Thomas Farber's new book "Acting My Age" (2021, University of Hawai‘i Press) is a literary meditation on the intermingling of our death as individuals, as a species, and as a planet--with a focus on the fate of the oceans. Always carving away the inessential, Farber has perfected the art of the terse sentence as arrow of difficult truth. This book is the culmination of half a century of Farber's devotion to writing craftsmanship. Any writer can learn from his style, and anyone reflecting on death (personal or planetary) will find companionship in his compassionate literary grief. In this interview, author Michael Ellsberg--who has looked up to Farber as a writing mentor for two decades--discusses with Farber, among other things: the moral status of humans in a world we are exterminating, the literary stance of misanthropy, and the role of gallows humor as palliative care. This interview will not cheer you up, but it will meet with kindness and vibrancy in the places you may not allow your mind to wander otherwise. Buy "Acting My Age" here: https://amzn.to/36uSrKt

Here is my second in a series of audio interviews with Michaela Boehm, one of the most subtle, advanced and wise teachers about sexuality, spirituality, and the intersection of the two, currently teaching. (You can find out more about Michael at www.michaelaboehm.com - or visit her Soundcloud at www.soundcloud.com/michaela-boehm ) Today’s interview gets a bit controversial- it is entitled "6 Annoying Cliches of 'Conscious Sexuality,' and How to Move Past Them” In this interview, we analyze several ideas about “masculine” and “feminine” that have become orthodoxy within teaching about conscious sexuality. Specifically, we examine the dogmas that men are supposed to be “present, deep, and on purpose” in order to be masculine, whereas women are supposed to be a “wild storm of emotions, radiant, and surrendered” in order to be feminine. These concepts have become so ingrained in the west coast workshop culture that we rarely step back to examine where the concepts might be leading us astray. We discuss where these ideas came from, how they are misunderstood and misapplied, and ways to think about these concepts that don’t lock people into rigid pre-defined gender roles. In this interview, Michaela teaches us about: 5:00 - The folly of trying to teach men to become “deep and present” by teaching them to copy the body language of deep and present men, or trying to “look spiritual" 8:20 - How men can actually develop authentic, deeply-sourced presence 12:30 - The difference between emotional reactivity vs. emotional responsiveness in women 14:25 - The danger of encouraging women to show men their “kali” (destructive energy) without discernment 17:58 - How encouraging men to “penetrate” women with their “presence” can end up being a spiritualized form of invasiveness - and the danger of assuming that if a woman doesn’t “surrender” to these, that she’s “too much in her masculine” 22:00 - Why gender polarity should primarily be played out in the bedroom, and not in the rest of a relationship 34:20 - “Often the most dressed up and shiny women are not the ones who are most sensually alive" 46:01 - The problem with differentiating between “purpose” and “surrender” - because living your purpose requires surrender 46:45 - “You can only fuck well when you’re being fucked well.” 51:13 - The difference between purpose and goal-setting- and the folly of trying to set goals and “be accountable” for achieving your purpose 52:15 - Should we use non-gendered terms to express polarities and erotic tension? “Go vs. flow,” “Dark vs. light,” “Active vs. passive,” “Penetrating and penetrated,” “Dom vs. sub” - beyond “masculine vs. feminine” 54:36 - What is the essence of tantra? 1:01:30 - Surrender, boundaries, control. consent, and the feminine 1:11:58 - The importance of pushing sexual edges only with established partners 1:18:50 - How cultural romance narratives around “ravishing,” “being taken” and “surrender” can lead to people to disconnect from and mis-calibrate the sexual interaction and can lead to consent violations 1:22:48 - How do we square our notions of romantic ravishment and “sweeping her off her feet" from the movies, with proper consent conversations which seem like they may take away from the spontaneity and passion? Enjoy! I hope you find this interview as illuminating and provocative as I did.

I've interviewed famous billionaires. I've interviewed rock stars. I've interviewed NYT-bestselling authors. And yet, of all the interviews I've done, the one I'm most excited about is the one I'm sharing with you now. Michaela Boehm is in my opinion the most advanced, master teacher on sacred sexuality currently teaching. For 13 years, she traveled and co-taught with David Deida, author of "The Way of the Superior Man." Now she has branched out to share her own unique blend of wisdom, synthesized from her 22 years of counseling practice, along with her training and experience as a lineage holder in a tantric tradition of Kashmiri Shivaism. Her private clients include Oscar-winning actors, producers, writers, and multiple Grammy-winning musicians--and now she's sharing her wisdom with us. As I love to do, in this interview we dove right in to the nitty-gritty: The Dark Side of "Conscious Sexuality." I'm a student of conscious sexuality---but every scene and every philosophy has its own shadow side. What is the shadow side of the "sacred sexuality" scene? In this wide-ranging, no-holds-barred interview, we dive into the conversations no one else is having, and the things no one else is saying, around this controversial topic. Some of the topics we cover include: 2:30 - The true meaning of the "shadow side"- as opposed to how it is usually used in personal development circles 6:55 - Why "sacred sexuality" should not be used as a tool for healing 12:46 - The most important factor for healing old sexual wounding 23:00 - How so much spiritual practice ends up being a futile quest to gain love or approval from "daddy" or "mommy" in our minds - and what to focus on instead 26:11 - How so many teachers or "gurus" of spirituality and sexuality use scarcity and subtle shaming to keep students hooked on constant up-sells. 29:40 - Why the focus on "commitments" and "accountability" in Men's Groups is misguided and ineffective, and what Men's Groups should be focusing on instead 37:25 - How Women's Groups often end up perpetuating the same shaming of women that the women are going into the groups to avoid, and what--in Michaela's opinion--Women's Groups should be focusing on instead 40:08 - The rise of the "Stepford Dakinis" 42:33 - Many women ask "Where are all the good men?" - and why asking this question is barking up the wrong tree .(The discussion we get into for the next 15 minutes is hands-down the most controversial segment of any interview I've ever done, watch out!) 57:36 - How can independent, strong-minded women (who are into men) find the man they want? 1:01:47 - How can a woman who wants the experience of surrender with a man, decide which man she can trust? 1:09:55 - How polyamory often bogs down and leads to "a lot more discussing than fucking" 1:16:03 - Why the tantra worlds and BDSM/kink worlds often judge each other, and how they can be integrated 1:22:15 - The single best first step for opening to the divine in sexuality Get ready to get riled up. Join us for the discussion! Find out more about Michaela Boehm here: http://www.michaelaboehm.com/ Her Soundcloud, with many more interviews she's done, is here: https://soundcloud.com/michaela-boehm Find out more about Michael Ellsberg here: http://www.ellsberg.com

An introduction to Michael Ellsberg's teachings on "Loving the Unlovable Within" - www.ellsberg.com

Neil Strauss Interviews Michael Ellsberg on Ellsberg's new book "The Last Safe Investment: Spending Now to Increase Your True Wealth Forever". The book is available here: http://amzn.to/1OY2RCI