Waking Up Is Not Enough: Flourishing in the Human Space

What does it mean to be impulsive from the perspective of how you see yourself and other people? When does this way of acting and thinking first arise in human development and how does it change and adapt to self-control and self-care? Why is impulsiveness considered “ pre-conformist ” or reactive and predictable ? In this episode, you will learn about how your self-care can lack concern and compa...

What does it mean to be impulsive from the perspective of how you see yourself and other people? When does this way of acting and thinking first arise in human development and how does it change and adapt to self-control and self-care? Why is impulsiveness considered “ pre-conformist ” or reactive and predictable ? In this episode, you will learn about how your self-care can lack concern and compa...

PART 2 What is the normal mind? Why do ordinary adults have so many differences and conflicts about what is real or true? Perhaps you have pondered this and looked at astrology, personality typologies, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Human Design or some other set of categories to try to figure out how you are different from other people. Or you have just given up trying to figure that out...

What is the normal mind? Why do ordinary adults have so many differences and conflicts about what is real or true? Perhaps you have pondered this and looked at astrology, personality typologies, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Human Design or some other set of categories to try to figure out how you are different from other people. Or you have just given up trying to figure that out. In th...

In waking up, people experience and report ecstatic states. Often these states are associated with euphoria in which feelings of pleasure, ease, and excitement are greatly expanded. Others report bliss or a feeling of total happiness. And still others report equanimity or stability of the mind in experiences of awakening. In this episode, Polly and Mike talk about the kinds and qualities of emotio...

How much control do we have about what comes into our lives through awakening? What are the constraints on what we can learn? Is awakening good for our relationships? Does it matter how awakening is initiated – by the circumstances or the motivations? Why are there so many differences in what people learn, bring back, and translate into relating to self and other? What are the similarities? How ca...

In this episode, Mike and Polly consider the take-away from awakening. Does it matter how awakening is initiated – our motivations, the method, what is driving us? Why are there so many differences in what individuals bring back and translate into relating to self and other? If we experience an “ontological shock” from awakening, whether we induce it or the awakening happens to us (as in NDEs), wh...

What are we seeking through awakenings? If we are not seeking, they happen to us through childbirth or Near Death Experience, are there differences? Why is awakening valuable and/or is it always valuable? What part does the desire for awakening play in our experience? In this episode, Polly and Mike talk about their own seeking and motivations for awakening. They also talk about Nature waking us u...

While this question is a kind of Zen puzzle or koan, it is also the case that individual people have awakenings – and they have personalities and perceptions through which they peek into the infinite nature of reality and love. In this episode, Polly and Mike talk about their own awakenings and their belief/ideas/theories about how personality interacts with waking up.

On this episode of Waking Up: Flourishing in the Human Space, the hosts Polly Young-Eisendrath and Mike Berger explore the different ways humans can awaken to a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them. They discuss their personal experience with awakening and the sense of interconnectedness that comes with breaking through one's habitual way of experiencing themselves. In addi...