Why I Talk About Purpose

Explicit content warning

01/18/22 • 75 min

In this second solo episode of the show, I explain why I speak and write so consistently about the idea of “purpose,” and give context that will set the stage for the next episode of the podcast—releasing on February 1, 2022—with Charles Eisenstein and Lauren Buckley, called “Purpose + Illness.”
Here’s what you'll hear me talk about in this episode—

My search for “purpose” until now.
The portions of Charles’s work that helped me begin to make real connections between work, purpose, and health.
A reading of my essay, “A Sick Society + An Individual Burden,” which gives extra context to the connections I see between work and illness, and my upcoming conversation with Charles and Lauren.
Why you might be born to heal a divide between two worlds.
A reading of my essay, “Wisdom Teeth + Chronic Illness,” tells the story of finding dental cavitations in my mouth, and much of what Charles, Lauren, and I discuss in the upcoming episode.
How doing work you don’t enjoy is a kind of “toxic load” on your body.
And, why we need to start saying “This isn’t normal.”

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Check out this episode's show notes.
Follow along on Twitter: @thisplusthatpod
Follow along on Instagram: @thisplusthatpod
Check out the Website: thisplusthat.com

Music: The in-house musicians at Slip.stream
Audio Engineering: The team at Upfire Digital

My search for “purpose” until now.
The portions of Charles’s work that helped me begin to make real connections between work, purpose, and health.
A reading of my essay, “A Sick Society + An Individual Burden,” which gives extra context to the connections I see between work and illness, and my upcoming conversation with Charles and Lauren.
Why you might be born to heal a divide between two worlds.
A reading of my essay, “Wisdom Teeth + Chronic Illness,” tells the story of finding dental cavitations in my mouth, and much of what Charles, Lauren, and I discuss in the upcoming episode.
How doing work you don’t enjoy is a kind of “toxic load” on your body.
And, why we need to start saying “This isn’t normal.”

Music: The in-house musicians at Slip.stream
Audio Engineering: The team at Upfire Digital

Previous Episode

Microbes + Spirituality with Asia Dorsey

Asia Dorsey (she/her; they/them) writes Afrofutures into existence by reweaving Black bodies into relationship with the earth through the fabric of food. She studied food and sociology at New York University but extended her education to include public health nutrition in Accra Ghana, seed sovereignty in Northern India with Vandana Shiva, and biological agriculture and ancestral nutrition with Kay Baxter in New Zealand. After healing her depression with bones, bugs, and botany, Asia took the helm of Five Points Fermentation Company in 2016 in order to bring probiotics to the people. As a bioregional herbalist apprenticing with Herbal Elder, Susun Weed, an organizational ecologist with Regenerate Change, and permaculture instructor with the Denver Permaculture Guild, Asia deciphers and reintegrates the sacred instructions of microorganisms, plants, and animals to bring the patterns of ecosystems into our people systems. You can also find her curating educational programs at the Seeds of Power Unity Farm, bone-deep in soil, balancing botanical chaos long enough for her people to rise together in power and step into the wholeness that is their birthright.

In this episode, Asia and Brandi talk about the intersections of Microbes + Spirituality, including:

The wild notion of sugar as healing.
How our thoughts and beliefs affect the way we “metabolize” food, people, and everything else.
Microbes as spiritual impulses and deities.
Sanitization, inoculation, war, and allowing ourselves to be changed by the “Other.”
Becoming that which we resist.
How phases of activism follow similar ecological phases and inflammatory responses in the body.
Fermentation as a type of ancestral “inheritance” and what ancient dairy practices teach us about generational wealth.
Viruses as adaptation advantages.
Claiming both science and spirituality in all their complexity without devaluing either but also not ignoring each of their flaws.
The beauty of not belonging.
And so much more.

Listeners can find Asia online, at bonesbugsandbotany.com, and can support her and her creations on Patreon and Instagram. Listen to her on The Petty Herbalist podcast, as well.

Get more This Plus That:
Sign up for the newsletter. Check out this episode's show notes.
Follow along on Twitter: @thisplusthatpod
Follow along on Instagram: @thisplusthatpod
Check out the Website: thisplusthat.com

Music: The in-house musicians at Slip.stream
Audio Engineering: The team at Upfire Digital

Next Episode

Purpose + Illness with Charles Eisenstein & Lauren Buckley

Charles Eisenstein (he/him) is a writer and a speaker. His four main books are The Ascent of Humanity (2007), Sacred Economics (2011, revised 2020), The More Beautiful World our Hearts Know is Possible (2013) and Climate — A New Story (2018). All of them can be read online or purchased wherever books are sold. He lives in the part of the world that most people currently call Rhode Island, USA, in a smallish house about 20 minutes from the ocean and five minutes from the Great Swamp. He shares the house with his wife, Stella, son Cary, dog Inka, and some mice. He has three older sons, Jimi, Matthew, and Philip.

Lauren Buckley (she/her) is a seeker. Consumed with questions like “Who am I?”, “Why am I here?”, “Where did I come from?”, and “Where am I going?”, she has followed life wherever it seemed like she might find some insight. For a while, science seemed like the best path to truth, so she enrolled in a biochemistry Ph.D. program at UC-Berkeley. But, during a Luce Scholars Fellowship in Thailand, a total physical and mental health collapse blew up her plans. After exhausting her options in mainstream medicine—to no avail—a desperate search for healing eventually led her to see the limitations and dogma of mainstream science, discover holistic medicine, work with #1 New York Times Bestseller Chris Kresser, and launch a wellness company. You can now find Lauren seeking out loud on Uncertain, where she goes deep with some of her favorite people on philosophy, psychology, spirituality, wellness, and whatever else is capturing her endless curiosity. Find her full bio in this episode's show notes.

In this episode, Charles, Lauren, and Brandi talk about the intersections of Purpose + Illness, including:

A new development in Brandi’s health journey—dental cavitation surgery and selling her house to afford it.
Listening to the fears of those around you as a normal and healthy instinct to determine whether we’re on the “right” track.
How often you can feel gaslit when experiencing chronic illness.
How physical conditions sometimes mirror our internal, spiritual conditions.
When illness can be a gift that shows us when we’re out of alignment.
“Control” as a type of “illness.”
Planning as a type of living in separation from ourselves.
Letting what we truly want to do guide our decisions.
What we do or don’t “deserve” when it comes to health or living in a healthy society.
And, curiosity as a path of aliveness.

Listeners can find Charles online at his website, Substack, and his own podcast. And, they can find Lauren at @beuncertain on Instagram and in the Uncertain Mighty Network community.

Get more This Plus That:
Sign up for the newsletter. Check out this episode's show notes.
Follow along on Twitter: @thisplusthatpod
Follow along on Instagram: @thisplusthatpod
Check out the Website: thisplusthat.com

Music: The in-house musicians at Slip.stream
Audio Engineering: The team at Upfire Digital