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Powerful conversations and interviews about real life psychology, philosophy, psychedelics, spirituality, social dynamics and much more. Our mission is to entertain, provoke, inform, and make you question everything you think you know. Have you ever been on the wrong end of “office politics”? Or lost out to less talented people who are better at “playing the game”? Join us as we our explore Robert Greene’s provocative and compelling study of the 48 Laws of Power, in which he lays bare the ps ...
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We live in a culture that prizes youth and tells us that, once our wild 20s are over, we're basically on the slow train to decay and death. But modern science tells us otherwise, as we set out to explore in this episode. Given the cultural narrative of decline and fall, do we even have a sense of what the stages of life are beyond child–teenager–wo…
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(Economic) Apocalypse Now – Are We Weeks Away From Global Financial Meltdown?
1:51:26
1:51:26
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1:51:26
Jon’s been getting disturbing dispatches from Andrea. Is the economy about to crash like never before? Was 2008’s Big Short just a dress rehearsal for an incoming apocalypse that will shred the stock market and rewrite the future of society? More importantly, should we all be investing in GameStop? Well, perhaps. Andrea’s been going incredibly deep…
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Andrea returns for a live, YouTube-streamed episode as we finally get back in the recording saddle! And we're back with anger. Or at least, a certain kind of anger: the channelled variety which Andrea says is essential to making a true connection with and impact on the outside world. We've decided to shake things up a bit, so we're putting aside ou…
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Solo Cast & The Conspiracy on Pushkin Street
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This episode is an experiment. Jon turns on the mic for a solo cast – to reflect on what life in the pandemic means and the challenges of finding meaning and direction in a world where it feels impossible to plan for the future. We've also go an update for you on the state of the podcast, and Jon's inviting you to get in touch with him via his webs…
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Are You Conscious? Westworld, Neuroscience, And Living In The Virtual – With Special Guest Michael Garfield
1:33:33
1:33:33
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Here's a hidden treasure from the VITD archives for you – our interview with the brilliant and fascinating Michael Garfield! Michael's the host of the Future Fossils podcast, an artist, musician, and a 'sense-maker' of what it means to be having this strange human experience. We spoke to Michael some years ago and for reasons lost to history the ep…
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The Laws of Human Nature 12: Poison Envy
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1:51:44
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Envy is an inescapable part of the human experience. But nobody likes to feel – let alone admit to – envy. Instead, whenever we feel the stirrings of the green serpent, we rapidly turn the feeling outwards, projecting that gut churning insecurity onto the object of our desire. So, we're not envious – that person just got lucky; they knew the right …
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The Laws of Human Nature 11: Discovering the Shadow
1:54:59
1:54:59
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Maybe you've heard of the shadow? Even if you haven't, you've got one – and there's no escaping it. This episode, we discuss how to discover it, accept it, and stop being driven by negative emotions you don't consciously understand. Carl Jung's idea of the shadow side of the personality is fascinating, vital, and compelling. But it's usually presen…
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The Laws of Human Nature 10: The Attitude Adjustment
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Time to escape the mind prison. This episode is like a shot of distilled Stoicism... are you ready? Tapping into our true nature and living a good life often comes down to breaking the cycle – to escape the common fate of becoming just an echo of an echo of all the mistakes that came before you, be it in your family or your community. If we don't b…
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The Laws of Human Nature 9: Five Strategies To Become a Master Persuader
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This is our second episode exploring The Law of Defensiveness, but this time we're breaking it down into some clear steps on how to hone our ability to interact and work with other people! Robert has five key strategies, some of which we dig, some of which we think need some careful reflection before we put them into practice. Becoming a Deep Liste…
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The Laws of Human Nature 8: Three Core Beliefs And How To Disarm Them
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This could be the most important Law of all: The Law of Defensiveness. At our emotional core, we're all desperately grasping onto three basic ideas – the sense that we're independent; that we are intelligent in our own way; and that we are, overall, a good and decent person. It doesn't matter that a lot of the time this isn't true – these ideas rem…
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Corona Chronicles, Black Lives Matter and Poetry
1:34:25
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It feels like we're living through a tipping point in world history. The year 2020 began with the Pope slapping a woman and the Australian wildfires (remember them?). That seemed dramatic at the time, but since then we've found ourselves in the midst of a pandemic, followed by mass protests that began in the US and are now spreading around the worl…
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The Laws of Human Nature 7: Why Do You Want To Get Rich Quick?
1:19:48
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Why do people get caught up in wild and implausible conspiracy theories, get-rich-quick scams and other tantalising pyramid schemes? As we learn in this episode, even brainboxes like Isaac Newton can't seem to resist the excitement that so easily overcomes our better judgement when we think we can shortcut our way to success. And that's the problem…
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Corona Chronicles: Conspiracies, Censorship and Life under Lockdown
1:36:51
1:36:51
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It’s Week 4 of Lockdown in the UK and we’ve got the band back together. Well, the duo. Andrea and Jon are back in the virtual studio to make some sense of a world awash with fear, confusion, conspiracy theories and lots of very bad science. What does the coronavirus mean politically, socially and culturally? How far should the state be involved in …
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We're living through some damn strange times. We wanted to release something to stay connected with you and to share some thoughts on the current Coronavirus crisis and its effects. Jon shares an article he's written about the vital role of humour in helping us to cope with and make sense of crisis, and why all those dark memes you might feel guilt…
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The Laws of Human Nature 6: Why Are You Always Dissatisfied?
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In this episode, Robert Greene forces us to confront our inherently covetousness nature: we always want what we don't have. And yet, if we do get those things, we rapidly fall out of love with them. Why does possessing something make our enjoyment of it fade? Why is the grass always greener on the other side, no matter how often we jump back and fo…
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This episode we get together to discuss a variety of topics, ultimately centring around the seeming decline of popular culture into endless sequels and entertainment-by-algorithm. Where did it all go wrong, and why are so many of us still comfort-eating the shit out of it? In the wake of the Golden Globes and the release of Once Upon a Time in Holl…
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After an unintentional hiatus, Jon and Andrea return for their seasonal year in review, where they reflect on what they've learnt, how their goals and values have changed, and what the goddamn hell might be next... This time we didn't quite manage to record in the bar of a 5-star hotel as we have in the past, but it was great to get behind the mics…
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The Laws of Human Nature 5: Uncovering People's True Character
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In this episode, we explore what 'true character' means and how to identify, deal with and master the major personality types we encounter in the world. Apologies for the short notes – big changes are afoot at Voices in the Dark, which we'll be sharing with you soon! Be Silly. Be Kind. Be Weird.
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What Makes A 'Perfect Gentleman'? – Zach Falconer-Barfield Interview
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The idea of the 'gentleman' increasingly seems a thing of the past – a costume drama caricature, or an old fashioned toff whose connection to the present day is, at best, a pending #MeToo revelation. Jon certainly held those prejudices until he was introduced to the work of Zach Falconer-Barfield, the man behind 'The Perfect Gentleman', who's made …
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The Laws of Human Nature 4: Mastering Non-Verbal Communication
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In a vast modern world, where we're constantly encountering strangers and trying to work out where they're coming from and how we can operate and cooperate together, we're living quintessentially unnatural lives compared to the tight-knit communities in which we evolved. It's as though we're living behind enemy lines: everyone's playing some kind o…
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When Jon Became Part Of A Police Investigation
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What would you do if the police called, informed you that you're a victim, and that they want you to give evidence about a sexual assault you've already tried to put behind you? That's the bizarre and challenging situation Jon found himself in recently, and in this episode we talk about the emotional and moral dilemmas he faced when trying to deal …
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The Laws of Human Nature 3: How To Identify & Deal With Narcissists (2/2)
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Last time we unveiled the disturbing psychology of narcissism; in this episode we explore some vivid historical examples and what we can all learn from them. From Joseph Stalin to attention-crazed nuns, the inner world of the narcissist is brought to life in alarming technicolour. But that's just one side of the coin. This chapter of Robert Greene'…
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The Laws of Human Nature 3: How To Identify & Deal With Narcissists (1/2)
1:21:13
1:21:13
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Narcissists aren't what you think they are. We throw the word around so liberally these days that it's almost been drained of real meaning. But narcissists are real. Narcissists are dangerous. We need to know how to spot them before we become enmeshed in their web of psychological warfare. First of all, narcissists are not the same as egotists. The…
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Closing Loops, Having Boundaries, And Giving Your One Last Talk
1:24:53
1:24:53
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Jon's back from Indonesia and is experiencing reverse culture shock as he returns 'home' to London. From that unstable vantage point, in this catch-up episode we talk about getting things done, why closing 'loops' in your day-to-day life is essential for your mental and emotional health, and how to take meaningful action in the absence of clarity. …
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The Laws of Human Nature 2: Confronting Irrationality
1:42:32
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Do you find yourself repeating the same negative patterns in life? Finding yourself in the same argument with your partner, friends or colleagues? Or maybe reacting to stress with the same emotionally destructive fire, which you always end up bitterly regretting afterwards? To understand how we humans tick and why these patterns can dominate and st…
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