Today's video is about transcendental

existential dread. So, some people have

this existential dread, but it isn't

localized to a particular anxiety. It

can show up in a lot of different ways,

but seems to be coming from something

greater. That's what we're going to talk

about today. We'll also explain a little

bit about how to achieve balance and a

practice to help you manage it. Today's

lecture is the answer to a question that

was part of a 2-hour lecture on our

membership site that you guys can check

out over here. How can I deal with

extreme existential thoughts due to

dissociation and feelings of

derealization? See, this is so

interesting. I've noticed that a lot of

people struggle with like existential

questions, right? They They like can't

find an answer. So, they'll explore

philosophy, which like philosophy is a

great place to find answers. But,

there's like this There's this tenacity

to your like existential dread. And I

don't know if this kind of makes sense.

This applies to you if it doesn't matter

what particular problem triggers your

existential dread. See, there's like

different kinds of existential dread.

There's the existential dread of like

I'm a philosopher at heart and I'm

trying to figure out the world. Then,

there's the existential dread that is

induced by a particular thing. So, like

I am a programmer, I'm graduating from

Berkeley as a CS major, AI is taking

everybody's jobs, I don't know what to

do with myself. So, there's a specific

existential dread. And then, there's

another kind of existential dread that

puts on whatever mask it feels like. So,

today I'm worried about AI, 5 years ago

I was worried about the loneliness

crisis, and it's like my existential

dread can wear any kind of mask. So, if

that's the case, this is a

transcendental existential dread. It

doesn't come from a particular place.

It's carried within you. Sometimes

people notice that and they'll even turn

to things like philosophy. And if

philosophy gives you answers and solves

your existential dread, then great. But,

if it doesn't, we have to understand

what existential dread is. And there is

a version of existential dread that

comes from an untethering

from other parts of ourselves. We become

so polar with our view of the world,

with our view of everything else. We try

to solve these existential problems

about society and this and AI and like

you're like just out there trying to

solve these problems, which can

sometimes happen when we become

untethered inwardly. And I mean that

from a neuroscience perspective, right?

So if we look at the posterior parietal

lobe, people who experience

derealization have a suppression of the

posterior parietal lobe. And the

posterior parietal lobe is what gives us

a sense of spatial connectedness and

spatial situatedness. So the example

that I like to use is when you climb to

the top of a mountain and you're

exhausted and you sit down and even

though you're exhausted and you really

need to pee and you're like like, "Oh my

god." It feels great. You like connect

with your environment. You are embodied

with your environment. Another really

beautiful example of this, I went to

this temple in Indonesia, a Buddhist

temple, and you walk into the temple and

you sit there and there's like intensely

powerful meditative energy. And so like

you feel connected with your

environment. And so one of the

solutions, since we're speaking

philosophically, is a bit

Wittgensteinian, which is the solution

to philosophical questions is not

philosophical answers, it's dissolution

of the question. You can't find an

answer, the goal is to dissolve the

question in the first place. And if you

have lots of existential problems, it's

kind of interesting. If you're not able

to find answers or if you can find

answers, if the answers are not

satisfying you, then you need to turn

away from existentialism and philosophy

as an option and become more embodied.

Let the basis of your existence, right,

be you. You don't need to turn outwardly

and you utilize your intellect. What is

it that is the basis of your existence?

It is you. And so turn in that

direction. And you will say, "But how

does that answer the question?" It

doesn't answer the question. It

dissolves the question. When you exist

in a state of consciousness without

thought that feels blissful, that has a

sense of oceanic boundlessness, where

you feel connected to all things, then

the existential question becomes just an

existential question. It's like, "What's

the purpose of life?" I don't know. It

just doesn't bother me anymore. And then

there's one other thing which is a

little bit strange, which is if you do

something like mantra practice, mantra

practice is profound in its impact on

existential problems. Because when you

do certain kinds of mantra practice and

you practice a long time, okay? So I'm

saying like 7 years is what I would

expect. If you do a mantra diligently

for 7 years, whatever the mantra is

about, you will get like some kind of we

It's hard to describe. A transcendental

understanding of that concept. And once

you have like a piercing understanding

of one thing in life, you'll understand,

if you're lucky or crazy, who knows, if

you transcendentally understand, if you

understand all the layers of one thing,

it gives you such a beautiful anchor in

life. Because then now you know there's

one area of life that at least you

understand. Like you have like a solid

foundation. And this solves so many

existential problems because now you

know that at least one answer for one

thing exists. Like one absolute answer.

One profound answer that you have no

more questions about. And the moment

that you have an answer that you have no

more questions about in one thing, now

your brain knows, "Oh, this is possible.

There are answers out there. I can be

perfectly content with one thing. I can

understand one thing fully." Right? So

one example of this is is sattva, which

is balance. Once you have a really,

really deep understanding of what

balance is, cuz you have all these like

questions, right? How do I develop

work-life balance? How do I balance

ambition versus laziness? How do I

balance greed versus security? How do I

balance this? How do I balance this? How

do I balance this? You were like, "Oh,

there's like income inequality, which is

like an existential problem. There is

people who are, you know, data centers

are using too much water. There's

inequality. There's inequality and lack

of balance all over the world. There's

political shifts. There's manosphere

shift. There's like so much imbalance

everywhere. Once you understand sattva,

once you once you understand balance,

all of those things you begin to see

them in a different light. You see,

"Okay, this is why they're imbalanced."

You no longer have to fear imbalance

because you know how to cultivate it.

You know how to gain it. And if you want

a simple practice that will help you

understand sattva. Sattva means balance.

Remember, there's three things. Tamas,

inertia. Rajas, activity. And sattva is

balance in the middle. So how do I

balance inertia or inactivity with

activity? Difficult, but simple exercise

you can do. If you think about what

causes your problems in life, it is that

you have a lack of balance, right? But

what what exactly is a lack of balance?

So when you feel like eating, there are

two things within you. There is a

calorie deficit and there is a desire.

There is a hunger and there is a desire.

Really important to understand. A hunger

is a signal in here. It is something

that is missing. It is a negative thing,

right? So it's like I'm at minus 100.

That is why I'm hungry. And when I'm at

minus 100, I want something. I want joy.

I want satisfaction. I don't want to go

from negative 100 to zero. I want to go

from negative 100 to 100. I'm trying to

move 200. I'm not trying to correct the

imbalance. The desire moves you in the

opposite direction, right? It swings the

pendulum the other way. I want to eat a

whole pizza. I want to have ice cream. I

want to have all all kind of stuff. And

the problem is that these two things get

tied together for us. Hunger gets

resolved through satisfying a desire.

And then we have regret. Now I ate too

much. I should have eaten healthier. Now

I feel sluggish for the next 24 hours.

Now I'm constipated the next morning

because I had no fiber. Now I have I ate

too much ice cream so I have mildly

lactose intolerant. Now I have got

diarrhea and farting. And now you've

created suffering. And then that

suffering, instead of going to zero, now

you want to go to negative 100. Now you

want to be like no more pizza. No more

ice cream. Lentil soup and brown rice

every day. Stir fry with tofu every day.

Now you've swung back the other way. And

so this is what life is. And people keep

on swinging back this way, back that

way, this way, that way. That's why

everyone's so obsessed with discipline.

Everyone's like I want discipline,

discipline, discipline, discipline. You

don't want need discipline if you're

balanced. But think about it, discipline

is active. It's not passive. Discipline

is constantly exerting energy to stay in

one place or way or mode. There's a

difference between if I pile up a bunch

of rocks and I hold them together, I

have to stay there exerting energy to

hold them together to stay in their

column. If I make one of those beautiful

balanced rock structures, then it

requires no energy. Balance is the

easiest thing in the world, literally.

When things are balanced, they don't

require energy, right? I don't have to

hold it. It just stays. Done. This

doesn't require energy.

This requires energy, right? If I have

this and I'm holding this up like this,

this requires constant energy. So how do

you attain this balance? Really simple.

Eat to alleviate hunger, not to satisfy

desire. Pay attention to the signal of

hunger. Remove the negative. Don't try

to get the positive. That's hard, sort

of. Try it. So here's the first thing.

Alleviating hunger doesn't require that

you eat any particular thing, only that

you eat something. So eat a salad, eat

tofu, eat nuts, even eat pizza. Fine.

But don't eat to the point where you

feel bloated. And you'll notice it. Pay

attention to your body. There's a point

where your tongue will want more, your

desire is far from sated, but your

body's like, "Actually, this is enough."

Another really good example of this is

the speed which you eat. So, eat slow.

Desire is what causes you to wolf down

food. Chew 20 to 30 times for each bite

that you take. If you practice this, if

you just spend some time with it,

because most of us are just we're we're

trying to find solutions without

understanding problems. And there's

another beautiful practice that you can

do throughout the day if you want to

achieve sattva. At any point throughout

the day, do it now. Just if if you're

not driving or something. Close your

eyes. And when you close your eyes,

notice what happens to your posture. The

moment that you close your eyes, you'll

become aware of all of the ways in which

you're balanced imbalanced. And then

you'll naturally sit in a balanced

posture. Happens like that. And if you

go on paying attention, close your eyes,

and feel your body throughout the day,

your posture will get so much better.

You'll notice stiffness in places that

you are normally sitting for 8 hours

that don't feel good. And you only

notice afterwards. So, we go on leading

unbalanced lives with overcorrections,

with emphasis on discipline, whereas

life can be quite effortless. And still

you can achieve quite a bit, right? When

we have this like rock sculpture, this

is magnificent. And all the only effort

that's required is when you are moving

to balance. Once you're balanced, then

things are easy. And if we sort of think

about it, right? Like procrastination.

Procrastination propagates imbalance.

And then you try to force yourself to

not procrastinate. Now I procrastinate,

now I'm not working today, therefore I

have to work too much tomorrow, right?

And then we have all kinds of weird

societal like justifications for this

unhealthy behavior. Inefficiency,

productivity. I'm going to be uber

productive so that I can be imbalanced.

I'm going to work for 20 years, 80 hours

week. I'm going to hustle and grind so

that I can retire early and have all of

the free time. No free time followed by

all of the free time. What? It's okay to

work some and have some enjoyment. A

balanced existence just feels really

good. It's like kind of effortless. And

sometimes I'll work with people who are

like, you know, CEOs that are post their

their co-founders post exit. And it's

like after a year, it's like, "Now I got

to find something to do.

>> [laughter]

>> Now that I have all this empty time,

like my wife is telling me that I'm

driving her insane."

It's like, "Now what?" Thanks for

watching today's video. This comes out

of a longer 2-hour deep dive into trauma

and deep personalization that we did

over on the membership side that if you

guys want more info on, you can find

right here.