In this episode, we feature Andy Norman, a public philosopher, director of the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University, founder of the Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative, and award-winning author of “Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think.”

It’s no secret that social media is amplifying toxic ideas from all sides of the political spectrum. We’ve seen harmful orthodoxy take hold before in human history, but never quite at the scale and speed the digital age has made possible. We’re once again at a critical inflection point where the values of objective, rational thinking are under attack by tribalism, illogic, and dogma. 

Andy champions the emerging science of mental immunity as the antidote to disinformation, propaganda, hate, and division. Tune in to learn how you can sharpen your thinking, disagree with others more productively, and help safeguard our future from societal dysfunction.

====================

0:00 Intro

3:07 How Andy became interested in philosophy

5:39 Is it too late to open people’s minds?

8:42 How do we distinguish between good and bad ideas?

11:16 It’s not all relative 

12:24 Looking at the cons as well as the pros of an argument

14:24 What is Mental Immunity? 

16:53 The mind’s antibodies are questions

19:37 How to effectively challenge a claim

22:56 Why you shouldn’t want to win an argument

26:06 Andy’s groundbreaking work on the purpose of reasons

29:14 Are we living through the Dark Ages 2.0?

33:25 We should all feel safe questioning our beliefs

35:19 What are the pitfalls of critical thinking?

36:32 Can philosophy be taught in elementary school?

39:21 It’s easier to criticize a hypothesis than create your own

40:33 Learning isn’t just additive, it’s subtractive

44:26 What is identity protective cognition?

48:35 How can we redesign social media?

53:47 Should the digital age change the way we think about free speech?

57:58 Is woke culture unhealthy for our minds?

1:01:14 How do we avoid creating a thought police?

1:04:19 Wrap-up

1:05:25 “One Final Question”

====================

Buy the book! Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think

Andy Norman

====================

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In this episode, we feature a Celtic teacher and spiritual author to help you learn how to reawaken your inner nature and heal the psychological wounds of empirical religion that still haunt your unconscious. 

John Philip Newell's most recent work is entitled, "Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul: Celtic Wisdom for Reawakening to What Our Souls Know and Healing the World".

In the book, he explores Celtic leaders who were seen as heretics by the Church and excommunicated for their beliefs.  We talk about why Christian empires across history have fought hard to silence visionaries and the open-minded world views they deemed punishable.

Find out why ancient Celtic wisdom is a timeless tradition and how you can use it to shape a better world in the 21st century, even as an atheist.

====================

0:00 Intro

2:45 John Philip's religious upbringing

5:47 George MacLeod's impact

8:04 The connection between the word compassion and the word compass

9:40 What's the Celtic vision of sacredness?

14:37 Holiness is not separate from matter

17:37 Getting in touch with our natural knowing

20:39 What happens when the flow of the Divine is blocked?

22:43 How did the Celtics conceptualize Christ?

24:28 The sick doctrine of original sin

30:44 What is Grace?

34:15 What does fear cut us off from?

41:25 To be made of God is to be made of imagination

46:27 Why did Alexander John Scott get thrown out of the Church?

51:25 Why are rituals important?

55:25 What does peregrination mean?

57:21 "One Final Question"

====================

Buy the book! "Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul: Celtic Wisdom for Reawakening to What Our Souls Know and Healing the World"

John Philip Newell

====================

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In this episode, we feature Dr. Shefali, a clinical psychologist who specializes in the integration of Western psychology and Eastern philosophy.

She has written four books - three of which are New York Times best-sellers.  Her most recent work is entitled, "A Radical Awakening: Turn Pain Into Power, Embrace Your Truth, Live Free".

This conversation can help people who feel suppressed embrace their power.

We further investigate the salient differences between men and women at multiple levels of analysis - the biological, the cultural, and the archetypal. 

From parental expectations, to entering public life, to the mating game, to marriage, we speak candidly about the fact that the male experience and female experience are not one and the same.

0:00 Intro

1:59 Dr. Shefali's background

3:45 Questions from "A Radical Awakening"

6:06 What does compassion mean?

7:48 Women reclaiming their authentic selves

9:44 Unrealistic standards put on women

13:16 We don't live a life, we live a pattern

14:56 Sensitive children are more impressionable

16:13 Why men want to orgasm so often

19:00 The "choosy" female in the mating game

21:05 The reality of men preying on women

24:38 The archetype of the "good girl", the giver, and the taker

27:33 Breaking out of patterns shakes up our relationships

29:40 What's wrong with the marriage model?

31:38 The tension between culture and the invidivual

33:29 The virtue in recognizing impermanence

35:14 Woke culture is too fixated on identity

37:41 Wrap-up

38:36 "One Final Question"

====================

Buy the book! "A Radical Awakening: Turn Pain Into Power, Embrace Your Truth, Live Free"
https://amzn.to/3kcSfYs

https://www.drshefali.com

====================

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Have you ever found yourself in a situation where someone came to you with a deep question or concern and you did not have the right words to support them?

In this episode, we feature Thomas Moore, author of “Soul Therapy: The Art and Craft of Caring Conversations”, to help us become more therapeutically sophisticated and better at counseling one another outside of formal therapy.

As a person who has taught therapeutic methods for decades, Thomas is truly your therapist’s therapist. He speaks, however, with both the professional therapist and the lay person in mind, offering specific approaches we all can use to help one another overcome long-standing wounds and uncover the authentic needs of our souls.

We talk about the universal nature of our complexes, how to become more psychologically attuned at work, and how parents can offer therapy to their children. 

By approaching emotional conversations with humility and compassion rather than judgment and presumption, we can all become better friends, family members, and co-workers.

The ideas in this episode can help you genuinely differentiate yourself as you learn how to be kinder, more compassionate, and more empathetic in modern society. 

==================== 

3:01 Thomas’s formative years of life

4:35 How Thomas’s years as a monk shaped him

8:26 Soulful people aren’t always well-adjusted

10:35 Exploring old wounds instead of trying to erase them

14:01 What it means to be a good listener 

16:06 How understanding myths can make us less judgmental

18:00 The importance of therapists remaining humble 

21:09 Approaching conversations with the beginner’s mindset 

23:38 How to get someone to open up 

27:28 Our perspective is built around our subjective filters 

32:40 Emotions without a narrative can be disturbing

36:50 What is transference and counter-transference?

44:46 Complexes are the raw material of who we could be

46:45 Finding the opposite side of our beliefs 

50:16 Soul therapy in the work place

55:01 What is the responsibility of the parent towards their children?

1:00:54 What is causing the post-lockdown frustration?

1:02:58 Wrap-up

1:03:27 One Final Question

==================== 

References: 

“Soul Therapy: The Art and Craft of Caring Conversations” by Thomas Moorehttps://amzn.to/2SQiLeT

https://thomasmooresoul.com/meet-thomas/

====================  

To help make a difference, follow us for weekly episodes! 

Search for books by our guests on our website and sign up for the “Rising Weekly” to receive a Friday email “where we enrich episodes”.  

If you believe our podcast has ever shifted your perspective, please share it with someone you know and rate us.  

Thank you so much for tuning in and we welcome you back to our next episode. 

==================== 

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Did you know that elephants have three times the number of neurons in their brains that humans do? 

In this episode, we discuss the wide-ranging topics of animal intelligence and biological consciousness – what does the view out on the world look like for creatures other than ourselves?

We explore the incredible intelligence of exceptional animals like the octopus, the elephant, and the pig, among many others – and question whether humans are really so different from our fellow earth-dwellers. 

We also examine the ways in which human intelligence has back-fired on us leading to hyper-categorization, neurosis, and the spread of misinformation. 

==================== 

0:00 Intro 

3:55 Let’s consider the unique intelligence of each animal 

5:26 A study on mice and categorization 

10:33 Machine Learning and categorization

12:25 Crows are better problem solvers than human children

14:35 Childrearing in nature and the effect on development 

18:30 The octopus is an amazing creature 

24:44 Humans hyper-categorize 

28:09 Overthinking and getting back to a simpler state 

30:44 The animals’ perspective of us 

31:55 Deer and elephants perceive humans as predators

35:41 More on human hyper-categorization 

38:22 Are we creating a world better suited for computers than humans?

42:22 Human adaptability 

43:04 Pigs are surprisingly similar to humans

47:34 Bees are able to identify faces  

49:20 Hive animals live a shared existence

50:15 The intelligence of swarms

51:22 How army ants self-organize

53:22 The human organism is a collective intelligence

54:19 Stopping the spread of misinformation 

56:45 Passing down knowledge generation to generation

1:00:02 Wrap-up

====================  

To help make a difference, follow us for weekly episodes! 

Search for books by our guests on our website and sign up for the “Rising Weekly” to receive a Friday email “where we enrich episodes”.  

If you believe our podcast has ever shifted your perspective, please share it with someone you know and rate us.  

Thank you so much for tuning in and we welcome you back to our next episode. 

==================== 

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rising-laterally/id1524717120 

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Did you know that in six countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, USA), those who reported following “plant-based diets” had 73% lower odds of moderate-to-severe COVID-19?

In this episode, we chat with Matt Frazier and Robert Cheeke, authors of “The Plant-Based Athlete: A Game-Changing Approach to Peak Performance”.

Matt is an ultra-marathon runner who created the popular site called, “No Meat Athlete” and Robert is a 2x body building champion who is the founder of Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness.   

Matt and Robert are leading by example in their mission to illuminate the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle to the world. You can hear the passion in their voices as they discuss what inspired them to go plant-based, offer practical guidance so anyone can begin making the transition, and dispel myths propagated by the meat and dietary supplement industries.   

Feed your mind with nourishing information that can help you live longer.

==================== 

00:00 Intro

00:30 Matt Frazier & Robert Cheeke, the authors of, “The Plant-Based Athlete” published by HarperCollins

01:50 50th Episode milestone

02:20 The overlap between podcasting, entrepreneurship, diet, fitness, and exercise 

04:30 Why is it more compelling to discuss Veganism today? 

04:55 Fundamentals of plant foods and animal foods

05:50 Robert Cheeke’s connection to animals and compassion 

07:10 Animal Rights Week led to Robert Cheeke becoming Vegan

08:20 Believe in yourself and connect the dots

11:00 Accept that things take time 

11:35 Matt Frazier’s journey to qualifying for the Boston Marathon and creating “No Meat Athlete”

17:10 Learning about things which matter most 

18:35 Become mentally stronger to avoid quitting

21:05 How to create discipline in areas of your life

24:10 Overcoming fears and resistance involved with switching to a plant-based diet 

28:00 Adopting the plant-based lifestyle

31:20 Temptations during diet changes 

32:35 Creating mini-challenges 

33:32 What makes “The Plant-Based Athlete” book different and practical?

37:20 Perfectionism is stressful

38:20 What could you fill your plate with? 

42:40 Documenting your meals without stressing out 

44:50 Which supplements and vitamins do you need?

48:40 When did our obsession with protein begin? 

50:20 Multi-billion dollar supplement and nutrition industry

51:30 What’s the true cost of your dollar-menu food choices?

53:35 Who are famous plant-based athletes around the world?

56:15 “One Final Question" 

==================== 

References: 

“The Plant-Based Athlete: A Game-Changing Approach to Peak Performance” by Matt Frazier and Robert Cheeke
https://amzn.to/3gQbpBn

https://www.nomeatathlete.com

https://www.veganbodybuilding.com

 ====================  

To help make a difference, follow us for weekly episodes! 

Search for books by our guests on our website and sign up for the “Rising Weekly” to receive a Friday email “where we enrich episodes”.  

If you believe our podcast has ever shifted your perspective, please share it with someone you know and rate us.  

Thank you so much for tuning in and we welcome you back to our next episode. 

==================== 

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rising-laterally/id1524717120 

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Did you know there are 4.3 human births per second around the world?

Our guest and friend of the show, Lisa Marchiano, LCSW, is a psychotherapist and certified Jungian analyst. She is co-host of This Jungian Life and author of the newly released book, “Motherhood: Facing and Finding Yourself.” 

In this episode, we explore the experience of motherhood from the Jungian perspective. While many books on motherhood are aimed at helping women become better parents, Lisa looks at the topic from a much different angle. 

She asks, how can motherhood provide a woman with a unique opportunity for her own individual development? How can raising a child give her the chance to confront unresolved conflicts from her past? How can bringing new life into the world connect her spirit with the infinite?

==================== 

0:00 Intro

1:18 What drew Lisa to write about this topic 

4:13 Motherhood offers a unique opportunity for individual development

6:41 Feeling empathy towards mothers

7:17 Motherhood and individuation 

9:41 The wisdom and magic in fairy tales 

15:10 Embracing the ordinariness of adulthood and motherhood responsibilities

19:18 Why some people want to stay young forever 

21:02 Facing our own shadow in motherhood 

25:09 Revisiting unresolved conflicts from the past 

31:11 How to express anger towards children in a healthy way

38:57 Affect regulation in parenting 

42:21 How culture devalues the maternal instinct

45:40 “The Master and His Emissary” by Iain McGilchrist 

50:00 Womens’ connection with their bodies 

53:34 Having a healthy relationship with your mother-in-law

55:55 Motherhood as a transcendent and spiritual experience

1:00:58 Wrap-up 

==================== 

References: 

“Motherhood: Facing and Finding Yourself” by Lisa Marchiano
https://amzn.to/3woWP92

====================  

To help make a difference, follow us for weekly episodes! 

Search for books by our guests on our website and sign up for the “Rising Weekly” to receive a Friday email “where we enrich episodes”.  

If you believe our podcast has ever shifted your perspective, please share it with someone you know and rate us.  

Thank you so much for tuning in and we welcome you back to our next episode. 

==================== 

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rising-laterally/id1524717120 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3hbMEHVOZJVMdCZBhthTIh  

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Did you know that the 2020 U.S. Census could show the smallest decade-long population growth rate in American history?

In this episode, we talk about changes taking place across the housing market, demographics, migration, and fertility that will shape the future of American life.

==================== 

00:45 The new necessities of the housing market

2:26 The supply demand dynamics in the current market

4:29 Exceptionally high activity in home sales

5:52 The bidding wars taking place and the fierce competition

6:46 Low housing inventory goes all the way back to ‘08

9:25 The rise of the virtual tour

13:49 Millennials are buying homes, but will it continue?

17:54 Work-from-home trend will allow 2M more millennials to buy homes

19:36 How the pandemic is reshaping the design of cities

21:10 Are houses affordable for Millennials?

22:52 Millennials learned how to be good savers from ‘08

24:57 Covid’s impact on fertility

29:52 Census Bureau migration trends

32:34 The diversity of America moving forward

35:03 The long-term credit cycle

39:07 Biggest takeaways 

==================== 

To help make a difference, follow us for weekly episodes! 

Search for books by our guests on our website and sign up for the “Rising Weekly” to receive a Friday email “where we enrich episodes”.  

If you believe our podcast has ever shifted your perspective, please share it with someone you know and rate us.

Thank you so much for tuning in and we welcome you back to our next episode. 

==================== 

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rising-laterally/id1524717120 

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Did you know that PwC estimates AI will contribute $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030?

In this episode, we explore “Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation” by New York Times technology columnist, Kevin Roose.

We discuss how technology is and will continue to transform the global workforce, the effect of technology on our focus and attention, and how to maintain your individuality in the age of echo chambers.

While we both share a “suboptimistic view” of the future, we emphasize the ways humans can still add extreme value moving forward.

==================== 

00:00 Intro

2:15 There was serious economic pain during the last three industrial revolutions

4:39 What optimists say about technological disruption

6:38 Less jobs are being created for humans

10:08 Machines are diagnosing brain cancer faster than humans 

11:28 Beware the boring bots

13:06 Beware the algorithmic manager

16:38 Hard skills versus soft skills 

23:01 How many of our beliefs were put there by big tech algorithms?

26:40 The power of choice architecture 

29:54 Getting out of “the web of invisible forces”

32:29 Breaking free from our phones

33:16 Adding a human touch to our interactions
 
35:48 “Idleness aversion”

36:04 “Attention guarding” and the importance of focus

40:01 We do still have control over our own technology use 

41:01 The craziest examples of AI error

46:49 The importance of social safety nets

47:56 Now is the time to let your personality out

49:10 Wrap-up

==================== 

References: 

“Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation” by Kevin Roose
https://amzn.to/3ca7xYS

====================  

To help make a difference, follow us for weekly episodes! 

Search for books by our guests on our website and sign up for the “Rising Weekly” to receive a Friday email “where we enrich episodes”.  

If you believe our podcast has ever shifted your perspective, please share it with someone you know and rate us.  

Thank you so much for tuning in and we welcome you back to our next episode. 

==================== 

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rising-laterally/id1524717120 

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Did you know? 

Dolphins and whales evolved the ability to have only half of their brain sleep at a time, switching from one side of the brain to the other every hour or so. 

Dr. Antonio Zadra is a renowned sleep scientist with an MA in experimental psychology and a PhD in clinical psychology from McGill University. He is Full Professor in the Department of Psychology at the Université de Montréal, and a researcher at the Center for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine (CARSM). His recently released book, co-authored with Bob Stickgold, is entitled "When Brains Dream: The Science and Mystery of Sleep." 

Tony’s passion for the fascinating field of dream science is manifest in the way he discusses his work. He has poured his entire career into studying dreams with empirical rigor and he understands them like few other humans on the planet today. While his knowledge is extensive, he still speaks of dreams with a humility and reverence for their mysterious nature. 

Have you ever wondered how the brain produces the all-too-real feeling we experience in our dreams?  Have you ever thought about your dreams - what they mean or why they’re there? 

Come learn something about the amazing nature of the sleeping mind!

==================== 

0:00 Introduction

1:22 Tony’s intense lucid dream at 17 years old 

4:32 The origins of dream science predate Freud 

10:04 Mary Calkins, the first women president of the American Psychological Association

10:46 Empirical experimentation with lucid dreaming 

12:31 The evolutionary reasons for sleep 

16:53 Sleep’s role in memory formation and integration

18:03 Why growing children need sleep

19:22 The difference between dreams in REM versus Non-REM sleep

23:28 In REM sleep, your dreams becomes hyper-associative 

24:34 The scientific theory behind why we feel that our dreams are significant

27:21 The parallels between deep sleep and psychedelic experiences 

29:12 Dr. Zadra’s NEXTUP theory explains the wandering nature of dreams 

31:36 “Non-REM sleep makes you smart, REM sleep makes you wise”

35:45 It’s probably an evolutionary design that dreams are hard to remember 

40:24 The fascinating nature of dream characters

43:40 We can create entire worlds in our dreams in real-time

48:33 What you can do to better remember your dreams

57:58 Tony’s own lucid dreaming practice 

1:01:42 Dream-sharing 

1:03:45 "One Final Question"

==================== 

References: “When Brains Dream: Exploring the Science and Mystery of Sleep” by Antonio Zadra and Robert Stickgold
https://amzn.to/3fJgWHZ

====================  

To help make a difference, follow us for weekly episodes! 

Search for books by our guests on our website and sign up for the “Rising Weekly” to receive a Friday email “where we enrich episodes”.  

If you believe our podcast has ever shifted your perspective, please share it with someone you know and rate us.  

Thank you so much for tuning in and we welcome you back to our next episode. 

==================== 

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rising-laterally/id1524717120 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3hbMEHVOZJVMdCZBhthTIh  

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