This is a conversation that was originally posted on Meghan Daum's 'Unspeakable' podcast as 'Talking Sense Into Sensemakers'. David and Meghan talk about their shared history exploring the 'heterodox' space over the last years, and their impressions of what needs to come next. Unspeakable podcast: https://www.theunspeakablepodcast.com/ 

John Vervaeke is a cognitive scientist - a good friend of RW - and the creator of the cult hit - awakening from the meaning crisis series. A couple of weeks ago he travelled to the UK for a series of talks - and we took the opportunity to film this excellent dialogue with the philosopher and chess grandmaster Jonathan Rowson, the co-founder of Perspectiva. They cover a lot of ground, including John's passion for transformative speech - or dialogos, questions like the existence of God, and...

Alex Kaschuta is the host of the Subversive podcast, where she hosts controversial thinkers exploring the 'post-liberal moment'. She used to work in media in London, where she described herself then as a classic rationalist atheist and feminist. In the last few years she's moved back to Romania, become a mother, and has been exploring more traditionalist perspectives, in her life, and through the conversations on her podcast. In this conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller we cover...

Chris Kavanagh is a cognitive anthropologist, and the co-host of the increasingly popular and influential podcast 'Decoding the Gurus'. This is a podcast that critiques many of the new breed of public intellectuals, including some who have been featured on Rebel Wisdom. Together with co-host, psychologist Matt Browne, they analyse the methods and messages of what they've described as 'secular gurus'. This is an important conversation, about the necessity of criticism, of what counts as good...

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia is now over a month old. Konstantin Kisin is a comedian and the host of the Triggernometry show, he is also a Russian immigrant with family in both Ukraine and Russia. In this conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller he talks about his emotional journey over the course of the war, and how he has struggled with the way the conflict is portrayed in some areas close to home.

How can we relate authentically in a world that's tearing itself apart? What skills do we need to truly understand perspectives that differ from our own, and in turn, how can we invite people to consider other ways of thinking?  In this conversation with authentic relating superstar Sara Ness we go from the personal to the cultural, asking how do we have a different kind of conversation; one that isn't about winning, but about authentic connection that takes us somewhere new. We are...

How will Russia's invasion of Ukraine shape the world for decades to come? Samo Burja is a geopolitical expert who has developed a reputation for bucking the conventional wisdom.  In this conversation he makes his predictions for the future, explaining how he believes we are misunderstanding Russia, how China is playing an economic long game, and the lessons from history in understanding what will happen next. Bismarck Analysis: https://www.bismarckanalysis.com/ Check out Rebel Wisdom's...

What are the deeper religious and philosophical currents informing Vladimir Putin and the Russian invasion of Ukraine?  Gary Lachman is the author of the recent book 'The Return of Holy Russia: Apocalyptic History, Mystical Awakening, and the Struggle for the Soul of the World'. In this conversation he argues that we have to understand the deep well of Russian philosophy and understand how Putin sees himself and Russia's historic mission.

Integral philosophy has been a big influence on many of Rebel Wisdom's guests over the years. So we brought together three key figures, meditator and mediator Diane Musho Hamilton, the host of the popular Daily Evolver podcast Jeff Salzman and the author of the book Developmental Politics, Steve McIntosh. They talked about how the integral map can help make sense of the responses to the pandemic, we discussed Jordan Peterson and the Intellectual Dark Web, and also responded to recent...

All the arrayed forces of the sensemaking crisis, cancel culture, censorship and the ethical dilemmas of truth seeking seem now to be focused on one man, the podcaster and comedian Joe Rogan. These questions were already brought into a heightened focus by the pandemic, and the question of accurate medical information or misinformation taking on a life or death importance. It was into that context that Rogan stepped a few weeks ago with two interviews with highly controversial medical...

A few months ago we put out a brilliant conversation about the deep mythology of the new Dune movie with the sci fi writer and podcaster Damien Walter - looking at what the stories we tell through science fiction tell us about who we are and where we're going. This is a dialogue with the host of the Symbolic World, Jonathan Pageau, about the religious and mythological symbolism and role of sci fi.  They cover a vast amount of territory, from The Matrix to Star Trek, Elon Musk, Mark...

A few months ago we put out a brilliant conversation about the deep mythology of the new Dune movie with the sci fi writer and podcaster Damien Walter - looking at what the stories we tell through science fiction tell us about who we are and where we're going. This is a dialogue with the host of the Symbolic World, Jonathan Pageau, about the religious and mythological symbolism and role of sci fi.  They cover a vast amount of territory, from The Matrix to Star Trek, Elon Musk, Mark...

As Russia looks poised to invade Ukraine, we speak to a friend of ours inside Ukraine. Vytas Bucianas is a developmental coach based in Kiev. In this conversation we discuss the recent history of Ukraine, what a conflict might mean for the region and the world, and whether the developmental map from disciplines like Integral theory can help illustrate what's going on.

Jerry Hyde is a shadow therapist with 25 years clinical experience, who rejects many of the conventionally held views of the mainstream psychotherapy world.  He works primarily with men, and has run men's groups for decades, which have years-long waiting lists to join.  He has just released a documentary based on the experience of leading men’s groups, called Make Me a Man, directed with partner Mia Hua: https://www.jerryhyde.co.uk/film We are releasing this as Rebel Wisdom restarts our...

One of the biggest problems with talking about something as vast and impactful as the pandemic is to find the right level of analysis. In this epic piece, we look at the deeper religious and theological forces playing out below the surface of our day to day conflicts over topics like vaccines, authoritarianism and safety. We pull apart the hidden religiosity of "both sides" of the pandemic, that seems to be accelerating, even as the rapid spread of the Omicron variant brings us towards the...

John McWhorter is one of America's most incisive, outspoken heterodox commentators on race. His latest book, 'Woke Racism', is a full frontal attack on what he considers to be a new hidden racism, coming from the left. In Woke Racism, McWhorter outlines the workings of what he believes is a new religion, from the original sin of “white privilege” and the weaponization of cancel culture to ban heretics, to the evangelical fervor of the “woke mob.” He shows how this religion that claims to...

Why does our response to Covid seem perfectly calibrated to create maximum division and disagreement? How has it made the problems of sensemaking so much worse and dragged us all into it? BJ Campbell is the creator of the Handwaving Freakoutery blog, focused on the crisis of finding truth, or Sensemaking. In this conversation with David Fuller he explains his perspective on how the nature of social media has created hive minds, or 'Egregores' that are competing for space in the attention...

Breathwork and Embodiment has always been hugely important to many of the practices we talk about on Rebel Wisdom. This is a conversation with breathworker Prema McKeever about the history of embodiment and breath practices, and how they are becoming ever more popular. We are running a course with Prema beginning in January 2022, it will be five deep sessions around different holding patterns and character structures. To find out more about it and to sign up, check out:...

What are we getting wrong with Covid, and what does it mean to adapt to it becoming an endemic disease? William Eden is a biotech and healthcare expert who has been paying close attention to the progress of the pandemic from many different angles. He recently posted a viral Twitter thread on the topic: https://twitter.com/WilliamAEden/status/1470271294398558210 In this conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller they cover how the pandemic became politicised, how the authorities have...

Happy Christmas! The Sensemaking Companion introduction film is listed on our new home on Substack: https://rebelwisdom.substack.com/p/our-christmas-gift-to-you-the-sensemaking Register your email address to be sent the full version when it's live. We're now hosting all our exclusive member content there, and there's a library of around 100 films - including our brilliant recent conversation with John McWhorter - and also talks with people like Iain McGilchrist, John Vervaeke,...

Meghan Daum is a writer and journalist, and host of the Unspeakable podcast. After a long time in the heart of the legacy media, she was becoming increasingly unhappy with the groupthink and narrow perspectives. After discovering what later became known as the Intellectual Dark Web, she wrote an article that went viral called Nuance, a Love Story: https://gen.medium.com/nuance-a-love-story-ae6a14991059 In this conversation with David Fuller they discuss which conversations are still...

Can psychedelics change culture? In this new documentary, Alexander Beiner speaks with leaders in the field including Robin Carhart-Harris, Dennis McKenna, Bia Labate, Rick Doblin, Jamie Wheal and Kat Conour to find out if the original vision of the psychedelic counterculture - that they can radically transform society - is still alive. In the age of psychedelic capitalism, with pharma and wellness companies driving the narrative, this piece explores what it would take for an experience of...

Web3 is the collective name for the latest wave of innovation online. Touted as much more decentralised, democratic and creative than the current web ecosystem, for its evangelists it's our best hope to innovate our way out of many our most pressing societal problems. Jordan Hall is a tech entrepreneur and Deep Code analyst, who has been deeply involved in what is now being called Web1, the early garage innovators who created the early internet, and also Web2, when cyberspace was colonised...

Jamie Bartlett is a writer and journalist who's been investigating our complex relationship with technology for years, through books like People vs Tech, and recently through the hit podcast the Missing Crypto Queen. In this conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller he talked about how technology was starting to play an almost religious role in our lives, how the rise of tech was a fundamental challenge to democracy, and about his famous run in with Alex Jones. Missing Cryptoqueen...

Paul Kingsnorth is one of the most interesting voices wrestling with the deepest questions of modernity, religion and the spiritual void in western culture. A former pagan - and long time environmentalist - a couple of years ago he had a completely unexpected conversion to Christianity, which he outlined in his fascinating piece The Cross and the Machine: https://www.firstthings.com/article/2021/06/the-cross-and-the-machine In this conversation in Rebel Wisdom's Digital Campfire we...