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Truth.  Is there even such a thing?  At times, objectivity seems like a given, but with a deeper look, we often find shades gray and learn that the “truth” looks quite different depending upon your point of view.  But, is there such a thing as a greater, transcendent, immutable truth?  Something we can know and take solace in, maybe even aspire toward throughout our lives?  Obviously there’s no clear answer, but if it does exist, you’re sure as hell never going to find it without looking.   

For Android Jones, catching a glimpse of that deeper truth required sacrifice, toil and even grief.  But, now that he’s scratched the surface of it, he strives to foster a deeper relationship with truth by channeling it in every piece of art he creates.  As esoteric and ambitious as that may sound, take one look at Android’s recent art and you’ll find that somewhere within his delicate dance of color where the micro and macro merge it becomes clear that he’s expressing something of a higher order.

For more on Android’s art and his personal philosophies, check out the following:

androidjones.com

androidjones.com-obtain

Android Jones on Twitter

Android Jones on Facebook

What on Earth is Happening

Please, support Midwest Real and join in the conversation! Follow us on Twitter and Facebook and don't forget to subscribe and review on Itunes!

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I have some bad news.  The kind of bad news you’re actively putting off thinking about at this very moment.  Fear and misfortune are lurking just around the corner.  Something bad can and will happen to you, it’s just a matter of time.  As if that weren’t bad enough, most threats to our well-being are totally beyond our control.  So, now that you’re thinking about it, how will you react?  Put it out of your mind? Curl up into a ball and try to hide from it?  Or think to yourself, why not just leave life’s unpleasantness until the last possible second?

The fact of the matter is that we fortunate first-worlders need a reality check.  The societal armor that surrounds us makes us soft, detached and totally unprepared for life’s inevitable nastiness.  We rarely if ever confront the dead, the suffering or the starving, though we intellectually know the ills of the world are coming for us all sooner or later.

This is one of those moments: will you choose the blue pill or the red pill?  Will you try to suppress the fear by going back to watching ESPN and eating beef jerky until the wheels fall off?  Or will you wake up every morning embracing the risks, thinking about how you can grab your day by the balls and squeeze every last bit of impermanent happiness out of it?

Truth be told, I’m far from an expert. I owe most of this insight to this week’s guest, Daniele Bolleli, who as it turns out, is no stranger to fear (or grabbing life by the balls).  In fact, he’s writing a book about it (fear, not ball-grabbing).  Daniele is the author of several books including Create Your Own Religion and On the Warrior’s Path.  He is also a professor who lectures on history and philosophy.  As if that weren’t enough, he has his own podcast, The Drunken Taoist.  Above all else, he’s unbelievably humble and down to Earth.

As you likely know, you can find the show on Twitter and Facebook.  If you like what you hear, click here and leave some Itunes feedback!

Hokahe!

JET PACKS. CATS. REVOLUTION

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True innovation is rarely foreseeable.  If yesterday's notions about the future were even close to the mark, we'd be flying around in our cars or wearing jet packs and living in floating houses.  Instead, we carry around yesterday's equivalent to a super computer in our pockets and use it to look at cat memes, take pictures of sushi and enable revolution.  Technology has become weird, it eludes definition and form and the more deeply intertwined we become with it, the more ethical dilemmas we run into.

Just as today's digital mainstays largely evaded foresight, so too will the truly important and disruptive technologies of the tomorrow.  Yet, I will always be compelled to wonder what's next and, perhaps more importantly, how it will change what it means to be a human being. 

Luckily, this week, I have someone much more competent and qualified than myself to bounce my inane ramblings off of, Bianca Bosker.  She's one of those people who's close to my age that just makes me feel self-conscious because she's accomplished so much more than I have.  She's the Executive Editor of Huff Post Tech and the author of a very fascinating book called Original Copies.  Make sure you give her a follow on Twitter, check out her book and keep up with her work on Huffington Post. 

It's official, we're a year old and we've got all of you beautiful listeners to thank.  Year one brought in thousands of downloads from over 60 countries and I truly couldn't be more pleased.  To help us hit 2014 ten times stronger, join our community on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe on Itunes if you like what you hear.

Happy New Year!

 Each journey we take starts pretty much the same way.  We get an idea, then we daydream about how it will go: “If I do this, then I can do that, I just have to do this and this, then I’ll be this, or have that,” we think to ourselves (you can fill in the blanks with your own scenario).  But, of course as quickly as we take the first step toward starting that journey, we find that the road is longer, more nuanced and fraught with the unexpected than we ever could have imagined.  The bulk daydreaming is almost always good for nothing.

For me, this has held true on every significant journey I’ve embarked upon, whether it was moving over seas, joining a band starting a relationship, or starting this show.  I’m even tempted to say it doesn’t matter what we do, as long as we do it. 

But, some experiences impact and define us on such a deep level that they fundamentally change us for good.  Things like war, loss or a deeply meaningful epiphany.  In my case, these experiences are quite slippery.  There are few solid moments I can point to that have shaped the person I am, but then again, I’ve never been to war, lost someone close or had a true, deep seismic shift in consciousness.

Then, there’s my guest, who makes all my little life-lessons seem trivial.  He’s been to war, he’s felt the sting of loss and he’s experienced true, life-altering psychological and philosophical changes. 

In a very brief nutshell, his most important journey started when he signed up for the Army.  He made the cut as a Ranger and served three traumatic tours in Afghanistan.  The things he did and saw changed him forever. 

When he got home, he was diagnosed with PTSD, given antidepressants and sent on his way.  The pills didn’t help. Every day life was still nearly unbearable.  Searching for options, he heard about and attempted to partake in an experimental and controversial MDMA therapy through MAPS, but the waiting list was unbearably long.  He took matters into his own hands and took various psychedelics as a means to treat his symptoms; it worked.  His experiences with those substances were so profound that they reintroduced him to emotions that he hadn’t felt since he’d been home.  He now has the kind of purpose, strength and focus that few of us have.  He’s now working toward degrees in Neuroscience and Psychology in hopes that he can spread the word about the medical viability of these substances through a scientific lens full-time.

There’s so much more to his journey, so be sure to check out the episode. 

To learn more about the effort to help PTSD victims through MDMA assisted therapy, visit MAPS.

Of course, you can interact with the show through Facebook and Twitter.  If you like what you hear, don’t forget to subscribe and review on Itunes, it helps spread the word!

Midwestreal.net

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For creative people, modern society provides you with an interesting paradox.  You need the infrastructure it provides to support you and give you meaning, yet its design includes so many barriers and obstacles designed to keep you on a well-worn path that it’s inconvenient, if not nearly impossible for many of us to get off of it to pursue our creative goals.

However, if we’re bold enough to roll the dice and lucky enough to end up with the right numbers, the success we taste is so intoxicating that all the toil was worth it.  For those of us that aren’t so lucky, a taste of failure spurs doubt.  We don’t want to have to deal embarrassment, ridicule or starting all over again.  So what do we do?  We rush back to that familiar, well-worn path.

The road less traveled is so for a reason.  If you’re to plunge into its depths, you must do so with commitment and fortitude and skill.  We must view each defeat as lesson to be learned from, not an excuse to run away. 

My guest on this episode, Michael Drusch is well removed from the familiar path.  He’s a young, inspired man with his own isolation tank and a vision.  I believe him when he says he’s determined to turn that tank into not only a living for himself, but a tool that nurtures and enlightens the community.

If you want to support that vision, check out Mike’s new business, Evolve Float Tanks on Facebook and their website. 

If you want to support Midwest Real, follow us on Facebook and Twitter  and leave a nice review on Itunes.

Now sharpen your blades and hack your way off the path!

If there’s one thing that really gets to me, it’s the stereotypical “rock star” persona, especially in this day and age when there’s so little separating the artist from the consumer.  You know the type, they’re usually a front man who stinks of a mixture of inebriated co-eds and cigarette smoke, all while exuding the perfect level of jaded indifference and aloofness.  As much as I’d love to remind them all that they’ll never be thrust into the line-up of Motley Crue a week after the release of Doctor Feel Good, or the facilitator of new wave of Beatle mania-like hysteria, I find it best to ignore them.

Rest assured, our guest, Harry Lee, is far from an archetypal rock-douche with delusions of grandeur.  He’s a thoughtful, straightforward, honest guy who’s thankful for all the success he’s had, and mark my words, there will be a lot more of it to come.  Take a moment to check out Harry’s band, Waylayers, and you’ll see exactly what I mean.  It’s the kind of Electro-Indie-Pop that’s sure to fill a nice little hole in the rotation on your local alternative station.

Grab their latest record, Fault Lines on Itunes, follow them on Twitter and like them on Facebook.

If you have some love left, follow Midwest Real on Twitter, like us on Facebook and tell your friends!

If you participate in social media, you’ve no doubt seen a plethora of inspirational memes floating around the Internet. You know the type; they’re the ones that feature psychedelic art or images of nature.  Maybe there’s even an image of Albert Einstien’s disembodied head floating through outer space, disseminating a classic quote.  Or, my favorite, a Native American staring at the moon flanked by a hawk and an especially timely old proverb. 

I’ll be honest; I’m guilty of it. I share stuff of this ilk pretty much on the regular. But, I’ve come to realize something.  If you’re (I’m) not cultivating real action out of what you’re (I’m) posting, it’s nothing more than sanctimonious drivel.  In essence you’re (I’m) full of shit, no matter how well intentioned you (I) might be. 

On the other end of the spectrum, we have this episode’s guest , Jae Sabol.  He’s the founder of a not for profit called One Community that’s striving to create an open-source, sustainable way of life that’s accessible to all.  They’ve actually broken ground on a couple of different communities and they’re making change a reality in a way that actual human beings can touch.  Sure, it sounds grandiose and impossible, but they’ve made some pretty amazing steps and their ideas just might infiltrate your way of life before you know it.  Check them out over at their site and start a dialogue over on their social media accounts (Facebook Twitter) if you want to learn more.

A hearty thank you to all our listeners, we’ve been heard in over 50 countries (including Mongolia, somehow).  We truly love and appreciate the support, but we need to keep growing.  If you want to help us spread the word, follow us on Twitter (twitter.com/midwestreal), like us on Facebook (facebook.com/midwestreal), give us a nice review on Itunes, hell you can even tell your friends with actual words!

XO.

Rites of passage, robberies, floatation tanks, leather pants, this one has it all! And it’s all thanks to our lovely guests Thomas Huisking  (L.A. Real) and Jason Abbot (the IGC Cast).  When my brethren aren’t hosting their own respective shows, it’s probably because they're off climbing some mountains or doing something that requires good looks and / or smarts, like acting or writing books, or something. 

Anyway, grab this episode at the usual places (Itunes Stitcher etc.).  

MAPS (The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) is a non-profit research and educational organization dedicated to developing legal medical applications for psychedelics.  Knee-deep in the FDA approval process for several substances, their research has begun to bear fruit, perhaps most notably in their staggeringly successful use of MDMA to treat PTSD. 

Brad and I discuss these studies, as well as the undeniable societal, spiritual and philosophical shifts that would occur, in a world where psychedelics are accepted as valuable, powerful personal medicines that are to be respected, rather than chemical boogiemen that are meant to be avoided at all costs.

Midwestreal.net

“The game of life is a form of cosmic hide and seek”

-Alan Watts

Alexander Ward has spent more time on the road less traveled than some do in an entire lifetime.  He’s shot documentaries on multiple continents, produced visual art across many mediums, participated in numerous Ayahuasca ceremonies and appeared on several podcasts, including London Real.  If there’s anything I learned about him from this conversation, it’s that he’s nowhere close to stopping.

We dove deep into a multitude of subjects ranging from creative process and where art comes from, to our place in the universe and Japanese Animation (yes seriously).

Keep up with the ever busy and evolving Alexander at on his page and on Twitter.

Of course we’re never ones to shy away from digital love, so if you’ve got some to spare, follow our Twitter account, like us on Facebook and shoot us a review on Itunes.

Until next time.