Mind Meld 214 | Feeding the Daemon with Daniele Bolelli

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Professor, historian, author, and podcaster extraordinaire Daniele Bolelli returns!

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That thing inside of you, that mysterious babbling thing that stirs, swells, comforts, and recoils based on how you spend your time has many names. But, I like to think of it as different angles of a single entity— your Daemon.

I like the term, particularly in the context that psychologist James Hillman talks about it in his book Soul’s Code. In it, he muses– 

“The daimon motivates. It protects. It invents and persists with stubborn fidelity. It resists compromising reasonableness and often forces deviance and oddity upon its keeper, especially when neglected or opposed. It offers comfort and can pull you into its shell, but it cannot abide innocence.”

I bring this up because this idea came up while riffing with Bolelli– the notion that we need to feed our daemon daily. We’ve got to listen to its restless emanation. The one that expects you to discover you (more about that in the pod).

Anyway, on to Daniele. As you may know, he’s a professor of history and philosophy. He hosts the History On Fire podcast and he’s the author of several books including Create Your Own Religion. He’s a truly kind and brilliant fella.

In this one, we chat about building positive habits, the relationship between purpose and struggle, the importance of nuance, bogus advice from influencers telling you that you to grind for 69 hours a day to be successful, and more!