Dr. Bernardo Kastrup is a philosopher, scientist, and author whose work challenges mainstream materialism. With a background in computer engineering and a Ph.D. in philosophy, he has become one of the world's leading advocates for metaphysical idealism—the view that consciousness, not matter, is the fundamental reality of the universe. In this conversation, we explore some of the key ideas from Bernardo’s latest book, "The Daimon and the Soul of the West," including: — The key differences betwee...
Oct 02, 2025•1 hr 21 min
Douglas Gillette is a bestselling author, Jungian psychologist, and co-creator of the influential King, Warrior, Magician, Lover framework that has transformed our understanding of masculine psychology. His work explores the archetypal patterns that shape human development and the journey toward psychological wholeness. In this conversation, we explore: — Why Douglas believes we are "sowing" in this life but the "harvest" lies elsewhere — How evolutionary psychology can help to explains the curr...
Sep 26, 2025•1 hr 4 min
Ross Douthat is a New York Times columnist, author, and podcast host. His latest book, "Believe," presents a rational case for faith in an increasingly secular world, drawing on evidence from science, philosophy, and human experience to make a compelling argument for the existence of God. In this conversation, we explore: — Why the strongest case for God rests at the intersection of multiple converging lines of evidence — How the "hard problem of consciousness" challenges purely materialist expl...
Sep 18, 2025•1 hr 3 min
Dr. Laurel Parnell is an internationally recognised clinical psychologist, author, consultant, and the developer of the innovative treatment approach: Attachment Focused EMDR She has trained thousands of clinicians nationally and internationally, and is the author of several bestselling books, including, “Tapping In”, “Rewiring the Addicted Brain”, and “Attachment Focused EMDR” which this interview focuses on. In a wide-ranging conversation, we explore: — The link between EMDR and spiritual expe...
Sep 11, 2025•58 min
Dr Tatkin is a clinician, researcher, teacher, and developer of the psychobiological approach to couples therapy, often referred to as PACT. He is assistant clinical professor in the family medicine department at the University of California. Dr Tatkin has authored numerous bestselling books on attachment and couples therapy, including: Wired for Love, Wired for Dating, In Each Other’s Care, and Your Brain on Love. In this conversation, we explore: — How human beings behave according to procedur...
Sep 04, 2025•1 hr 5 min
Jerry Colonna is an executive coach, author, and former venture capitalist who has been called "the CEO Whisperer." As the founder of Reboot.io, he works with leaders to foster both professional success and personal wholeness through the practice of radical self-inquiry. In this conversation, we explore Jerry's latest book "Reunion: Leadership and the Longing to Belong," which examines how reconnecting with our ancestral past can help us build a more compassionate future. Expect to learn: — How ...
Aug 28, 2025•1 hr 1 min
Dr Alicia Lieberman is a clinical psychologist, author, and the senior developer of Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP). Her books include: The Emotional Life of the Toddler, Don’t Hit My Mommy, and Psychotherapy with Infants and Young Children. She has received numerous awards including: the Rene Spitz Award from the World Association for Infant Mental Health, the Hero Award from the San Francisco Department of Public Health, and the Whole Child Award from the Simms/Mann Institute. In this convers...
Aug 21, 2025•57 min
Dr Brown is a licensed psychologist with more than 40 years of clinical experience, a researcher, and lecturer in the field of addiction. She is an internationally recognised expert on treatment of alcoholics, adult children of alcoholics and all addicts and their families. Dr Brown is the author of eleven academic and popular books on addiction and recovery, including her 2014 book: Speed, which this interview focuses on. In this conversation, we explore: — The invisible and insidious addiction...
Aug 14, 2025•1 hr 2 min
Professor Steven C Hayes is the co-developer of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Relational Frame Theory, and most recently Process Based Therapy. Dr Hayes is the author of several bestselling books, including Get out of Your Mind and Into Your Life, Process-Based CBT, and A Liberated Mind. Along with his colleagues, Steve has spent decades developing and rigorously testing the psychological flexibility model — which is now one of the most empirically validated predictors of flourishing in lif...
Aug 07, 2025•58 min
Dr. Jo is a bereaved mother and the founder of the MISS Foundation, an international NGO that serves families whose children have died, and the Selah Carefarm, a sustainable restorative community that provides aid to anyone suffering traumatic grief. She is also a Professor and Senior Scholar at Arizona State University, where she spearheads the Graduate Certificate in Trauma and Bereavement. Her best selling book, Bearing the Unbearable has helped revolutionize the way our culture thinks, and f...
Jul 31, 2025•58 min
In this interview, I’m joined by Dr James Glattfelder. James is a physicist, complexity scientist, and peer-reviewed philosopher. His latest book: The Sapient Cosmos synthesises the latest developments in consciousness studies, physics, and information theory to tackle some of life’s biggest questions. Expect to learn: — Why consciousness might be the foundation of reality, not just a product of the brain — The rational case for idealism — How psychedelics may have shaped human cultures for mile...
Jul 17, 2025•1 hr 4 min
Dr. David Spiegel is an author, psychiatrist and professor at Stanford University, and one of the world’s leading experts into the clinical applications of hypnosis. He has published thirteen books, over 400 scientific articles, and 170 chapters on hypnosis, stress physiology, trauma, and psychotherapy. He is also the creator of REVERI, an innovative guided self hypnosis app which has been clinically proven to reduce stress, improve sleep, and enhance focus. In this lively and wide ranging conve...
Jul 10, 2025•1 hr 3 min
Dr. Peter Fenner’s nondual approach has been transforming psychotherapy and spiritual practice for decades. In this session, he explore why his teachings on nondual awareness have been so effective in areas such as personal growth, mental health, and spiritual realization—and how this radical understanding of consciousness has the potential to profoundly change how we experience life. You’ll learn: — The shift from seeking to “being” dissolves suffering and brings peace and freedom — How to inte...
Jul 03, 2025•58 min
Is there just one “you”? We’ve been taught to believe we have a single identity and to feel fear or shame when we can’t control the inner voices that don’t match the ideal of who we think we should be. Yet Dr. Richard Schwartz’s research now challenges this “mono-mind” theory. “All of us are born with many sub-minds―or parts,” says Dr. Schwartz. “These parts are not imaginary or symbolic. They are individuals who exist as an internal family within us―and the key to health and happiness is to hon...
Jun 26, 2025•1 hr 18 min
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a Harvard-trained neuroscientist, stroke survivor, and bestselling author of My Stroke of Insight and Whole Brain Living. With over 27 million views, her TED Talk is one of the most viewed of all time. In this conversation, we explore: — How a left hemisphere stroke radically shifted Jill’s view of identity — What it means to live from a “whole brain” perspective and Dr. Taylor revolutionary model of the four “characters” we all have within us — Why our sense of self is ...
Jun 19, 2025•1 hr 15 min
Dr. Tony Nader is a medical doctor, neuroscientist, and the global leader of the Transcendental Meditation movement. He holds an MD from the American University of Beirut and a PhD in neuroscience from MIT. In this conversation, we explore Dr. Nader’s provocative claim that consciousness is not a byproduct of the brain—but the ground of all being. Drawing on neuroscience, quantum physics, and thousands of years of contemplative practice, he shares a paradigm that reframes life’s biggest question...
Jun 12, 2025•1 hr 6 min
Zack Kass is an AI strategist, futurist, and former Head of Go-to-Market at OpenAI — the company behind ChatGPT. As a leading voice in the responsible integration of artificial intelligence, Zack has advised Fortune 500 companies, governments, and nonprofits on how to navigate technological change with both foresight and humanity. In this wide-ranging discussion, Zack shares what most people get wrong about AI, the traits that will define those who thrive in the years ahead, and why designing fo...
May 29, 2025•57 min
The spiritual teaching of nonduality, which stems from the Indian philosophy of advaita, teaches that consciousness is the primary reality, the fundamental essence of the cosmos. On the other hand, the current scientific worldview holds that the physical world is primary, and that consciousness somehow, in ways that we do not yet understand, emerges from it. Both views have their challenges. If consciousness is primary, why do we not see it in all things? Conversely if the physical world is prim...
May 22, 2025•1 hr 1 min
Tomás Hardiman is a film producer and a survivor of childhood abuse. His recent documentary “The Days of Trees” tells the story of his own experience of childhood sexual abuse, and his long road to recovery. In this conversation, Tomás reflects on the years he spent in the dark, his gradual process of healing, and how he was able to convert his deepest childhood wound into a creative project - a documentary that is now impacting people all over the world. Gabor Maté had this to say about it: 'It...
May 15, 2025•1 hr 3 min
In this episode, I speak with Professor Guy Leschziner, a consultant neurologist and author of three bestselling books, including: “The Man Who Tasted Words”, “The Secret World of Sleep”, and “The Seven Deadly Sins”, which this interview focuses on. Drawing on insights from evolutionary biology, genetics, and clinical neurology, Guy makes a compelling case that what we label as “sin” may often have a biological cause, and isn’t necessarily a moral failing. Expect to learn: — Why our so-called “s...
May 08, 2025•57 min
Dr. Sharon Dirckx is a speaker and author trained in neuroscience, who speaks internationally on topics such as science and theology, human consciousness, and the problem of evil. She has appeared on BBC Radio 2, Radio 4 and has also written for The Times. Her books include: Broken Planet, Why, and Am I Just my Brain - which this interview focuses on. Here are some of the questions we explore in this conversation: — The mind-body problem - how could a mindless universe produce conscious beings? ...
May 01, 2025•1 hr
Dr Lisa Feldman Barrett, who is in the top one percent of most cited scientists in the world for her revolutionary research in psychology and neuroscience. She is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, and also holds appointments at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, where she is Chief Science Officer for the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior. In addition to the books Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain and How Emotions are Made, Dr. B...
Apr 24, 2025•57 min
Professor Marc Lewis is a former Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Toronto and a world leading expert in the neuroscience of addiction. It was particularly interesting to speak with Marc because not only does he have a deep understanding of the neural mechanisms underneath addictive processes, he also has battled with quite severe opioid addictions himself. He is the author of two bestselling books on the subject: Memoirs of an Addicted Brain, and The Biology of Desire. ...
Apr 17, 2025•1 hr 3 min
In this episode, I’m joined by Professor Paul Gilbert and Professor Jeremy Holmes. Paul is the developer of Compassion Focused Therapy and one of the world’s leading clinical psychologists studying the scientific application of compassion in therapeutic practice. Jeremy is an award winning attachment expert, clinician, and author, whose books include: In Search of the Secure Base, Attachment & Psychotherapy, and most recently The Spirit of Psychotherapy. In this wide ranging discussion, we e...
Apr 10, 2025•1 hr 7 min
Dr Morgan is a Professor of Counseling & Human Services at the University of Scranton, who has spent thirty years researching, teaching, and writing about mental health and addiction. He is the author of Addiction, Attachment, Trauma and Recovery, which provides a holistic, multidisciplinary framework for understanding and treating addictive processes. In this conversation, we explore: — The extent to which addiction can be viewed as an attachment disorder — The central paradox at the heart ...
Apr 03, 2025•57 min
In this interview, I speak with Dr Steve Taylor, a psychologist, writer, and lecturer at Leeds Beckett University. Dr Taylor is the author of several bestselling books on psychology and spirituality, including: The Leap, Spiritual Science, and most recently Time Expansion Experiences, which this conversation focuses on. Expect to learn: — Why linear time is an illusion of the mind — What near-death experiences and life reviews reveal about the nature of time — Why time feels faster as we age—and...
Mar 25, 2025•1 hr 1 min
Dr. James Hollis is one of the world’s leading Jungian analysts. Across a career spanning decades, he has written extensively on how we confront the unconscious, navigate midlife, and live with greater courage and self-awareness. His books include: Living an Examined Life, Under Saturn's Shadow, and a Life of Meaning. In this conversation, we explore: — The extent to which Dr. Hollis believes there is a "purposeful intelligence" at work in nature. — How we live a larger life by asking larger que...
Mar 17, 2025•1 hr
Dr Bessel van der Kolk is a clinician, researcher, and teacher who has spent his professional life studying how children and adults adapt to traumatic experiences. He specialises in translating emerging findings from neuroscience and attachment research to develop and study a range of effective treatments for traumatic stress and developmental trauma in children and adults. He is the author of the New York Times Bestseller: The Body Keeps the Score, the Founder of Trauma Center in Boston, and cu...
Mar 13, 2025•53 min
In this interview, I’m joined by Derek Sivers. Derek is the Founder of CD Baby — a company he sold for $22 million, and then gave pretty much everything to charity. He has written multiple bestselling books, given TED talks which have reached millions, and been a circus performer for 10 years. There have been few people who have had a bigger positive impact on my thinking than Derek, so it was a real treat to sit down with him for an hour and have this conversation. Expect to learn: — The connec...
Mar 06, 2025•1 hr 12 min
In this episode, I’m joined by Linda Thai — a mental health clinician, storyteller, and educator who has had her own lived experiences of individual, collective, historical and cultural traumatization...and healing. I’ve interviewed many fascinating individuals in the past seven years of running The Weekend University, but there was something different about Linda. It might have something to do with her getting off the grid and living in the wilderness in Alaska, or perhaps it's the eclectic sel...
Feb 27, 2025•56 min
