The day you teach the child the name of the bird, the child will never see that bird again. — Jiddu Krishnamurti
I’ve spent many years chasing “enlightenment” without always knowing what I meant by it. In this conversation with Marcus, I try to name what I actually care about (waking up + stabilizing in nondual awareness), where therapy fits, and why certain practices help or hurt depending on what you want from life. We get into the distinction between self-improvement and self-realization, how language shapes experience, and why glimpses of non-duality can be liberating and destabilizing at the same time. I reflect on chaos in my twenties, the early yoga rabbit hole, and how I built an identity around spiritual striving that was really just another form of ego-driven self-improvement.
We explore Dr. Pierce Salguero’s “threads of awakening” model, which opened me up to the importance of softening in therapy, the risks of attaching to any single map, and why practical aspects like sleep, exercise, and reduced caffeine intake can contribute more to the subjective experience of flourishing than new insights. There is some humor, a little irreverence, and a shared respect for living an examined life.
If you have ever wondered whether you want a better dream or to wake up from the dream, this one is for you.
