Mind Meld 96 | Finding Gratitude In The Jaws Of The Universe with Dr. Richard Doyle

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“Language Speaks Man”

Dr. Richard Doyle is the author of Darwin’s Pharmacy: Sex, Plants, and the Evolution of the Noösphere and a professor of English and Penn State University.

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Several times throughout this mind meld our guest, Richard Doyle, utilizes a word that I would consider to be obscure- “mirth.” More specifically, “inner-mirth.” Although I contextually had an idea of what it meant as we were chatting, to be quite honest I wasn’t really aware of that particular mouth noise at the time.

Now I’m a bit obsessed with it.

Said minor obsession stems not from it’s novelty, but for it’s meaning, what it represents and how it’s expressed through language. Because if there’s anything this conversation (and for that matter, all of my favorite talks) conveys it’s that- A co-created inner-mirth that is magnified via mutual linguistic exploration of boundary-pushing topics. And as far as that’s concerned, dear wonderlings, Dr. Doyle delivers.

Musings in this mind meld include – 

• Does man speak language or does language speak man?

• The Noosphere and conscious structures larger than the individual mind

• What is Life? by Erwin Schrödinger

• We’re the most convinced that if anything is real it’s us, yet it’s the self that will absolutely go away

• Turiya – pure consciousness, the unchanging realm

• Exploring consciousness and dualism

• What happens when you stop identifying primarily with the self?

• According to a new study –Buddhist monks are more afraid of death than the average westerner

• Programming and meta-programming our biological computers through mindful practices

• Biological imperatives, artistic imperatives, sexual selection and why we seek beauty

• Recognizing the “clench” of the ego and learning to let go

• Physical healing through Ayahuasca and other shamanic goodies

• An exploration of logos, language symbols and evolution

• Thought experiment – is the Logos in control of everything including AI, tech and coding?

• Organisms are contributing to larger meta patterns they don’t understand, so what are we contributing to

• Consciousness and ideas seem to travel in waves

• With the totality of all the seen and unseen forces acting upon us, what about freewill?

• Rejecting the mystical taboo

• Sometimes you have to make up words because existing ones aren’t good enough

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