Dec 29, 2022
“How you care for this moment
matters. It matters today, tomorrow, and a thousand years from
now.” — Ari Wallach
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EPISODE SUMMARY:
How do we connect with other
humans? How do we connect with ourselves?
Today, I talk with Ari Wallach,
a futurist and social systems strategist. He is the Founder and
Executive Director of Longpath Labs, an initiative focused on
bringing long-term thinking and coordinated behavior to the
individual, organizational, and societal realms in order to ensure
humanity flourishes on an ecologically-thriving planet Earth for
centuries to come. Ari is the author of “Longpath: Becoming the
Great Ancestors Our Future Needs.”
Listen in to hear how Ari
defines longpath, how we should be examining our own futures, and
more.
Topics We Discuss:
- [2:19] Longpath is a verb in the sense that
it’s an applied mindset. Most people think of a futurist as someone
who is projecting into the future; Ari isn’t that type of futurist,
he doesn’t predict. Longpath is a way of navigating those
intertidal moments, those moments that are chaotic and in
flux.
- [11:22] Using the word “surviving”
automatically trips the limbic system, and in that moment we become
very short-term thinkers. When we become more fear-based in our
approach, we become laser-focused on what’s in front of us. But we
need to be thinking of the far future in these moments of
chaos.
- [21:32] First and foremost, figure out who you
are. How did you get to this point? Ari talks about desired futures
versus examined-desired futures. No one is born thinking they
should be a doctor or race car driver. A lot of these pathways are
culturally forced onto people. Before you can start to think about
what future you want to live in, you have to step back and examine
what got you thinking that way in the first place.
- [32:09] When we had the Copernican revolution,
it led us to more human freedom and enlightened thinking, but we
eradicated the vibrational, mystical realm. We said if you can
measure it, great; if you can’t, it’s terrible. In this intertidal
moment we’re realizing we can have both.
- [37:52] Think of ourselves less in a 100-yard
race and more in a marathon in which we’re holding the baton for
the next generation. We need to T-up the next generation so they’re
that much higher up on the ladder when it comes to flourishing.
This will have us thinking less as individuals and tie us to a more
extensive timeframe.
- [39:39] How you say goodbye to your children in
the morning, how you treat your partner, your colleagues, the
person who checks your badge- those things matter not just in the
moment. How you interact with them changes them and how they
interact with other people.
- [40:09] What does it mean for an emotion to go
viral? An emotion like compassion, empathy, awe, or hope? If you’re
embedding that in your everyday small interactions with other
people and yourself, that could go viral. By doing that, we can
change the soil from which we build solutions in order to build
better tomorrows.
- [42:49] As a culture we lack death awareness.
Ari and Amy discuss how our culture is death-averse and the
importance of engaging in activities that acknowledge our death so
we can better prepare ourselves and future generations for what the
world should look like. All of culture is our way of dealing with
impermanence. We are the only species that becomes aware of our
death, and it paralyzes us.
- [47:14] How Ari recommends focusing on
life-affirming experiences that make the world a better
place.
- [49:14] Death is in the zeitgeist right now due
to COVID-19 and people are searching to understand the moment we
are in and how they can find more meaning and purpose in their own
life.
- [50:30] Understanding the questions we are
asking ourselves about how to be on the Longpath. Ari discusses how
the third paragraph of the obituary is very important to thinking
about how we live our life. Ari shares some of the biggest
questions we should actually be asking
ourselves.
FOLLOW ARI WALLACH:
Find Ari and the programs he
offers on his website
or on Instagram.
His new book, “Longpath:
Becoming the Great Ancestors Our Future Needs” is available
on
Amazon.
Life, Death and the Space Between is brought to you
by:
Dr. Amy Robbins | Host,
Executive Producer
PJ Duke | Executive
Producer
2 Market Media | Audio & Video
Editing
Mara Stallins | Outreach &
Social Media Strategy
Claire | Clairperk.com | Podcast Cover Design