Michael Garfield returns to the show for another dip into the conversational ectoplasm!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. michael-garfield-jpg In addition to being debonair and a brain-melting conversationalist who can talk about basically anything, Michael Garfield is an Austin-based writer, speaker, musician and visionary artist. For more on him, hop through this portal.Musings in this mind meld include -

Virtual reality will need a failsafe to remind you you’re in it
What happens when technology is so advanced we can no longer tell what’s real?
Yes we’re being lied to, but don’t reject mainstream narratives just to embrace wacky ones
More has "happened" in the last few months than the entire 16th century
Information fatigue and navigating "truth" claims
Internal authority versus external authority
The rational age has wrestled us away from believing we exist within meaning.
Subjective experiences can be just as valid as objective ones.
Is religion just a more primitive version of science, or is it measuring something else?
There may be no absolute beginnings, but humans think in terms of stories
Rest in peace, Paul Laffoley
Personal breakthroughs that reveal hidden worlds
The scientifically-proven hyper-charged shroom-brain
Supreme court ruling that people’s technology is a part of them and can’t be unlawfully searched seized
If we can ever create a hive mind, what would happen to society?
Being successfully nomadic
Is the definition of success are changing?
Is the internet age killing monogamy?

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.

wigfall 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.