A deep dive down the rabbit hole of our astonishing, non-conceptual experience of what IS.John Astin is a health psychologist, meditation teacher, musician, and the author of four books on spiritual practice, including This Extraordinary Moment. His guided meditations can be found on Sam Harris's Waking Up app. He has a Ph.D. in health psychology and is an adjunct professor of clinical and counseling psychology at Santa Clara and Notre Dame de Namur Universities. Find his books, teachings, and more on his website. Here's our prior interview with John. Here are all our videos on consciousness, meditation, and awakening.Video: https://zdoggmd.com/podcasting/john-astin-2/Topics & Timecodes:0:00 Intro1:52 What are we? How consciousness identifies with its contents6:33 The thought/conceptual world vs. the experiential world11:25 Concepts can’t capture raw experience, quantum physics vs gross reality16:24 The conceptual world and the spiritual “journey”, the nature of impermanence23:37 How “long” is NOW?28:06 What is living truth relative to the thought world, the pragmatic benefit of realization34:43 Integrating absolute realization into daily life41:09 Mind reduces infinity to finite and a sense of lack, non-duality44:47 Coming off retreat and “reintegrating”, the “commentary” of thought consciousness52:31 What IS anxiety experientially?57:04 Conceptual thought world removes “magic” from experience59:30 The power of attention and discernment in inquiring into experience1:06:20 The apparent spiritual “journey”1:10:38 Awakening and realization over time1:12:52 We are wired to seek enjoyment1:19:48 The radiant beauty of everything regardless of mental labels, what is art?1:29:37 The miracle of what IS1:40:17 A guided meditation/inquiry on presence: intro1:42:19 Guided meditation on presence

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