identity – the paradise paradox

Everyday existential crisis – Episode 176

The Story: Facing an “inbetween place”

Sooner or later, everyone comes to certain points in their life where they start to realise that they’ve devoted a substantial amount of effort to something that turns out to be bullshit. Sometimes it’s a project or a partner that betrays them, but sometimes it’s something more simple, like an idea.

If you base your identity on an idea, it is inevitable that the idea will one day fail, leaving you confused and disheartened, because no one concept can ever fully express the complexity that is you, and no one ideal can ever capture the elegant simplicity that is your essence.

The question is, what do you do when you reach one of these mini existential crises, or “inbetween places”? What is an effective attitude to address the emotional discomfort? And what are we all doing here on Earth anyway? These questions and more will go completely unanswered in this soul-shaking episode of… The Paradise Paradox!

The Eps:

Everything is meaningless – Episode 169

The Links:

Alan Watts – People behind masks

The Cash:

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The Episode:

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Thailand mystical space adventure: Aaron returns – Episode 149

The Story: Aaron goes to Thailand and doesn’t recognise himself

When you start a new job after a period of inactivity, maybe it will seem nothing more than a daily grind. If you’re lucky, you might get a few months of honeymoon period in which you’re still learning things and the job is exciting. If you’re really lucky, you might stay in a 5 star hotel in Thailand, and find yourself full of energy, amazed at the great work for which you’re preparing. That’s the position Mr. Battle found himself in.

In this episode, Aaron explains his journey to Thailand with a new company, telling us the vague details of their plan to create a new internet with security, privacy and community. Aaron also tells us about how he was so vitalised by the experience that, for the first week, he only needed three hours of sleep a night, and about an unusual dissociative episode, being unable to recognise himself in the mirror for a moment, thanking his body for being a vessel for his soul. Then Kurt recounts a recent occurrence in which he almost had an out-of-body experience, and recalls a story from Robert Monroe’s “Journeys Out of the Body”.

Join us in a new soul-travelling, identity-shattering, curry-eating episode of … The Paradise Paradox!