Rick Doblin, Founder of MAPS, on the Integration Process

April 5, 2017

"Integration is about reflecting on what happened, but it’s also about making these small, tiny changes in everyday life that would support whatever new direction people want it to go in. And that’s really the key to the integration process: putting into practice what you had learned or experienced or decided to try or that you hoped for."

Psychedelics in the sixties were used as a counter cultural tool: a protest to the rat race, the consumerism, and the superficial spirituality of modern culture.

Since the crackdown on psychedelic research in the seventies, the counter culture revolution died, and so did the mainstream consciousness of psychedelics. Hippies tried to create a culture outside of the mainstream and failed in sustaining it.

The use of hallucinogens didn't re-enter mainstream consciousness until the mid 2000's. And MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) played a big role in that. MAPS was founded by Rick Doblin in 1986. It is dedicated to the study of the therapeutic uses of psychedelics.

Instead of presenting psychedelics as a tool for a counter culture, he’s trying to integrate their use as a medicine into the mainstream. One of his main goals is to obtain FDA approval for the use of MDMA as a prescription drug used by psychiatrist (only used under very specific conditions).

After graduating from high school, Rick knew that he wanted to work with psychedelics in some capacity, but also that he needed to work with his hands before working with minds. So he spent nearly a decade working in construction and starting his own company. Finally, when he felt like he was ready to enter the world of psychedelics, he started his PhD at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in Public Policy.

In this part of the interview Rick told me if he has any recommendations on how to structure a psychedelic trip and how to integrate what you've taken away from that experience.

I hope you guys enjoy!

Source: Wall Street Journal Photographer, Kyle Johnson

Naval Ravikant on Wim Hof, His Advice to His Children, and How He Wants to Look Back on his Life

January 28, 2017

Naval Ravikant is one of the most well connected people in the world. As mentioned earlier he is a very successful investor and entrepreneur. Like Charlie Munger and Warren Buffet, his knowledge has breadth and depth. He's far more than just a successful entrepreneur and investor. He has a deep love for philosophy and learning.

This is the last part of this interview. One of the greatest parts of running this site is that you get look into the minds of some pretty interesting people. I'm happy to say that I've had the opportunity to peer into Naval's. It's a conversation I won't forget.

I hope you guys enjoy.

Remember depth is a joy.

Thank you Naval.

Naval Ravikant On Travelling Lightly

October 17, 2016

"In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open, except yourself." - Jiddu Krishnamurti

For those who don't know Naval Ravikant, he is an entrepreneur and investor. He is the former co-founder of Epinions and the current CEO of AngelList. He also was an early investor in Uber and Twitter.

As an investor, you have to be able to trust your judgment. When you see people running away, take a look backwards. The next big companies don't look like those that have come before.

You have to take each company and look at it based on its own merits in the moment and not based on the success of previous companies.

This is analogous to becoming a self-actualized human being. My definition of self-actualization is two parts. The first is knowing what you feel and think from moment to moment. And then trusting your own judgment to make a decision regardless of social conventions and expectations.

This was a much longer interview than normal, so I had to break it up into two parts. This is the first section of the second half of the interview. In it we spoke about this very nebulous concept of self-actualization.

Check out the first half of this interview here. We spoke about suffering and acceptance, what the skill of happiness is, who he admires, and how the modern world affects us.

Also, in the new of section of Killing Buddha, "In The Life Of", Naval tells me what books he would pass down to his grand children. Check it out here.

I hope you guys enjoy.

Dr. Michael Weisand on the Future of Training Your Brain with Electricity

September 2, 2016

"If we knew the actual code that neurons used to store information, we could potentially download information into people's brains."

This is the second part of the interview I did with Dr. Michael Weisand, a pioneer in the field of transcranial direct-current stimulation (TDCS). For more information on TDCS, check out the first part of the interview here. Essentially TDCS is a technology where you pass electricity through the brain to stimulate a particular region. They've managed to double the rate of learning in certain tasks.

In this part of the interview we spoke about the future potential uses of this technology.

Enjoy!

Dr. Michael Weisand on how electricity Could Change your life

August 17, 2016

"By doing that, we were able to double the rate of learning."

Is technology a good or a bad thing? A question that everyone has an opinion on, and it's mostly negative these days. But it's such a nuanced answer that it's difficult to have a truly informed opinion on.

The purpose of this new section on technology in Killing Buddha is to have a more informed opinion on that question. I want to know how technology affects our day-to-day life. We've become so used to its impact that it's difficult to truly see its effects. I'd also like to see how future technologies could affect us.

I will be interviewing people at the forefront of technology, psychologists and philosophers who can talk about the impact of technology on our everyday lives.

For its inaugural interview, I spoke to Dr. Michael Weisand of Rio Grande Neurosciences. He is at the forefront of research using transcranial direct-current stimulation (TDCS), a technology that applies electrical stimulation to the brain. His lab has managed to double the rate of learning in subjects. Needless to say, this technology has enormous potential.

Check out Radiolab's coverage of it here.

In this part of the interview, we spoke about the current day uses of TDCS. In the second part, we spoke about the distant future uses of this technology.

I hope you guys enjoy.

John Wayne Parr's Life Lessons

June 22, 2016

"I want to look back on my life as an amazing ride that I was lucky enough to live."

When you're a kid, summers feel like an eternity. But by the time you're an adult, you might have already lived through thirty-five or forty summers. They seem to have lost their magic. And before you know it, you're an old man confused by the kids these days.

We all hope that we've created memories to cherish on our deathbeds. And that's what John Wayne Parr is trying to do: create moments for his old man self to look back upon with satisfaction.

For those who don't know Mr. Parr, he is a multiple-time Muay Thai world champion that has been competing for over twenty years.

This is the last part of the interview. In it we spoke about how martial arts can develop your character, how he deals with self-doubt, how he developed humility, and his most important life lessons.

If you're curious, here's the first part of the interview.

Hope you guys enjoy!

John Wayne Parr on his Life in Thailand

June 14, 2016

"In Thailand they say, 'Today, I have money. Tomorrow, you have money. Everyone eats.'"

One of John Wayne Parr's greatest accomplishments is being known as one of the nicest guys in combat sports. Yet he is completely unforgiving in the ring. "The day of the fight, I have bad intentions. I want go in there and destroy people," he told me. That is the kind of paradox that summarizes the Gunslinger: Humility out of the ring, unwavering self-confidence inside.

Mr. Parr is a multiple time Muay Thai world champion. He is considered one of the best Western Muay Thai fighters of all time alongside legends like Ramon Dekkers.

He is known for his fierce fighting style and courage shown in the ring.

He spent four years training in Thailand, and he did so in the 1990's at a time where there were very few Western fighters. He was celebrated and was embedded in the Thai culture, so he knows the country like very few Westerners ever could.

In this part of the interview, we spoke about his time in Thailand and his unique perspective on the Thai culture.

I hope you guys enjoy!

MissMe On Finding Truth Through Love and Empathy

May 11, 2016

"I want to use every talent, every moment I have on this Earth to find as much truth as I can through people, through love, through empathy. I want to share my eyes with everybody else and to use everyone else's eyes as my own." - MissMe

This is the last part of the interview with MissMe, Montreal based street artist. It was great to speak to her. I always leave interviews feeling like I came out of it with a different perspective on life, and this was no exception. MissMe shared with me her perspective as a woman and as a human being.

In this part of the interview, we spoke about how society tries to define us, learning to accept yourself, why she quit her job in marketing, and, ultimately, what she wants to use her life for.

Here are the first two parts:

On Being A Counter-Voice For Women

On Her Creative Process

Also, please check us out on Twitter and Facebook. I'll also be sending out a monthly email with the most interesting articles, books, videos, and art I found that month. Sign up for that here.

Hope you guys enjoy!

MissMe On Her Creative Process

May 2, 2016

"Once I get into my own zone, then I allow the rest of the world to interfere energy-wise."

For those who don't know MissMe, she is a street artist based in Montreal. Her work focuses on feminist issues, inequal media coverage of issues surrounding minorities and their lost history.

In this part of the interview, MissMe tells me a little bit about her creative process.

Here are the other two parts of the interview:

On Being A Counter Voice For Women

On Finding Truth Through Love and Empathy

Hope you guys enjoy!

If you want to find out when the other two parts of the interview are released, sign up for our newsletter or check us out on Twitter and Facebook. I'll also be sending a monthly email with all of the most interesting articles, books, videos, and art I've found that month.

MissMe: The Artful Vandal on Being a Counter Voice for Women

April 18, 2016

"My art is just a way for me to exist by being a counter woman."

This site was never meant to be a commentary on social or political issues, which fans of MissMe might be wondering why I interviewed her. But I believe by understanding how culture shapes you, you can better understand who you actually are.

I think that's what MissMe's brand of feminism is about. By learning what society shames us into believing, we can hopefully learn to accept who we are. A lot of her work is centred around providing a counter voice to what society tells us a woman is and what a woman should be.

MissMe is a former marketing art director. After tiring of her work, she quit and became a street artist seeking full creative freedom. She is based in Montreal, Canada, and also travels the world to spread her work throughout the streets of New York, Dakar, London, Cuba, and Hong Kong. She has been featured on VICE, CBC, Brit + Co, and now the great media conglomerate, Killing Buddha.

This is the first part of a three-part interview. We spoke about what society expects of women sexually and otherwise. We also spoke about the role models that the media presents and some alternatives that she admires.

Here are the other two parts of the interview:

On Her Creative Process

On Finding Truth Through Love and Empathy

I hope you guys enjoy.

Chief Executive Philosopher: Naval Ravikant On the Give and Take of the Modern World

March 1, 2016

"Patricia: I wonder where we'll end up?

Joe Banks: Away from the things of man, my love. Away from the things of man."

Joe Versus the Volcano

A lot of art expresses our deep, tacit, disapproval of the modern world we live in. We feel that there is something fundamentally wrong with it. Yet we're so caught up in the whirlwind of life that we seldom take a step back to understand why. Maybe we're not supposed to live in isolated bubbles sitting in front of computer screens. Maybe we're supposed to live in a world a little closer to our ancestors'.

In this part of the interview, Naval tells me how we evolved to live and how the modern world deviates from that. He also tells me that if used wisely, the tools of the modern world can make us happier people.

I broke this interview into two halves because we covered so much in our conversation. This is the last part of the first half. Here are the other three:

On Suffering and Acceptance

On the Skill of Happiness

On Who He Admires

If you want to find out when the second half of the interview is released, sign up for our newsletter or check us out on Twitter and Facebook.

Enjoy!

Chief Executive Philosopher: Naval Ravikant on Who He Admires

February 22, 2016

In this part of the interview, Naval tells me about a few people in his life that he greatly admires, and why he does. I think these people represent certain ways of viewing life that he looks up to.

Here are the other three parts of the interview:

On Suffering and Acceptance

On the Skill of Happiness

On the Give and Take of the Modern World

I hope you guys enjoy!

Chief Executive Philosopher: Naval Ravikant on the Skill of Happiness

February 16, 2016

"The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam." - Carl Sagan

This is the second part of the interview with Naval Ravikant. As mentioned in the first part of the interview, Naval is the CEO of AngelList, a company designed to help entrepreneurs get funding and find talent. He is also the former co-founder of Epinions, and is known for his skill as an angel investor. He has invested in many unicorn companies from Twitter to Stack Overflow to Uber.

In this part of the interview we spoke about the skill of happiness and his hacks for developing it.

Here are the other three parts of the interview:

On Suffering and Acceptance

On Who He Admires

On the Give and Take of the Modern World

Hope you guys enjoy!

Chief Executive Philosopher: Naval Ravikant on Suffering and Acceptance

February 9, 2016

"I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines.

They go to bed every night a little wiser than they were when they got up and boy does that help, particularly when you have a long run ahead of you." - Charlie Munger

I first heard of Naval Ravikant from his appearance on the Tim Ferriss podcast. It was an onslaught of knowledge. Just as you hear one nugget of wisdom, another one smacks you on the head, and you completely forgot what you were thinking about.

It was almost too much to take in. So I wanted to slow the conversation down and focus on his philosophy.

Naval is the CEO of AngelList, a company designed to help entrepreneurs get funding and find talent. He wants to help entrepreneurs create something they want, how they want. In other words, he wants to help them live the lives they want to in the area of business.

He is the former co-founder of Epinions. He also known for his skill as an angel investor. He has invested in many unicorn companies from Twitter to Stack Overflow to Uber.

Like Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger, Naval is a prolific reader. As a child, books were his best friends. They introduced him to the wisdom of the greatest minds of the last few thousand years. In this interview, he talks about the wisdom he's accumulated from these books and his own life.

Our conversation covered suffering and acceptance, how our human ancestry conflicts with the modern world, love, happiness, death, and self-actualization.

Here are the other three parts of the interview:

On the Skill of Happiness

On Who He Admires

On the Give and Take of the Modern World

I really enjoyed this conversation, and I hope you guys do too!

Steve Maxwell on the Part of You That Never Dies

January 20, 2016

This is last part of the second interview I did with Steve Maxwell. If you haven't read the first, I recommend you do so. I'd also recommend checking out Part 1 and Part 2 of this interview. We spoke about reincarnation, his morning routine, living a minimalist lifestyle.

I hope this series of interviews provides a good summary of how Steve looks at life at this point in time. But like Steve said last time, his ideas are constantly evolving.

In this last part of the interview, we spoke about what elevated consciousness and being in the flow mean to him.

If you guys want to support us and Steve, check out the shirt that we designed for him with Ted Park, who is an excellent artist. Please check out his stuff!

It was a real honour talking with Mr. Maxwell. I'd like to thank him for his time.

I hope you guys enjoy this one.

Steve Maxwell's Morning Routine

January 14, 2016

Most people's morning routine consists of grabbing a coffee and then rushing out the door for work.

Steve Maxwell's morning routine is on an absolute another level. He does more than 25 exercises. Needless to say, he gets his day off to a good start.

This is the second part of the second interview I did with Steve. Check out the first part of this interview here. We spoke about his thoughts on Pranayama breathing and Chi. Also, check out the first interview I did with him awhile back.

By no means is this an extensive description of Steve's routine. It's a good introduction to what he does. He has a video that goes into his morning routine in much more detail. Please check it out.

Hope you guys enjoy this one!

The Second Coming of Steve Maxwell: Pranayama Breathing and Chi

January 11, 2016

In the last interview I did with Steve, he told me that people come to see him not only to get fit, but for his attitude on life. Due to the popularity of the first interview, I'm inclined to believe that people see him much more for spiritual guidance than physical guidance.

For those that don't know Steve, he is a physical educator. He conducts seminars all over the world on mobility, balance, strength and conditioning, and Jiu Jitsu. He is known for being one of the first people to introduce America to the kettle bell. He's also known for having a unique perspective on fitness that focuses more on functional movements over aesthetics and well-being over performance.

When I re-read the first interview, I had a few followup questions. Those followup questions turned into an hour-long conversation.

Please check out the first interview here. We spoke about his beginnings in the fitness industry, his minimalist lifestyle, self discipline, using exercise as meditation, and how faces his doubts and fears.

In this part of the interview, we spoke about Steve's experience with Taoist yoga and his views on Chi.

And please take a look at the t-shirt we designed for Mr. Maxwell. Admittedly, I do feel like I'm trying to capitalize on Mr. Maxwell's audience, however, by buying, you will be supporting this site and Steve.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this interview. And get as much out of it as I did.

Dr. Stephen Liben on Looking Back on Your Life

January 4, 2016

In this last part of the interview with Dr. Stephen Liben, he told me about how we create our own suffering, how we have a tendency of focusing on the negative at the expense of the positive, and how he wants to look back on his life.

I hope you guys enjoy. It was a real pleasure talking with him.

Dr. Stephen Liben, Palliative Care Pediatrician, on Mindfulness and Death

December 16, 2015

Dr. Stephen Liben is an avid meditator. It is clear that he has used what he has learnt from mindfulness in his daily life and in his work. He also sees death upfront on a daily basis.

With that experience and his perspective, I wanted to know how he thinks mindfulness can help people deal with their own deaths and what he's learnt from his patients who have to leave this world.

Dr. Stephen Liben, Palliative Care Pediatrician, On Burnout

December 3, 2015

Doctors have one of the hardest jobs in the world. You have another person's life in your hands. There can't be many other situations more stressful than that, other than having your life in someone else's hands. And add on top of that the gruelling hours.

According to the American Medical Association, half of all physicians were experiencing one major symptom of burnout at the time of surveying. It's unimaginable what those statistics would look like over the course of a doctor's life.

So I asked how Dr. Liben how he handles burnout and prevents it. He told me how meditation helps in that process and how our ego can make those symptoms worse.