Mind the Shift

A synchronistic encounter on a bus guided me to Arash Gilan and his latest book, 404 – Human Not Found (so far only available in Swedish). It is a philosophical, deeply personal, and moving read, sprung out of his tough, yet enlightening personal journey. Arash is an open and curious human with a philosophical approach to life that I appreciate, and we immediately built rapport. During our conversation, we covered several aspects of the Big Question of life’s purpose. But we also delved into the more tangible activities Arash engages in daily as a CEO: the development of AI tools. How can this line of work align with his passion for preserving humanness? “I educate my customers about the things we have talked about today,” he said. Arash concluded that AI represents the left brain and humanity represents the right brain, referencing the work of psychiatrist and philosopher Ian McGilchrist. ___ Time stamps 0:00 Intro 3:00 Embracing paradoxes. Life happens in the space between polarities 5:50 404 – Human not found (A synchronistic discovery). Disease as a life teacher. Metamorphosis 17:50 Three shapes of the mind; Descartes; dualism; Western life optimized for thinking. “The essence of life is to become like a child” 26:56 Pantheism; panpsychism; non-separation 29:50 Arash’s life guide. Why are we here? “Maybe not ponder it too much” 39:50 Unfortunate dominance of the brain’s left hemisphere. Metaphorically, AI is the left brain and humanity is the right brain 49:58 Aligning a right brain approach with AI development. “AI is like Gollum’s ring” 54:45 Warnings by AI titans are “BS” (tactics and business reasons) 57:05 Outro ___ Arash’s personal website Arash's company Viva Media

A winding and lovely conversation with author, animal communicator and dream explorer Dawn Brunke.We focused particularly on Dawn’s latest two-part book “Talks with Bob”, in which she shares how she began communicating with her late husband, describing the process as a telepathic connection experienced in dreamlike states.Dawn gave her views on grief, presenting an alternative set of stages inspired by a dream encounter with psychologist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross.We also explored the nature of animal consciousness, the possibility of shared dreaming, and the current energetic shifts affecting humanity. Dawn emphasized the importance of surrendering control and trusting in life's flow to align with one's true path. Dawn’s websiteDawn’s Youtube channel ("Talks with Bob")

My conversation with psychologist, healer and consciousness guide Dr Yafi Yair is a wonderful exchange about the human predicament, spiritual growth and what is going on in the world right now, and why. A restructuring is happening before our eyes, says Yafi. It is the very shift that has been talked about since time immemorial. The episode also includes a spiritual feature that is a first for Mind the Shift: channeling. Yafi is a multidimensional channel and relays messages from a collective entity called Hathor. What comes through is both fascinating and hopeful. A fringe practice not long ago, channeled messages are today listened to by millions of people. Many are familiar with channeled entities like Abraham Hicks (through Esther Hicks) , Bashar (Darryl Anka), Kryon (Lee Carroll), and The Z’s (Lee Harris). What is going on? How can such a thing work? In recent years I have reached the conclusion that life is so multifaceted and wonderfully rich and complex that anything is possible. The reason many still balk at the idea that humans could actually get in contact with nonphysical beings and channel their messages is simply that this is impossible within the model of reality we have been fed with in the modern world. But the model of reality we have been fed with isn’t “Reality”, it is a theory. It works pretty well for making steele and Iphones, but in other areas, it is pretty useless. If one has paid any attention to new research into, and knowledge about, phenomena such as NDEs, precognition, telepathy, psychokinesis, mediumship, terminal lucidity, acquired savant syndrome, and UAP, channeling really doesn’t stand out as anything particularly incredulous. Either you dismiss everything that doesn’t fit the physicalist worldview, or you must keep the door ajar to the possibility that what is happening during channeling is what these people say is happening. On the other hand, if the message rings true, it doesn’t really matter whether that is what is going on or not. It’s like when you have a sudden epiphany, when you are “in the zone” and lose track of time, when you fall in love at first sight or when you experience mysterious synchronicities; you don’t really know what is happening, but you know it’s real, and it intuitively makes sense to you. The channeling session is actually not very long, and it takes place towards the end of the episode. Before that, Yafi and I talk about her journey, psychology, who – or what – Hathor is, and how channeling works. We also delve into the UAP phenomenon, humanity’s evolution, awakening, future human life, and many other things. Yafi’s websiteYafi on Facebook Yafi on YoutubeYafi’s books

Independent researcher Armando Mei is part of a team that made waves in the spring of 2025. The results of their scanning beneath the pyramids of Giza – the Khafre pyramid in particular – were sensational. They seemed to reveal gigantic, coherent and seemingly artificial structures down to a depth of over one kilometer. Now, the group hopes to be able to physically explore the underground network at the Giza plateau. “We already know where the access points are”, says Armando. At one of those, there is a debris layer of about seven meters that needs to be removed before explorers can enter. Egypt’s archaeology heavyweight Dr Zahi Hawass has dismissed the findings by the Italians as impossible. “I heard him on the Joe Rogan podcast and realized from what he said that he doesn’t understand the core of the technology.” Armando Mei currently lives in Egypt. Apart from being a part of the Kharfre scanning project, he conducts his own multidisciplinary studies of the megalithic structures of Giza. He has measured and made calculations on the Khafre pyramid and found intriguing geometric relations. The number 137 appears to be preeminent. Today, many question the textbook narrative that the Giza pyramids were tombs for pharaohs. Armando’s hypothesis, aligning with Christopher Dunn’s, is that they were built for some kind of energy generation purposes. Judging from documentation like the Turin King List and analyses of the astronomical alignments with the structures on the ground, Armando assesses that the oldest Megalithic monuments on the Giza plateau are at least 38,000 years old. He isn’t sure if this lost civilization is in some way related to the Atlantis story, nor if it was wiped out by a cataclysm in the Younger Dryas period, a popular theory. But he does believe that one or more civilization-ending cataclysms have occurred at times in humanity’s deep history. He points out the enormous supervolcano Toba eruption 74,000 years ago. To understand our future we need to understand our past, Armando emphasizes. And to understand our past we need to not only have a multidisciplinary approach but in fact change our consciousness. That doesn’t mean archaeologists, geologists and historians have to meditate to let insights come to them. “No, they just need to open their eyes”, says Armando. “It’s time to read the past with a different view.” His next exploratory project is also about a possible lost civilization. It’s on a small island in the Pacific. Armando's FacebookKhafre SAR Research Project on FacebookArmando's papers on ZenodoArmando's papers on Academia

“Psychedelics trigger a unitive state, and meditation trains it.” So says Naina Eira Gupta, who researches the therapeutic potential of psychedelics and meditation. Psychedelics work because they disrupt the monkey mind, she asserts. They stop the constant chattering in your head, which is the mind’s MO to perpetuate the story of ‘you’. Everything we think we have is just that, a story. “Psychedelics are assisted mind training, I would call it. They provide mental immunity”, says Naina. Then, meditation trains you to keep that base perception, to see the story for what it is. “You realize you don’t have to be reactive to a particular thought or feeling, because it’s just a story.“ When the ego dissolves, you become so much more of an effective human being. “You can fall in love with the world. Everything becomes lighter. You don’t feel so much distance between what you perceive as ‘you’ and the rest of it.” What Naina hopes for is that more people have access to mind training, “because it’s deeply, deeply transformative”. Different psychedelic drugs work in different ways. Some can trigger negative experiences if taken irresponsibly. According to Naina, MDMA is one of the best for pro-sociality and connectedness, because it produces very little bad experiences. Psychedelic experiences can be so transformative that it can be difficult to know what to do with them. Some kind of scaffolding around their use is needed, says Naina. “Even so, many studies now show that psychedelics are beneficial therapeutically, even just in themselves, even if you don’t have a particular practice around them.” As a practicing Buddhist, Naina Gupta doesn’t hold a certain metaphysics. The middle way means that you accept that reality cannot be framed or pinned down. Something is, isn’t, is both and is neither, at the same time. “It’s just unbelievable potential.” The cause of our suffering is the subject-object duality. Naina has several meditation practices, and she has trained herself to dream lucidly. Is this – learning how to liberate oneself from duality with the help of psychedelics, meditation and other spiritual practices – conducive to achieving a more peaceful world? “If there is any hope, it lies in this.” “I wouldn't be talking to you today if this wasn't needed.” Naina's personal page at the University of ExeterNaina on Linkedin