"If you could transmit a single piece of knowledge or information back in time to your past self, what would it be?" We asked five of our favorite guests.LISTEN | ITUNES YOUTUBE ARCHIVE STITCHERThese mind melds are brought to you by YOU! Find out how to support us and receive rewards in the process at our Patreon page.
One of the fantastic perks of doing this show is getting to ask my shower thoughts to the wonder-slinging, friends I have made. This question particular is one I’ve given a lot of thought to. It's not that I expected to discover one defining moment, or one piece of transcendent information that could light the path to a better future, but when you ask someone about what that hypothetical insight might be, it’s a fascinating catalyst for a riff session.Dive deeper with our guestsDr. Rick Strassman - Author of DMT the Spirit Molecule, researcherDaniele Bolelli - Author, historian, podcaster, professorMichael Garfield - Artist, musician, speakerAlexander Ward - Visionary artist,Mitch Schultz - Filmmaker of DMT the Spirit Molecule
Third Eye Drops #20 - RESONANCE, with Cory Allen
Cory Allen is a sound-smith, a meditation maestro and the host of the Astral Hustle podcast.LISTEN | ITUNES YOUTUBE ARCHIVE STITCHERThis mind meld is a love letter to everyone making the art, reading the books, having the conversations, or diving into experience. It's also blazing-hot laser of vitriol directed toward the demagoguery, fear-mongering and fast-food philosophy permeating our news cycle.
In the sinew of the show, we converse with Cory Allen (a man who would definitely be a recipient of the psychic love letter mentioned above). Cory has not only developed a method for inner-exploration and self-realization, he's helping thousands of others do the same through his podcasts, music, meditation courses and binaural beat projects.Musings in this mind meld -
- Binaural beats, what they do and how to use them to enhance life, meditation and work performance
- Is there a "best" way to meditate? How I do it, how Cory does it
- Cory's "astral" meditation
- Subjectivity, cultivating a positive mindset and the fact that the exact same circumstance can be interpreted in polar opposite ways
- The mystery of sound, from pop music to rapturous bliss
- Experiencing sound with multiple sense and augmenting your consciousness with it
- How to tell the difference between an earnest, authentic piece of work and an ego-driven one
- Psychedelic stretching and Yoga
- Cory's Ayahuasca revelations
- Cory's turbulent teenage psychedelic bathroom adventures
Third Eye Drops #18 - Switzon S. Wigfall III and the Smiling Sisyphus
SWITZON S. WIGFALL III is a Multi-media Visual Artist, Animator and VJ. His work is a a diverse collection of rude art slaps upon a variety of mediums. His love of music, esotericism, sci-fi, robots, machines and fractal geometry shine through his work. Switzon is also on his third round of every-day art pieces, which you can keep up with via his Instagram.LISTEN | ITUNES YOUTUBE ARCHIVE STITCHER
In the mind of every creative on the planet, there’s a fantasy- the thought that some day they'll summit the hill they've been ritualistically pushing their chosen Sisyphian creative boulder up. When they arrive, they'll find the success, notoriety and admiration they've been toiling after.
Along the way though, comes the realization that you have to realign your priorities. You have to cease the scratching and clawing for creative relevance and approval and really just focus in on your craft. In doing so, you begin to transmute your toil into ecstasy. If you can exist within that paradigm, you've won the game. As Albert Camus says, "The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man' heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."
That’s really the natural order of things, the phenomena of seeking success, fearing failure and comparing ourselves to others is uniquely human. A flower isn't constantly checking with the rest of the garden to ask if it’s bloomed yet. A deer isn’t worried about whether or not his antlers are more or less impressive than another's. Neuroses like these are just distractions that retard our personal evolution and extend the time period in which you've accomplished nothing.
Third Eye Drops #10 - Alexandre Tannous and the Hidden Realms of Sound
LISTEN | ITUNES YOUTUBE ARCHIVE STITCHERWelcome wonderlings!
As our guide on this week's ride, we welcome another ridiculously intelligent, well-spoken open-minded multidisciplinary mind freak, Alexandre Tannous.Alexandre has everything you want, the academic credentials, the musical background (he could easily show up somewhere with Zeppelin and you’d be like, oh yeah this guy’s in the band, no doubt). But more importantly, he’s done the subjective inner-work by traveling the world, participating in indigenous shamanistic ceremonies, steeping himself in history and mysticism and so much more.To dig further head to Alexandre's site
Third Eye Drops #9 - Evolving New Senses With Shane Mauss and Michael Garfield
Comedian, Shane Mauss has appeared on Conan, hosts the Here We Are Podcast and tours the country doing stand up. Silver-tongued polymath, Michael Garfield is an artist, musician and speaker based out of Austin.LISTEN | ITUNES YOUTUBE ARCHIVE STITCHER
Welcome friends and thank you for once again entangling your consciousness with ours!
This week’s trialogue between Michael Garfield Shane Mauss and myself was a blast and it definitely got my wonder gland frothing, I also think there were more smiles per minute in this cast than any other episode of this show I’ve done.
The concept I’ve really been pondering ever since this conversation is the mind’s constant need for novelty. We chase down anything that shines and engage with it for however long it holds our attention. Then, we inevitably get sick of it and move on. You have to admit, it's useful. It’s that restless desire that pushes things collectively forward and keeps us on our ever-evolving recursive quest toward infinite improvement.
But, It’s incredibly important to balance that yang with its respective yin. That is, the place you go when your mind is still. The place you get to via meditation. The place of slower brainwaves and deep integration with yourself and your own nature. If you spend all of your time running away from that primordial place, you’re going to become an incredibly ego-driven, lopsided being who's only concerned with novelty and avoiding boredom. Not only is that unhealthy, it's not even possible.
The thing is, the two are not mutually exclusive. It’s all about how you use your novelty. Unfortunately, most of us, myself included, tend to dive down rabbit holes of dissociative binge gaming or Netflix-ing. We use novelty as a means of disengaging from ourselves and our obligations when we should be using it as a way to continually appreciate, augment and contemplate our own position in the universe.
For more on this rant, dive into this week's mind meld and join the discussion.
Third Eye Drops #8 - Matt Xian of TIMEWHEEL - Creation, Fear and the Spirit Molecule
Matt Xian is the Creative Director and founder of TIMEWHEEL, a record label, website and artistic platform. He also creates music in the vibey sea of digital deliciousness known as Something Fiction.
LISTEN | ITUNES YOUTUBE ARCHIVE STITCHER
If we spent as much time nurturing passions as we do our fear, the world would be a much shiner place. As Seneca, the great Stoic once said, "there are more things likely to frighten us than crush us. We suffer more often in imagination than in reality."
It's really that simple, you either let your self-constructed fears and anxieties run the show or you don't. You either go for what you want in life with full vigor and determination, consequences be damned, or you settle. I don't often make such authoritative proclamations about life, but this is an exception. It's so glaringly obvious. Fear of failure is everywhere, it's hugely present in my own mind and in the minds of everyone I've ever met. The only difference is some people face it. They get familiar with it. They actually taste the dirt of defeat, adjust and rise to try again.
Matt Xian (also known as Matt Humble) is one of these fear-facers. He left the well-worn path and forged into the weedy psychic minefield of self-doubt you must pass through to pursue any creative endeavor seriously. The product of his journey is TIMEWHEEL. If you’re not familiar, TIMEWHEEL is a platform for musicians and artists to spread their respective crafts. It's also a vessel for all sorts of other mind-expanding content.
In addition to his work with TIMEWHEEL, Matt is also a musician who plays in the vibey sea of digital deliciousness known as Something Fiction.
So, go plug your consciousness into TIMEWHEEL. Get lost in their fear demon-exorcising talisman of excellent art, music and ideas.