The Observing I
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What the scanner cannot see: David Chalmers and the hard problem of Consciousness
There is a difference between describing how a machine works and explaining why it feels like something to be that machine.
Jun 23
•
David Johnson
3
41:54
No Exit, No Problem: Pema Chödrön’s Inner Frontier
When things fall apart, the first temptation is to rebuild the story. Pema asks what happens if we stay with the wreckage for one breath longer.
Jun 9
•
David Johnson
5
1
40:35
The Unconscious Has Bad Manners: Stanislav Grof and the Psychedelic Psyche
What happens when the mind speaks before the ordinary self has worked out how to translate it?
Jun 2
•
David Johnson
7
43:11
May 2026
When the Music Stops: Laura Huxley and Relational Consciousness
The self is not a thing you hold. It is a thing you participate in.
May 26
•
David Johnson
10
1
35:49
The Observing I: Deconstructing My Own Philosophy
A reflection on the psychological cost of inherited narratives, the collapse of external validation, and how to find the baseline of the observing self.
May 19
•
David Johnson
7
2
1
48:32
Carlos Castaneda: Wisdom, Fiction, and the Desire to Believe
An exploration of Psychedelic spirituality, and the uncomfortable line between wisdom and fiction
May 12
•
David Johnson
4
49:08
The Tyranny of Pleasure: Aldous Huxley and his Brave New World
Why we might be learning to love our own containment.
May 5
•
David Johnson
8
45:10
April 2026
Be Here Now: The Great Unmaking of Richard Alpert
The Guru, the Ego, and the Long Return Home
Apr 28
•
David Johnson
5
2
41:43
Terence McKenna and the Problem of Enchantment
On psychedelics, prophecy, and the modern hunger for meaning
Apr 21
•
David Johnson
3
1
49:44
Turn on, tune in, drop out: The life and ideas of Timothy Leary
A journey through liberation, ego, spectacle, and the cost of trying to leave yourself behind.
Apr 14
•
David Johnson
2
50:54
March 2026
Emil Cioran and the Insomnia of Being
A complete philosophical guide to despair, from a man who refused to act on it
Mar 24
•
David Johnson
6
37:56
Not Yet: The Philosophy of Ernst Bloch
Hope isn’t optimism. It’s a philosophical position.
Mar 17
•
David Johnson
6
2
38:31
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