Emerge: Making Sense of What's Next

After more than a decade of exploring what's emerging at the edges of culture and consciousness, it feels clear that we've crossed some kind of threshold - we're no longer in a time of gathering ideas, but of coming into deeper intimacy and action.

Thank you for accompanying me on this journey of inquiry. While Emerge is complete, I'm continuing to write and explore these threads through The Intimate Mirror on Substack, and I pray we find our way through these precarious times together.

My Substack: https://intimatemirror.substack.com/

My Coaching Work: http://www.dthorson.com

What are we going to do at this retreat, even?

Sofia-Jeanne and Sarah-Marie discuss the practices and the inspiration for the retreat.

Learn more and apply at http://antifragileheart.com/

Sofia-Jeanne and Daniel reflect on why they love the Anti-Fragile Heart Retreat.

http://antifragileheart.com/

Join me for an intimate and transformative journey into the heart of being fully alive. The Anti-Fragile Heart Retreat, taking place July 7-12, 2024 in the mountains of Asheville, NC, weaves together emotional sovereignty, mindfulness, and relational practice to cultivate an anti-fragile heart - one that is in touch with truth, beauty and goodness in each moment. Through practices of mindful presence, relational work and play, embodiment, and the powerful paradigm of Unfoldment, you'll become intimate with your inherent wholeness and unlock the resources to meet life's challenges and beauty. If you're a change-maker, navigating life transitions or high-intensity fields, seeking support amidst personal and global crises, and ready to let go of old patterns - this retreat is for you. Join us for a fun, challenging and deeply nourishing experience to embrace the fullness of your humanity and co-create a more beautiful world.

https://antifragileheart.com/

Daniel shares his feelings and disorientation in the aftermath of a profound experience and Jane opens up about living with a life-threatening health condition. They discuss the intensity and beauty of working with pain and facing endings. They then turn to the value of “being local” and the critical importance of bringing people together in physical space. Jane discusses her work with Imaginisma, an organization that describes itself as “a new kind of incubator for remembering, contacting, and amplifying the aliveness and grace of being human,” and the duo explores “aliveness” as a guiding principle. Themes of rediscovering simple, fundamental qualities of our humanity and rooting growth in the rich context of local relationship and “holy work” are contrasted with modern tendencies toward philosophical abstraction, reductionism, and trauma fixation. Finally, Jane and Daniel muse on the challenges and abnormalities of our era and their sense of hope for their own work and for today’s younger generations.

1:17 Daniel's experience of a profound opening through intimacy with pain

7:49 Jane's experience facing a life threatening condition

14:02 Pain, beauty, and "holy work"

19:56 The value of being local, especially as an antidote to abstraction

28:38 Relationship, love, and the power of bodies in space

33:42 Describing "holy work" and the philosophy of Jane's Imaginisma project

39:25 Searching for life purpose and "being in the house of aliveness"

45:21 How Jane's work straddles the material and the imaginal/etheric

49:31 Rediscovering life's latent magic and fundamental qualities of being human in the digital age

56:41 The orientation of Jane and Daniel's work toward inspiration and action (over philosophical abstraction)

1:01:24 Misconceptions about personal development and issues with pain and trauma fixation

1:08:50 Casual encounters with strangers

1:10:32 The abnormality of our times, the meaning of "normal," and "sewing seeds of ecstasy for the future"

1:14:47 A beautiful future beckoning in spite of a tragic world

1:19:38 Conclusion

Imaginisma

Daniel's Unfolding Coaching Offering

Civilizations never just happen. They are brought into existence quite consciously, with unbelievable compassion and determination, from another world. Then the job of people experienced in ecstasy is to prepare the soil for them; carefully sow and plant them; care for them; watch them grow." ― Peter Kingsley, A Story Waiting to Pierce You: Mongolia, Tibet and the Destiny of the Western World

Jane recommended a poem to accompany this episode, 'Taking of Emily Dickinson's Clothes'.

John Churchill joins Daniel to discuss the relationship between Attachment Theory and the process of awakening. Weaving together strands from Buddhist psychology and developmental psychology, John describes the Bodhisattva path and the development of a Planetary Dharma through the lenses of attunement and attachment. Topics covered include the development of the heart, the definition and various dimensions of attunement, and the difficulty of finding trustworthy spiritual teachers and community. John also shares theory and practice perspectives on the development of healthier attachment and offers words of encouragement for community building in difficult times.

0:00 Introduction and background for the talk

2:43 Western and Eastern Psychology and Attachment Theory

5:01  The attachment and attention systems and the sense of self

10:37 Addressing the split between the heart and the mind

16:21 Buddhist perspectives on the healing of the attachment system

21:26 Right relationship, attunement, and the dimensions of the heart

26:42 Developmental psychology and attunement

28:42 Levels of attunement and the significance of intuition

36:46 Collective psychological and structural components of attunement 

40:52 Awakening with and without the heart as a central point of focus

48:09 Discernment on the Buddhist path and a developmental model of the Bodhisattva

52:32 The significance of time in spiritual development

55:50  Finding trustworthy teachers and avenues of practice

1:04:30 Putting the difficulty of finding a reliable spiritual path in perspective

1:07:33 Theoretical perspectives and practical advice for developing healthier attachment 

1:20:23 Summarizing the development of healthy attachment and the Bodhisattva path from the perspective of attachment theory

1:23:37 Closing thoughts: Coming together and taking care of each other

Daniel and Jordan Hall discuss Jordan’s recent conversion to Christianity and the evolution of his worldview. How did a tech pioneer and futurist intellectual who would have said his chances of being baptized were “exactly zero” only five years ago become a convert? Daniel and Jordan talk about their respective “paths to humility” and the importance of religious community and traditional wisdom in the modern world.

Topics include the tension between innovation and tradition, Game A and Game B,  the search for deeply connected communities, the importance of grief, the evolution of modern Christianity, cultural attitudes towards Christianity, and the power of committing to Truth.

0-3:34 Jordan’s recent conversion to Christianity

3:35 The evolution of Jordan’s worldview and his relationship to religion since childhood

9:11 The 2008 financial crisis and the birth of “Game B”

16:55 Searching for “Civium” (seeking out a philosophically aligned community) 

23:07 Going to Black Mountain, North Carolina

31:18 Reflections on attending church and turning towards religion

42:06 Getting to humility

47:56 The importance of grief

49:54 “Religion that is not a religion” and the “Two Worlds Mythology”

53:26  Addressing the condemnation of Christianity in modern culture

1:02:57 Jordan’s thoughts on shifts in modern Christianity

1:06:36 The value of religious community and tradition in a neophilic culture

1:12:47 Committing to Truth

1:14:07 Wrap-up

After a long career using many therapeutic modalities, for more than a decade, Bob Falconer has devoted his practice exclusively to Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy. Bob has completed all levels of IFS training and continues to study with many of the senior IFS trainers. He co-authored the book Many Minds, One Self with IFS founder Richard Schwartz and has helped to train more than a thousand people in IFS. 

For the past several years, Bob has been devoted to completing the extensive research and writing of his new book, The Others Within Us, which deals with “unattached burdens,” “guides” and what has sometimes traditionally been referred to as spirit possession.

In this episode, Daniel and Bob discuss Bob’s personal trauma and the historical fight for the cultural and professional recognition of abuse, trauma and PTSD. They then delve into the history of psychotherapy and its connections to capitalism and colonialism and Bob’s perspectives on Internal Family Systems (IFS). While exploring the major themes of Bob’s book, they discuss the porous nature of mind, differing cultural models of mind, psychosis and spirit possession, Bob’s personal experiences with “the others within us,” the imaginal realm, and how Western psychology might shift from a “mono-mind” perspective to a “porous mind” one in the future.

Timestamps

The Others Within Us

Tasshin – which means “to reach or achieve truth” – describes himself as an “online pilgrim wandering this precious world for the benefit of all beings.”

In this episode, Daniel talks with Tasshin about some of the lessons he has learned and his unique insights into what it means to “live your vow,” from clarifying one’s sense of unique purpose to effectively coordinating with individuals and groups. While breaking down a statement on “bottlenecks” from Tasshin’s recent article, they outline a powerful framework that connects inner and outer work and service.

Topics covered include productivity, psychology, ethics, effective coordination, the technological and poetic attunements (as described by Heidegger), the pathology of trying to “solve the world’s problems,” and the duo’s friendship, which dates back to their two-plus years together at the Monastic Academy.

Tasshin's Home on the Internet

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Timestamp

02:15 Daniel and Tasshin’s Personal Connection and Mutual Inspiration

This episode is a 're-Cast' from the Coach's Rising podcast, hosted by Joel Monk. I was so moved and inspired by the conversation I thought I'd share it with you all on my stream. I've been following John Churchill's work for some time, and this was exactly the conversation I wanted to have with him. It's a beautiful episode, and I hope you enjoy.

Dr. John Churchill is a Doctor of Psychology and teacher of Buddha Dharma as well as a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine and author. John’s interest in psycho-spiritual development, Integral theory, Contemplative studies, Western Esotericism, and Mahayana Buddhism began in his adolescence, leading him to spend several years as a Buddhist monk at Samye Ling Monastery in Scotland. During this time, John received the esoteric Planetary Dharma transmissions that would in time unfold as his contribution to a planetary fourth turning teaching. He is also a founding member of the Integral Institute.

WEBSITES
https://www.karunamandala.org/
https://samadhiintegral.com/

https://www.coachesrising.com/