Dangerous Wisdom

A philosophical story, based in fact and imagination, and rooted in the nature of mind and the mind of Nature.

Adam Smith's ignorance remains a major danger--at this point, a danger to life as we know it. We will also consider one more gem of Adam Smith's dangerous wisdom: class war. Long before Karl Marx, Smith recognized class war, and tried to warn us. We look at how that relates to the shift from moral statistics to market statistics, and how infection with the capitalistic style of consciousness and thought begins to shape our world. Examples include slavery, Exxon (and the fossil-fuel industry in general), Ford (and other car makers), and more.

One of Smith's biggest philosophical blunders. We continue with the key elements of Adam Smith's dangerous ignorance, focusing on a major case of that ignorance--one that still haunts us today--and how it relates to his idea of "the invisible hand".

This episode relates to a whole series on transforming our sense of right lifestyle and right livelihood. Check out others in the series: The Magnificent Swindle (56); The Others and the Interwovenness of Earth and Soul (55); The Feedback Loop of Earth and Soul (54); The Deepest, Darkest, Dirtiest Secret of Our Stress, Strain, Trauma, Anxiety, Depression, Imposter Syndrome, Burn Out, and Loneliness (53); Famous Harvard Study misses the most Crucial Finding (47); Massive Harvard Study Reveals the True Wealth of Nations (48); Love, Luck, and the Tue Wealth of Nations: Seeds of a Gaia Scienza (49); and others--with more to come!

In this dialogue we continue our inquiry into capitalism, its problems, and the possibilities for evolving ourselves beyond it. Della Z Duncan joins us offer her keen perspective and insights. If you find economics boring, Della will bring it back to life. If you feel very much at home with economic theory . . . Della will bring it back to life.

Della Z Duncan is a Renegade Economist who supports individuals working to better align their values with their work as a Right Livelihood Coach, helps transition businesses and organizations to more sustainable, equitable, and democratic forms as a post-capitalist consultant, hosts the Upstream Podcast, challenging mainstream economic thinking through documentaries and conversations including most recently, The Green Transition Pt 1: The Problem with Green Capitalism, and teaches and facilitates retreats and workshops on Systems Change and Economics all over the world.

Della is also a Senior Fellow of Social and Economic Equity at the International Inequalities Institute in the London School of Economics, the Course Development Manager of Fritjof Capra’s Capra Course on the Systems View of Life, a Gross National Happiness Master Trainer, a founding member of the California Doughnut Economics Coalition, and a Senior Lecturer at the California Institute of Integral Studies, Santa Cruz Permaculture, Vital Cycles Permaculture, and Gaia Education. She holds an MA in Economics for Transition with Distinction from Schumacher College, a BA in International Relations and Sociology with highest honors from the University of California, Davis, a graduate certificate in Authentic Leadership from Naropa University, and has completed Joanna Macy’s Work that Reconnects Intensive Program.

Adam Smith's not exactly the most brilliant philosopher, even though he’s rather perceptive and clever in some ways. He’s not even really a philosopher so much as a professor of philosophy, and that kind of writing rarely interests me.

But what shocked me about his writing was both the nature of his ignorance and the nature of some of his insights. His writing seems perfectly symptomatic of the dominant culture.

By thinking through economic ideas from a philosophical viewpoint, we can come to a little better understanding of the dominant culture, its influence on the world, how we got to this tragic historical moment, and how we can potentially create a shift.

Because of the importance of this subject matter, and the central role of capitalism in our lives, we will have a series of contemplations and interviews about all of this, and try to creatively imagine ourselves forward, into a truly wiser, more loving, more beautiful world.

Another installment in one of our ongoing pathways of contemplation: How to bring a little more wisdom, love, and beauty into our work with the medicines of this world.

In this episode, Sunny Strasburg, LMFT joins us to discuss ketamine, magic, and more.

Sunny Strasburg, LMFT is a psychedelic trainer, consultant, therapist, and presenter. Mrs Strasburg is an EMDR-certified trauma specialist, experienced and certified in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, and trained in Internal Family Systems.

Mrs. Strasburg is a graduate of the Certification for Psychedelic Assisted Therapy from the California Institute of Integral Studies, trained in Ketamine, MDMA, and Psilocybin Assisted Psychotherapies. Sunny is the Clinical Director at TRIPP PsyAssist, developing virtual reality psychedelic support for therapists.

Sunny offers Ketamine therapy retreats, which she co-leads with Dr. Richard Schwartz, the originator of Internal Family Systems. She is a Senior Trainer at the Ketamine Training Center, co-facilitating KAP training with Bessel van der Kolk, Phil Wolfson, and other leaders in psychedelic and trauma psychology. Mrs. Strasburg also leads psychedelic therapy workshops and trainings around the world.

Sunny also specializes in attachment trauma, using an eclectic approach with the Gottman Couples Method and Jungian psychology. She offers Ketamine Assisted Therapy with individual sessions and group therapy retreats.

Sunny has developed original protocols using ketamine-assisted therapy and other trauma treatment methods, which she presents at conferences such as the 2021 EMDRIA Worldwide Virtual Conference, EMDRIA UK, and the Boston Trauma Conference. Sunny co-founded the nonprofit organization, Indra’s Net Coalition.

She is trained by MAPS, Compass Pathways, Ketamine Research Foundation, and Synthesis. Sunny hosts therapy retreats in Utah, Maryland, California, Wyoming, and Costa Rica. You can find out more at https://sunnystrasburgtherapy.com/

Dean Radin joins us to discuss some of his paradigm-busting research, and he shares a wild story about the magical power of love and the benefits of a trained mind. A dialogue you don't want to miss.

Peer-reviewed papers we discuss or that might be of interest:

Consciousness and the Double-Slit Interference Pattern

Compassionate Intention As a Therapeutic Intervention by Partners of Cancer Patients

Metaphysics of the Tea Ceremony: A Randomized Trial Investigating the Roles of Intention and Belief on Mood While Drinking Tea

Electrocortical Activity Prior to Unpredictable Stimuli in Meditators and Nonmeditators

You can learn more about Dean at his website:

https://www.deanradin.com/

It's worth your time to look up some of Dean's other research in your favorite database.

More Dangerous Wisdom at https://dangerouswisdom.org/

In this episode of The Dangerous Wisdom Podcast, artist Nica Quinn and I reflect on art, symbolism, synchronicity, magic, and the natural world. Before the dialogue begins, we consider the nature of symbols, their potential role in our spiritual/philosophical development, and some of the special symbolic and magical potency of the horse in particular.

The video version of this episode includes images of Nica's artwork:

https://youtu.be/OInMqIrQUYw

Nica Quinn is a visionary artist, perpetually inspired by nature and horses and the roles they play in deepening our understanding about ourselves. Her mission is to bridge the gap of the spiritual, ethereal realms with the physical, to inspire others to tap into the magic that lies beyond the tangible. Horses have been her gateways, her guides, and her muses throughout her life and artistic journey, and continue to lead her down this path.

She began sharing images on social media with what was going on in her internal world with horses, and found that there were a lot of people resonating with what she depicted; it has now evolved into horses at the forefront, but really the interconnection of everything. She has been a digital freelance artist since 2020, offering custom pet portraits, intuitive personal portraits which has led her to other amazing collaborations with horsewoman around the world. She has also hosted online creative workshops, and co-hosted retreats weaving together creativity and horse wisdom.

You can find the majority of her work on instagram at nica_draws_nature, and also her website https://www.nicadrawsnature.com/

You can support Nica's art via her website or her Etsy store:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/NicaDrawsNature?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=1130192829

You can get in touch with her most easily via Instagram.

The drawings in the video are by Nica Quinn, the photographs are by nikos patedakis, and the film footage comes from image databases such as Pixabay.

Note: For most listeners, it will be helpful and even essential to start with episode 1 :-)

What is the difference between the way human beings think and the way Nature functions? What is the patterning that connects all things? What is the meaning of the phrase, “We are a patterning of primordial awareness?”

Patterning. Isn’t an object. In fact, we suffer because we turn our patterning into objects. We mistake primordial awareness, which is open and spacious, for something solid.

We treat the manifestations of patterning as objects, rather than as a dance of patterning, a dance of pure relationality, which we ourselves are—intimately.

If we live in a magical way, if we know the world in a magical way, then we can know things that must remain unknowable to someone not living that way.

We might think it has to do with mere belief, as if believing in magic becomes a self-fulling prophecy. Not so. A properly philosophical practice of magic seeks experience, not belief.

The fundamental wholeness of the Cosmos makes magic possible. Practicing in accord with this wholeness allows magic to happen. Magic is the practice of wholeness.