Fluent Essays

The instructions and required materials are below. The link is to a podcast that is required to answer the questions if you prefer to read I have also attached a transcription of that podcast. https://www.facebook.com/pangburninspire/videos/2067953090125282/Questions:FOR FULL CREDIT -Each answer must be a minimum of 7 sentences.Each answer must reflect critical/thoughtful thinkingEach answer must have supporting evidence, reason, logic - elucidated, or clearly explained. 1. Please summarize three claims that Lauren Peters makes about what she believes in. Give me one claim she makes per each 1/3 of the episode. So one claim from the beginning, one from the middle, and one from the end of the podcast. 2. What evidence does she provide, in general, throughout the podcast? What kind of evidence is it (for example, is it anecdotal, scientific, statistics, etc.)? How does she present it?3. Do you think her evidence/reasoning is enough to justify belief in her claims? Why or why not?4. For this question - I argue that all of her claims are beliefs that are not justified enough in order to claim that they are true. I can explain if youd like, just come talk to me for more information. Regardless, for this question answer one of the following:a. If you agree with me, then here is your question: Why is this stuff dangerous? Why is it potentially dangerous that so many people people follow these types of beliefs and actually follow her teachings? How can we educate people to be more skeptical of claims like the one Ms. Peters makes. ORb. If you dont agree with me, here is your question. Why dont you agree?5. Why is skeptical and critical thinking so important with any type of claims, but claims that are similar to this theme (even if you agree with Ms. Peters)? Explain your answer. laurenpeters_pangburn.pdf Unformatted Attachment Preview This transcript was exported on Sep 04, 2019 - view latest version here. Travis Pangburn: All right. Welcome to the Pangburn Philosophy Podcast. This is Travis Pangburn. Today, Im sitting down with Lauren Nicole Peters. Lauren is a love, purpose, and power coach, storyteller, mentor, and cosmic lover. She is a teacher and facilitator with expertise in the realms of self expression, embodiment, sexuality, relationships, and love. Thanks for coming on the podcast, Lauren. Lauren Peters: Yeah, thanks for having me. Travis Pangburn: I feel like Im so ignorant to a lot of this stuff. Im a living human, and I think I dabble in a lot of these different categories that youre an expert in, but maybe tell us what the average day in maybe the work life is for you? What do you do for work? Lauren Peters: For work, I work with people in one-on-one coaching programs. I also run what I call embodiment events, so I talk a lot about relationships and love with my clients. I talk about sexuality, and I also talk about power. One of the most fun things that I like to do with people is to talk about the dichotomy or what a lot of us believe is a dichotomy of having both love and power present in our life very strongly. The embodiment events that I do is taking all of these really cool concepts that we talk about all day long, and really embodying them and applying them into our life, so that were not just talking about them. Travis Pangburn: Right, so what does the embodiment of what you teach or talk about, what are the practical aspects of that? Lauren Peters: Right. Embodiment pretty much, in my process, looks like giving yourself space and time to reflect on these concepts, to meditate on them, to stretch your awareness of the concepts beyond just the mental plane of understanding. What do these concepts feel like in your body? What do these concepts look and feel like when youre treating them like they are intelligent concepts? I dont know if you know what I mean when I say that. Lauren Peters: For instance, if we were to look at the concept of love, and we were to personify that concept, or apply a little bit of an intelligent aspect to that concept, what would love have to say back to us? These practices are some fun ways of really getting beyond, like I said, mental understanding of these and really getting them and feeling them in our body, and then taking them and living these concepts. Travis Pangburn: Right, so it sounds like ... Did you start from a foundation of meditation? Is that what got you into this field, understanding the power of the mind and things like that? Was that a determining factor for you? Lauren Peters: I would say meditation was a bridge for me. I really started out in the academic world, the corporate world, understanding my own experiences and my spiritual journey from a mental perspective, so I think Ive read at least 100 books on different types of spirituality and religions and processes of spirituality. I LaurenPeters_Pangburn (Completed 09/04/19) Transcript by Rev.com Page 1 of 13 This transcript was exported on Sep 04, 2019 - view latest version here. entered really quickly into this realm called integral theory. For anyone who doesnt know what that is, its a beautiful body of work that outlines the different levels of human consciousness and state awarenesses, and really allows you to look at where you are in your own level of growth, where other people are in their own level of growth and consciousness. Lauren Peters: And so I got to know that system a little more. My bridge was meditation, because in integral theory, they do talk about meditation, because they talk about understanding these concepts on a body level. And then throughout meditation, in my journey, theres two different types of meditation. I am completely oversimplifying this right now, but its necessary. Theres the first type, which is the very masculine, sitting there and emptying my mind, and expanding my awareness in that moment. And then there is the second type of meditation, which is the more feminine type of movement, breath, and sound meditation. I did more of the feminine version of meditation, and that really nicely bridged me into the world of tantra and, like I said, breath, movement, and sound, and understanding love and power from a very embodied perspective. Travis Pangburn: Is there a reason why theyre labeled as masculine and feminine forms of meditation? Is there a practical or particular reason why? Lauren Peters: For me, specifically, just in my own studies of learning yin and yang, the expressions of masculine and feminine, how that also shows up in nature, thats where Ive identified that. More of the feminine expressions of meditation is with, like I said, expression. Its breathing. Its moving. Its making noise. Its pretty much the life force, the creation of our universe, and then the more masculine expressions of that is more so the container that holds creation, the consciousness that just is there, the love that is there. And so, a lot of times, when you think of masculine forms of expression, you can think of a monk or a Buddha. And then, when you think of more of the feminine expressions, you can think Mother Earth and the weather and the birth of a new creation. I dont know if that makes sense, but thats where I got the expressions from. Travis Pangburn: No, I follow that for sure. You mentioned, Ive read a bit on your website, and spirituality comes up a lot. In the skeptic community, we typically ask for the definition, because it is an ill-defined term, and a lot of people have a hard time defining it. How do you define spirituality? Lauren Peters: Thats a really great question, and I dont know. I might sound like an idiot right now, but ... Travis Pangburn: No, thats fine. 90\% of the things I say, I sound like an idiot, so come and join the party, join the party. Lauren Peters: Im willing to be an idiot right now. In a lot of my coaching work, what I do is I dont say, This is the definition of something. I ask other people, Whats your LaurenPeters_Pangburn (Completed 09/04/19) Transcript by Rev.com Page 2 of 13 This transcript was exported on Sep 04, 2019 - view latest version here. definition of this? And then after I ask them that, I go, Okay, great. How does that concept feel in your body? Thats just context for whatever answer is about to come out of me right now, that my personal definition of spirituality. Oh my God, I have to think about this for a second. Travis Pangburn: Thats totally fine. And its not abnormal for you to want to pause to think about it, because its a term thats used heavily in conversations, especially when were having deep conversations, existential conversations, and spirituality often comes up when we talk about meditation and things like that. I dont tend to use the term, because I have never found a definition that I think actually works, and I think its a term that, because of that reason, because people tend to have a different definition from person to person, I dont find it too useful. Im always open to being enlightened on that, for sure. Lauren Peters: Yeah. Ill start with this: The first thing you see when you go on my website, on the About page, there is a prompt, and it says, Are you willing to receive whats beyond the mind? I wouldnt necessarily say thats my definition of spirituality. I more often like to use the word metaphysics if Im trying to explain a certain mechanics or ways of creating in the universe, but spirituality, in my experience, has been to really contemplate on this prompt of, Am I willing to receive whats beyond the mind? Lauren Peters: I heard you say, This definition of spirituality doesnt really work for me or doesnt work for people. Thats us, in our mind, trying to figure out how to make the shit work, so this world of something living beyond everything that weve ever known, living beyond every solution that we could ever think of of how to solve a problem, is where the spiritual journey starts for me. Its the place where I dont have answers to, and the more than I try to find answers to, the more confused I get. The more lost I get. Theres this deep river, soulful rapturous river of trust and non-answers and unknown, that I pretty much have to fall into in order to even begin to experience what I could call a spiritual experience or journey for myself. Travis Pangburn: All right, okay. I would define that, for myself, I understand the pondering aspect of what youre talking about. I tend to call that wonder, the feeling I get when I look out into the cosmos at night. I was just in Cabo in Mexico, and you can see the star map beautifully when youre out on the beach there. I get that sense of, I guess some people may define that as spirituality, but I tend to think, for me, the word that best suits what Im doing is Im wondering, Im full of wonder when Im looking out into the cosmos. Im at the mercy, Im a slave to science and evidence, so I tend to, if I do wonder about something, those are the modes I rely on to tell me whats actually there and what, at least, what the evidence is telling us. Lauren Peters: Yeah, absolutely. Awe and wonder is an amazing place to be in. Its where youve got, youre looking at the unlimited possibilities of what could be created. I think spirituality is definitely a general term that a lot of people have LaurenPeters_Pangburn (Completed 09/04/19) Transcript by Rev.com Page 3 of 13 This transcript was exported on Sep 04, 2019 - view latest version here. bastardized over the years. Whenever you hear me use it, its to speak to a certain type of person, but that ties us back to the world of integral theory. Any time I think about a word coming out of my mouth, its specifically to speak to a certain type of person, or at least, a general group of people. A lot of times, I dont use the word spirituality. Sometimes, I just use the words like highest excitement or unlimited possibilities or the metaphysics of creation or ... I could go on. Travis Pangburn: Right, theres probably ... And obviously, some of the terms are going to, because youre talking with a lot of people who have very different belief systems, Im sure, most of the time, from one another, and you want to tap into something that really hits home to them. Lauren Peters: Absolutely. Our own work is all about communicating to the people that need to get our medicine. My background, I grew up in a very strict Christian religion. I remember exploring Wicca and more pagan religions when I was a teen, just for rebelling a little bit, but I also felt really connected to the Earth. I felt like I wanted to reconnect to the Earth. I got into Buddhism a little bit, got more into Tibetan Buddhism and tantra. I respect every lineage thats out there, and that, at a certain point of growth and creating in my business, I just realized everybodys lineages and backgrounds and traditions matter so much. My job is to be able to communicate, to anyone and everyone that needs to hear this message. Travis Pangburn: Right, and I think traditions are important for us to study for various reasons. There are some traditions out there that are absolutely brutal and horrible and need to be put down, but I think its important to still have a study and remember those traditions, so that humanity doesnt fall in to those same traps. If I was to live a tantric life in its purest form, what would that look like? Lauren Peters: You say purest form. I think that its a fun little paradox. Sometimes, living a tantric life can be messy as fuck, you know? Travis Pangburn: Oh totally, yeah. No, and when I think of the very little knowledge I have on what you do in living a tantric life, I think mine would be one of those lives that people would look at, and it would maybe look like the Joker character from Batman that Heath Ledger portrayed. Not killing people, but it would be so alien to them. I tend to like the very weird, strange, obscure things about the world, and those are the things that really drive my pleasure. Lauren Peters: I love that, yeah. Theres different ways that I could answer this. Ill say a couple of them. Tantric life, a lot of people, when they hear tantra, they think sexuality automatically, and I probably say this on every single podcast, but living a tantric life, sexuality is only one small part of that equation. Travis Pangburn: Right. LaurenPeters_Pangburn (Completed 09/04/19) Transcript by Rev.com Page 4 of 13 This transcript was exported on Sep 04, 2019 - view latest version here. Lauren Peters: When you look at the principles of tantra in any lineage, what it ultimately brings you back to is a presence with the moment, that whatever is arising inside of you and outside of you is something to be present with. And this, for a lot of people, can get really scary, because we live in a world where people have masks on, and they like to pretend that they are a certain thing. When their life does start come crashing down, its almost seen as a failure, whereas, in living a tantric life, what you do is you swim with the ebbs and flows of life, and the dark moments are just as important as the light moments. Lauren Peters: If you were to look at this in a very psychological way, we have parts inside of us that exist, whether we want to acknowledge it or not. We have light parts of us, the parts that are very positive, that want to change the world, and then we have dark parts inside of us, the parts that could be a little more jealous or afraid to be abandoned. The whole spectrum goes everywhere, right? A tantric life says, What is happening in this moment that you can be so present with beyond just your mind, to where you could flow with what is rising? Lauren Peters: And sometimes, that is the dark stuff. When I mentioned sometimes living a tantric life can be super messy, those are the moments where you even have quote unquote experts like me, who experience a little bit of my abandonment wounding in a romantic relationship. You know what Im saying? Living a tantric life is being able to be so present, but also real with what is arising inside of you and outside of you. Thats one definition that I like to say. Travis Pangburn: Right. It sounds like that there isnt a place for ... This might be one of those dark areas that people go to, but if youre living a tantric life, it seems like there isnt really a place for ignorance or the kind of ignorance that would lead you to, I guess, negative ways of judging certain situations, like negativity maybe is a better way to say, Is this a great mode, going through your courses and things like this, to eliminate negativity, or is it more about going with the flow of negativity? Lauren Peters: I would actually latch on to what you said about ignorance, because negativity is just so fricking relative. I dont want to use that word, but ignorance is almost like a not knowing that something is there, that you cant look at, because you just dont know its there. Some people could also all this something thats not yet conscious to you. Youre not conscious that it exists, and yes, one of my friends says that this type of living is, Bringing consciousness to what is unconscious. In the courses and in this work, I wouldnt necessarily say to maybe avoid negativity or flow with it, but I would say be open and willing what is wanting to become conscious in your life. Travis Pangburn: Okay. You mentioned consciousness, and usually when someone mentions consciousness, it is a mystery to humanity what we are dealing with when were talking about consciousness. From a scientific perspective, we have nearly zero understanding of what consciousness is and the relationship between consciousness and our biology. And one thing, I also am writing a book thatll be LaurenPeters_Pangburn (Completed 09/04/19) Transcript by Rev.com Page 5 of 13 This transcript was exported on Sep 04, 2019 - view latest version here. out in 2019, and its basically 100\% based on pleasure and the role that pleasure takes in us. I am convinced that we are just biological entities that are walking around, driven by pleasure, and some of us ... A lot of it has to do with our environment and the modes of pleasure that we can tap into in our environment. Travis Pangburn: And I just think, when it comes to consciousness, an exercise I like to do with people, and this comes from Sam Harris. Are you familiar with Sam? Lauren Peters: [inaudible 00:20:06]. Travis Pangburn: But he says, on occasion, just clear your mind, try to put yourself in a relaxed state, and try to predict what your next thought will be. This is something we cant do, and once you realize that our thoughts are happening to us, and were this idea of consciousness, us being this conscious being or supposed conscious being, were the last to know about what were thinking, in a sense. My book is talking about these pleasure drifts and the different things that give us pleasure. Travis Pangburn: And what I boil it down to is that, everything that we do, we do for pleasure, or else we wouldnt do it. And pleasure is, we are receiving pleasures through our nervous system, and our nervous system is, in some way, informing our pleasure drive and our thinking. And then, our consciousness, all of a sudden, is privy to the thought that has already happened. It blows my mind, and then it also demonstrates that this idea of free will just never existed. Lauren Peters: Yeah. Travis Pangburn: I dont know. What do you think on ... Have you thought on free will much? Lauren Peters: I view will in very multi-dimensions. Youre starting to speak on some of them. A lot of my studies have come from the Trans-Himalayan teachings, Alice Baileys work. Its much more esoteric type of study, but one of the places ... The topic of will in itself is just really beautiful. I love talking about will, whether its free will, divine will, the will of the soul, the will of the void, the will of one certain part in our body. Where is this originating from? Thats moreso the question that I ask. Lauren Peters: If something wants to happen, if Im sensing that something wants to happen or be created in my life, I ask myself, Where is this will coming from? Is this what I could call my free will, the will of maybe my personality complex, or maybe the will of my soul? Which I believe the will of my soul is hooked in to a lot of other souls and a lot of other intelligences in the cosmos, you know? Is this the will of the impulse of the whole entire universe? I cant really answer your question on free will, but thats how I do view will in my life. Travis Pangburn: Right. This attachment that you feel, I guess the next point we should touch on is you mentioned a soul. Im someone who, I havent seen evidence that we LaurenPeters_Pangburn (Completed 09/04/19) Transcript by Rev.com Page 6 of 13 This transcript was exported on Sep 04, 2019 - view latest version here. have anything outside of our perceived consciousness that is this idea that has been proposed by religions to begin with, of this idea of us having a soul of any kind. Im of the opinion that, until I see evidence to the contrary that, for instance, when we die, thats it. Because I havent seen any evidence otherwise. Travis Pangburn: Are you, when you talk about souls, are you talking about our being or are you talking about a literal soul, that you would find in the Holy Bible or what kind of soul? How do you define soul? Lauren Peters: Yeah, great question. Ill do my best here. Like I said, a lot of my studies are more on the esoteric side. I do have a healthy skeptic version of me too. When I experience something new, I say, Show this to me four times, and th ... Purchase answer to see full attachment