If you’ve ever sat in a dark room after an intense conversation, completely absorbed in a flurry of connections your brain refuses to shut down, you might’ve experienced something close to what Stanislav Grof calls a “non-ordinary state of consciousness.” These states—often induced through psychedelics, deep meditation, or practices like holotropic breathwork—are known for their […]
Coaching an Odyssey of the Mind team is a little like trying to direct a play, run a startup, and referee a glitter fight all at once. Now add in six or seven intensely imaginative, impulsive, distractible kids—some of whom may be neurodivergent—and it starts to feel more like herding cats on roller skates. But
There’s a quiet fantasy many writers carry—maybe you’ve felt it too. That one day you’ll sit down, pour brilliance onto the page, revise it with monk-like precision, and send it out into the world… only for readers to instantly see what you see, feel what you feel, and love what you love. The reality is
First off, I am totally geeking out over John Vervaeke and Shawn Coyne’s collaboration, Mentoring the Machines. I’ve been a huge fan of Vervaeke’s Awakening from the Meaning Crisis and After Socrates lecture series and of course, Shawn Coyne’s Story Grid process. When they got together to look at the impact of artificial intelligence, I
In an age saturated with fragmented knowledge and shallow self-help, ancient Gnosticism offers an unusually cohesive path — not as a religious throwback, but as a framework for human development that integrates intellect, intuition, creativity, and transformation. The Four Pillars of Gnostic Practice provide a map not just for spiritual awakening, but for a richly
In the contemporary philosophical landscape, few voices have challenged the dominance of materialist metaphysics as effectively as Bernardo Kastrup. Through a unique blend of rigorous logic, scientific literacy, and metaphysical clarity, Kastrup has reintroduced idealism—not as a romantic or mystical counterpoint to science, but as a coherent, scientifically compatible worldview that places consciousness at the
I wasn’t a natural reader growing up. I mean, I could read just fine, but it was slow. Painfully slow. I needed to hear every word in my head as I read it—feel the rhythm, the cadence. Skimming never worked for me. If the language didn’t land sonically, it didn’t land at all. For years,
There comes a moment in the creative process where something strange happens. The words begin to flow with a rhythm you didn’t consciously choose. Characters argue with you. Images appear unbidden. You reread the page and wonder, “Where did that come from?” Congratulations. You’ve just had a brush with the divine. Creativity as a Mystical
Ever sat down to write, work, or just think and felt like your brain was tuned to the wrong station? Like you’re trying to get jazz but all you’re getting is static? That’s where binaural beats come in—nature’s sneaky neurological DJ. Brainwaves 101 (Because You Deserve to Know What’s Going On Upstairs) Your brain isn’t
When most people think of Søren Kierkegaard, they picture a gloomy Danish guy sitting in a candlelit room, writing about despair while wearing a cravat too tight for blood circulation. Fair enough. But hidden among the melancholy and the heavy coats, Kierkegaard had a secret superpower: he understood irony — not just as a literary
