Do Explain is a conversational podcast centered around questions of individual and collective human progress. Originally inspired by the visionary worldview of David Deutsch, the podcast has expanded into a lighthearted exploration of growth and progress in all its forms. Common discussion topics include the nature of mind, meaning, and knowledge; technologies of personal transformation; and the future of human flourishing. Hosted by the irrevocably curious dickhead, Christofer Lövgren.
Christofer speaks with meditation teacher Wystan Bryant-Scott about Awakening. They discuss Wystan's background, his personal phenomenology, mistakes on the path, what the path is about, working with one's psychology/embodiment, the groundless ground, pure awareness, emptiness and form, Zen vs Dzogchen view, metaphysics, conceptual clarity, dark retreat, and more.
Wystan Bryant-Scott is a Dharma Teacher who draws from experience in Theravada, Vajrayana, Zen, and Dzogchen lineages with intent on catalyzing awakening in this life for the benefit of all.
Substack: https://wystan.substack.com/
Website: https://www.wystantbs.com/
Twitter: @WystanTBS
Support the podcast at:
https://www.patreon.com/doexplain (monthly)
https://ko-fi.com/doexplain (one-time)
Find Christofer on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ReachChristofer
Christofer speaks with writer Sasha Chapin about spirituality and connection. They discuss Sasha's spiritual biography, the interplay between awakening and emotional healing, being Comfortable Here, everyday interaction after non-duality, discernment and preferences, conceptual vs phenomenological/mistaken views of Self, the potential problems with focusing too much on connection, and more.
Sasha Chapin is a writer, meditator, coach, and normal guy living in California. He went through a totally predictable pipeline where spirituality started to appeal after achieving his strivey childhood dreams didn’t quite fix the hole in his heart. He is passionate about figuring out how to live a spiritual life that is firmly rooted in this world as it is.
Substack: https://sashachapin.substack.com/
Website: https://www.sashachapin.com/
Twitter: @sashachapin
Support the podcast at:
https://www.patreon.com/doexplain (monthly)
https://ko-fi.com/doexplain (one-time)
Find Christofer on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ReachChristofer
Christofer speak with physicist David Deutsch and Jake Orthwein about the logical concept of truth. They discuss the reality of abstractions, how representations get their meaning, the difference between biological evolution and the evolution of ideas, how emotions aren't theories, and more.
Note: This is only the first half of the conversation, the full episode can be found on Patreon (patreon.com/doexplain).
David Deutsch is a Visiting Professor of Physics at the Centre for Quantum Computation at Oxford University and the author of two books: 'The Fabric of Reality' and 'The Beginning of Infinity'. He works on fundamental issues in physics, particularly the quantum theory of computation and information, and constructor theory.
Website: www.daviddeutsch.org.uk
Twitter: @DavidDeutschOxf
Support the podcast at:
https://www.patreon.com/doexplain (monthly)
https://ko-fi.com/doexplain (one-time)
Find Christofer on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ReachChristofer
Christofer and meditation coach Charlie Awbery speak about their article 'Relating as beneficent space' in this episode of Do Explain. They discuss fixed patterns in interaction, psychological vs. Vajrayana perspective, Rigpa, accurate response, extraception, basic okayness, and other related topics.
Charlie Awbery is a British born Vajrayana meditation coach, living in the US. They have a ton of experience in traditional Vajrayana - decades of practice, retreats, and application in ordinary life - that they bring to their coaching and teaching for contemporary practitioners uninterested in the cultural baggage associated with traditional contexts. They work with nerdy high-achievers, tech and finance industry professionals dedicated to understanding their minds, people who want to lead their best, most productive and beneficial lives.
They co-founded Evolving Ground, a community for contemporary Vajrayana practitioners, where they lead group practices, discussions, gatherings, and retreats.
'Relating as beneficent space'-article: https://vividness.live/relating-as-space
Charlie's relationship-course page: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/vajrayananow/1020122#
Evolving ground website: https://evolvingground.org
Vayrajana Now newsletter: https://confirmsubscription.com/h/t/8959B51E58109207
Support the podcast at:
https://www.patreon.com/doexplain (monthly)
https://ko-fi.com/doexplain (one-time)
Find Christofer on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ReachChristofer
Christofer and meditation coach Charlie Awbery speak about Dzogchen in this episode of Do Explain. They discuss different types of non-duality, spontaneity, spacious presence, Rigpa, emptiness and form, pointing out instructions, Evolving Ground, and other related topics.
Charlie Awbery is a British born Vajrayana meditation coach, living in the US. They have a ton of experience in traditional Vajrayana - decades of practice, retreats, and application in ordinary life - that they bring to their coaching and teaching for contemporary practitioners uninterested in the cultural baggage associated with traditional contexts. They work with nerdy high-achievers, tech and finance industry professionals dedicated to understanding their minds, people who want to lead their best, most productive and beneficial lives.
They co-founded Evolving Ground, a community for contemporary Vajrayana practitioners, where they lead group practices, discussions, gatherings, and retreats.
Charlie's course page: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/vajrayananow
August retreat page: https://www.evolvingground.org/drala
Vayrajana Now newsletter: https://confirmsubscription.com/h/t/8959B51E58109207
Support the podcast at:
https://www.patreon.com/doexplain (monthly)
https://ko-fi.com/doexplain (one-time)
Find Christofer on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ReachChristofer
Christofer and science writer Lucas Smalldon speak about epistemology in this episode of Do Explain. They discuss how Lucas found Critical Rationalism, his evolved version as different from David Deutsch's, knowledge as adapted information, universal epistemology vs. 'knowing different things are different', Seinfeld and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the importance of feeling ones feelings, and other related topics.
Lucas Smalldon is a student of critical rationalism. His blog, barelymorethanatweet.com, contains short posts on various issues from a critical rationalist perspective.
Support the podcast at:
https://www.patreon.com/doexplain (monthly)
https://ko-fi.com/doexplain (one-time)
Find Christofer on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ReachChristofer
This is part 6 of a series where Christofer investigates the ideas of David Chapman with his friend Jake Orthwein. The material covered is mainly from Chapman's two books: 'Meaningness' (meaningness.com) and 'In the Cells of the Eggplant' (metarationality.com).
In the sixth episode Lulie Tanett joins the conversation again to dive deeper into meta-rationality. They talk about truth and correspondence, evolution, brains in vats, abstract propositions fairy land, the frame problem in AI, what making progress means, 'knowing that' as different from 'knowing how', and how Chris is always trying to secretly organize an MDMA sex party in the forest with everyone.
Jake Orthwein is a writer and filmmaker based in Santa Monica, CA. He studied film and cognitive science at the University of Southern California and currently works as Director of Media for the Psychology of Technology Institute, an academic non-profit focused on improving research on the human-technology relationship. He is also a long term meditator.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JakeOrthwein
Website: https://frameproblems.com/
Lulie Tanett is a writer from Oxford, England, specialising in applied critical rationalism. She is currently in teacher training for the Alexander Technique – an embodied mindfulness technique about how to get out of your own way.
You can find her on Twitter (https://www.twitter.com/reasonisfun and https://www.twitter.com/metaLulie), where she writes about philosophy, the psychology of how to get unstuck and flourish, non-coercion and fun.
Website: https://www.lulie.co.uk/
Support the podcast at:
https://www.patreon.com/doexplain (monthly)
https://ko-fi.com/doexplain (one-time)
Find Christofer on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ReachChristofer
This is part 5 of a series where Christofer investigates the ideas of David Chapman with his friend Jake Orthwein. The material covered is mainly from Chapman's two books: 'Meaningness' (meaningness.com) and 'In the Cells of the Eggplant' (metarationality.com).
In the fifth episode Lulie Tanett joins the conversation to compare her current (critical) rationalist position with the meta-rational one. They talk about the historical lineage that CR grew out of, why Descarted fucked up philosophy for everyone, the correspondence theory of truth, pragmatism, objective vs. subjective meaning, representation as affordances vs. mirroring the world, how genes aren't theories, information, intentionality, and why a universal epistemology might not be a coherent idea.
Jake Orthwein is a writer and filmmaker based in Santa Monica, CA. He studied film and cognitive science at the University of Southern California and currently works as Director of Media for the Psychology of Technology Institute, an academic non-profit focused on improving research on the human-technology relationship. He is also a long term meditator.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JakeOrthwein
Website: https://frameproblems.com/
Lulie Tanett is a writer from Oxford, England, specialising in applied critical rationalism. She is currently in teacher training for the Alexander Technique – an embodied mindfulness technique about how to get out of your own way.
You can find her on Twitter (https://www.twitter.com/reasonisfun and https://www.twitter.com/metaLulie), where she writes about philosophy, the psychology of how to get unstuck and flourish, non-coercion and fun.
Website: https://www.lulie.co.uk/
Support the podcast at:
https://www.patreon.com/doexplain (monthly)
https://ko-fi.com/doexplain (one-time)
Find Christofer on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ReachChristofer
Christofer and nervous system specialist Jonny Miller speak about the path to authenticity in this episode of Do Explain. They discuss a recent Sacred Sons-retreat, the role of emotions in decision making, being vulnerable, circling, working with inner 'darkness', effective altruism, ethics, how emotional fluidity is a superpower, meaning, Christopher Bache's LSD-insights, reason, whether healing requires other people, and other related topics.
Jonny Miller is an emotional resilience researcher, host of the Curious Humans podcast and founder of Nervous System Mastery — a cohort based course for cultivating calm and agency over your internal state.
Nervous System Mastery: nsmastery.com
Curious Humans Podcast: curioushumans.com
Twitter: twitter.com/jonnym1ller
Support the podcast at:
https://www.patreon.com/doexplain (monthly)
https://ko-fi.com/doexplain (one-time)
Find Christofer on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ReachChristofer
Christofer and writer Lulie Tanett speak about the unity of body and mind in this episode of Do Explain. They discuss their journeys toward emotional fluidity, Alexander Technique, psychology and awareness, non-duality, Christofer's critiques of AT, Lulie's experiences of oneness, CR and meta-rationality, and answer some Twitter-questions.
Lulie Tanett is a writer from Oxford, England, specialising in applied critical rationalism. She is currently in teacher training for the Alexander Technique – an embodied mindfulness technique about how to get out of your own way.
You can find her on Twitter (https://www.twitter.com/reasonisfun and https://www.twitter.com/metaLulie), where she writes about philosophy, the psychology of how to get unstuck and flourish, non-coercion and fun.
Website: https://www.lulie.co.uk/
"Oro" by Hugo Holke (58:57): https://open.spotify.com/track/1QqvH6feiXoEHfiRsNwH1m
Hugo’s Spotify page: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6WloCUDmzQ70gZrPDLTcku
Support the podcast at:
https://www.patreon.com/doexplain (monthly)
https://ko-fi.com/doexplain (one-time)
Find Christofer on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ReachChristofer
Christofer and nervous system specialist Jonny Miller speak about breath and bodywork in this episode of Do Explain. They discuss Jonny's journey through grief and loss, emotional fluidity, why feeling deeply isn’t irrational, embracing anger, holotropic breathwork, polyvagal theory, breath repatterning, trauma as incomplete reflexes, somatic experiencing, TRE, IFS, and other related topics.
Jonny Miller is an emotional resilience researcher, host of the Curious Humans podcast and founder of Nervous System Mastery — a cohort based course for cultivating calm and agency over your internal state.
Nervous System Mastery: nsmastery.com
Curious Humans Podcast: curioushumans.com
Twitter: twitter.com/jonnym1ller
Episode with Ed on Breath Repatterning: https://podcast.curioushumans.com/episodes/the-birth-of-a-modality-repatterning-the-three-diaphragms-of-breathing-cultivating-nervous-system-regulation-with-ed-dangerfield
Timestamps:
(0:00) - Preamble and introduction
(8:23) - The beginning of Jonny’s journey
(14:40) - The tools to deal with tragedy
(21:11) - Thoughts on Joe Hudson’s work
(31:03) - Fully feeling your feelings
(38:30) - Breathwork and meditation
(45:45) - Chris on his past trauma
(52:31) - Explanation of polyvagal theory
(58:15) - Mouth-breathing, breathing patterns
(1:07:45) - Alan Watts and belly laughter
(1:11:40) - Somatic practices, TRE, and beyond
(1:20:24) - Diving in vs. Gradual change
(1:25:39) - Posture, breath, and Alexander Technique
(1:35:05) - How the body keeps the score (of trauma)
(1:42:16) - Where the wider culture stands
Support the podcast at:
https://www.patreon.com/doexplain (monthly)
https://ko-fi.com/doexplain (one-time)
Find Christofer on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ReachChristofer