You’re more ready than you think. The choice is yours. The moment is now. And the ones who do the work won’t just change—they'll become unmissable.

This is a time for us to take a good look at ourselves and ask: when have I not taken responsibility? When have I refused to learn? And when will I decide to finally clean up my act and change the way we do things around here?

A friend of mine said something very straight up and very wise: “Recognizing where you're not a very good person is very hard, and then actually putting in the work to address those facets is even harder and takes a lot of courage. That's why so many people don't do it.”

In psychology, we call that projection. It’s subtle, but its effects are devastating, and the worst part is that most people do it. Most people don’t want to learn—and make themselves, and others, worse off because they choose not to.

It’s a sign of the times: we are being forced to reckon with ourselves and one another, but most are pushing it outward instead of doing the inside job. Many people are pretending the problem—often, their problem—doesn’t exist.

That response would be: “I wish for no one, including myself, to suffer. Let’s do something about that.”

Many people have repeated the message “WE NEED TO PREVENT THIS” a million times. I hope to add a more human dimension to all of this, which is that if we can notice and correctly alter our interior states, we’re going to have a very different response to pandemics.

The second: We rationalize that “death is a part of life” without emotionally accepting what that means. This is a spiritual bypass—at a deeper level, we’re actually normalizing harm, neglect, and unnecessary suffering and despair to humans and sentient beings.

The first: “It won’t happen to me.” Our fear of disability, disease, and death leads us to put our heads in the sand and pretend we’re invulnerable.

I’m aware of the irony of writing this in the feed as well! This is our current state.

But the human nervous system doesn’t work that way. It’s why being selective in what you allow, and using good habits and filters to focus on only that which is worthy of attention, is so important.

We already know how spirituality impacts the brain, and how the correct spiritual practices can radically alter our perception and approach to life. May we start bringing that same kind of awareness into science and medicine so we can start finally making some breakthroughs.

We see this dynamic both with flatland reductionists like Leana and Ashish on the one hand and wellness grifters like RFK Jr. on the other. In reality, the two can and must work together to create solutions in public health, science, and medicine.

Ilia and I immediately connected over the fact that in science and medicine, we often don’t make progress because of the perceptions we carry. The split consciousness that thinks spirituality is antithetical to science shapes questions, informs decisions, and stalls progress.

My recent conversation with Professor Ilia Delio of Villanova University highlights how the correct intersection of spirituality and science can help create renewal and breakthroughs in science and medicine. https://buff.ly/3VR4bRz