Waking Up Is Not Enough: Flourishing in the Human Space
Episodes
Waking Up is Not Enough Episode 35 - The Myth of the Ethical Machine: Waking Up in the Age of AI” with B. Scot Rousse
12 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
As AI becomes more integrated into our lives, and calls grow louder for ethical guardrails on its development, whose ethics are we talking about? Pol...
Waking Up is Not Enough Episode 34 - Why Protecting Free Speech Matters—and What’s Happening Now in Europe a Conversation w/ Diana Johnstone
19 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this timely and eye-opening episode, American journalist Diana Johnstone joins us to unpack recent restrictions on free speech in Germany and Fr...
Waking Up is Not Enough Episode 33 - Are You Coddling, Cancelling or Speaking Freely? A Conversation with Greg Lukianoff
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you want to learn more about how to speak freely and authentically without coddling or cancelling others, go to www.realdialogue.org and sign up...
Waking Up is Not Enough Episode 32 - Original Love: A Conversation with Zen Teacher and Poet Henry Shukman
18 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why We Should Be at Ease With Ourselves and What Gets in the Way of It? Henry Shuman is a poet, author, and meditation teacher who has guided thousa...
Waking Up is Not Enough Episode 31 - Human Consciousness is Self-Consciousness: A Conversation with an Authority on Human Consciousness: Dr. Michael Lewis (Part 2)
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You may be confused about the word “consciousness” because it is used broadly to mean anything that has awareness of any kind — from a fungus to...
Waking Up is Not Enough Episode 30 - Human Consciousness is Self-Consciousness: A Conversation with an Authority on Human Consciousness: Dr. Michael Lewis (Part 1)
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You may be confused about the word “consciousness” because it is used broadly to mean anything that has awareness of any kind — from a fungus to...
Waking Up is Not Enough Episode 29 - What Is the Point? A Conversation with Zen Master Barbara Rhodes About The Primary Point of Spiritual Practice
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Most spiritual practice, especially Zen, emphasizes a kind of engaged curiosity – remaining aware of the present moment. Why? What can we get from ...
Waking Up is Not Enough Episode 28 - A Non-Dual Approach to the Philosophy of Quantum Theory: A Conversation with Dean Rickles PhD (Part 2)
23 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Support the podcast: https://gofund.me/621e367c Dr. Dean Rickles and Dr. Harald Atmanspacher have together developed a new philosophical model call...
Waking Up is Not Enough Episode 27 - A Non-Dual Approach to the Philosophy of Quantum Theory: A Conversation with Dean Rickles PhD (Part 1)
09 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Support the podcast: https://gofund.me/621e367c Dr. Dean Rickles and Dr. Harald Atmanspacher have together developed a new philosophical model call...
Waking Up is Not Enough Episode 26 - Enlightenment and Virtues in the West & East: A Conversation with Seth Segall PhD
19 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Support the podcast: https://gofund.me/621e367c In this fascinating and rare conversation, Polly and Mike speak with psychologist and Zen teacher Se...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 25 - Unify Your Spiritual Development: A Conversation with Terry Moore
05 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
GoFundMe Page - https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-real-dialogue-polly-mikes-podcast-on-awakening Polly and Mike talk with writer and speaker Terry ...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 24 - How and Why Conflict Avoidance Is Harmful and Dehumanizing in Leadership, Families, and Communities
05 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We need dialogue with others who think and feel differently from ourselves because we so easily deceive ourselves. Every project we develop, from scie...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 23 - Welcoming Your Experience, No Matter What: A Conversation with Gaylon Ferguson
25 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this lively and exploratory conversation, Mike and Polly talk with Buddhist teacher and author Gaylon Ferguson, Ph.D. Dr. Ferguson has led group me...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 22 - Awakening in the Context of Language, Culture, and Development: A Conversation with Anthropologist Bruce Knauft
21 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How are awakening and adult development affected by widely different languages and cultures? Mike and Polly have a fascinating conversation with Bruce...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 21 - Why Early Buddhism Matters Now: A Conversation with Bill Waldron (Part 2)
03 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bill Waldron PhD is professor of Religious Studies at Middlebury College where he teaches Indian religions, especially Buddhism. His recent book “Mi...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 20 - Why Early Buddhism Matters Now: A Conversation with Bill Waldron (Part 1)
06 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bill Waldron PhD is professor of Religious Studies at Middlebury College where he teaches Indian religions, especially Buddhism. His recent book “Mi...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 19 - Politics of Belonging that Transcends Identities: Conversing with Bayo Akomalafe
11 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dr. Akomalafe warns against colonizing our minds in the ways of colonialism: assuming we know exactly what to do to bring our situ...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 18 - Whole Brain Living: A Conversation w/ Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor
28 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast, Polly and Mike have a fascinating and frank conversation with Dr. Bolte Taylor about awakening and brain functions, as well as about ...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 17 - What is the Nature of Post-Conformity?
15 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
At the later stages of Ego Development, people naturally encounter self-evaluated standards in place of group norms and begin to feel intensive respon...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 16 - The Cost of Conformity & the Tightrope of Belonging
28 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You may believe that conformity means compliance or popularity. In this podcast, Polly and Mike talk about conformity (in terms of Loevinger’s ...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 15 - Ken Wilber Uncovers: Zen, Awakening, & Stage Development - Insights on War, Ideologies, & Spirituality
25 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In Part 2, Mike and Polly engage with Ken Wilber, a prominent American theorist and writer in transpersonal psychology, in a deep dive into the inters...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 14 - Ken Wilber Explains: Navigating Identity Politics and 'Wokeness' Through Adult Development Stages
18 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a candid and open discussion, Polly and Mike delve into a fascinating conversation with Ken Wilber, an acclaimed American theorist and writer. Th...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 13 - Cogitating on Donald Hoffman’s Conversations with Us: What’s the Take-Away?
10 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Mike and Polly spend some time reviewing what they learned and what they are thinking about in relation to their podcasts #11 and #12. What are the im...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 12 - What’s True About Human Consciousness? A Conversation w/ Don Hoffman, Ph.D (Part 2)
29 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In his current scientific investigations, Donald Hoffman proposes that the fundamental building blocks of reality are not particles or atoms but consc...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 11 - What’s True About Human Consciousness? A Conversation with Don Hoffman, Ph.D
22 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In his current scientific investigations, Donald Hoffman proposes that the fundamental building blocks of reality are not particles or atoms but consc...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 10 - Stages of Adult Development (Part 2)
01 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What does it mean to be impulsive from the perspective of how you see yourself and other people? When does this way of acting and thinking first arise...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 9 - Stages of Adult Development (Part 1)
18 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What does it mean to be impulsive from the perspective of how you see yourself and other people? When does this way of acting and thinking first arise...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 8 - Predictable Differences in Adult Minds (Part 2)
05 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
PART 2 What is the normal mind? Why do ordinary adults have so many differences and conflicts about what is real or true? Perhaps you have pondered th...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 7 - Predictable Differences in Adult Minds (Part 1)
27 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What is the normal mind? Why do ordinary adults have so many differences and conflicts about what is real or true? Perhaps you have pondered this and ...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 6 - Ecstasy, Bliss or Equanimity: What’s Your Desire?
06 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In waking up, people experience and report ecstatic states. Often these states are associated with euphoria in which feelings of pleasure, ease, and e...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode #5 - What Limits What We Learn From Awakening?
16 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How much control do we have about what comes into our lives through awakening? What are the constraints on what we can learn? Is awakening good for ou...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode #4 - What We Can Learn from Awakening?
03 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Mike and Polly consider the take-away from awakening. Does it matter how awakening is initiated – our motivations, the method, what...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode #3 - Why Wake Up?
20 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What are we seeking through awakenings? If we are not seeking, they happen to us through childbirth or Near Death Experience, are there differences? W...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode #2 - Who Awakens?
05 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
While this question is a kind of Zen puzzle or koan, it is also the case that individual people have awakenings – and they have personalities and pe...
Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode #1: Flourishing In the Human Space: Exploring Waking Up and Growing Up
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of Waking Up: Flourishing in the Human Space, the hosts Polly Young-Eisendrath and Mike Berger explore the different ways humans can a...