In-person event, an interview, a personal note and a political comment

I don’t accept very many podcast requests these days, just one or two a month. It is because I am in recovery from adrenal fatigue, which has lately made itself impossible to ignore. Talking uses a lot of energy. The other reason is that when I am on too many interviews, my words get tired. I end up quoting myself instead of speaking from fresh thinking. So it is best if I leave some time in between so I don’t deepen the same conceptual ruts in my mind. The benefit is that, while there is some overlap, new material comes out in each podcast I do.

I’d like to share one a recent conversation on The Great Indoors podcast with Matthew Roberts. Topics included technology, artificial scarcity, and how AI is reshaping cognition and creativity. We explored some material from Sacred Economics, such as whether we can integrate the principles of the gift economy into modern financial systems. We also discussed some of my thinking around oral culture and the crumbling of the illusion of objectivity due to generative AI and new technologies of narrative control. You can listen to it on Spotify or Apple.

BTW please don’t send me advice on adrenal fatigue. I’ve been around the merry-go-round of countless theories, modalities, supplements, diets, etc. The underlying cause is psychological. There is no substitute for rest. There is no modality that can take the place of allowing oneself to enjoy life. Burnout is a great teacher to help discern what is essential or precious, and what one does as the result of anxiety programs installed in childhood. Don’t offer sympathy either please. Lots of things happen in life that are much worse than this. I am OK. It is a life transition, a blessing.

I haven’t been doing much public speaking either, but I will announce one thing. Every year I host a gathering of one or two hundred people around the theme of “A new and ancient story.” This year it is at the Omega Institute in upstate New York at the end of May. More details here. Please note that the fee is the facility fee only; the program fee itself is up to the participant to decide what feels like the right amount. That way, those with greater means can make up for those with less. It usually works out well.

A lot has been going on in the world. Society seems to be fracturing into multiple, mutually exclusive realities. People keep writing to me asking me to validate one or another of those. Each is a window on something true, but all leave out something crucial. People are still trying to figure out whether I am pro-Trump or anti-Trump, but it is that reflex that lies near the heart of the crisis of civilization. We cling on to the dying plot line of us versus them, hoping its resolution will deliver us from evil. But a much greater drama is unfolding. I’ll keep writing about that as my energy allows.