Tag: depression

Gela Amini – A life without precedent: Episode 174

by Kurt Robinson on August 22, 2017 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Story: Geliqua’s way of living the dream

A couple of months ago, Kurt had the opportunity to interview vegan chef, traveller and free spirit Gela Amini a second time, exploring the concepts of creative visualisation and living an unusual life in more detail, building upon the previous interview.

In this episode, Gela shares her thoughts the way she lives life as an adventure, spending time in Costa Rica, travelling, her philosophy on teaching as a collaboration and interactive experience, learning about life from the children she works with, and the difference between traditional schooling sitting all day and education as a fun experience. We also talk about how people seem to offer her houses to live in, such as her time living on La Playa Blanca in Colombia, among other places in South America, her mental process in finding such remarkable opportunities – especially believing that you deserve good things in your life, how your perspective can make the difference between seeing something as an advantage or disadvantage, depression and mental health.

Join us in another free-wheeling, globe-trotting, dream-fulfilling episode of … The Paradise Paradox!

The Eps:

Gela Amini – The electricity of your intentions: Episode 172

Value is everywhere: Episode 170

Why artists should quit their jobs and move to Thailand: Episode 166

The Links:

Gela on Steemit

Gela’s Facebook profile, where she posts videos

The Cash:

If you enjoy our posts, please become a patron on Patreon, or have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit and Aaron’s posts on Steemit.

We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.

The Episode:

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Everything is Meaningless – Episode 169

by Kurt Robinson on June 20, 2017 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Story: Life has the meaning that you put into it

When you’re a child, life can seem simple. Perhaps the adults around you even give you a simple framework with which to view the world – something like, God loves you, Jesus died for your sins, and as long as you love God and do good, it will be alright. You accept this as a valid interpretation of events – and perhaps you even believe it is the only valid interpretation. Many people live their lives in this way. Perhaps occasionally they have a niggling doubt, but in some way they make it work and feel happy.

Others won’t be so satisfied with a belief system like that. When they start to see the holes, it’s the beginning of the end. Sooner or later, it’s going to click with them that the interpretation of the world that was given to you, was a lie. You plunge into existential despair, not really knowing what to believe. You become a nihilist. “Everything is meaningless,” you say. But then you go a little too far. “Therefore, life is pointless.” You might even believe that you’re special for having discovered this secret, and for the deep-seated dread that you feel in reaction to it. And in a way, you’d be right.

Remember, there is no pressure. No one will force you to evolve. You can stay at any one of these levels as long as you wish.

But, in your own time, you do evolve. You’re not content with the empty cup of meaninglessness. You decide to set your own rules, play your own game. You decide who you are and what you accept from yourself. Some people might call that “self-actualisation”. You know that life is meaningless, you embrace it as true, and you see it as a blank canvas on which to create your own masterpiece, designing a form of living which delights your soul. Because, why not?

Join me in a reality-confronting episode of … The Paradise Paradox!

The Cash:

The Episode:

To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.

Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.

If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.

Depression and cultural alienation with Andrarchy

by Kurt Robinson on January 4, 2017 in Best Bits • 0 Comments

Andrarchy explains why his experience with depression was less about mental illness and more about alienation

Transcript:

I don’t think I had a disease called “depression”; I think that my mind was conflicting with what is socially acceptable for a mind. I was having difficulty integrating with society. And because I was having beliefs and ideas that were different than everybody else’s, that created discomfort and sadness in me that was difficult to resolve because there was nobody there to guide me through the experience.

I do believe that there is a place for therapists – whether they’re psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, whatever – I do believe there’s a place, because if somebody had been there to say “this is normal” – not just “this is normal”, because they do say that – but if they were to explain to me, basically, “hey, society is a construct; it’s a set of delusions we all kind of agree on so we can function, so we can go to the store and make sure there’s shit there – we share these beliefs, not necessarily because they’re true, but because they enable us to form stable societies. Just because you don’t see them as true, doesn’t mean you’re broken.”

Follow @andrarchy on Steemit!

Watch and listen to the full interview here.

Everything is information: Andrarchy – Episode 145

by Kurt Robinson on December 30, 2016 in Podcast • 1 Comment

The Story: The evolution of everything: The philosophy of crowdism

If you’re a writer and you sit down to write a story, essay or book, as the pieces start to come together you might draw on years of experience and knowledge. The experience of depression you had when you were in college, the periods of low functionality caused by it, and the steps you took to eventually drag yourself out of it. Then, the years of reflecting on those times, and everything you read about it, and your thoughts as you attempted to process the ideas of others as they relate to what you went through.

In this episode, Kurt interviews Andrew Levine (a.k.a. andrarchy) about how the process of his life resulted in the process of writing a book, tentatively titled “The Evolution of Everything: The Philosophy of Crowdism”. Andrew explains how his epihany that “Enlightenment means freedom from genes and memes” lead him down a rabbithole, making new discoveries, until he eventually discarded the idea, and how it relates to the idea that everything is information.

Join us in the next culture-defying episode of … The Paradise Paradox!

The Eps:

Mental Illness Outsiders – The Andrarchy Show episode 5

Talking to horses, seeing aliens and demons – The Andrarchy Show episode 4

A psychotic break or shamanic awakening – The Andrarchy Show episode 2

Mental illness and shamanic experiences – The Andrarchy Show episode 1

The Links:

Andrarchy on Steemit

The Cash:

If you enjoy our posts, please have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit and Aaron’s posts on Steemit.

The Episode:

To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.

Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.

If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.

Mental Illness Outsiders – The Andrarchy Show Episode 5

by Kurt Robinson on December 9, 2016 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Story: Mental health, isolation and reason

When you see a homeless mentally ill person doing something unusual on the street, you might do as most people do, and ignore them. Have you ever thought about why they’re on a street corner barking? Maybe they weren’t always like that, but over the years, their desperate attempts to get anything resembling affection – attention, acknowledgement – lead them to stranger and stranger behaviours.

If you’ve ever had an experience with mental illness, you might have noticed that your thoughts can quickly carry you away, getting you to places full of anxiety, dread, hopelessness and even delusion. There are mental tools that we can use to help us gain control of our minds and our lives. Meditation is one of them, and so is logic. Being able to look at our thoughts and analyse them a little more objectively can help ground us.

In this episode, Andrew “Andrarchy” Levine interviews Kurt about mental illness among homeless people, and about the role of reason in stabilising your own mind.