Ep. 32 - Mikey Kampmann

This is synchronicity. This is synchronicity. This is synchronicity. This is synchronicity. This is synchronicity. This is synchronicity. This is synchronicity! Welcome to episode 32 of Synchronicity. My guest today is Mikey Campman. I'm going to get some Mikey in just a second. Got some stuff to run through relatively quickly. I don't know how quickly it's going to be today. These intros are getting kind of long, right? Whatever. I mean, you can always skip ahead. So, congratulations to this week's book winner. I don't know your name, but I've sent you an email. And when you get back to me, you will be getting a copy of Tom Robbins, Skinny Legs and all.

The first fiction book of the book giveaways, which I've been going on for a few months. So, that's cool. This week is another fictional book, but it's kind of reality-based, let's say. I actually haven't read it. It's a suggestion from Mikey. Today's guest, it's Star Hawks, the fifth sacred thing. And I am going to be picking up a copy myself. So, by the time the book arrives to whoever wins it, I hopefully should have read it. We'll see, though. Maybe it might affect that. So, the other thing I want to talk about is, I have these synchronicity playlists. These music playlists I've been putting together on Spotify.

And they've been getting a really good response. And thank you to everyone who said kind words and nice things about them. But I wanted to hip you to that. That's not a phrase that I'm ever going to use again. But if you want to check those out, they're also on syncpodcast.com. That's S-Y-N-C podcast.com. So, you check those out. If you don't have Spotify, hit me up. We'll figure something out so you can still hear the music, right? It shouldn't be a hindrance. Okay, and I also want to talk about, I'm moving through, I had these things written down this week. I came a little more prepared than just kind of winging it, which I like to do, but why not read things down?

I want to talk a little bit about being a dad, because here's what I'll say about this. Before the baby came, before he was here in the world, outside of the womb, I had kind of, I think, natural thoughts and fears about identity loss. Is my life going to be completely different? Is it going to change who I am fundamentally? I mean, we don't even need to get into the concepts of who I quote means for each of us. But, you know, we have these roles and things we attach to ourselves. And I got to say this, it doesn't at all change who you are in any negative way. At least not for me. I'm having a really, really, really fun and awesome time with Eli.

He's incredibly cool, incredibly chill, just like super fun to be around. I also will point out that my job pales in comparison to my wife's. Alexis has a really tough job taking care of a kid, basically providing sustenance, feeding, you know, making the kid live, basically. But for the dads, in case you're soon to be dad or wondering if you should have children, because I've had friends of mine who don't have kids ask me or thinking about it, it's fucking awesome. It really, really is. Yes, your life changes, but not in a bad way, in like a super cool way. And it doesn't change who you are. I still do all the same things I did before.

I might have a little less time for them at times, but it's fine, like it's a great trade-off. So I highly recommend having children, if that's something you're interested in doing, very rewarding, very fulfilling. I'm loving it. Now, granted, I'm only three weeks in, but, you know, I'm sure it'll continue to be cool. Okay, so now I've been alluding to in the past couple of weeks, few weeks via my newsletter that I send out, which you can join if you want. You're entered in the book contest, if you do, you join by going to SyncPodcast.com. But I've been alluding to changes, changes with MinePod Network.

This is a podcast network I founded two years ago, and I'm going to tell you, Synchronicity listeners, what those changes are now. There's going to be an email going out from MinePod Network in about a week that's going to detail all of this, but I wanted to talk about it here a little bit. So without getting into the details of how all of this transpired and what happened and the long and sometimes arduous process of making this happen, MinePod Network is essentially becoming a new entity. All of the old podcasts, all of the legacy podcasts that you see on MinePod Network from the teachers, like Sharon Salzburg, Jack Cornfield, Krishnadas, Joseph Goldstein, they're staying on MinePod Network as archives, right?

They're going to continue to be there, so if you have them bookmarked, they're there. Raghu Marcus, who I co-founded MinePod Network with, is interested in bringing those podcasters, those shows, the recorded talks that are kind of edited over to Love Server Member, who I work with, have helped for many years. Love Love Server Member, and he's starting a new network called beherenownet.com, which I've spoken to him about maybe not using Net before the .com, but we'll see. But this is going to be a new venture that's going on from their side. I'm going to be helping a little bit with it as much as I can, time permitting, and I think it's going to be really cool.

I can't tell you exactly what it's going to be like, because it's not my thing, but I can tell you what's going on with MinePod Network, and what's going on with MinePod Network is, like I said, we're still going to have all of the archived, and we're going to be syndicating talks from Sharon, some other teachers, so you can still go to MinePod Network to find a lot of these podcasts. And we're still going to be working and maintaining relationships with all of these teachers, so you may see something like a course, or a book, or something like that's more, I don't want to use the word product, but something that you can actually latch on to and be like, "Okay, well, this is what this is."

X amount of ways to deal with this in my life. How to meditate those types of things. So we're still, everything's still cool, totally cool. But I'm also, I think I've mentioned this before, my original conception with MinePod Network was to create a wide spectrum of entry points and touch points for people to engage with consciousness-related topics, right? So whether that means you're a Buddhist and you're interested in Buddhist, whether that means you're an empirically-based person who's interested in like neuroscience and how that impacts consciousness. Whether you're an artist, whether you're a musician, whatever it is, there's a lot of ways to get into this type of stuff, and I don't ever want it to be restrictive for people because they're not a Hindu, or they're not a Buddhist, or they're not a Christian mystic, or whatever it is, I want there to be enough stuff for people to engage with.

So to that effect, and an email went out from MinePod Network, you may or may not know, my buddy Zach Leary has a podcast called It's All Happening, and he is now officially a part of MinePod Network, and I'm bringing on a lot of people I know and love and trust and know are like-minded people into MinePod Network over the coming weeks, months, and years, maybe years. So I'm going to let you guys know right now who these other people are. Like I said, these announcements will be going out to the general public in a week or so, and there'll be specific announcements for each of these podcasters emanating from MinePod Network.

Sorry if this is boring and you don't care, just skip ahead a little bit, and then I'll be talking about something else. Here are the podcasters who are going to be debuting on MinePod Network in the next few weeks. Zach Leary, I just mentioned, Sean Dunn. You may remember Sean from an earlier episode. He's a documentary filmmaker, documentary. That's a very weird way of saying that word. A documentary filmmaker, incredibly cool, nice, awesome dude. Love Sean. He's going to be on MinePod Network. He already is on MinePod Network. I'm also going, guess who's back? Guess who's back? Back again. Michael Donovan.

Yeah, Michael Donovan is back. He's really also just been a huge help, and he's just constantly sending me stuff and helping. He's helping redesign the website as we speak, so stay tuned for that. His show is just really fucking awesome, and I love Michael, and I'm happy that he's back on, and we can go into why he wasn't on MPN for a little bit at a later date, but he's coming back. I also have, you may remember a couple episodes ago, a head Yoshino from a podcast called Artist Decoded. He is officially going to be a part of MinePod Network. I'm in the process of getting his back catalog onto the site, and essentially, we're looking to syndicate most podcasts that are going to be on the network.

We don't want to produce them, we don't want to control them, we don't want to be the only beneficiaries of these. We want to help people and podcasters, and you don't even have to be a podcaster to be a part of MinePod Network. It could be a writer. It could be an artist. Just sharing something of value that's going to help people's lives. That's what we're trying to create here with MPN. So, yeah, those are a few of the people who are joining MPN, just in the next couple of weeks. There's going to be more, I'm in discussions with a lot of other people, but I'd also love to hear from you, yeah, I'm talking to you, about who you would like to see on MinePod Network.

Like I said, it's a pretty open thing. We're not looking to control people's material. We're not looking to have it work a specific way. We just want to kind of aggregate and put together a group of people who are really going to be providing value and service for people. So, that's what's going on with MinePod Network. There will be more details on that in the coming weeks. I'm not going to talk about it that much more on this podcast. It's just something that I'm involved with. It was a long time coming. Something very close to me. But if you do want updates on that, go to MinePodNetwork.com.

You'll see a little pop-up or welcome mat that says, "Hey, are you interested in getting a being mindful without meditation? Sign up for an upcoming book." And that's right. There's an upcoming book that we're putting together on how to be mindful without meditation. Does that mean I don't think you should meditate? No. I think you should meditate. I meditate as much as possible. Well, that's not true. But I do meditate as much as I can. No, that's not possible either. I meditate sometimes. And I think it's incredibly valuable. But I also recognize that just the word meditation can kind of bring up images of a specific thing sitting down, close eyes, close.

And I think it can be a lot of different things. Things that nap, that's going on on MinePodNetwork. But anyway, not going to talk about MPN stuff anymore. I will say that there's going to be all of those people I mentioned, the teachers. There's still going to be a part of MinePodNetwork. It's not totally gone at all. I think Raghu is just interested in taking it in a specific direction. And I really wish him the best of luck with that. And I'm going to help as much as I can. Okay. Next thing. I mentioned a couple episodes ago that I was starting to take donations. And thank you for the donations that have come in.

I'm blown away that this has already happened. Again, this isn't so I can get rich. It's just to cover the basic immediate costs of the podcast, like, you know, MailChimp, social media advertising, the book giveaways, which I do pay for with my own money. But I'm happy to. So even if no money comes in, I'm still going to do that. You know, hosting domain, regular stuff, not much more than $500 a month. I think if every listener gave a dollar, I'd be super duper rich. So you don't even need to do that. Just whatever you can. If you can, I think it would be cool if the community supports this thing because it's more of like a collective thing.

But I'm also going to be starting to do these charity drives. So what that's going to be is I'm going to have a special page on the website where people can donate to a particular fund. And then we're going to determine, as a group, you and me and everyone listening, are going to determine where we send that money. I'm trying to work out the logistics of that. I don't want to get hit with a crazy tax bill if I'm collecting money and then sending it places. But I'm going to start doing this pretty soon, if not this month starting in July. So my question to you guys is, do you have any charities or causes that are really close to your heart that you would want to be where you would want this money to go?

I'm open to suggestions. I have a few that I like, but I want this to be, again, a collective thing. I think nothing would be cooler if we could raise a sum of money on a monthly or quarterly basis and then just send it to either a person or a cause. Like, I think that would be really, really, really, really fucking cool. So that's going to be happening. Stay tuned for that. Okay. Now let's get to Mikey. I know I've rambled here for, what is that? Holy shit. Already 13 minutes. But Mikey, I met Mikey on Duncan's tour bus. Duncan Trussell's tour bus a few weeks ago after Duncan's tour. And Mikey was the opener and the host and the emcee of this and he was fucking hilarious.

He did this Twin Peaks thing. A fucking hilarious. But I met him on the bus afterwards and he just struck me as like a very deep person. Does that make sense? I don't know. It's not weird. But he struck me as someone where there's a lot of substance going on there. We didn't have a ton of conversations. My wife Alexis, when I went and recorded with Duncan in the back of the bus, she also spoke very highly of Mikey after and said he was really cool. But Mikey struck, stuck out to me as being someone who I wanted to get to know a little bit better. And we also bonded over Lamb's Bread, a specific type of marijuana, which we both enjoy.

And I was 100% right that Mikey is fucking awesome. I learned more about Mikey before the podcast. He's been to the South Pole. He travels all over the world. He goes, "It is 10." He learns things. He's just incredibly interesting, passionate, and he seems like he knows what's going on. So I wanted to talk about a little, a few things we mentioned in this episode so you can get an idea of what's going on. We talked about the concept of home. We talked about experiencing different perspectives and how that can really help in life, appreciating diversity. Mikey is part of a laughing because it's hilarious and awesome.

He's part of a comedy collective. It's Jay Weingarten, Doug Lesson Hope, DJ Doug Pound, and Mikey called Two Wet Crew. And they're really, they put together these videos and I knew they do a live show in LA which I have not seen, but these really experimental, cool, awesome, funny videos. And I'm going to have a link to the episode which you can find on syncpodcast.com and mindpodnetwork.com still there. It's called 3D Dream. And when I first saw this, I was like, "Holy shit, this is fucking amazing." So I highly recommend you checking that out. Mikey is just like a really intelligent and funny, but also person, but he's also interested in communicating depth, right?

So substance and comedy is something that we spoke about as well, providing value for people and then the desire to give back, right, whether that's with your time, your attention, your work, your comedy, whatever it is, the desire to be of service. And then ultimately we talked about learning lessons from life experiences, right? Isn't that what it's all about? So, oh yeah, and I mentioned at the beginning, Mikey recommended this book, Star Hawks, The Fifth Sacred Thing. That's the book giveaway this week. I told you how to enter that. I'll tell you at the end of it. That's it. I'm not going to make a 20-minute intro.

That's too much. I recognize that. As always, subscribe, rate, review, synchronicity, the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, wherever else. That really, really, really, really helps me. I don't know why it helps me, but I've got it in my head that it does. So if you could do that, I would really appreciate it. Okay. And without further ado, here is Mikey Campman. Hey, what's going on, man? Hey Noah. How you doing? Pretty good. Good. Thank you, by the way, for doing this. No worries. How is everything with your baby? Insane? Yeah. It's like... Insane laughs. That's that laughs. Yeah, that is. It's bordering on the niacal at this point.

Yeah. It's good. I got a projectile pooped on for the first time in my life today, as far as I know. That's got to be kind of humbling in a way or something. Humbling is definitely one of the words I would use to describe it. Also gross, and I had literally just woken up like two minutes before, so it was pretty nuts. Yeah. It's nuts. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. It's fun, though. It's definitely cool. But yeah, man. So I will just start. We're just going to start this. And if there's anything you want to cover or anything, just pop in and let me know. Okay. Cool. I spent like last night and today, you know, doing a little cursory research on you.

And I know we met on Duncan's bus. And for some reason, I don't think we didn't hang out for that long. We spoke a little bit. And my wife Alexis spoke to you when I was doing the thing with Duncan, and she spoke highly of you. But she's like, "That's a cool guy." And I didn't really know much about you. I knew about two wet crew. And I saw you just open for Duncan there, but I was like, "That's a guy I kind of really want to talk to. He seems like a really interesting guy." And in my research of you, I was right. You're super fucking interesting. And I was going through your blog, Mikey going down, your Tumblr.

Yeah, Mikey going down. Oh, man. Really cool. And let me ask you this too. We'll get to the Antarctica stuff and everything. But the book, like I wanted to get the book. How do I get that book? You know, I did the book. I made 100 copies of the book and then sold those and then made it available online. And then I think I sold like two in the last year. So I just let it go to rest. I gotcha. Well, if you ever had-- And also, you know, it's funny. Everyone's so self-critical, I think, but I'm part of that. And I wish I had done the book a little differently. So maybe I'll put it out again another day, but more thorough.

I just felt like, you know, I created the book was like a version of the blog, which was just started out as like a way to report back to friends and family about, hey, look at this is life going on down in Antarctica right now and a way to share. Anyway, I just, you know, I got lazy, basically it. So when I went to make the book, I just thought, hey, I'll just make it very similar to the blog and be mostly pictures and some little captions or whatever. But I just am moving away from that, man. And like, I think that's-- if you're going to make the effort, go all in and tell the full story and tell it right a little bit more.

I totally agree. I mean, I will say this, though, like the reason I'm asking you is because I was hooked enough to actually really want to get it, because just going through the blog. Yeah. Well, now I said I should go-- actually, the truth is I want to go back to Antarctica. That's the truth. Cool. And open it back up and then get more-- do more research and get more stories. So let's talk about a little bit about Antarctica, but I want to touch on maybe the broader context for that, which is you're easily one of the most well-traveled people I've come across, just from looking at your blog, like I saw you were going all over the place.

And I heard you on Duncan's most recent podcast talking about that. You go around with your tent and you take awesome photographs of like landscapes and architecture, which sometimes gets you in trouble in St. Louis, but-- Yeah. Yeah, traveling-- it became like the-- I mean, the obvious doorsteps to the world, right? Yeah. And experience. Yeah. I was trying to set a rule to leave, which is very lucky of me to be able to have this rule in my life, but to try to leave the country twice a year. I feel like if I can do that, then I'm heading in the right direction. That's awesome. Yeah. Travel. Yeah.

Traveled much yourself. I don't travel that much. I've been very close place proximity outside of the country. I've been to Mexico. I've been to Canada. I've been to Jamaica like four times. I've been to-- where else? I guess that's it. Have I not traveled? I've never been to Europe. I've never been to South America. I've traveled a decent amount in the country. I love the feeling-- like, I went to Hawaii. I've been to Maui a couple times, and that was amazing. Even though it's in the US, it's a totally different place. I grew up on the East Coast. But I love traveling when I do it. I really, really, really, really don't like flying.

I have a very irrational fear of flying in planes to the point where if I'm not taking a Xanax or drinking heavily, it is not a pleasurable experience in the least. So that kind of-- I don't want to sit here. I'm slowly-- yeah. Yeah. Like through traveling, and if I have Pavlovly and Leetraphed brain to-- I go to a different space now. If I get on a plane, I just completely zone out. I have-- it's almost like I wear this-- I put my hood up, I put sunglasses on. It's very unfriendly, but it works, and I'm usually asleep pretty quickly. That's awesome. And then the idea is to just try to sleep through as much of it as possible.

Yeah. That's what I always try to do, which is why I usually use Xanax or something. I will say one time I flew back from San Francisco to New York, and I had an edible. I had, like, a cookie or something, and it was actually really fun. Like I was super digging and I remember actually enjoying flying at one point, and I think it stems down to, like, I think it's a control issue at heart. Like I really know that flying is a very safe mode of transportation. It really is, like, exceptionally safe. But the fact that I literally have no idea how we're physically even flying and staying up in the air, like freaks me out.

And so then I become hyper-- like, what you're doing is great. You're zoning out. You're, like, disassociating from the situation. I get, like, hyper aware of every sound and, like, movement, and that is totally not the way to do it. But, I mean, back to the travel stuff, dude. I love traveling. Whenever I'm in a new place, like, I feel like soaking up all of, like, the energy and everything around there and, like, a very, you know, woo-woo and non-woo-woo way. And I just, like, you know, again, going back to the Dunkin' Podcast you did with him recently, like, it sounds like you do kind of the same thing.

Like, you're even talking about, like, eating sticks and being in nature and kind of, like, soaking it up and, like, being a different person. Could you talk a little bit about that aspect of travel for you? Yeah. I think it's about getting out of your-- getting out of your own mind and out of your own body, right? So you're taking advantage of the fact that you're in a place that's brand new with all this new sensory information, but also that there's a different mode of experience, right? And that came, like, a very big idea in my life at some point, this realization that, hey, I was just raised in this world under one way of experiencing things.

Right. And, in fact, very specifically based off of my parents, right? So, like, my parents introduced me to the world via their own sort of ideas and their own interests. Sure. And that's, like, that's just within our own country, which has our own broader ideas of what is right, this idea of, like, this is the way to do things. Absolutely. You know, which is an absurd, absurd idea. Yes. So, to go abroad-- and I feel like now when I travel, I only really want to go if it's going to be at least a month long so that you have time to really get out of your own skin and into something different. I find that.

So, if you're abroad, yeah, go out of your way to do things that you don't normally do or to try something that you've never done or to try the same thing but do it a slightly different way. And it's kind of absurd. It's like, when I get home now from traveling, I'll usually have a new hat, which I think is just like, "You're fit." I'll be like, "This is who I am now." And I'll drink some new form of hot drink, so it's either I'm drinking a different type of tea now and I'm super into that or I drink coffee this way now. And it's-- but all that is just sort of like a subtle reflection of the idea of losing yourself in a different expression.

And while-- and there's a slight feeling that as the culture gets more and more homogenized, that it's important to try to experience these things while we still can, it's totally true, man. I mean, just-- I know from just a brief example of that, I've not gone down to South America to do ayahuasca but a lot of people I know, people in my family, that's a big thing and a place where it was done is Iquitos and Peru. And over the years, since now there's like a whole vacation ayahuasca type thing, it's slowly turning into like a, you know, totally city, you know, it's not like the rainforest anymore.

It's turning into like a tourist vacation for people who want to do these psychedelic tourism things. And it's interesting like, I think we-- you and I and a lot of people listening to this intuitively know that homogenization and making everything the same and our-- the Western idea of industrialization and technology is maybe not the best way to go about things. The variety and the different cultures around the world are what make this world such an interesting place. So I mean, that's a huge, huge part of it. That's interesting. I never really even thought of that. I mean, I imagine for our lifetimes, there'll still be a sufficient amount of variety and I hope it continues past, but I mean, that is a real thing that I mean, if you just-- No, it's as important as biodiversity, I mean, right up there with it.

And this is-- this is kind of one of the things I did study in college is social anthropology and sociology and this idea that every day, you know, we're losing human languages. You know, we're losing, you know, I don't know if you just saw the film, "Embrace of the Serpent" that came out recently. That's sort of like a South American spirit quest type movie of a Western traveler in the early 1900s trying to find the last man of this one tribe because he's heard that they have knowledge of a plant that can heal his illness. It's pretty cool. It's-- at times, it's a little heavy-handed with its message, but I like that it had a message than not, you know, compared to the junk that we see today.

That's just sort of like distraction and stuff, but it was a cool story and it brought up this idea that, you know, hey, that's still a real thing where there's someone who's the last of their tribe, the last of their people who that knowledge dies with them, which is the most-- it's so sad. It's incredibly sad and it's-- you know, it doesn't have the face of a panda to be able to say, hey, check this out, but the face of-- I don't know-- of history. Yeah, language of culture. I mean, something that meant something for probably longer than all of us can ever even conceive of, which is nuts. I mean, hundreds-- that's not thousands of years, so that's-- it's actually a reflection of thousands of years of human activity and understanding and connection to the world that's just gone, you know?

So I don't know, like, I think that, yeah, in our lifetimes, we will be lucky enough to still be able to hop on a plane and get to parts in the world where you can see other ways of life and stuff like that. But I don't know, it seems-- it's just-- I get-- I don't know. I'm a little-- Well, you're-- I'm a little cynical now. Well, you've been to so many places, too. I mean, that's-- you've probably seen aspects of this happening firsthand that make you actually probably realistically cynical about it. I mean, that's-- you know, I only have the brief experiences and most of the places I've gone to, the last place I went to that wasn't really, like, a touristy vacation type of thing if I was out of the country.

And we went to Jamaica last time-- this was, like, six months ago or eight months ago. We stayed about, like, two and a half hours south of Montego Bay, like, on the south of the island, and this was, like, not Taurusville, like, this was, like, people's houses, like, living pretty much, for the most part, in extreme poverty. But you could still see how the influence of, like, Western culture had kind of forced this shitty situation on these people, who were, like, some of the nicest people I've ever met, just, like, giving, caring, genuine, have, like, real conversations left and right with everyone.

But, like, you could see the influence of Western culture just-- and Jamaica's been an incredibly oppressive place for a really long time because of the government and stuff that goes on there. But it was just crazy to see, like, this is-- to me, Jamaica, whenever I go there, it's just, like, it really does feel like a spiritual homeland. Like, I love smoking weed, and even though it's illegal there, it's pretty much tolerated. They just throw it in the ground, and it grows, and it's beautiful, it's beautiful, but you can feel this kind of, like, oppressive influence coming from the outside that's, like, weighing on people, especially if there was a dude who got cancer, and he was sick, and, like, it's not a big deal to live in Jamaica, like, when everything is going well, but when something goes shitty and you don't have any money, it's, like, fucked up, and, like, it's just-- it's crazy, and luckily, luckily, there were people down there who had, like, very holistic cures for a lot of these things, including, like, immune diseases, like, cancer, like, they had knowledge of how to help these things, not just with Western medicine, but, obviously, yeah, it was-- it's crazy, so, like, in your travels, like, you talked-- I want to go back to this.

I really, really, really enjoyed the podcast you just did with Duncan for a lot of reasons, but you guys were also touching on this concept of home, and how you bring your tent around and how that kind of feels, like, home to you. Can you talk about that a little bit? Yeah, absolutely. Well, okay, so you-- like, what is-- okay, home, okay, right, home, like, what is home? Right. Home, for me, is a sort of-- like, the feeling that you have when you can just sort of let your guard down a little bit and be in your-- in a place where you feel both relaxed and also comfortable to just be your own self or whatever.

And so, I guess that's kind of what the idea with the tent is, is that no matter where I go, I can set it up and have these little-- these little triggers, or whatever, that remind me that, yeah, now in-- in my own-- my own space now. But also, half of that fun is seeing where I can set that little shop up tonight. That's so cool. And yeah, I've-- I mean, okay, so I bought my tent, like, this one I have, I bought it maybe, like, five, six years ago. And I remember at the time, I was about to drop, like, you know, three-- between three to $400 on it, and I'm thinking, geez, man, like, why are these things so expensive, whatever.

But the irony of it is that, you know, my rent in Los Angeles is, like, a thousand bucks a month. Yeah. And I've slept in that thing probably now over a hundred nights around the world, and it's like the best purchase is one of the best purchases I've ever made. In fact, I almost enjoy sleeping in it more. And I have it set up in-- you know, I-- I don't know who taught me this, this sort of aesthetic idea of making the effort to just set something up just slightly well, you know, in a way. But like, when I set it up, I make the effort, I have a-- it's kind of stupid, but I have a blanket of Elvis that I lay down on the ground, and I-- that always-- if for whatever reason, it's the only time I ever really lay down on Elvis.

But it's like, those are the little triggers that down go, okay, we're coming-- we're returning to this place. And yeah, I mean, there is a fact that when you're out in nature camping, or you're at a festival camping, or you're just needed to get out of town for a night, and you're camping in a friend's yard, I don't know, whatever. You're-- those-- those nights, you have a-- I don't know, it's like, you have a connection to who you are when you're in that space, and that's a-- in a slight way, it's a different version of yourself. But yeah, I love it, and it has a little window to the world, through the top, the-- it can open and close, so, you know, it's just like you have these incredible nights when you're out looking underneath the stars, or-- or you're taking a day-- you're taking a day nap in some amazing place, and yeah, but that feeling of-- of home, it doesn't take much, though, does it?

Right. It takes the-- for me, in that particular situation, it's the Elvis blanket, it's-- I'll bring like rose water, which is so stupid. No, no, that's cool. But that's a trigger, Palo Santo, of course, is one of the ones that returns a lot, and just these little things that it doesn't-- yeah, so if we're-- when I went to Antarctica, for example, so the South Pole has no sense, I mean, has no smell-- No smell. Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah. Because you're-- you're-- first of all, the humidity-- I mean, the lack of humidity, it's so dry. You're at 10,000 feet, and you're surrounded by ice in every direction, so I had been told in advance, like, you're going to go down there, and there's going to be no-- no smell, and no-- and almost to the point where I've heard stories of people after months of being in Antarctica, returning to New Zealand, where you fly out of, and as the plane approaches the mainland in New Zealand, you can start to smell dirt through the plane.

Wow. Yeah, I-- I went for-- I tried to do that so hard. I definitely got the sensation of when the plane door opened, and you walked down, you stepped outside, and you saw these trees, and you could smell-- you could definitely smell the blossoms in the air and stuff like that, but that really stuck with me the idea that you could smell dirt from hundreds of feet of the hair through the plane. And so anyway, so when I went to Antarctica, I was like thinking very specifically about that idea that there's no sense, so I brought these little essential oils where I was living at the time was the Pacific Northwest, so I brought Doug for essential oil and juniper essential oil, and these little triggers are what I needed to sort of, in moments, just feel like I was home.

So much of that idea of being home is beyond just the full-century line, right? Yes, sounds. Sounds, I was going to say, because I mean-- Sights, whatever. It's amazing that you're doing that because you're basically setting up, like you said, these triggers that kind of lock you into this concept of feeling like you're home, and one of the things that often does that for me is music. That's why I was saying it's awesome you said sounds, too, because I can look at either music I've made or I've been listening to a lot at a certain point in my life and use it as kind of like a guidepost. That's how I felt then, that's what was going on now, and I can bring forth all of these different kind of feelings and whatever else is going on.

But this concept of home that you're talking about is fascinating, because I think ultimately that sense of being relaxed and open and authentic, especially if it's being weaved in with some aspect of compassion and helping and just trying to be a good person, that to me is where the real, not to use an overused term, but quote unquote spiritual power is. That's a real thing. I came across this quote today, just I don't know why it stuck out, but I wanted to read it to you because you seem like someone who would appreciate it, and it's from Jane Goodall. So it's cool that you're in anthropology and stuff, but the quote is, she said, "I don't have any idea of who or what God is, but I do believe in some great spiritual power.

I feel it particularly when I'm out in nature. It's just something that's bigger and stronger than what I am or what anybody is. I feel it and it's enough for me." And that feeling that she's describing, that can be very often brought out by being in nature and seeing just kind of like the majesty of what's out there, that to me is our kind of centering device that can allow us to make wise and compassionate decisions. And again, this kind of goes back to when we met just at Duncan's bus, like, "How much did we talk to each other?" Not that much. We mentioned lambs bread. We hit it off just a little bit there, but I could intuitively tell there was something in you that was really fucking cool and you got some other level of reality.

So now I want to do a weird shift and go into the two wet crew stuff because I love two wet crew. I'm a huge Tim and Eric Van. I just love everything that absolutely does in any relationship that people have. I found out that you managed that tour that they were doing. You're managing Duncan's tour. But one of my favorite things ever is the two wet crew video 3D dream. It's just like, "Holy shit, it's so fucking awesome." So it's, yeah, it's so, so awesome. And again, you were talking about before how about a lot of media and a lot of stuff we encounter, especially on the web and just regular media is just so superfluous.

It's superficial. There's not a lot of stuff there. It's transient, temporal, non-substitive stuff. And this 3D dream and some of the other two wet crew videos, there's insane amounts of substance there. Like, that's something that is like a perfect circle. It's a really well thought out, interesting thought provoking thing, but it's also funny and it's cool. So could you talk a little bit about how kind of you, I imagine you and Doug, you must merge your perspectives and views on consciousness with your comedy in some way because that's something that I naturally gravitate to and I just, I see it.

So could you talk a little bit about two wet crew and just kind of your comedy in general and your take on it? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's a big part of it. For me, two wet crew is this kind of conceptual project that I want to pour ideas in. And it's so, when we are collaborating, we now also collaborate with this guy, Jay Weingaard. And when we get into our zone, it's for us that feels like fairly normal, that's just the things that we're thinking about. Yes, yes. And then it's like when you hear later on, oh, that was strange or that was weird, whatever. Then you're like, oh, oh, I get it.

That's weird. I think it's weird that people go to subway sandwiches and try to get their card punch 12 times so they get a free one, like that's kind of weird to me. So with the comedy stuff, it's like, yeah, I like definitely absurd humor, but something with a social commentary or backbone is super important in that. Otherwise, it's just like, yeah, OK, I enjoy mindless entertainment every now and then as well, but subtext and allowing mystery and allowing room for interpretation, those are all the people who influenced me. They live in that world where there's some substance and also some mystery.

So with to a crew, it's the first one started as Doug and I, the first one is an episode called Diving Board. Yes, yes. I think for a few people still kind of, we peaked on the first episode. But yeah, there's ideas there that are about transformation and ideas of getting over fear and then but also maybe split realities like maybe Doug has hit his head off the Diving Board and now it's opened up a whole 'nother can of worms. And so all those ideas are there's room for interpretation, but it came together because Doug and I just swam in that pool. We were just going to that pool on a regular basis to hang out as friends.

And then one day, you know, said I have an underwater camera and we said, well, let's shoot something. It's going to be so much fun. And then that's how that one came together. We met at the pool and just started filming just the two of us and then went to the editing room to put it together. And in the edit, that's where Doug Town really shines, you know, a lot of times I'll do like the rough cut of the edit and then bring it over to Doug's house and then from there just really, you know, he puts his gold touch on it, you know, that's awesome touch. But it's interesting. It's like as we've gone on, as it's become more and more established of a collaboration in a show, we do a live show in Los Angeles once a month that we premiere the videos at.

And as it goes on, I feel there's more and more importance to try to sort of lay down a narrative of something either spiritual or social commentary or whatever because I don't want to just become, it's 2016, right? We have such an incredible database of work to look back on. Like I was just joking on Twitter that we should, in 2017, there should be no new content. Everyone collectively takes the year off to either just catch up on all of the thousands of years of work that's already been made or just to even be quiet for a second and just to feel that. So that is a big part of like if I'm going to put something out there, I really, really, really have to love it.

And there's a couple of episodes or two where it's like we just rushed it out and just because we had to get it done for the month. And I think that's a kind of, I don't know, I don't like that as much. No I mean I can tell you, it does shine through the thought that you put into it. That's the thing, yes, there's a lot of people who like mindless entertainment and they'll just take it and they won't think about it, but there are also a ton of us who just like we can get when we see something that has a deeper layer to it and kind of makes you think because some of my favorite comedy and comedians, and it's, you know, it's a nebulous term at this point, but any stuff that makes me laugh, like they've been very conscious minded people.

I think they're some of the funniest people and then when you also look at on the other side, you know, spiritual juggernauts like the Dalai Lama and a lot of Rinpo J's and the Tibetan Buddhism, like they're hilarious and they laugh at things in like a very genuine way even knowing all the crazy shit that they know that makes up this reality or this place we call it the world. So I love the intersection of those two things and I just, I really, I'm happy to hear that you do put a lot of thought into it and care about the output. And my personal belief is, is if you focus on that, it over time, it absolutely pays off, especially in the world we live in today.

Like if you're authentic and putting out quality stuff with real meeting and quality intention, that gets off. It does. Like I've seen it happen and I see it happen more and more. So it's awesome, man. That's, it's just really cool. I'm, I'm happy that. So let me ask you this, how did you kind of, what would you attribute your interest in kind of consciousness, spiritual, social action stuff? Because I also saw something else like when you were in South, I went deep into your blog, by the way, when you were, so when you were in South Africa, like I saw you make a post about HIV and this woman, Salfina, who had triplets and you were trying to help.

So like there's a huge part of you that's interested in service and helping. And like, where does that kind of spring from in you? Is it just something intuitively you gravitate towards? Did you learn it somewhere? Did you read it? Like how did that come about? I think my parents did a good job of raising my brothers and I to be aware of that, that we've had a nice, nice life that we've had a good upbringing that we've been lucky. Now that my family is actively doing sort of community service or anything like that. Right. But just this awareness of being grateful for what we have and not and having to work for it.

And the importance that if you've been given a good experience, if you've been given an opportunity that you kind of, I don't know, you owe it partially to yourself but also to the other people to bring that opportunity full circle around, that it's easier said than done. And when you go over to Africa, so I've gone over to Africa to do volunteer work with a very small organization called the South Africa Medical Expedition and it's an organization of four women who are working tirelessly and without any ego to just improve the quality of life, just even in the most minuscule amount. And what's so crazy about that, they're going face to face with HIV rate of 60% in the country.

The education system is so broken and non-existent that there's extreme challenges there. And I've gone over twice now and there's a feeling of like, "Well shit, this is pointless, you know what I mean? This is kind of pointless because it's so bleak." But at the same time, their attitude remains, "Well hey, if we can just improve someone's life for just today, then that's worth it." And also, in through that improvement, they form a bond, right? So that was the really cool thing and that's kind of what brought me back the second time that as a rewarding experience was that now I went back to this small village in the Limpopo region of South Africa.

And I saw friends, people that I had seen like Selphina or Lucy or Nora and Sarah, these amazing people who, it's like a waterfall, right? When you leave a waterfall, the water doesn't stop falling, it just keeps going. And that's the same with these people's lives. And it's so easy to kind of go over there and be like, "Hey, I handed out some pens and paper to some kids, give myself a pat on the back. Like I did it. Who are you doing it for, you know? But I mean, I don't know, the desire to want to give back is more the idea of saying, "Hey, this was a bit of a lottery, the fact that anyone's alive, it's like a crazy amount of stuff."

All of us, like one starting cell is where we all came from, the fact that any of our alive is due to all these very, very extreme situations, perfectly timed together, allowing life to flourish on earth and lead to conscious man. And then within that, we've created these boundaries and these borders that say, "Well, if you're born here, you're screwed if you're born here," whatever. That shit's nonsense. Like, borders are, I understand they're important for governments and for running, like, having an organization around the world, but they're not real. And they're not helpful to me either, truthfully.

They usually don't. Right. That's the most important thing, I mean, this is totally important what you're talking about. I mean, there's a concept in Buddhism and especially in Tibetan Buddhism that's, they basically say, "A precious human birth." You know, it is not understanding the cyclical cause and effect of karma of existence, like being born a human alone, let alone the circumstances, is an extremely rare and precious thing. We all like to think of your incarnation, or a lot of us do, like, "Oh, well, I was Henry in 1942, and I was a stock trader, oh, and I was in the war." Like, you could have been, like, an ant.

You know, you could have been, like, a bacteria on the piece of an ant to understand that. It's not possible. So, being appreciative and grateful for just being alive and a human being who has, we have tremendous amounts of freedom, even in, like, shitty circumstances. We have some degree of freedom. It sets the foundation for really, like, being a helpful and useful thing. You also touched upon another thing, like, we help people for a lot of reasons, and some is I help people, or I like to, because it feels really good. I think I feel the best I do when I'm, like, not helping someone with no other reason for doing it.

You know, even if it's just the hit of feeling good, if I'm genuinely unauthentically helping someone or trying to help, it's just a great way to spend your time in my experience. Like, it's a really good thing to do. So I think it's pretty natural. I mean, it seems like you intuitively just kind of have honed in on a lot of these, like, very important concepts that people get to in a variety of ways, you know, whether through it's a spiritual, specific spiritual pursuit, whether it's through psychedelics, whether it's through their culture or traveling or whatever, like, you really seem to have honed in.

So your parents did do an awesome job, but I'm also sure that the circumstances were right for you kind of living this type of life. Right, well, and some of that as well, in addition to, from my parents is that from every person you meet, from every moment you live, there is, there's information there, there's something to be not a massive idea to be learned, but, you know, not every moment's going to have an epiphany, but at the same time, it becomes sort of data in your brain, like, that was the irony of, of, of, of education is that it comes so early in your life that you don't realize why it's important, but then as you get older, you realize, whoa, the more, the more information I have in my brain, the easier it is to sort of not only recognize patterns of behavior, but also recognize, like, how to, how to connect with people, like, hey, like, I've, oh, I've, oh, I've done that too before, like, oh, I've, you know, I've seen that or, oh, I've thought about that or, and so when I go over to South Africa, or doesn't matter where, but that's a great example, I've learned so much from the people over there.

First of all, like, their sense of humor and their sense of, of joy in their day-to-day life is beyond anything I've ever experienced. When you consider that their life is, is such an uphill struggle every day, that they're lucky to just be able to have a meal every day, like, that is, you're right. So in this, in the face of all that, they, they are constantly finding ways to crack each other up. Right. And you just hear the laughter from across the, you know, across the village, you know, it's, it's amazing. And, and, yeah, you know, yes, I mean, I get it, man, like, I think there's so much we can learn.

And to go to this idea about information and coming in, there's a couple of things that had to do with psychedelics when I did them. One of the first times I took LSD, I realized that, like, I got, like, I knew this intellectually, but I fully understood that even stuff that we're not consciously processing, like, is coming in, like, it's going into our brain. Like when someone is saying something around you in a crowd, that's getting funneled in. We're not tuning into it, so we can't hear it. I love the opinion, this podcast is called Synchronicity, and it's based on something that Carl Jung, psychologist, awesome, brilliant fucking guy, called an a-causal pattern of orderedness, which is basically like, there's some reason that these things are ordered, but we don't have a direct cause and effect for why that's happening.

I'm of the opinion that, and this is another Carl Jung thing, that everything is one giant synchronicity happening at the same time. And I think depending on how you look at time and what it actually is, and if it's malleable and if it's linear, that makes various varying degrees of sense. But this goes into the information thing because if we were theoretically aware and had conscious knowledge of everything, we would experience this as one giant synchronicity. It wouldn't be these isolated moments of, "Oh, well, maybe someone was talking about a band earlier in the day and you had a dream about that band," and then the band came on the radio.

It would be like, "Oh, I know exactly what that person's talking about because I just had that experience or my friend in South Africa had that experience and that relates to this." So I think these are all anecdotal and there are little pieces of evidence that we stitch together throughout our lives to coalesce around the concept of what we're doing here on this planet. So let me ask you this, do you read, like I saw you had a Pemma children book with you on one of your travels, what are you into reading-wise, what do you gravitate towards? Yeah, it's, I guess, more and more, and this is based off of a woman Shirley Ann, who I met, who, I think this is a little too extreme for me, but she said, "I was reading, I was reading maybe Herman has, said that at the time or something."

Oh, yes, yes. You know, one of these classics, and I was like, "Shirley Ann, you must read this book. Have you not read them?" She's, "I don't have time for fiction, I need to be inspired, I only have time to be inspired by the actions of other people." So I don't, I don't believe I still read fiction, and I think that- It's important, too. Yes. And has, I mean, storytelling, yeah, of course, like what you've been able to, what was able to be learned from that, but I guess more and more, I guess that has influenced me what she said, because I guess I am starting to gravitate more towards history and reading about what all these incredible things have happened, and biographies, like, I've read the- Did I read, yeah, I think I've read the Carl, the Carl Young, bio-reflections- Oh, "Dreams, Memories, and Reflections."

Oh, my God. That is- That's a stunner. Oh, my God. That's a heavy weight book right there. All of his books, the reason I feel like everyone knows about Freud is A, he was obsessed with sex and drugs, and that's kind of our culture, but I think another reason people don't delve into Young so much is he's maybe one of the hardest things I've ever had to read. I picked up my first book of Man and His Symbols when I was 17, and I do not know how I actually got through and processed it. I mean, it is dense, dense shit, but brilliant, absolutely brilliant stuff, yeah, that's a great one. That's an awesome one.

Yeah, that's a great book. You should actually- You should interview my father, I'm gonna say this, because he teaches a class on- Well, he's now getting into Dream Remoir, but he- which is like helping people to form stories that come from their dream. Yes, I love that. That's pretty cool, but he did teach a class on Jungian psychology, and it was an English class for high school that was using the works of Hermann Hess to explore the ideas of Carl Young. Oh, yeah, you should- Oh, I will definitely, after this, please put me in touch. That would be awesome, so, so awesome. Yeah, for sure. In fact, my father has traveled to see the house that Carl Young lived in.

That's so cool, the one he built, the mandala one- The one that built as a reflection of his psyche. Yes, yes, yes, oh my god, I mean, I- that- I totally, we're gonna set that up, because that's- nothing gets me going more than that. It's been just a huge influence on my life, and I always find whenever there's someone who really knows and understands the works of Carl Young, like, they're usually really fucking awesome people, like, they're operating on a different level than I think a lot of other people, so I love that. That's so cool. What else are you reading? What other stuff? Okay, well, I've been kind of reading books that people have given me lately, so I was looking at John Paul Sartz, his- an age of reason, that's what I was reading while we were on tour with him.

Cool. And now I'm reading a book by David Brooks that my dad gave me as a birthday gift called The Road to Character, and it kind of explores this idea that, in a nutshell, there's two types of people, or that we're developing people for two different aims. One is, like, the things that you say about someone on your resume, like, who are you? Like, what have you accomplished? And those are the things that we, like, define ourselves by. The other one is, what are the things that are said about you in your eulogy? Like, who were you actually as a person? What are the character traits that define you, that people remember you as a person?

So there's this dichotomy between who are we on our resume and who are we in our eulogy. Those are two different, wildly two different types of people, but why is the focus of our contemporary culture to focus on the resume version of ourselves, to, like, who we are as characters? This book goes into, example, citing people throughout history. So the first two examples so far in the book have been Frances Perkins, who was on FDR's labor. She was the labor secretary, and she was a huge voice as part of the New Deal. But anyway, her own life comes from, like, what is it about her life that the events that occurred, historically, that led her to be so, sort of, driven to care about other people in terms of labor, and then also, and the next one was, like, I'm just on is Ida Roosevelt, who was, or no, Ida Eisenhower, who was Dwight Eisenhower's mother, who was -- >> Oh, cool.

>> -- of mother. >> So I'm just, like, so I'm reading that, so that one's kind of cool. Oh, the one that really, really, I loved, which I heard on Duncan's podcast, I also heard it on, maybe through Marcus Aubrey, was the fifth sacred thing written by Starhawk. And that's a radically cool book. If you want to have any, sort of, like, optimistic feelings towards a future in light of a pretty dark, kind of corporate power structure, militarized corporate power structure, that book is great, and that's fiction. But it's set in the future, and it's really cool, and it's really hopeful, and Starhawk has given, like, a pretty -- she obviously has a pretty -- >> Yeah, she has a beautiful vision for what the world can be, and it feels realistic as well.

>> Oh, I got to check that out. I am -- >> It's so too crazy. So, honestly, if I had to recommend a book right now, it'd probably be that Starhawk -- >> Okay. >> -- that sacred thing. >> Awesome. I'm going to put that up on this episode. I mean, I am probably -- I don't want to say -- I'm a very optimistic person, and I do believe that even though the outside circumstances of what we're looking at with the corporatization of the world, just the massive amounts of greed and inequality, I do myself have a pretty optimistic view of the world, because even in the time since I've been alive, which has not been that long, I'm 33 years old, but from, like, 10, 15 years, I've seen more conversations start to -- we're having more conversations about these things, and it's easier for people to connect in a way, in a more eulogy way, you know what I mean?

Like, I view this podcast as a way of, like, yeah, you're a comedian, you're an artist, you're a writer, you're a photographer, but that's the labels we attached to you, where you're actually coming from and who you are, is a different thing. So I think those types of things, I see enough of them and organizations who are doing tremendous amounts of good. I don't know how it's all going to play out, and I think will probably be long dead. I mean, how it plays out is vague anyway, but I do see enough signs of progress, and there's enough people who have been talking about this stuff for thousands of years that I do think, like, there's enough to be optimistic about, but I would love to read that book.

I'm totally going to pick up a copy. So here's the deal, Mikey. I have a million other things that I want to talk to you about, but I want to save it for another podcast. So what I'd like to do is I leave every show asking my guests for some practical tips that have helped them in their lives, so that whatever that means to you, but something that if you could offer to the listeners is like, this is something I do and it's really helped to me. That would be great. Okay, okay, this is a very practical one, because this is what I was doing 15 minutes before we started this conversation. I put on the 1812 Tikovsky's 1812 over, and I made some fresh juice, and that's a pretty good damn way to start the day.

If you do that on a day-to-day level, things are going to be pretty good. Just to frame your brain for the day. It's true. It's like a really powerful way to start your day. Tikovsky's 1812. I love that. Yeah. It's awesome, man. So that was good. And then the other one that I would say is get into candlelight. That would be… Oh my God. I'm not joking with this. I've gotten so into candlelight in the last six months. It's almost like an obsession, and now people think it's funny to see how people react to me bringing candles, but I'm just like, "God, man, there's something…" Right. If you believe this idea that we're all…

So much of our experience is just made up of our interpretation of light, and constantly sort of… I mean, we're looking at light all the time, and we're understanding things through light anyway. So why not set our world into the most pleasant light situations possible? And you know, like LED light has its place to this purpose, but man, when I'm at home, when I talk about that home space, my own home is just… It's like a… It looks like I'm living in the 17th century. It's awesome. Yeah. I'm not shitting you like about a year and a half ago. I… We've got super duper into candles, like crazy into candles.

I was tweeting about them like, "You, I'm really into candles right now. Animals are the best. I don't… This is not a joke. Candles are…" There's something about it, and also in the winter, when I make fires. Yeah. There's something about… I mean, the elements of the earth, the core elements, earth, wind, fire, air, captain planet, those core elements, there's something… There is. I mean, it's not surprising to me that like the Greek philosophers tried to reduce everything to those four elements and plus ether, because there's something that connects in a very deep level when you see it. I totally get it, man.

That's awesome. I love the candles suggestion. Um, very, very awesome. Um, cool, man. Uh, thank you so much again for coming on to this. I know we didn't really know each other that well, but I feel like I know you a little bit better, and I feel like I was also spot on that you're a really awesome person. So thank you. Uh, yeah, and I fully agree that the most… Like, the most exciting thing about the future is the fact that these kind of conversations are happening, and so thanks for inviting me on. And yeah, absolutely. Cool, man. Thanks. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] As a nice episode, right? A nice episode of For You. Oh my god. He's so cool. He's super cool. We're recording the podcast actually later today, so that'll be out in a couple of weeks. Really cool guy. But yeah, I love Mikey. I'm looking forward to becoming better friends with him, even if it's just over the Internet. Just a really great guy. So I hope you love this episode. As a reminder, this week's book giveaway is Star Hawks, the fifth secret thing.

I'm picking up a copy today. So I'm taking Mikey's word that it's a good book. I believe that it is. As always, subscribe, rate, review, synchronicity on iTunes, Stitcher. And also, if you can make a donation, that would be awesome. If I can defray the costs of running this thing every month, that would be fucking awesome. So if you can, awesome, if not, no big deal. That's it. All right, guys. I'll see you next week.