Prefer watching on YouTube? View it here → MTCSD Conversation #2: Clare McBee

Overview

Today, I speak with clinical social worker, activist, and Dharma practitioner, Clare McBee. We discuss the importance of integrating spirituality and an anti-oppression lens in clinical care, making meaning of suffering, refuge and unbearable compassion.

Sources & Further Reading*

* 03:40 Anti-oppression, The Anti-Oppression Network

* 11:45 Internal Family Systems (IFS), IFS Institute

* 12:30 Non-Ordinary State of Consciousness (NOSC) , Center for Mindful Psychotherapy

* 14:30 Bodhisattava, Wikipedia

* 15:30 Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), Psychedelic Therapy Boston

* 19:55 Sangha, Wikipedia

* 21:15 Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), EMDR Institute

* 24:10 Stan Grof, Wikipedia

* 25:30 Tara’s Daughters by Roslyn Dauber, Letterboxd

* 30:00 Tibetan Nuns project

* 34:00 Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker, Thrift Books

* 46:45 Tian Dayton, Relational Trauma Repair

* 48:00 Dukkha, Wikipedia

* 50:40 Hungry Ghosts, Wikipedia

* 51:05 Awakening from the Daydream by David Nichtern, Thrift Books

* 1:01:45 Nangpa, Rigpa Wiki

* 1:05:45 Lama Rod Owens

*I support the democratization and crowdsourcing of knowledge, and I regard platforms such as Wikipedia as valid and valuable repositories of human knowledge that help balance academic gatekeeping of epistemic authority. I also value rigorous fact-checking and common sense.Disclaimer: I use AI to assist with research, learning, and systems design, and fact check to the best of my ability. All ideas presented, writing, music, editing, and choices around creative direction are my own. I believe these technologies should support and enhance our creativity, not replace it.

Prefer watching on YouTube? View it here → MTCSD Essay #3: Hope & Nihilism

Overview

In this essay, I suggest we move away from treating hope as a noun and begin relating to it as a verb. I introduce the ideas of outcome-based decision-making versus alignment-based decision-making, and discuss their application in navigating the detrimental effects of capitalism, and the nihilism it both produces and derives its sustenance from, along with the four horsemen of hedonism, boredom, cynicism, and individualism.

Sources & Further Reading*

* 3:35 Caminante, No Hay Camino, Antonio Machado

* 9:30 2025 Federal Poverty Levels, Pan Foundation

* 10:20 Jet Emissions from Davos Conference

* World Economic Forum, Wikipedia

* Private Jet Traffic, Visa HQ

* Opinion Piece by Gary Byrnes, Linkedin

* Greenpeace Report, Greenpeace

* 11:30 Meat’s Environmental Impact, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment

* 17:15 Obama & The Myth of Black Excellence by F.D Signifier, Youtube

* 19:00 Nihilism and Capitalism, Wikipedia

* 22:35 Burnout in Healthcare Workers, PubMed Central

* 23:25 Self-Efficacy, Wikipedia

* 23:40 Learned Helplessness, Wikipedia

* 23:45 Moral Injury, Wikipedia

* 26:55 Monoculture, Wikipedia

* 34:40 Cognitive Dissonance, Wikipedia

*I support the democratization and crowdsourcing of knowledge, and I regard platforms such as Wikipedia as valid and valuable repositories of human knowledge that help balance academic gatekeeping of epistemic authority. I also value rigorous fact-checking and common sense.

Disclaimer: I use AI to assist with research, learning, and systems design. All ideas, writing, music, editing, and creative choices are my own. I believe these technologies should support and enhance our creativity, not replace it.

Prefer watching on YouTube? View it here → MTCSD Conversation #1: Jonathan Makransky

Overview

I sit down with Tibetan Buddhist practitioner and Harvard Divinity School’s Multi-Religious Initiatives Coordinator, Jonathan Makransky, to talk (and laugh) about all things practice-related.

Sources & Further Reading*

* 6:30 Ethan Nichtern

* 15:40 Teachers (Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, HH The Dalai Lama)

* 28:25 Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche

* 28:35 Erik Pema Kunzang

* 29:25 84,000.org

* 41:25 Teachers (Lama Rod Owens, Dr. Pamela Ayo Yetunde, Casting Indra’s net)

* 42:50 Dzongar Khyentse Rinpoche

* 45:55 Rime movement

* 49:50 Green Tara

* 50:15 Tara’s Triple Excellence

* 52:45 Precious Human Life

*I support the democratization and crowdsourcing of knowledge, and I regard platforms such as Wikipedia as valid and valuable repositories of human knowledge that help balance academic gatekeeping of epistemic authority. I also value rigorous fact-checking and common sense.Disclaimer: I use AI to assist with research, learning, and systems design. All ideas, writing, music, editing, and creative choices are my own. I believe these technologies should support and enhance our creativity, not replace it.

Prefer watching on YouTube? View it here → MTCSD Essay 2: Art & Authenticity (Part 1)

Overview

In this essay, I open a conversation about the importance and urgency of cultivating creative practices in order to connect and preserve what makes us human in the age of AI. I argue that all of us are artists intrinsically, and encourage shared responsibility in co-creating the world we wish to bring into existence.

Sources & Further Reading*

* 10:15 This is Water, David Foster Wallace

* 11:15 Essays, Ralph Waldo Emerson

* 12:15 “Dharma,” Wikipedia

* 12:35 When Love Comes To Light (Gita 3.35), Richard Freeman & Mary Taylor

* 13:45 “Aesthetic,” Etymonline

* 19:30 Bhagavad Gita (2.50), Ahymsin

* 21:35 The Creative Act, Rick Rubin

* 26:50 Compilation by Popsi Narasimhan (1.12), Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras

*I support the democratization and crowdsourcing of knowledge, and I regard platforms such as Wikipedia as valid and valuable repositories of human knowledge that help balance academic gatekeeping of epistemic authority. I also value rigorous fact-checking and common sense.Disclaimer: I use AI to assist with research, learning, and systems design. All ideas, writing, music, editing, and creative choices are my own. I believe these technologies should support and enhance our creativity, not replace it.

Prefer watching on YouTube? View it here → MTCSD Essay 1: What is Practice?

Overview

In this introductory video essay, I open the conversation about contemplative practice as I view and experience it, centering attention/awareness and the role of the breath as foundational for developing greater agency over our attention and lives.

Sources & Further Reading*

* 1:30 “Practitioners, I know not one single thing more intractable and harmful than an untrained mind.”

* AN 1.31-40, accesstoinsight.org

* AN 1.31-40, buddha-vacana.org

* 3:15 Monoculture, Wikipedia

* 3:30 Sādhanā, Wikipedia

* 4:20 Three Gates, wisdomlib.org

* 5:10 Neuroplasticity, Wikipedia

* 6:55 Samsāra, Wikipedia

* 9:15 Avidyā, Wikipedia

* 10:00 MN 19, Dvedhavitakka Sutta, accesstoinsight.org

* 12:45 Mindfulness, Wikipedia

* 15:45 Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism, kagyuoffice.org

* 17:25 Perfection Pāramitā, Shambhala

* 18:30 Wisdom & Compassion, mindworks.org

* 24:10 Upaya, Wikipedia

* 26:20 Upanishads, translated by Eknath Easwaran, Thrift Books

* 35:25 Prāṇāyāma, Wikipedia

* 36:35 Ānāpānasati, Meditation on Breathing, accesstoinsight.org

*I support the democratization and crowdsourcing of knowledge, and I regard platforms such as Wikipedia as valid and valuable repositories of human knowledge that help balance academic gatekeeping of epistemic authority. I also value rigorous fact-checking and common sense.Disclaimer: I use AI to assist with research, learning, and systems design. All ideas, writing, music, editing, and creative choices are my own. I believe these technologies should support and enhance our creativity, not replace it.

Prefer watching on YouTube? View it here → MTCSD Introduction