Episode 1: Forget About Enlightenment

So these two writer guys are friends. They have long conversations about life, our beautiful and fucked-up world, how to live all the way with an open heart, what it means to keep on becoming, all kinds of spiritual shit, and you know, whatever else comes to mind and heart.

Basically … everything.

At some point in every conversation, one of them says, “Dammit, we should have recorded that!”

Well, now they are.

In this conversation, Jacob and Scott talk about…

* who they are and why they’re doing this podcast

* the commitment to living in one’s truth

* the freedom that comes with giving up the chase for enlightenment

* how they define love, and how they move with love in their lives

* the importance and power of self-love

* the ease with which we get pulled into hatred

* getting really honest with ourselves and each other

* making choices that create more peace and joy in our lives

* listening to the body for guidance

* maintaining relationships with loved ones with different political views

* walking away from unhealthy relationships

* connecting to our inherent worth

* letting go of martyrdom, as a parent and in general

* saying goodbye to all the shoulds

* healthy selfishness

* accepting the reality of what is, and creating change within it

* the energy of victimhood and reliving damaging patterns

* bringing peace to the present moment

* trusting our inner compass to guide us

* looking at and transcending conditioning

* taking responsibility for how we show up in the world

* the importance of the question, “who am I?”

* how similar we all are at our core

* reflecting on the uglier aspects of our personalities

* replacing shame with love

* pretending not to be who we really are, and vice versa

* saying what you really want to say to others

What Scott’s reading:

The Creative Cure by Jacob Nordby

Untamed by Glennon Doyle

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

What Jacob’s reading:

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

What’s Scott’s watching:
Nomadland, directed by Chloé Zhao

Anything with Vampires, Witches & Werewolves

What Jacob’s watching:

The End of the Tour, directed by James Ponsoldt
A Discovery of Witches

Here’s the poem Jacob read at the end of the show:

Forget About Enlightenment

by John Welwood

You are here:

Forget about enlightenment.

Sit down wherever you are

And listen to the wind singing in your veins.

Feel the love, the longing, the fear in your bones.

Open your heart to who you are, right now,

Not who you would like to be,

Not the saint you are striving to become,

But the being right here before you, inside you, around you.

All of you is holy.

You are already more and less

Than whatever you can know.

Breathe out,

Touch in,

Let go.

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