In April I did an interview with Mordy Levine on It’s Not What You Think podcast (Episode 5).
I first met Mordy about eight years ago when he took our trad clinic at Joshua Tree. Mordy has a lot of background in meditation, Buddhism, and enjoyed the Carlos Castaneda book as I did.
I like the name of Mordy’s podcast because it speaks directly to what we need to be attentive to in mental training. Much of what the mind thinks is not reality. It’s a virtual reality that engagement clarifies. Unfortunately, Bruce Lee and don Juan couldn’t be on the podcast, but we discussed how they impacted my learning of mental training.
Here are some points:
- How does the mind perceive reality? How can we let the experience itself determine reality, not the mind?
- What does it mean to do attention training? Is there some attention training that is unhelpful? What are the details of attention training?
- How much do we need to think? Is thinking detrimental? Is all thinking virtual reality instead of reality?
- Is motivation an either/or choice, either achievement or learning? If not, how can we understand motivation as both/and, that achievement and learning can be complementary?
- Should we seek comfort in the future or in the present moment? If the latter, is that the “lazy person’s” approach?
- How can the climbing metaphor help us understand how to deal with our natural comfort motivation?
- Can we ever “get over” a stressor or trauma or do we need to find ways to “live with it?”
- What’s the difference between physiological and psychological fears?
- Is “exposure therapy” effective, such as taking people who are afraid of heights onto a glass bridge that crosses a deep gorge? What’s the difference between what’s real and what’s true?
- What does don Juan say is the basic difference between warriors and ordinary people?
- What was so unique about Bruce Lee?
