Almost Awakened

Glenn and Bill tackle an audio series created by Michael Singer, author of the untethered soul, and use it as a springboard for their own Almost Awakened conversation. This is part 1 in a multipart series and the conversation in this part covers ideas such as you are not your body, thoughts, or experiences but instead is just the observer behind your senses. That this moment does not belong to you. The marvelous process of how the universe started and how the earth formed and how all life flowed out from this. How we came out of the world rather than come into the world. How awareness affects our agency or “free-will” and if we even have “free-will”. And we end talking about how when our awareness changes we now have opportunities to show up in our world differently. RESOURCES:How the elements were created – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neMEo8ZrwuI&t=11sThe Journey of planet Earth birth to this present moment – https://youtu.be/uHUTbq-j0UUYou are not your thoughts – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QXmmP4psbAThe Creative Energy of the Universe – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcPWU59LuocDeterminism vs Free Will – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCGtkDzELAIThe Peacock Spider’s Mating Ritual

Today I sit down with my friend Glenn Ostlund author of the book “Bathing with God“. Glenn and I both were deep believers in a specific religion. Then we both grew disenchanted with said religion. We deconstructed that religion and deconstructed other systems seemingly walked away from God and religion…. only to, unknown from each other, be on our own re-engaging the big questions and seeking learning from the best books and wisdom voices. This search led us both to awakening and to revisiting our certainties about the world and we in this 2 hour conversation cover so much ground including the multiverse, God being the creative energy in the universe and us being one expression of this energy moving through the universe, the big bang and the beginning of time, memories passed down, being present, the software newborns are born with helping them survive, lizard brain and fight or flight or freeze, Death, Ayahuasca, letting go of Ego, and collectively engage Glenn on his incredible book “Bathing with God“RESOURCES:Bathing With God BOOKBathing With God AudioStored Trauma Memories in our DNA 1Stored Trauma Memories in our DNA 2Stored Trauma Memories in our DNA 3Joe Rogan & Sean Carroll and the MultiverseJoe Rogan & Sean Carroll 1003Joe Rogan & Sean Carroll 1151Joe Rogan & Sean Carroll 1352Joe Rogan & Brian Greene 1428Banned TED Talk: The Science Delusion – Rupert SheldrakeWhat happened before the big bangTime and the Big BangPlants (Specifically Mushrooms) communicate with the world around themThe universe might be one big Neural NetworkThe software newborns are born withMichael Singer: The Untethered SoulLetting Go: The Pathway of Surrender: David R. HawkinsMichael Singer Living From A Place of Surrender

Bill and Phil McLemore sit down and have a conversation around wisdom teachings such as meditation, awareness, being present, ego, the Yoga of Christ, mind chatter, myth, evolution, free will, and death. What an amazing conversation Phil helps us create. RESOURCES:https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/146-30-45.pdfhttps://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-kriya-yoga/yoga-and-christ-ukiYPp7E9zG/https://www.thymindoman.com/the-next-chapter-of-thymindoman-com-living-in-the-gift/https://www.facebook.com/groups/meditatewithphil/http://csa-davis.org/sites/?q=node/455

Today Bill dissects a 10 minute audio clip of Alan Watts. The video can be watched HERE and it is recommended you watch the video first before listening to the commentary. The truths being shared here are crucial to the awakened life. Learning to quiet your mind chatter. Learning to see the constructs of your life as something other than reality. Learning to be present rather than lost in past and future. And lastly learning that EGO isn’t really an eternal part of you. youtube.com/watch?v=dYSQ1NF1hvw (Alan Watts on the Illusion of Time, Money, & Ego

Today Bill dives into tribalism. Why do we humans choose to be in tribes? What are the benefits and drawbacks of tribalism? What makes us humans unique and what facets of tribalism have we humans taken advantage of and at what expense? Where did tribalism come from? Can we cling to the benefits while minimizing and eliminating the drawbacks? All this and more is the jumping off point for today’s conversation, a conversation meant to simply get us started. RESOURCES:https://kevindelaplante.com/the-dangers-of-tribalism/https://sensitiveevolution.com/the-limits-of-tribalism/https://soapboxie.com/social-issues/The-Good-and-Bad-of-Tribalismhttps://www.theatlantic.com/membership/archive/2018/10/trouble-tribalism/573307/https://medium.com/@zaiderrr/why-toxic-tribalism-is-destroying-our-society-what-to-do-about-it-e05c3391d143

Today I sit down with a friend who spent roughly a year in prison. What is prison life like? How does an Almost Awakened person perceive and negotiate their time and thoughts and behavior and what observations are made about the system and people around them?RESOURCES:https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/gabrielsanchez/sara-bennett-looking-inside-women-prison-incarceration https://www.themarshallproject.org/2018/07/12/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-prisoner

Today on the Almost Awakened Podcast we talk about how we judge ourselves and judge others and our behaviors as good or bad. But there is a challenge to step back and to see others in their humanity. To comprehend the trauma that is handed down to each one of us and to sit with what that says about us humans collectively and individually. To recognize the kinds of behaviors we humans show up with and to see that no matter how healthy and responsible or how harmful and traumatic we show up is in fact human. That we are each pieces of shit (And we mean that in the nicest way) That we each have had Hundreds of thousands of years of trauma imposed on us and generations of trauma handed to us. And this should move us from judgement of good and bad to acceptance of things as they are an effort to even see the worst of behaviors among us as HUMAN. Rather than to love yourself, what if we could simply accept ourselves and accept others?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Je_vOpolGc Ram Dass Loving Yourselfhttps://www.netflix.com/title/81078802 – Sam Jay – Netflixhttps://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190326-what-is-epigenetics – Trauma in our DNA 1https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/122740-dna-can-carry-memories-of-traumatic-stress-down-the-generations – Trauma in our DNA 2https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/10/trauma-inherited-generations/573055/ – Trauma in our DNA 3

Today Bill talks about 4 observations about human behavior1.) That we need to be protectors of others Stories rather than one who hijacks the narratives of others. 2.) That we need to work on being present and not getting lost in the mind chatter that can overwhelm us and prevent us from showing up for others.3.) That we need to learn that when in an argument we move from tangent to tangent such is likely a deflection mechanism that want to shift accountability.4.) Understanding Sunken Cost vs Investment and pursuing the relationships where it feels like you are investing.RESOURCES:https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/books/review/who-gets-to-tell-other-peoples-stories.htmlhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2017/02/28/8-science-based-tricks-for-quieting-the-monkey-mind/#4b8f22211af6https://tealswan.com/resources/articles/deflection-the-coping-mechanism-from-hell-r234/https://www.fatherly.com/love-money/why-do-we-stay-in-unhappy-relationships-sunk-cost-fallacy/

Today we talk about the move from fitting in to showing up as your authentic self. We often show up in the world the way the world needs us to which has us withholding important parts of ourselves that feel unacceptable. We pretend to be things we are not. And yet as the awakening process occurs we feel pulled to show up as our authentic selves. Today we talk about the pain that such causes and how there is an inherent tension and hurt when authenticity shows up.

Today I examine the issue of abortion. Not to decide the right or wrong of the issue but as a way to see into how we can think critically about a conversation where we are passionate and often not thinking as rationally. Abortion is a topic that often has us arguing from emotional passion and which runs so close to our sacred beliefs that we often struggle to think rationally and logically about the issue. Today I go over the pros and cons of pro-life and pro-choice and try to help us see how a person navigates such a debate logically and with an effort to value the evidence and data.RESOURCES:https://abortion.procon.org/https://unplannedpregnancy.com/abortion/making-your-abortion-decision/pros-and-cons-of-abortion/https://va.org/stance-on-abortion-pro-life-or-pro-choice/https://www.kialo.com/pro-life-vs-pro-choice-should-abortion-be-legal-5637https://helpwithadoption.com/steps-to-adoption/pregnant-and-considering-adoption/unplanned-pregnancy-options-abortion-pros-cons/https://adoption.org/pros-cons-adoption-vs-abortionhttps://www.womenshealthmatters.ca/health-centres/sexual-health/abortion/https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/research_sites/cjl/pdf/Richie%20Abortion%20.pdf