Dr. Dacher Keltner

speaker

577 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Jul 2026 last heard 13 Jul

Dr. Dacher Keltner’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.

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Yeah.

What wonderful descriptions.

So when you encounter things that are

way beyond your frame of reference, like in the river in the Grand Canyon or a symphony of birdsong that you hear.

Sunsets, the colors and the changing colors in time.

Suddenly it's like, wow, this is different how I ordinarily perceive reality.

It's beyond my frame of reference, and I can't classify it.

And then what happens is part of your brain called the default mode network quiets down.

It deactivates.

And the default mode network or DMN is where the ego

and the self-relevant processes take place.

My checklists and my to-do lists and my goals and ambitions, that quiets down.

And that's very much akin to when people are out at nature, at the U2 concert or wherever, they feel like their ego is no longer hassling them.

They feel like I'm free of my ego.

So that part of your brain deactivates.

Then these regions of your nervous system, the vagus nerve, this big bundle of nerves wandering through your chest,

calms your heart rate, opens your chest, makes you feel connected to other people, that's activated.

A little bit of evidence showing oxytocin is released, this kind of like, we're all one being, you know, your immune system is functioning better.

And then very importantly, you get quiet,

your mind opens and expands.

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