#003 - Consciousness and sustainability rubrics

Hi, it’s Tom and Asim

Thanks so much for subscribing to our House of Life podcast. We really appreciate you tuning in and exploring new perspectives with us.

We’re back for Episode 3 and this time we kick off with Tom recounting his recent time at the Monroe Institute, a consciousness research hub infamous for its CIA-linked out-of-body experiments. Expecting a chilled meditation retreat, Tom found himself in an intense, tech-assisted dive into altered states that was exhausting yet also fun and fascinating. This leads into a conversation about subconscious layers, collective consciousness, and whether we’re all one entity playing a cosmic game. From near-death tales to the paradox of birth, we wrestle with life’s big mysteries: Are we eternal souls on a joyride or students in Earth’s soul school?

Oh, but isn’t this supposed to be a sustainability podcast? Fear not, as somehow our journey through human consciousness leads us back to sustainability, where we explore personal responsibility versus systemic blame and land on the need for first principles—core values like unity and agency—to help us navigate a noisy and polarised world without losing ourselves.

It’s another rollercoaster ride to stretch our thinking outside of our habitual patterns and we hope it provides you with a new sense of possibility and wonder.

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If you enjoyed the episode, here are a few ideas to take it further:

1. Explore your subconscious

   • Try a free meditation on the Monroe Institute’s ‘Expand’ app. See if anything bubbles up from your subconscious? Share your experience in the Substack comments.

2. Craft your first principles

   • Pick one value (e.g., unity, honesty) as a personal sustainability lens. Test it: How does it shape your perception of a news story or a friend’s rant? Let us know.

3. Listen to other perspectives

   • Have a calm, respectful chat with someone you disagree with. Ask them for their perspective on an issue that matters to you and listen. Ask question to understand them better, without pushing your own views. How does it feel? Does it bring any new insights?

4. Ponder the One

   • Imagine you’re a single consciousness living every life—a worm, a sparrow, yourself. How would that change your priorities in life?

We’d love to hear from you so please do leave us comments with your thoughts, or Substack or maybe share your thoughts on LinkedIn and tag us in. Thanks again!