Howie (@askhowie & plantyourself.com) is a coach & author & podcast host. His coaching work with people & organisations focuses on leadership, values, productivity & health.
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?”
Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.
We discuss:
00:00 Welcome
02:01 Howie's Intro
- Coaching & writing
- "Not a big fan of capitalism"
- Effective altruism through organisations
- "Helping people respond to reality"
- Not knowing "what's real?" or "what matters?" but let's try to work it out
04:54 What's Real?
- Growing up in a conservative Jewish household in New Jersey
- Culturally Jewish but "kind of atheist"
- Mother's history of the holocaust & kindertransport
- Father's "Jewish identity & socialism." Needling the Rabbi: "We have to rest on the Sabbath so now I have to walk up 30 flights of stairs?!"
- Being given "The Truth About the Bible" book. Bible inconsistencies & immorality
- "The Jews have learned to argue & doubt & question"
- "The Jewish people must survive" as a core commitment
- Einstein, Marx, Freud
- A militant zionist phase
- "It was safe." There was no danger to the ritual vs. sweatlodges
- A "safe, conventional, suburban religion"
- Attending an Ivy League college
- "There are smart people who believe in ghosts"
- Exploring parapsychology
- "There were serious academics questioning my worldview which was completely materialistic"
- Rejecting the exclusive tribalism & the simplistic narratives of religion but "There is a big effing mystery out there" 
- Shamanic practices "oh honey, it's all bullshit"
- Being sceptical of our own perceptions & reasoning. Be open
- Predictive dreams
- Contextualism... "How is this working for me?"
- "Look for & assume positive intent... then act like it's true"
- Talking to trees, brambles as defences, mycorrhizal fungi as comms networks
- Narratives of dominion vs. "consciousness in everything"
- Arbitrary vs. narratives grounded in reality
- "Supposedly using evidence & reason we've destroyed the planet"
- Checks: 1) consistency with the natural world & 2) compassion
32:50 What Matters?
- Be nice to people
- Mother's experience of Nazi occupation of Austria. "The teachers & her so called friends were wearing Nazi armbands" & "Punch a Nazi".

...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info and on YouTube.
Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form.
Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!
Thanks Graham.