Ok, this one’s fucking deep. So buckle up & get ready.
I’ll return to the positive mindset & shifting negative thoughts later, but for the next few weeks, I will be taking you all on a journey of Psyche (the human mind, & soul).
By combining the latest neuroscience and psychology with ancient philosophy and primordial spirituality, Derek and I recycled a model that will help you:
Understand yourself on every level of existence
Break maladaptively hardwired and conditioned mental models
Construct a mind that allows you to navigate any obstacle in your way
The reality in our world looks more dystopian every day, and the truth is utopia, a perfect external world, will never exist.
This leaves us with one option. To build our own ideal mind that creates inner peace and freedom.
That’s what we call a Utopian Mind.
The Cosmic Web
To understand your mind and soul, which we’ll call Psyche going forward, you must first understand where you are in the history of self-transformation.
You didn’t just wake up in a vacuum, and the context here matters!
The idea that you can change your mind or transform yourself is a relatively new concept in the history of human thought.
The first world we lived in was the world of the shaman, or what is often called prehistory.
In this world, humans lived in direct connection to the earth and understood themselves as part of it.
Everything around them was animated by “spirits” that could be communed with, the shaman being the chief communicator with the spiritual world.
The shaman was an expert in entering altered states of consciousness and deriving critical insights into the nature of reality that allowed his or her tribe to survive.
It is estimated that shamanism goes back at least 30 to 40 thousand years ago and is the oldest spiritual system on the planet.
Although the estimates keep getting pushed back, the second world we lived in was the world of the prophet, or what is often called the bronze age.
This world was dominated by the Gods and the prophets that those Gods spoke through.
Everything was understood as the workings of Gods on human affairs, and this is where we see the emergence of our oldest organized religions.
The prophet replaced the role of the shaman. Where the shaman communed with the spirit of nature, the prophet communed with almighty Gods.
This was a powerful shift in human consciousness that allowed us to project our inner worlds onto the outer world, which helped us understand ourselves and the world around us.
This view dominated the world and gave rise to the massive empires of China, India, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, to name a few, from around 3,500 BCE to 1,200 BCE, which then a radical shift began to occur.
That shift was the axial revolution, a development in human thought that changed the entire direction of our species.
The third world we inhabited was the world of the philosopher.
Drawing on all the wisdom that had come before it, the philosophers saw their connection not to nature or to gods but to themselves.
By understanding the nature of self, they could come to understand both nature and God.
The greeks said, “Know Thyself.”
Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within.”
The Buddha spoke of “nirvana” and “enlightenment.”
The Taoists of China taught that the self was a manifestation of the ultimate.
Each of these traditions has its unique and beautiful way of pointing out that the outer world and the inner world of a human being are intimately connected.
They each teach that through our ability to observe, reason, and learn, we can come to know ourselves and the world.
Most importantly, they are all predicated on the idea that we have the ability to self-transform, transcend, or resurrect from one lower version of ourselves to a more elevated one.
This view took the power of cause and effect away from nature and god and placed it into the hands of the individual.
The philosopher's world began around 800 BCE, and while most consider its ending around 200 BCE, one could argue it is still with us today.
The axial revolution laid the foundation for the scientific revolution that would come almost 2000 years later.
The philosophical world underwent its own transformation into a scientific one.
Rather than relying solely on subjective experience and personal transformation, science gave rise to an entirely new and objective way of relating to the world, where the self was removed as much as possible.
This is the final world, as it is the world we live in today.
We have replaced spirituality, religion, and philosophy in relation to self-transformation with psychology, neuroscience, and personal development.
That is A LOT of history compressed into a very short summary, but when we know the way broadly, we can see it in all things.
At its core, we want you to understand that humans have and still do go to incredible lengths to construct their psyches.
The model we use in Utopian Mind is derived from modern psychology called the biopsychosocial model, which states that our minds are a product of our biology, psychology, and sociological environment.
Here is a breakdown of what that means:
Biology - physical health and genetics
Psychology - Thoughts, emotions, and spirituality
Sociology - Family, culture (micro and macro), economic status, and time
The thread that runs through all of this is your nervous system.
From the shaman's world to the scientist's world, the nervous system is where the rubber meets the road.
It’s the nexus between our inner and outer worlds.
For those who may not fully understand, your nervous system is broken into the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems.
Central - Brain, spinal cord, retina
Peripheral - Arms, legs, hands, and feet
Autonomic - vital and reproductive organs
Together, they act as the electrical wiring within the human body that takes sensory information from the outer world (our environment) and our inner world (our biology) and uses it to keep us alive.
Absolutely everything we experience is a product of our nervous system.
There are more neural connections in your brain than stars in the universe which should indicate just how complex you truly are!
Each development in human thought got us closer and closer to understanding this system, and each progression gave us insight into ourselves.
Today, with the rise of neuroscience, we can stimulate specific networks of neurons to elicit targeted outcomes through tools like transcranial magnetic stimulation.
Basically, we can zap people's brains and make them feel happy, sad, motivated, and even drunk with the click of a button.
While that might be exciting, it's not practical or ideal to walk around with magnets attached to our heads.
We must discover for ourselves how to construct an ideal mind in a world that has far outpaced our biology with things like hyper-palatable food, porn, social media, and 24/7 entertainment.
Unfortunately, the road has never been more difficult, and the stakes have never been higher, which is why depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide.
Now that you have a solid foundation for how you got to be where you are, we can finally share the insights we have curated over the last decade from each of these important epochs in human cognitive development (this will be next week’s letters)
We can use neuroscience to understand the biology of our nervous system.
Psychology to unlock the elusive nature of our psyche.
Philosophy for insights into living a good life, and comparative religion/spirituality to construct models that ground us to the ultimate good.
Next week we will be diving into The Path of Transformation.
If you’re interested in learning more, Derek and I are leading a men’s group on January 5th, 2023.
We’re only opening the space for 10 men. If any of the above resonates or intrigues you, I strongly encourage you to take a call with us (no cost) 👉 Utopian Mind.
You are not alone.
I Love you. 👈 (how does that make you feel)
Final Thoughts
Convenience has been mass marketed by the media & countless institutions.
We still need discipline. Without it, we disconnect from ourselves.
When we're disconnected, it's easy to "disrespect" the things that are innately good to us...
our bodies
loved ones
relationships
God
finances
dreams
vision
discernment
freedom
Discipline is how you get everything. Convenience is how you disconnect from it.
These words are from my brother Matt Gottesman. 👈 Check him out for inspiration.
It would mean the world to me if you would send this to someone you feel could use a lift of inspiration. This is my service to the world.
Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
→ Build 1 Thing Community -If you're looking for traction in your personal brand or business, I'd recommend joining the Build 1 Thing community. It’s free to get in and loaded with resources.
→ Utopian Mind: Men’s Group - Understand yourself on every level of existence. Break maladaptively hardwired and conditioned mental models. Construct a mind that allows you to navigate any obstacle in your way.
→ Somatic Breathwork - Using the breath, you will engage your innate ability to heal and sweep out any defenses, blockages, restrictions, or pains that hold you back from who you are and how you want to show up in this world.
Entering The Cosmic Web