Inspired by testimony and evidence supplied by Tim Ferris, Sam Harris, Jordan Peterson, Joe Rogan, Terrance McKenna, Kilindi Iyi, and Anthony Bourdain, Denis embarks on a psychedelic trip to discover the void.
Phil wrote this about himself 15 years ago...
"I've been a psychiatrist for over 25 years. From the outside, it looks like a quiet, almost serene, profession. But it's never felt like that to me. My days are prolonged battles. And the fight isn't directly with my patients. They're in pain. They want to get better. The fight is with an invisible force that dominates them. A force with an other-worldly power to destroy their happiness."
"The idea of tools were, in essence, really weapons used in a war."
Phil wrote The Tools, and Coming Alive with his writing partner Barry Michels. Their tools are helping thousands of people (me included) live courageously by releasing them from traps set by resentment, fear, inauthenticity, worry, hurt feelings, demoralization, lethargy, and self-gratification. I first discovered Phil three years ago on Marc Maron's WTF. Mind blowing! I bought the book immediately. Life changing! Phil was back in Marc's garage just a few days ago.
Abby created Intimacy Alive, where she offers coaching in relationships and intimacy. She is also a yoga instructor. We talked about her transition from interior design industry employee in NYC to business owner in Buffalo.
Omeri writes and performs his own songs. He strives to learn, collaborate, absorb, and inspire. Omeri grew up listening to the solid gold soul sounds playing on his godmother's radio every day. Omeri performs two of his songs, "Let's Go", and "You're My Medicine"... prepare to groove ya'll. From an early age he developed independence and ability to provide for himself. As far as I'm concerned, he's a natural-born leader.
Josh works with people who are homeless and have severe mental disorders and addictions. He helps them find stable housing and he does it with a rare strength of mind and body. Josh loves philosophy and uncovering challenging thinkers whose buried ideas are as volatile as they are revolutionary. He's also the most quietly ferocious dude I know in our Jiu Jitsu academy.
Erik Light discovers interesting people doing interesting things. Then he conceptualizes, writes, directs, shoots, and edits a reality web series with them. The process to bring one concept to life takes loads of personal sacrifice and years of his life. He's having a blast, and he's learned a ton about how to prevent a creative dream from being snuffed out by the naysayers.
Stephen has written for a dozen television shows, including Roseanne and Spin City. He was the Executive Producer and head writer of the acclaimed series Dead Like Me on Showtime. He has written television pilots for CBS, NBC, Fox, ABC, FX, TNT and USA. He was nominated for a Writers Guild Award for Best Original Television Movie for his film “Charlotte,” part of the film anthology Five on Lifetime. He is adapting Walker Percy’s celebrated novel “The Moviegoer,” winner of the 1962 National Book Award for Fiction, as a screenplay for the film producer Cary Brokaw and Sony/TriStar.
A self-described, recovering cellist... Angela wrote the book on how to create a career in music, and she works directly with composers, giving them tools to get unstuck, take risks, and face the hard questions only art can answer.
Josh is The Barefoot Dog Trainer. He is also one of the Philosophers and Madmen who trains Jiu Jitsu at BUMA. We talk about how he became a full time dog trainer and the ways we all discover behavior that "just works", and how natural it is for us to misjudge and misplace the meaning of behavior.
