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July 11th, 2022 Mature Content

"Understanding we are all spirits having a human experience" – Rachel Astarte

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  1. "Understanding we are all spirits having a human experience" - Rachel Astarte Terry McMullen 50:53

Rachel started the show with a really interesting value; “understanding we are all spirits having a human experience.” This was interesting because I have heard phrases like this before, but rarely do we get to dig into what it means and its implications. Given Rachel’s background as an author (“Celebrating Solitude: How to Develop and Honor Your Highest Self”), holistic psychotherapist, and transformational life coach she brought a lot of in depth thinking on the topic. She was more than game to work through my logical approach to trying to understand a really spiritual topic.

The entire conversation was insightful as we worked through the implications of her value, but maybe the biggest take away was Rachel’s view that we are all going through a human experience to learn as much as possible about existence and the universe, so that we could use our collective knowledge to get to a better world. There is so much to unpack in that, not least of which is, what is the “better” world we are working towards and how do we know that is actually our intended purpose? Interestingly, as you start to press on it, it starts to sound a lot like organized religion. We can’t ever fully understand it, but there is a plan, and we should have faith that it will work out.

All of this made for a fascinating discussion where we explored the reason for human suffering, the limitations of formalized religions, the apparent randomness of the universe, as well as more practical issues–like what does all of this mean for our every day lives? It is one thing to believe that we are spirits working towards an improved collective Consciousness, but what does that mean for you on a random Monday morning in July? Rachel’s ability to discuss big picture philosophical topics but also their every day implications made her a really great guest to have on.

I spent much of my career trying to consult companies on how to better achieve their goals. I was a Finance major, a Harvard Business School graduate, and a business strategist. I've always been curious and I've always loved trying to solve problems. It was a really good fit for a while, but then life happened.

Within the span of a couple of years I had a son, my sister tragically passed away, and my wife became severely ill with Multiple Sclerosis. All of a sudden everything I thought I knew about life didn't seem to make sense anymore. I needed to raise my son and teach him how to be a good person but I realized I didn't even know what it meant to be a good person, let alone know how to teach him to be one. I also realized that I wasn't capable of being the person my wife needed me to be to help care for her. Simply put, I wasn't good enough.