When a caterpillar perches itself on a tree and starts enveloping itself in goo in order to enter its chrysalis, it doesn’t stop to think.

If that caterpillar had the ability to cognize as a human does, it would be shocked to see what it was doing. It might find its own behavior extremely puzzling, having never seen such a thing before.

Likewise, when we go through puberty we might be alarmed, and we have to ask our parents to understand what is going on with our bodies.

If humans were going through a spiritual transformation, we might not understand it intellectually. Just like the caterpillar, we don’t have to.

Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought - Trust the Process: 410

Sometimes we slip up and accidentally reveal the true and vulnerable nature of our beings. Quickly afterward we follow it up with a joke or something that changes the context of what we’ve said, in order to cover ourselves up.

In the case of men, many tease their friends to show their affection, instead of saying directly how much they care for their brothers.

People won’t necessarily know how to take it if we’re real with them. Then again, maybe they’ll understand entirely.

Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought - Be Real: Episode 409

Super Ego is an MC and hip hop producer coming out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, also known as a founding member of the Hip Hop Chess Club which encourages youth to use their strategic skills and exercise their creative talents.

In this interview, Kurt and Super Ego discuss many interesting ideas such as a potential mass awakening of humanity, how technological developments such as the Internet, cryptocurrency and NFTs provide a new path for artists to build a following and an income, how online communities can change the way we interact and share ideas that sound a little strange, and the nature of scarcity and abundance.

Content warning: mention of suicide, psychedelic use, language

Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought - Mass Awakening with Super Ego: Episode 408

At certain times we might feel different and we’re not sure why. Perhaps we are more anxious, paranoid or excitable than usual, and our mind might start racing to find reasons to justify why we might be feeling that way.

There can be important personal lessons from these feelings. They also might be less personal than we realize.

Often the cause of these feelings is heliophysics or “space weather”. Solar flares affect the magnetism of the earth, and in turn that can affect our central nervous systems. For example, some studies show that there are correlations between high solar activity and human breathing, melatonin levels, and hospital admissions.

We don’t need to blame ourselves for feeling strange. All we need to do is note those changes and adjust our actions accordingly.

Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought - Crazy Energy: Episode 407

When we listen, we might have the habit of forming an opinion very quickly - perhaps before we’ve even heard the general outline of the situation. We might even be quick to interrupt with our interpretation, to explain what we think we know to this poor soul in front of us who clearly has no idea about the mess he is in.

Just like the blind men touching the trunk or side of an elephant, we don’t necessarily know what it is we’re facing. Having come to our conclusion so quickly, we might not be willing to take in the extra data that would be vital in forming a whole picture.

Besides that, when a person starts telling us something, their primary motivation might be just to be heard. Solutions come later.

When we take the time to listen to people, we can develop our perspicacity. Instead of just repeating the patterns that we have previously identified, we have a chance to learn something new.

Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought - Please Listen First: Episode 406

There is this cliché in western culture of “treating yourself”. The idea is, if you feel down or uncertain of yourself, the best thing to do is buy a material object for yourself.

Generally, this is not the best way to feel better. For one thing, experiences tend to be a far better use of money than objects, at least when it comes to happiness. Objects wear out and fade, but our memories might stay with us for a lifetime.

Then we also have the option of treating ourselves without spending money, and they are numerous. We can find someone in need and help them, spend some time with a loved one and tell them how important they are to us, go for a walk in the park, or sit for five minutes in silence.

Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought - Treat Yourself: Episode 405

In Play of Consciousness, Baba Muktananda describes a meditation - going to each part of the body, beginning with the toes, and saying to it “These toes belong to the guru. Guru Om.”

He goes through each body part, releasing his identification with them until he gets to the crown… then back down to the feet.

Sometimes we identify very strongly with things that have happened to us or things we have done, with things we believe or think, and especially with our bodies. In a very real sense, we can never own our bodies completely - our claim on them is temporary.

What happens when we decide today, to let go of that claim?

Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought - Surrender the Body: Episode 404

Link McElvenny was recuperating from some health problems and found that his collarbone was weak… so weak that it snapped on the dojo floor, setting him back months in his return to health.

He started to learn that the demands he had of himself were a significant causal factor in his health. The more he tried to push himself to recover, the more setbacks he had. So slowly he started to let go of that tendency.

Another important challenge was worrying about the future. Link found out personally that most of the things we worry about do not happen. When we can release the urge to overthink things, we find that there is little reason to suffer.

Continuing his spiritual studies, he learnt some key lessons from the ancient Indian text, the Mahabharata. The most important was the underlying theme of peace in the epic - no matter how many times the characters fall, they always have a chance of redemption. And no matter how many times they recover, they might well fall again.

Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought - Return to Health Part 2 with Link McElvenny: Episode 403

A long time ago, paper was scarce, and people had to choose carefully what they wrote.

Some of what they wrote survives to this day, and some of it is just as valuable as when it was written.

Today it is very easy to find the Torah, the New Testament, the Koran, the Yoga Sutras, the Vedas, and many other holy texts, carefully preserved from a long tradition. It’s so easy that we might even take it flippantly, and when we pick up these books we seek to disagree or dismiss that ancient wisdom.

But read well and earnestly, especially aloud, drawing the spirit from those words, and you might very quickly find the deeper meanings, the deeper emotions, and the deeper value.

Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought - Read the Scriptures: Episode 402

If you only speak one language, you might assume that other languages are more or less like codes. You just swap some words for others, and change the order around a little bit, and “voila!”

In fact, it’s not like that at all. Every language has its own assumptions, and normally close ties to the culture from which it comes.

Learning a language means we can learn to challenge our way of thinking, to think in a different way. The things we assumed which were previously obscured now start to become prominent.

As we go deeper, we start to realize that people speak a certain way because people’s souls are a certain way. To truly understand, we must immerse ourselves. These things don’t come from a classroom, from a textbook. We can’t be methodically schooled on the deepest parts of our being. But perhaps some hidden aspect of Self will be revealed when we learn a language.

Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought - Learn a Language: Episode 401