conversation on the experience of sensemaking during the pandemic, with Zubin Damania (ZDoggMD). Zubin first came to my attention with a viral video at the start of 2020 where he channelled some righteous anger at the medical establishment's response to the pandemic, and said he hoped that the crisis would be the trigger to “burn this broken system to the ground”. For years he's been arguing for a significant change to the medical system, away from treating people as interchangeable parts in a machine and towards a more holistic vision of what he calls Health 3.0. During the pandemic we compared notes on what we were seeing, through shared frameworks like Ken Wilber's Integral Theory and Jonathan Haidt's “moral tastebuds”. He argues for nuance and complexity, and dubs his political perspective as “alt-middle”. 0:00 - The Pandemic & the Information Ecology 04:02 - Zubin & Health Care 3.0 08:09 - The USP of Rebel Wisdom, curating a conversation 10:09 - The pandemic was a stress test that we failed 14:03 - The internet leaking out into the real world 16:37 - The religiosity of the Covid debate 19:53 - The rise in conspiracy narratives 22:56 - Questioning our own thinking 29:33 - Public intellectuals going off the rails 32:48 - The hermeneutics of suspicion 39:00 - A culture of bullshit 44:14 - Conspiracies thrive in the gaps of the mainstream 46:31 - The pre/trans of the insurgency after 2018 53:34 - Paradox of being outside the institutions - audience capture 58:27 - Warping effects of the tech platforms accelerated on creators 01:00:37 - Attention hijack as opposite of mindfulness 01:02:41 - The tragic arc of Jordan Peterson 01:06:55 - The return of the repressed 01:14:14 - The return of psychedelic medicine 01:18:57 - The limitations of psychedelics 01:22:51 - Meditation & Awakening 01:29:36 - Ayahuasca 01:32:14 - Culture War 2.0 & the memetic tribes 01:43:06 - Post Pandemic Awakening 01:46:39 - The English Taboo Against Earnestness 01:49:30 - Mutual Appreciation Society

This was a special in person dialogue between the cognitive scientist John Vervaeke and the symbolism expert Jonathan Pageau. They reflect on what each finds valuable about each other's work, the nature of the conversation that they have been part of, good and bad criticism, the nature of symbolism and much more.  It was recorded in Toronto during the making of the forthcoming Rebel Wisdom documentary about John Vervaeke's thought. Some behind the scenes pictures, and a second part of this film is available for subscribers on the Rebel Wisdom Substack: LINK HERE John Vervaeke's YouTube channel is here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpqDUjTsof-kTNpnyWper_Q  Jonathan Pageau's work can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtCTSf3UwRU14nYWr_xm-dQ  Timecodes for the conversation: 0:00 - What does Jonathan appreciate about John's work? 3:55 - What does John appreciate about Jonathan's work? 9:35 - What is the nature of the wider conversation you are both part of? 16:10 - The nature of criticism & "civility porn" 24:09 - The need to go beyond the political layer of analysis 26:19 - Paranoia fuelled by the 'Hermeneutics of Suspicion' 35:16 - Dialogue, Curiosity & Wonder 48:25 - How Symbolism breaks the frame and rewires our thinking 54:36 - A parable is to a narrative what a koan is to a question 57:35 - "I want to help people fall in love with Being again" 01:05:23 - The moral of Socrates and Alcibiades 01:12:56 - Patterns of Being; love, faith & beauty 01:21:32 - Freedom cannot be absolute

For years the journalist Oliver Burkeman became obsessed with productivity and personal growth, documenting his explorations in a weekly column. Finally it struck him that this attempt was a deeply religious quest, tied into ideas of perfectibility and salvation. When he realised this, he was finally able to find more peace. "For me, the obsession with productivity was totally tied up with this weird self-worth question. [There's] this whole notion that it's all focussed on some moment when everything's going to be alright…there's something about that feels like it's got something to do with justification and salvation, and that feels very religious to me."  Oliver is someone who has had a similar path to Rebel Wisdom's founder David Fuller, working for the legacy media, and also very interested in personal growth, and they sat down for a wide ranging and fascinating conversation which we are releasing now as a special preview for all Rebel Wisdom subscribers. Check out Oliver's latest book 'Four Thousand Weeks', a sobering allusion to the average human lifespan: https://www.oliverburkeman.com/books 

Learning how to come to our senses and connect to our bodies is essential in an information landscape that highjacks our attention and pulls it away from what matters to us.  Our new course 'Embodiment and Flow' helps you reconnect through breathwork, mindfulness, cultural embodiment, movement, rhythm and flow training. In this launch film we play clips from the course faculty - John Vervaeke, Schuyler Brown, Nicola Price, Roger Jackson, Dr. Shama Rahman and Tom Morley - as they explain different ways we can connect to our bodies and get into a state of flow. Read more and sign up here: https://www.rebelwisdom.co.uk/courses/embodiment  Learn practical embodiment tools you can apply to your life, and to making sense of culture in a completely new way. Learn how embodiment makes it easier to tap into a flow state - that space of being 'in the zone', where time slows down and we move seamlessly with your environment, performing at the best of our abilities. Find out what your unique embodiment needs are and learn how to meet them with the support of world-class teachers and participants from around the world.

John Lloyd is a legendary comedy producer, who produced some of the biggest comedy hits of the 80s and 90s, including Not the Nine O Clock News, Spitting Image, and all four series of Blackadder. After a mid life crisis he realised that his success wasn't making him happy, and this led to a lengthy search for meaning and wisdom.  This conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller covered everything from comedy, to the nature of creativity, and the meaning of life.  They also discuss his relationship with his former flatmate and writing partner Douglas Adams, the creator of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.   00:00 Intro 05:17 Personal Life 11:59 Knowing Nothing 16:32 Religion & The Origin of Ideas 26:11 Quite Interesting 30:01 Depression & Focusing on the Other 38:34 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy & Douglas Adams 45:29 Religion & Secular Rituals 54:02 Science & Spirituality 01:02:44 Intelligence, Comedy & Wisdom  01:12:01 Paradigm Shift 01:20:17 Closing

This is a wide ranging conversation about conspiracy theories, the occult, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and more with the writer Daniel Pinchbeck.  Over the years Daniel has spent a lot of time investigating alternative narratives including conspiracy, and has been critical of Rebel Wisdom in the past for not taking these seriously enough.  Alongside this conversation we are publishing a long written piece about the subject of conspiracy theories, with special focus on the recent high profile interview of Maajid Nawaz on the Joe Rogan podcast: https://rebelwisdom.substack.com/p/conspiracy-criticism-and-the-case?s=w  We also talk about Daniel's high profile sex scandal and 'cancellation'.  You can find Daniel's writing on his Substack here: https://substack.com/profile/2728693-daniel-pinchbeck 

In one of the most important developments in the dynamic between big tech, free speech and media in many years, Elon Musk is buying Twitter for $44bn. Much of the commentary online has devolved into the predictable political shouting matches, and there has been very little engagement with the key questions that this brings up about the nature of moderation, of how to create healthy dialogue and what problems Elon will have to wrestle with in taking Twitter forward. Jim Rutt is the former head of the Santa Fe Institute, and has been involved with online communities since the birth of the internet. He believes that Elon has not fully wrestled with the problem of moderation that he will be taking on with Twitter, a view he explained in his new piece for Quillette, 'Musk & Moderation': https://quillette.com/2022/04/27/musk-and-moderation/  This is a sometimes robust debate and disagreement with Aaron Rabinowitz, a moral philosopher and host of the Embrace the Void podcast. Aaron has spent time wrestling with these same issues, in particular in a famous experiment he ran during the Trump election of 2016 when he created a completely unmoderated discussion group, called Monster island: https://www.skeptic.org.uk/2020/10/monster-island-free-speech-experiment/  Check out Jim's podcast, the Jim Rutt Show: https://www.jimruttshow.com/  And Aaron's podcast Embrace the Void: https://voidpod.com/podcasts 

"This is like The Matrix written from the point of view in which Agent Smith is the good guy, isn't it?" — Paul Kingsnorth Mary Harrington and Paul Kingsnorth are two of the most intriguing thinkers we've featured on Rebel Wisdom. Despite substantial overlap between Paul's concept of "the machine" and Mary's idea of "luxury Gnosticism", they have never been in dialogue with each other.  This was a fascinating and wide ranging conversation where Paul and Mary pushed back against the modernist fervor for transcending the limits of the natural world — they want to remind you that meatspace is not going away, and that it can be quite lovely! Mary and Paul are returning soon to the Rebel Wisdom Digital Campfire to talk more about this topic, asking the question, 'What Do We Do?'. To join that conversation become a RW member: https://www.patreon.com/rebelwisdom  Check out Paul's newsletter 'The Abbey of Misrule': https://paulkingsnorth.substack.com/  And Mary's work for Unherd: https://unherd.com/author/mary-harrington/ 

This is a conversation that was originally posted on Meghan Daum's 'Unspeakable' podcast as 'Talking Sense Into Sensemakers'. David and Meghan talk about their shared history exploring the 'heterodox' space over the last years, and their impressions of what needs to come next. Unspeakable podcast: https://www.theunspeakablepodcast.com/ 

John Vervaeke is a cognitive scientist - a good friend of RW - and the creator of the cult hit - awakening from the meaning crisis series. A couple of weeks ago he travelled to the UK for a series of talks - and we took the opportunity to film this excellent dialogue with the philosopher and chess grandmaster Jonathan Rowson, the co-founder of Perspectiva. They cover a lot of ground, including John's passion for transformative speech - or dialogos, questions like the existence of God, and much more. We had our own brilliant event with John - which is listed as a member film - and you can see by signing up for our Substack newsletter: https://rebelwisdom.substack.com/p/an-evening-with-john-vervaeke-live-9cd?s=w  John's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/johnvervaeke?app=desktop  Jonathan's project, Perspectiva: https://systems-souls-society.com/ 

Alex Kaschuta is the host of the Subversive podcast, where she hosts controversial thinkers exploring the 'post-liberal moment'. She used to work in media in London, where she described herself then as a classic rationalist atheist and feminist. In the last few years she's moved back to Romania, become a mother, and has been exploring more traditionalist perspectives, in her life, and through the conversations on her podcast. In this conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller we cover her recent journey, and how it mirrors many others making the turn from rationalist to traditionalist, and what that says about the cultural time we find ourselves in. Alex's Subversive podcast: https://alexkaschuta.com/subversive-podcast

Chris Kavanagh is a cognitive anthropologist, and the co-host of the increasingly popular and influential podcast 'Decoding the Gurus'. This is a podcast that critiques many of the new breed of public intellectuals, including some who have been featured on Rebel Wisdom. Together with co-host, psychologist Matt Browne, they analyse the methods and messages of what they've described as 'secular gurus'. This is an important conversation, about the necessity of criticism, of what counts as good and bad faith, and how truth seeking gets warped. It's a controversial project for many, and in this conversation, Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller puts many of those criticisms to Chris directly.  Alongside this video, David Fuller has written a detailed and exhaustive analysis on Substack, highly recommended to read: https://rebelwisdom.substack.com/p/decoding-the-gurus-and-the-necessity?r=ye9pq&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Also referenced in the conversation are: An earlier recording with Chris 'Criticising the IDW': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByZCCmQVPdg Chris's presentation of the 'Gurometer' at The Stoa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EazLoBk9gA Peter Limberg's 'Memetic Tribes of Culture War 2.0' piece: https://medium.com/s/world-wide-wtf/memetic-tribes-and-culture-war-2-0-14705c43f6bb

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia is now over a month old. Konstantin Kisin is a comedian and the host of the Triggernometry show, he is also a Russian immigrant with family in both Ukraine and Russia. In this conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller he talks about his emotional journey over the course of the war, and how he has struggled with the way the conflict is portrayed in some areas close to home.

How can we relate authentically in a world that's tearing itself apart? What skills do we need to truly understand perspectives that differ from our own, and in turn, how can we invite people to consider other ways of thinking?  In this conversation with authentic relating superstar Sara Ness we go from the personal to the cultural, asking how do we have a different kind of conversation; one that isn't about winning, but about authentic connection that takes us somewhere new. We are launching a course with Sara starting on 5 April called 'The Art of Difficult Conversations', where we'll give you tools to help you resolve some of the biggest communication questions of our time. For example: “How do I even start talking about my perspectives and ideas?” “Why does every conversation I have about current affairs turn into a fight?” “How can I relate with people who don't make sense to me, and don't want to hear me out?” Check out more details on the course here: https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/courses/conversations

How will Russia's invasion of Ukraine shape the world for decades to come? Samo Burja is a geopolitical expert who has developed a reputation for bucking the conventional wisdom.  In this conversation he makes his predictions for the future, explaining how he believes we are misunderstanding Russia, how China is playing an economic long game, and the lessons from history in understanding what will happen next. Bismarck Analysis: https://www.bismarckanalysis.com/ Check out Rebel Wisdom's deep dive newsletter on Ukraine: https://rebelwisdom.substack.com/p/sensemaking-russia-and-ukraine-rebel?s=w

What are the deeper religious and philosophical currents informing Vladimir Putin and the Russian invasion of Ukraine?  Gary Lachman is the author of the recent book 'The Return of Holy Russia: Apocalyptic History, Mystical Awakening, and the Struggle for the Soul of the World'. In this conversation he argues that we have to understand the deep well of Russian philosophy and understand how Putin sees himself and Russia's historic mission.

Integral philosophy has been a big influence on many of Rebel Wisdom's guests over the years. So we brought together three key figures, meditator and mediator Diane Musho Hamilton, the host of the popular Daily Evolver podcast Jeff Salzman and the author of the book Developmental Politics, Steve McIntosh. They talked about how the integral map can help make sense of the responses to the pandemic, we discussed Jordan Peterson and the Intellectual Dark Web, and also responded to recent critiques of developmental thinking from the likes of Nora Bateson. This was a dialogue and Q&A with Rebel Wisdom members in our Digital Campfire.

All the arrayed forces of the sensemaking crisis, cancel culture, censorship and the ethical dilemmas of truth seeking seem now to be focused on one man, the podcaster and comedian Joe Rogan. These questions were already brought into a heightened focus by the pandemic, and the question of accurate medical information or misinformation taking on a life or death importance. It was into that context that Rogan stepped a few weeks ago with two interviews with highly controversial medical figures, Peter McCullough and Robert Malone.  The medical question is the key one, and taps into all of the key questions about the warping of the information landscape that Rebel Wisdom has been focused on for the last few years, and it's this aspect that we recorded a conversation with the doctor and podcaster Zubin Damania (ZDoggMD). This conversation was recorded before the recent "n-word" controversy erupted around Rogan.

A few months ago we put out a brilliant conversation about the deep mythology of the new Dune movie with the sci fi writer and podcaster Damien Walter - looking at what the stories we tell through science fiction tell us about who we are and where we're going. This is a dialogue with the host of the Symbolic World, Jonathan Pageau, about the religious and mythological symbolism and role of sci fi.  They cover a vast amount of territory, from The Matrix to Star Trek, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg - and end by predicting the next stories we'll likely see over the next years. https://thesymbolicworld.com/  https://damiengwalter.com/category/podcast/  To see all our written content, check out our new Substack, where you can also find our newly released free Sensemaking Companion: https://rebelwisdom.substack.com/  Our groundbreaking Sensemaking 101 course is starting again in February: https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/courses/sensemaking-101-page 

A few months ago we put out a brilliant conversation about the deep mythology of the new Dune movie with the sci fi writer and podcaster Damien Walter - looking at what the stories we tell through science fiction tell us about who we are and where we're going. This is a dialogue with the host of the Symbolic World, Jonathan Pageau, about the religious and mythological symbolism and role of sci fi.  They cover a vast amount of territory, from The Matrix to Star Trek, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg - and end by predicting what the next stories we'd likely see over the next years. https://thesymbolicworld.com/ https://damiengwalter.com/category/podcast/ To see all our written content, check out our new Substack, where you can also find our newly released free Sensemaking Companion: https://rebelwisdom.substack.com/ Our groundbreaking Sensemaking 101 course is starting again in February: https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/courses/sensemaking-101-page

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

Web3 is the collective name for the latest wave of innovation online. Touted as much more decentralised, democratic and creative than the current web ecosystem, for its evangelists it's our best hope to innovate our way out of many our most pressing societal problems. Jordan Hall is a tech entrepreneur and Deep Code analyst, who has been deeply involved in what is now being called Web1, the early garage innovators who created the early internet, and also Web2, when cyberspace was colonised by the the new monoliths like Google, Facebook and Apple. He's deeply invested in the success of Web3. In this conversation with Rebel Wisdom, Jordan discusses the possible trajectory of Web3, how well developed the space is, and also the problems that are becoming ever more apparent. In particular how the early hopes that Web3 might be able to find tech solutions to the eternal problems of human beings coordinating together, seem to be failing. We will be hosting an open discussion on Web3 and the questions raised by this conversation on Tuesday December 21st, this will be open to all, register here to take part: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0sc-mpqj4qE9XG61uH1sGi5KBUeICxwGcz

Jamie Bartlett is a writer and journalist who's been investigating our complex relationship with technology for years, through books like People vs Tech, and recently through the hit podcast the Missing Crypto Queen. In this conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller he talked about how technology was starting to play an almost religious role in our lives, how the rise of tech was a fundamental challenge to democracy, and about his famous run in with Alex Jones. Missing Cryptoqueen podcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07nkd84/episodes/downloads To join conversations in our Digital Campfire check out our upcoming events and membership options here: https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/campfire-events

Paul Kingsnorth is one of the most interesting voices wrestling with the deepest questions of modernity, religion and the spiritual void in western culture. A former pagan - and long time environmentalist - a couple of years ago he had a completely unexpected conversion to Christianity, which he outlined in his fascinating piece The Cross and the Machine: https://www.firstthings.com/article/2021/06/the-cross-and-the-machine In this conversation in Rebel Wisdom's Digital Campfire we discussed his journey, and reflected on the deep Christian story that we're all immersed in in the west - and if it's even possible to move outside it? To join conversations like this, check out our membership options: https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/plans Check out Paul's newsletter, The Abbey of Misrule: https://paulkingsnorth.substack.com/ 

Why are we still obsessed with The Beatles, and is it healthy? Fifty years after they broke up, it seems that the mark they made on our culture has not faded. Does this demonstrate the timeless genius of the band, or is it a sign of a culture that is stuck? A few days ago saw the release of an eight hour fly-on-the-wall documentary 'Get Back', made by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson. It shows some of their last sessions as they put together the album 'Let it Be', and culminated in their famous rooftop concert. Erik Davis is the foremost historian of the counterculture, and Anderson Todd works in the Wisdom and Consciousness Lab at Toronto University. In this epic conversational riff they examine what was captured in The Beatles' music and why it resonates today. This conversation was recorded in the Rebel Wisdom Digital Campfire. To join conversations like this check out our upcoming events: https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/campfire-events Check out Erik's newsletter, The Burning Shore: https://techgnosis.com/discover-burning-shore/

Are the UK and US about to legalise magic mushrooms? A number of cities and states in the US have decriminalised psychedelics, and recent headlines in the UK have reported that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is thinking of rescheduling psilocybin. But 50 years into the war on drugs, is widespread legalisation a real possibility? In this film Alexander Beiner speaks with three experts to find out. Professor David Nutt heads up Drug Science, the UK's leading independent body on drugs. Crispin Blunt is a British Member of Parliament campaigning to reschedule psilocybin. Tom Eckert co-led the campaign to successfully legalise psilocybin therapy in Oregon, providing a model for how legalisation campaigns of the might look. Become a Rebel Wisdom member to join practice sessions, live Q&A's and more on www.patreon.com/rebelwisdom Learn more about Drug Science on drugscience.org.uk Find out more about the Conservative Drug Policy Reform Group on https://www.cdprg.co.uk/

Is reality created in our minds, or are the things you can touch and feel all that's real? Philosopher Bernardo Kastrup holds doctorates in both philosophy and computer science, and has made a name for himself by arguing for metaphysical idealism, the idea that reality is essentially a mental phenomenon. In this Showcase he explains why he's come to this conclusion, and why this age-old debate in philosophy can help us make sense of everything from how we practice science to how we navigate the meaning crisis. Check out Bernardo's work on https://www.bernardokastrup.com/ Follow him on Twitter @bernardokastrup Participate in conversations like this in our Digital Campfire by becoming a Rebel Wisdom member on https://www.patreon.com/rebelwisdom

In ‘The Matter with Things', Iain McGilchrist tackles the big questions: Who are we? What is the world? How can we understand consciousness, matter, space and time? What happens if we neglect the sacred and divine? He argues that we have become enslaved to an account of things dominated by a partial view dominated by the brain's left hemisphere, one that blinds us to an awe-inspiring reality that is all around us, had we but eyes to see it. He suggests that in order to understand ourselves and the world we need science and intuition, reason and imagination, not just one or two. When we do, we tap into an understanding that is both profound and beautiful, in line with the deepest traditions of human wisdom. Dr. Iain McGilchrist is a psychiatrist, philosopher and literary scholar. He is a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and of the Royal Society of Arts, as well as a former Clinical Director of the Bethlem Royal & Maudsley Hospital, London. With a gift for synthesising neuroscience, culture and philosophy, his thought has provided essential frames for making sense of the times we live in and proved particularly influential on Rebel Wisdom over the years.

This is a short podcast to announce an upcoming film project with John Vervaeke, and an opportunity to contribute ideas and skills to help make it happen. The aim of the film is primarily to answer the question 'Where do you start?' when encountering John's work, what do you send to someone as an introduction? We are particularly interested to hear from skilled animators, documentary producers or other TV folk. Other contributions on how to tell the story also welcome - email: projects@rebelwisdom.co.uk

The question of where Covid-19 came from has become one of the most contentious and heated topics. Even the US intelligence community is split between those who believe it most likely emerged naturally from the wild and those who believe it came from a lab, the Wuhan Institute of Virology. This is a conversation about where the evidence points between Yuri Deigin of the DRASTIC collective that has been researching the lab, and Stuart Neil, a virology professor at Kings College in the UK. There is a fair amount of technical detail in this conversation, which is being released unedited. To help the more casual viewer we have listed relevant timecodes to the more accessible parts of the dialogue. 03:30 - How has this debate been going so far? 05:14 - Yuri, how confident are you that it's a lab leak? 08:33 - Stuart, how confident are you that it's Zoonosis? 10:57 - Yuri, what are the key issues? 19:15 - Is the Furin Cleavage Site the 'smoking gun'? 27:07 - Stuart, what are the key issues for you? 27:23 - "No clear evidence of manipulation" 38:42 - "The design of the virus is implausible from an engineering perspective" 39:54 - Was the virus optimised for human transmission? 45:28 - Gain of Function experiments 51:15 - Is the DARPA grant a recipe for SARS-CoV-2? 54:26 - Are there any theories that can be discounted, eg: bioweapon? 01:00:14 - How much effort and manpower would it take to engineer? 01:04:30 - How would you engineer it? 01:10:42 - What do you think is the most likely scenario, Yuri? 01:13:10 - The livestock trade in China 01:15:19 - Why did the virus show up in Wuhan? 01:17:32 - What about the secrecy & cover up in China? 01:23:18 - The Mojiang mine & Drastic 01:27:38 - What about the virus RaTG13? 01:32:03 - How viruses are investigated in the lab 01:39:10 - What are the key questions that need to be resolved? 01:42:36 - Will we ever know the answer? 01:46:52 - Has anyone changed their mind?

What can Socrates teach us about identity politics? Can Mary Wollstonecraft give us a fresh take on free speech in the age of big tech? What would Carl Jung make of the strange union of the new age and far right known as ‘Conspirituality'?   This video introduces our latest course, led by award-winning public philosopher Jules Evans, looks at the big philosophical ideas and thinkers behind some of the noisiest issues of the day. With so much reaction and outrage in public debate, it can be difficult to step back and see the philosophical positions – the deep code – underlying these clashing currents. When we do, we can uncover essential insights that help us thrive in the times we live in.   https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/courses/essential-philosophy-for-modern-life   Essential Philosophy for Modern Life will take you on a journey of understanding the key philosophical ideas and arguments underlying today's disputes. We will unpack these ideas in a critical and non-dogmatic way, introducing you to some of the leading thinkers and philosophies that can help you see where people are coming from, where your own philosophical sympathies might lie, and why there are always two sides to every argument.