#609: In Case You Missed It: June 2022 Recap of “The Tim Ferriss Show”

Tim Ferriss (0:00)

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SPEAKER_2 (1:44)

At this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking.

Edward Thorp (1:54)

What if I did the opposite?

Tim Ferriss (2:07)

Hello, boys and girls. This is Tim Ferris. Welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferris Show, where it is my job to deconstruct world-class performers of all different types to tease out the routines, habits and so on that you can apply to your own life.

This is a special in-between episode, which serves as a recap of the episodes from the last month. Features a short clip from each conversation in one place, so you can jump around, get a feel for both the episode and the guest. And then you can always dig deeper by going to one of those episodes. View this episode as a buffet to whet your appetite. It's a lot of fun. We had fun putting it together. And for the full list of the guests featured today, see the episode's description probably right below wherever you press play in your podcast app.

Or as usual, you can head to tim.blog slash podcast and find all the details there. Please enjoy.

SPEAKER_5 (2:57)

First up, Jack Kornfield, who trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India and Burma. Jack has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West.

His most recent book is, No Time Like the Present, Finding Freedom, Love and Joy Right Where You Are.

Tim Ferriss (3:28)

So Jack, let me ask you a question about the anxiety suffused society in which we find ourselves. And this is a question I'm very interested in personally.

So to what extent do you think about creating the ideal environment for yourself and your loved ones versus adjusting to an anxiety suffused society that is unlikely to be wholly changed by your efforts? And it makes me think of a very often quoted quote of Krishnamurti's, which is, it is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society, but one could argue that that is absolving yourself of any responsibility. So how do you think about choosing between those two or a ratio between those two or contending with that tension if you see any tension between those two?

Jack Kornfield (4:30)

I love your question because it's a little like a Zen koan, you know, the world is on fire, it's in flames. Do I stay around and try to put the fire out or the Titanic's going down? Do I help people into the lifeboats or do I flee? Do I go in the mountains or do I get a little lifeboat and so forth? Do I stay or do I go? And the answer to those kind of koans is yes.

Which you gave a little mathematical answer, how do you titrate it in some fashion? Because I think it's both, you know, the metaphor that everyone uses these days is, you know, put on your oxygen mask first before you put it on your children. There's a way in which we have a responsibility to ourselves to try to stay healthy and well. And I know, you know, if I go into a refugee camp, it doesn't help if I go in and I'm depressed and anxious. They're already feeling that they don't need me to breathe. They actually need somebody who says, yeah, this is suffering and there are ways to manage it. There are ways, even though it's difficult, there are ways and there are possibilities for us. The great anthropologist and philosopher Wade Davis said, despair is a failure of the imagination. I mean, it's a brilliant line because it speaks to the heart. Despair is a failure of the imagination. Human beings have been in tough times since caves and saber-toothed tigers, since battles between different clans. And then we don't have to talk about the Huns and the Visigoths or the Roman army or the armies of the Aztecs or wherever around the world. We human beings have dealt with epidemics, flood, tornadoes, continuing war is not a new story, right? And we're survivors. And we survive in two ways. First of all, we survive by protecting what we care about, which is ourselves and those close to us. So I do that. I want to protect my grandson, have him live in a place where it's safe, if that's possible. Of course, safe enough. Or myself.