New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove Aug 11, 2026 Chris Niebauer earned his Ph.D in cognitive neuropsychology from the University of Toledo, specializing in left- and right-brain differences. He is the author of The Abstract Mind: How Thinking Became the Source of Suffering—And How to Break Free, the bestselling No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism, and its companion workbook. He taught consciousness, mindfulness, brain lateralization, and artificial intelligence for 22 years as a professor at a Pennsylvania state university. In this conversation, Chris explores the philosophical foundations of his new book, The Abstract Mind, drawing on William James’s concept of vicious abstractionism and Alfred North Whitehead’s fallacy of misplaced concreteness to examine how thinking itself can become a source of suffering. Building on the insights of No Self, No Problem, he considers the distinction between consciousness and thought, the role of affective neuroscience and embodied development, and why direct experience may offer a path beyond abstraction. Along the way, he reflects on artificial intelligence, contemplative practice, and what it might mean to come home to the immediacy of lived experience. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:04:03 Chris’s background 00:10:58 Consciousness vs thinking 00:21:42 Thought, memory, abstraction, and reality 00:29:10 Vicious abstraction and the illusion of ownership 00:39:24 The DSM, mental illness, and consciousness 00:48:38 Affective neuroscience and emotion 00:53:11 Trauma, the nervous system, and safety 01:12:19 The richness of direct experience 01:20:32 Redefining our role in the age of AI 01:24:22 Jung, the unconscious, and awareness 01:26:59 A simple practice for everyday life Producer: Elena McNally Editor: John Hartmann (Recorded on July 11, 2026) New Thinking Allowed Guest Host Leanne Whitney, PhD, is a depth psychologist and transformational coach based in Los Angeles, CA. She is the author of Consciousness in Jung and Patañjali and currently serves as Executive Director of Center for Transformation and Integration. Her website is https://leannewhitney.com/ To learn about Leanne Whitney’s upcoming Transformational Coaching Certification Course with an emphasis in Somatic Integration Therapy, please visit: https://transformationandintegration…. To order Consciousness in Jung and Patañjali by Leanne Whitney go to: https://amzn.to/2QY3tS2 To order The Abstract Mind: How Thinking Became the Source of Suffering—And How to Break Free by Chris Niebauer go to https://amzn.to/4vIokrU To order No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism by Chris Niebauer go to: https://amzn.to/4cDPfNt To order the No Self, No Problem Workbook by Chris Niebauer, click on https://amzn.to/4cDa0IZ
The Abstract Mind with Chris Niebauer
An Arundel Tomb: “What will survive of us is love.”
(Image from Wikipedia.org)
Side by side, their faces blurred,
The earl and countess lie in stone,
Their proper habits vaguely shown
As jointed armour, stiffened pleat,
And that faint hint of the absurd—
The little dogs under their feet.
Such plainness of the pre-baroque
Hardly involves the eye, until
It meets his left-hand gauntlet, still
Clasped empty in the other; and
One sees, with a sharp tender shock,
His hand withdrawn, holding her hand.
They would not think to lie so long.
Such faithfulness in effigy
Was just a detail friends would see:
A sculptor’s sweet commissioned grace
Thrown off in helping to prolong
The Latin names around the base.
They would not guess how early in
Their supine stationary voyage
The air would change to soundless damage,
Turn the old tenantry away;
How soon succeeding eyes begin
To look, not read. Rigidly they
Persisted, linked, through lengths and breadths
Of time. Snow fell, undated. Light
Each summer thronged the glass. A bright
Litter of birdcalls strewed the same
Bone-riddled ground. And up the paths
The endless altered people came,
Washing at their identity.
Now, helpless in the hollow of
An unarmorial age, a trough
Of smoke in slow suspended skeins
Above their scrap of history,
Only an attitude remains:
Time has transfigured them into
Untruth. The stone fidelity
They hardly meant has come to be
Their final blazon, and to prove
Our almost-instinct almost true:
What will survive of us is love.
Copyright Credit: Philip Larkin, “An Arundel Tomb” from Collected Poems. Copyright © Estate of Philip Larkin. Reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber, Ltd.
Source: Collected Poems (Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1988)
(poetryfoundation.org)
St. Augustine’s empathy circle
Saint Augustin by Philippe de Champaigne, c. 1645
“Let us, on both sides, lay aside all arrogance. Let us not, on either side, claim that we have already discovered the truth. Let us seek it together as something which is known to neither of us. For then only may we seek it, lovingly and tranquilly, if there be no bold presumption that it is already discovered and possessed.”
~ Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo was a Christian theologian and philosopher from Thagaste, Numidia Cirtensis and the Bishop of Hippo Regius. Wikipedia
Born November 13, 354 AD, Thagaste
Died August 28, 430 AD (age 75 years), Ruins of Hippo (Hippo Regius), Annaba, Algeria
The Obama Tan Suit | Season Finale of Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness
Book: “Survival in Auschwitz”
Auschwitz Trilogy #1
Survival in Auschwitz
Primo Levi, Philip Roth (Contributor)
The true and harrowing account of Primo Levi’s experience at the German concentration camp of Auschwitz and his miraculous survival; hailed by The Times Literary Supplement as a “true work of art, this edition includes an exclusive conversation between the author and Philip Roth.
In 1943, Primo Levi, a twenty-five-year-old chemist and “Italian citizen of Jewish race,” was arrested by Italian fascists and deported from his native Turin to Auschwitz. Survival in Auschwitz is Levi’s classic account of his ten months in the German death camp, a harrowing story of systematic cruelty and miraculous endurance. Remarkable for its simplicity, restraint, compassion, and even wit, Survival in Auschwitz remains a lasting testament to the indestructibility of the human spirit.
About the author
Primo Levi
Primo Levi was an Italian Jewish chemist, writer, and Holocaust survivor whose literary work has had a profound impact on how the world understands the Holocaust and its aftermath. Born in Turin in 1919, he studied chemistry at the University of Turin and graduated in 1941. During World War II, Levi joined the Italian resistance, but was captured by Fascist forces in 1943. Because he was Jewish, he was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944, where he endured ten harrowing months before being liberated by the Red army.
After the war, Levi returned to Turin and resumed work as a chemist, but also began writing about his experiences. His first book, If This Is a Man (published in the U.S. as Survival in Auschwitz), is widely regarded as one of the most important Holocaust memoirs ever written. Known for its clarity, restraint, and moral depth, the book offers a powerful testimony of life inside the concentration camp. Levi went on to write several more works, including The Truce, a sequel recounting his long journey home after liberation, and The Periodic Table, a unique blend of memoir and scientific reflection, in which each chapter is named after a chemical element.
Throughout his writing, Levi combined scientific precision with literary grace, reflecting on human dignity, morality, and survival. His later works included fiction, essays, and poetry, all characterized by his lucid style and philosophical insight. Levi also addressed broader issues of science, ethics, and memory, positioning himself as a key voice in post-war European literature.
Despite his success, Levi struggled with depression in his later years, and in 1987 he died after falling from the stairwell of his apartment building in Turin. While officially ruled a suicide, the exact circumstances of his death remain a subject of debate. Nevertheless, his legacy endures. Primo Levi’s body of work remains essential reading for its deep humanity, intellectual rigor, and unwavering commitment to bearing witness.
(Goodreads.com)
Book: “You Are the Universe in Motion”
You Are the Universe in Motion
By Alan Watts
Shambhala Publications
“You’re trying to straighten out a wiggly world—no wonder you’re in trouble.”—Alan Watts
In an age when all knowledge is at our fingertips, Alan Watts reminds us that wisdom is something else entirely. He invites us to rediscover the vitality, spontaneity, and deep unity that underlies everything.
Alan Watts was not just a philosopher and entertainer; he was a bridge between worlds. Drawing from the spiritual traditions of both East and West, Watts illuminated ancient truths in language that is reverently irreverent and still remarkably fresh and clear half a century later.
Originally published in 1977 as The Essence of Alan Watts, this collection is based on Watts’ acclaimed 1971 television series and includes, for the first time, the original introductory talk from the show.
With characteristic humor and sharp insight, Watts explores existential questions about topics like God, ego, and death alongside practical dilemmas like meditation and our relationship with time, work, and play, challenging our most basic assumptions about language, self, and reality.
This is not a book of instructions or dogma, but a provocative call to wake up—a timeless voice reminding us that the wisdom we seek is not somewhere else, but already within us.
Whether you’re new to Alan Watts or revisiting his work to learn how his teachings speak to the challenges of today, this collection distills his most powerful ideas into one accessible volume that can reconnect you with the deep simplicity at the heart of life—not as a concept, but as an experience. It is an invitation to meet the world with curiosity, to play with ideas, and to remember the wisdom that is always available to us in the present moment.
ALAN WATTS (1915–1973) was a renowned lecturer and the author of nearly thirty books, including The Way of Zen and The Book. Born in Chislehurst, England, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York. He received a master’s degree in theology from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary and served as an Episcopal priest before leaving the ministry in 1950 to move to California, where he joined the faculty of the American Academy of Asian Studies (now the California Institute of Integral Studies).
(Contributed by John Atwater, H.W.)
Word-built world: rapture
A.Word.A.Daywith Anu Garg
rapture
PRONUNCIATION:
MEANING:
| noun: | 1. A state or expression of ecstasy. |
| 2. In some Christian theologies, the supernatural taking up of believers from earth during the end times. | |
| verb tr.: | 1. To fill with joy; enrapture. |
| 2. To cause a believer to be taken up supernaturally from earth during the end times. |
ETYMOLOGY:
From rapt + -ure, ultimately from Latin rapere (to seize). Earliest documented use: 1594 for the noun and 1636 for the verb.
The Rapture of St Paul, 1649-1650 Art: Nicolas Poussin
Journal of Democracy
| What Democracy Does . . . And Does Not Do People are losing faith in democracy’s ability to deliver social progress. But are democracies better than autocracies at promoting economic growth, alleviating poverty, and creating healthier, more educated, and more peaceful societies? On all counts, the answer is yes. By Maya Tudor |
| Misunderstanding Democratic Backsliding If democracies did a better job “delivering” for their citizens, so the thinking goes, people would not be so ready to embrace antidemocratic alternatives. Not so. This conventional wisdom about democratic backsliding is seldom true and often not accurate at all. By Thomas Carothers and Brendan Hartnett |
| When Should the Majority Rule? With illiberal forces ascendant across the globe, protecting individual liberties and the democratic process is crucial. But when institutions empower minority groups over the majority, can democracy survive? By Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt |
| The Rise of Political Violence in the United States In a deeply polarized United States, ordinary people now consume and espouse once-radical ideas and are primed to commit violence. By Rachel Kleinfeld |
| The Future of Nonviolent Resistance In the decade leading up to the covid-19 pandemic, nonviolent civil resistance grew more popular than ever—but its effectiveness had already started to plummet. The future of nonviolent resistance may depend on movements’ ability to move beyond mass protests toward exploring alternative tactics and developing smarter, longer-term strategies. By Erica Chenoweth |
| What Putin Fears Most Forget his excuses. Russia’s autocrat doesn’t worry about NATO. What terrifies him is the prospect of a flourishing Ukrainian democracy. By Robert Person and Michael McFaul |
| Why Ukraine Shouldn’t Negotiate with Putin Many pundits cry for a negotiated settlement to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. But they misunderstand Vladimir Putin’s motives. The only just end to the war will be in the trenches, not at the bargaining table. By Robert Person |
| Why India’s Democracy Is Dying Under Narendra Modi, India is maintaining the trappings of democracy while it increasingly harasses the opposition, attacks minorities, and stifles dissent. It can still reverse course, but the damage is mounting. By Maya Tudor |
| Why Gen-Z Is Rising Young people from Peru to Madagascar to Nepal—furious with political elites reaping the spoils of privilege and corruption—are rising up to demand change. But what happens when their movements succeed? By Erica Chenoweth and Matthew Cebul |
| Can Péter Magyar Restore Hungary’s Democracy? He did the hard work of defeating Viktor Orbán. But Hungary’s new prime minister faces the harder task of undoing the damage his predecessor wrought. Can he do it while avoiding the traps Orbán left in his wake? By Kim Lane Scheppele |
| The Journal of Democracy is published quarterly in January, April, July, and October. Subscribe now for full access to our archives. |
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Emerson on gratitude
Emerson c. 1857
“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson was a prominent American essayist, poet, philosopher, and leader of the 19th century Transcendentalist movement. His essays and lectures, such as “Self-Reliance” and “The American Scholar”, challenged conventional thinking and promoted independence of thought and self-discovery. Emerson’s philosophy of Transcendentalism emphasized the divine presence in nature and the potential for studying nature to reveal God’s nature. (Wikipedia.org)
Born May 25, 1803, Boston, MA
Died April 27, 1882 (age 78 years), Concord, MA
HORRORS OF WAR: Former Navy Seal Reveals How Badass They Are
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