Robert meets World Podcast

The quiet voice in my head hummed along as I walked. Notice the “I” and the “Me”. Pay attention to the "Me" In a dream-like state, the sound of my footsteps down Fillmore street filled my ears with a predicable click and clack noise providing a background note for the inward process that was taking place. A process in which I found myself catching each and every thought that the mind attem...

Jung personified that place, the Shadow, which Robert Johnson playfully describes as: “[the] unconscious dumping ground for undesirable characteristics of a personality” As a collective, we’ve developed different sanctioned places for those parts of ourselves, and for me, that’s always been fitness and performance training. The gym has always been the place to find comfort in breaking myself down...

I laid on the floor in a heavy state as a dark wave of depressive fatigue and heaviness washed over me. A massive pressure weighed on my head, and that characteristic optimism telling me there is always a way out, reframe or way to step back to see the bigger picture, seemed to be failing me. I didn’t see a way out of what was happening to me: the seeming hell of a mind viciously swirling in an an...

In this side quest, Robert unpacks the chaotic, messy, and deeply human struggle at the intersection of ego, detachment, and higher minded ideals. Starting with a late-night standoff with a spider, Robert discusses internal conflict between three distinct modes of being that we all cycle through: The Personal Ego: Our defensive, flawed nature trying to get ahead. The Spiritual Ego ("The Yogic...

We stood facing the water basins as faux candles let out a soft glimmer in the dark room. Like a 1500s secret Gregorian chanting chamber (or potential incognito cult initiation), four rows of partnered pairs stood above individual plunging pools as sweat dripped off our bodies from the prior sauna session. Inhaling and exhaling deeply into the diaphragm we stared directly into our apparent fate: i...

Drawing on Sherry Turkle's observation that smartphone-raised kids "know how to be lonely, but not how to be alone," this episode explores what Jungian psychology calls the vas hermeticum, and it's antithesis the validation hole. The validation hole represents the impulse to reach for our devices the moment internal tension rises, bleeding pressure through likes, comments, and digi...

When we feel our emotions like a piece of music, rather than a still photograph, we allow them to move and layer, rather than being pinned down and lodged for inspection; in doing so we're practicing a form of emotional polyphony. Emotional polyphony is the capacity of both the human mind and masterful artwork to sustain multiple conflicting emotional registers in parallel without forcing reso...

"'A genuine inspiration has visited me’, he wrote to his friend in October… Stavrogin is everything", Dostoevsky wrote in a note dated August 16, 1870. Once the true protagonist appeared, the materials of [Demons] began to compose themselves around him. The result: neither pamphlet nor poem but recasting of both, to a cost of another two years of work. What is it about the creative pro...

Does the psyche possess a natural trial by fire that pulls the spirit to elevated levels of conscious individuation?

Is the reward of a path really found in what it avoids?

Joyce Meng is a certified MBTI® Master practitioner and host of the Type Talks podcast entered the world of typology and coaching to fulfill her love for helping others and my passion for psychology. She is also the host of type talks diving into the various aspects of Depth Psychology as it relates to cognitive functions and type indicators. OUTLINE 0:00 - Introduction 3:23 - Foundations of Myers...

Content Warning: This episode briefly enters into some heavy topics related to self-harm as presented in literary works such as Dostesvky's Demons. If these are sensitive topics for you, viewer and listener discretion is advised. 

At its most literal, the ancient Greek word aporia translates to "without passage," "impassable," or "a state of being at a loss. "In classical philosophy, particularly in the Socratic dialogues, aporia is the moment of profound puzzlement. Socrates would question someone who claimed to be an expert on a topic (like justice or courage) until their logic collapsed in on itse...

In the process of individuation (the journey toward becoming your true, whole self), so-called "Archetypal Visitations" can act as catalysts. While not merely random occurrences, visitations represent an intriguing view into the "self-healing" and "self-growing" nature of the psyche according to the cannon of Carl Jung's work

Aoise (Isha) Tutty Jackson is an intimacy and relational based guide and mentor. Aoise works to help people cross the threshold of deep transformation and embody their sovereign, radiant presence while navigating relationships. In this conversation, Robert & Aoise discuss 0:00 - Introduction 1:00 - Mirroring and Aoise’s work with individuals 5:41 - Why haven’t we figured out strong intimacy an...

Wes Myers is the Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer at Keeper.ai, an experienced matchmaker, and relationship expert. He is working at Keeper to end human loneliness. How?  According to Keeper, by giving everyone the opportunity to start a happy, healthy family. Approaching modern dating challenges through a lens of long term relationship formation rather than casual dating. Keeper uses Technol...

Dr. Wolfgang Palaver is a distinguished scholar in the field of political theology, christian social thought and the philosophy of René Girard. From 2002 to 2023 Dr. Palaver was professor of Christian Social Thought in the Institute of Systematic Theology at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. His research focuses on the intersection of religion, politics, and violence, drawing extensively from...

Danielle Strachman is the co-founder and GP of 1517 Fund, a premiere pre-seed venture capital firm backing ambitious young high-school, college and makers working on big ideas. With a tag line of “Backing dropouts working on hard problems & sci-fi scientists at the earliest stages of their companies”, Danielle has been working on 1517 for 10+ years backing bright young minds to pursue great wo...

MJ Dorian is an artist, educator, podcast creator, and award winning composer. He is the host of the podcast production Creative Codex, a compendium and compass to the arcane world of creativity exploring the questions of what is creative genius and where does it come from? Through his original research, composure and production, MJ explores artists such as Alexander McQueen, William Blake, Da Vin...

Dr. Shannon Lodoen is an academic in the field of rhetoric studying the relationship between modern society and the smartphone. Obtaining her doctorate from the University of Waterloo, she has continued to explore the dilemmas present at the intersection of society, technology (in the form factor of the smartphone), and the individual. Using her lens of rhetoric as a framework, Shannon seeks to un...

Freddy Gervasi is a former athlete turned entrepreneur, musician and now founder of the wellness & personal growth concert experience Soul Expansion. Through an 8 piece band offering original music, in a multi-sensory environment using breathwork and meditation, participants experience a community of mutual interest in expanding their sense of self. Freddy was inspired to bring his offering to...

Adam Lewis is a growth strategist, entrepreneur and community builder passionate about empowering people, brands, and movements. Previously leading growth & partnerships at Othership (@othership), Adam took his fixation on wellness, integration and community to co-found MANCAMP (@mancamp.ca), a men's community and festival to explore his own sense and growth of masculinity.  In this episod...

Ian Timotheos-Pilon is a 10+ year product & experience designer, and author of Cultivating Clarity: The art of discerning what matters using contextual intelligence. In this episode, Robert & Ian catch up to discuss AI, AI Agents, Intelligence, the future and more. 0:00 - Intro 11:59 - Concerns of AI & Atrophy 16:13 - Physical Assembly 25:01 - What does AI mean to the human experience?...

Udara Jayawardena is a serial entrepreneur and founder of UNMS Technologies a multi-disciplinary practice producing software, media and art. Previously selling his companies Tidl/Alchemy & Clew, he is now working to improve research and individual experience with his ventures at UNMS. In this conversation we cover: Why Udara moved from Sri Lanka when he was 18 The importance of physical assemb...