James B. Glattfelder on the Sapient Cosmos

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One of sixty-eight. Same opening question, a different world behind the answer.

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This conversation № 60 · 151 views

Robert M. Ellis

Walking the Middle Way

The Inner Workers

The Middle Way as a practical philosophy of judgment: avoiding absolute positions and staying open to revising them. We compare it with the Third Attractor, disagree on metaphysics, and discuss ethics, meditation, community and AI.

0:00 Navigating Between Extremes 2:09 Buddhist Origins of the Middle Way 4:43 Judgment as a Spiritual Practice 7:07 The Trap of Absolutization 10:01 Optionality vs. Free Will 19:10 Navigating Paradoxes in Practice 35:44 Archetypes as Sources of Inspiration 54:45 The Shadow of Artificial Intelligence

Cover of the conversation with Robert M. Ellis

About this conversation

What if consciousness is not produced by the universe, but is the ground from which the universe emerges?

In this conversation, physicist and author James B. Glattfelder explores ideas from The Sapient Cosmos: the “will to complexity,” consciousness as fundamental, and evolution as a movement toward greater awareness. We talk about idealism, psychedelics and non-ordinary states, quantum physics, AI and consciousness, and what it could mean to live in a participatory universe.

At the heart of our conversation is a hopeful possibility: that the future is not simply something that happens to us. By recognizing our interconnectedness, taking responsibility, and learning to listen more deeply, we may become conscious participants in an evolutionary process that is still unfolding.

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68 conversations in all

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Sohail Inayatullah

The Story Weavers The System Builders

The Science of Futures

How can we consciously shape the future when our present is still so deeply influenced by the stories and systems of the past? In this conversation, futurist Sohail Inayatullah and I explore the power of imagination, the transformation of worldviews, five major shifts facing humanity, and the relationship between spiritual realization and our capacity to co-create a different future.

57 min · 22 Oct 2026 · 88 views

Alexander Laszlo

The Deep Divers

Probability Spaces

What does it mean to consciously participate in the evolutionary movement of life? In this conversation, Alexander Laszlo and I explore Syntony, the dynamic harmony of life, and how love, consciousness, surrender and agency can help us become living expressions of the Third Attractor.

84 min · 14 Oct 2026 · 263 views

Tiokasin Ghosthorse

The Earth Keepers

Indigenous Wisdom

In this conversation, Tiokasin Ghosthorse brings a Lakota perspective on intuition, consciousness, our relationship with Earth and the possibility of rediscovering a way of living that modern civilization has largely lost.

69 min · 10 Oct 2026 · 337 views

Rob Hopkins

The Earth Keepers The Pioneers

Falling in Love with the Future

What can twenty years of the Transition movement teach us about creating a different future from the ground up? Rob Hopkins and I explore community-led change, local economies and why rebuilding our collective imagination may be one of the most important steps towards a Third Attractor.

68 min · 28 Sep 2026 · 149 views