Merging art, science, and spirit, authors and intellectuals Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross illuminate why creativity is essential for humanity.

Grab a copy of Susan and Ivy’s Book: Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us

In this episode of Mindrolling, Raghu, Susan, and Ivy explore:

• Redefining art as any medium that allows someone to express themselves
• Learning to see the world with fresh eyes and creative curiosity
• The powerful reflection: has there ever been a time when the arts have personally affected you?
• Resonance and vibration as the center of the universe
• Music as a pathway to experience oneness with all things
• The miracle of neuroplasticity—rewiring the brain and making new pathways
• Confronting ourselves with a new piece of art or doing a new arts practice
• Play through art: letting go of any preconceived outcome and simply playing with ideas and concepts
• Why change requires time, patience, and habitual practice
• Remembering that art in ancient cultures was highly valued and integrated into daily life
• The aesthetic mindset and walking through the world with attention to beauty in every detail

Listen to Sit Around the Fire, a collaborative musical journey with Jon Hopkins, East Forest, and Ram Dass

About Susan Magsamen:

Susan Magsamen is the founder and director of the International Arts + Mind Lab, Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she is a faculty member. She is also the co-director of the NeuroArts Blueprint. Susan works with both the public and private sectors using arts and culture evidence-based approaches in areas including health, child development, education, workforce innovation, rehabilitation and social equity.

“It’s personal; it could be crocheting for her, gardening for somebody else, it could be I’m a collager, we’re all talking about personalized medicine and precision medicine, and the arts are probably the most personalized medicine that there is.” –Susan Magsamen

About Ivy Ross:

Ivy Ross is the Vice President of Design for hardware product area at Google, where she leads a team that has won over 225 design awards. She is a National Endowment for Arts grant recipient and was ninth on Fast Company's list of the one hundred Most Creative People in Business in 2019. Ross believes that the intersection of arts and sciences is where the most engaging and creative ideas are found.

“I think we’ve been focusing on productivity and efficiency and pushing these arts aside as a ‘nice to have’, not as an imperative to our health and wellness. Through the work on this book with Susan, learning more about the physiology of how we are wired to receive the sensorial nature of life, it’s no wonder when we deprive ourselves of that, why we’re in the state we’re in.” –Ivy Ross

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Carried by a discourse on The Heart Sutra, teacher and author Susan Piver joins Raghu to explore the truth of emptiness.

Grab your copy of Susan’s book: Inexplicable Joy: On the Heart Sutra

This week on Mindrolling, Raghu and Susan chat about:

• Practicing The Heart Sutra with only one syllable: ahh
• The truth of emptiness through recitation of non-truths
• Understanding emptiness as bliss, not as voidness
• The commitment to self interest that many westerners experience
• Releasing the ego as the first step towards embracing emptiness
• Being both empty and luminous at the same time
• Thinking of emptiness as complete interconnection and fullness
• Susan’s psychedelic experience: staying in the present, being in the womb of bliss
• The six transcendent actions and how they all spring from generosity

Check out this free, downloadable translation of The Heart Sutra from Plum Village

“You’re empty of separate existence. Your parents, their parents, their parents, if someone ate a different sandwich a thousand years ago, you wouldn’t be here. Emptiness could just as easily be called fullness, completely connected.” –Susan Piver

About Susan Piver:

Susan Piver has an international reputation as an exceptionally skillful meditation teacher. She teaches workshops and speaks on mindfulness, innovation, communication, relationships, and creativity. Susan has been a student of Buddhism since 1995, graduated from a Buddhist seminary in 2004, and was authorized to teach meditation in 2005. In 2012, she founded The Open Heart Project, the world’s largest online-only meditation center. Susan is also a New York Times bestselling author. Her most recent book, Inexplicable Joy: On the Heart Sutra, is now available. You can keep up with Susan on Instagram or on her website.

Join Susan for a 5-day Kripalu meditation retreat this November

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Author and changemaker Shermin Kruse examines the timeless principles of Stoicism and their power to foster mindful, intentional, and empathetic living.

Grab a copy of Stoic Empathy HERE to learn more about living a Life of Influence, Self-Leadership, and Integrity

This week on Mindrolling, Raghu and Shermin Kruse:

• Embracing discomfort and challenges as catalysts for personal and spiritual growth
• Shermin’s powerful story of growing up in Iran during the wartime of the 1980s and 90s
• How Stoic philosophy transformed Shermin’s approach to work, meditation, therapy, and daily life
• The profound relationship between Stoicism and empathy
• Shermin’s Stoic inspiration mother, aunt, and cultural roots
• Understanding the Stoic ideal of the dichotomy of control
• Shermin’s mystical, otherworldly experience while giving birth
• Practicing intentional pause and mindful response to life’s stimuli
• Moving beyond the ego and awakening to loving awareness

About Shermin Kruse:

Shermin Kruse is an award-winning idea curator, global change-maker, complex-system negotiator, lawyer, speaker, and storyteller. Shermin has nearly two decades of experience working in competitive strategy and game theory applications, corporate and community advocacy, brand protection and augmentation, as well as dispute resolution for individuals, public-company boards of directors, international corporations, and Fortune 500 Companies. Shermin also has a decade of parallel experience producing thought-leadership events, including TEDx conferences and a network of salon series. She teaches Negotiating with Tactical Empathy, Global Transactions, Cross-Border Deals, and Leadership at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. In addition to her professional accomplishments, Shermin is a mother of four, living in the heart of Chicago. Her personal journey from the war-torn streets of her native Tehran to the elite corporate boardrooms of the world informs her deep commitment to fostering empathy, control, justice, and global understanding. Learn more on Shermin’s website.

“It’s a kind of resilience and a kind of Stoicism that is very counter to the image of the statue, stoic, white, male figure that we think about when we imagine Greek Stoicism. The interesting thing about Stoicism is all that it has in common with Buddhism, meditation, dance, passion—all of those things.” –Shermin Kruse

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David Silver and Raghu Markus explore the life and teachings of George Gurdjieff, the Russian-born mystic and philosopher of consciousness.

This time on Mindrolling, Raghu and David have a discussion about:

• How a teenage David Silver was first introduced to Gurdjieff’s teachings
• Gurdjieff’s influence on the 1960s counterculture and the evolution of consciousness movements
• The call to “do only what is new and fresh” and live in search of the miraculous
• Doing the work literally and figuratively; supporting oneself and moving towards clear mentation
• Gurdjieff’s view of humans as incomplete sleepwalkers, mechanically reacting to life
• Gradual awakening through self-observation, inner struggle, and conscious effort
• Shedding false pretenses to discover a unified, authentic self
• How Gurdjieff’s philosophy inspired Ram Dass’s spiritual vision
• The Seekers of Truth and The Sarmoung Brotherhood
• The transformative and ongoing practice of self-remembering

Pre-order your copy of There Is No Other: The Way to Harmony and Wholeness a profound collection of newly gathered writings from Ram Dass and edited by Parvati Markus. Ram Dass shows us how a house divided against itself—whether that “house” is our individual self or the society in which we live—can come together in wholeness. Learn more: There Is No Other Way Pre-Order

About George Ivanovich Gurdjieff

Gurdjieff, who was born in the late 1800’s, was a philosopher, mystic, spiritual teacher, composer, and movements teacher. Born in the Russian Empire, he briefly became a citizen of the First Republic of Armenia after its formation in 1918, but fled the impending Red Army invasion of Armenia in 1920, which rendered him stateless. Gurdjieff taught that people are not conscious of themselves and thus live their lives in a state of hypnotic "waking sleep", but that it is possible to awaken to a higher state of consciousness and serve our purpose as human beings. Learn more about Gurdjieff HERE and pick up some of Gurdjieff’s most famous work, Meetings with Remarkable Men.

About David Silver:

David Silver is the former co-host of the Mindrolling podcast. He is a filmmaker and director, most recently coming out with Brilliant Disguise. Brilliant Disguise tells the unique story of a group of inspired Western spiritual seekers from the 60s, who in meeting the great American teacher, Ram Dass, followed him to India to meet his Guru, Neem Karoli Baba, familiarly known as Maharaj-ji. Two days before he left his body, Maharaj-ji instructed K.C. Tewari to take care of the Westerners, which he did resolutely until the day he died in 1997. Silver’s #1 charting MGM/UA/Warners film, “The Compleat Beatles” is the critically acclaimed biopic movie about history’s most famous band. The term ‘rockumentary’ was first applied to this two-hour movie. Rolling Stone recently described the film as a “masterwork.” Silver’s Warner Brothers’ feature film, “No Nukes” also started the whole trend of music/activism feature documentaries.

“His father basically said to him, you must not do anything old, you must always try and do something new and fresh, you must already be honest, you must always support yourself, These were all important in Gurdjieff’s life. You must be in search of the miraculous, because what else is there?” —David Silver

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Offering a perspective of hope and unity, Danny Goldberg and Raghu Markus explore morality, polarization, and how negative media drives collective anxiety.

Pre-order Danny’s upcoming book, Liberals with Attitude: The Rodney King Beating and the Fight for the Soul of Los Angeles

This time on Mindrolling, Raghu and Danny discuss:

• The uproar surrounding the brutal beating of Rodney King by the L.A. police
• Seeing history as the study of change, and looking into how history impacts our lives today
• How the human condition largely remains the same century after century
• The inner conflict between morals: choosing what is right vs. what feels safe
• Building bridges by connecting over universal human values instead of polarizing politics
• Healing our felt sense of separation by remembering that we are all interconnected
• Those who feel they are losing power when others make progress
• The seduction of negative news media and how it feeds collective anxiety and division
• Finding perspective by remembering that every era faces troubling times
• Considering the Sermon on the Mount as a moral compass
• Learning to honor fear without being a slave to it

Click HERE to pre-order There is No Other by Ram Dass, with contributions from Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, and more.

About Danny Goldberg:

Danny Goldberg is an author and music executive who has spent decades in the business. As a manager, Danny’s clients included Bonnie Raitt, Nirvana, The Allman Brothers Band, and Sonic Youth. As a label executive he was President of Atlantic Records, and Chairman of Warner Bros Records and the Mercury Records Group – among others. Danny Goldberg’s previous books include Bloody Crossroads 2020: Art, Entertainment and Resistance to Trump, Serving The Servant: Remembering Kurt Cobain, How The Left Lost Teen Spirit, Bumping Into Geniuses: My Life Inside The Rock and Roll Business and In Search of The Lost Chord: 1967 and the Hippie Idea. Learn more about Danny and his work HERE.

Check out the article Culture, Empathy and Resistance by Danny Goldberg and the book NEXUS by Yuval Noah Harari

“People always say to me, ‘It’s never been this way’. That’s just absolutely not true. We had slavery in this country. Women couldn't vote until 1920. Homosexuality, you could still go to jail up until the 60s for it. The AIDS epidemic during the Reagan period. Not to mention human history, the Crusades, and the Holocaust. There have been many, many dreadful times.’” – Danny Goldberg

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Holding grief alongside wise teachings on death, Jaymee Carpenter and Raghu Markus discuss the great loss of Lady Diana J. Mukpo, wife of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.

Listen to Jaymee’s interview with Lady Diana J. Mukpo HERE

This week on Mindrolling, Raghu and Jaymee chat about:

• Remembering Lady Diana J. Mukpo, the wife of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the great Tibetan Lama
• Chogyam Trungpa’s leadership out of occupied Tibet, through the Himalayas, and into India
• Raghu’s experience meeting Chogyam Trungpa and having an instant connection
• Living in two planes at once: holding grief while realizing that death is ultimately just a concept
• How clinging and even subtle attachments can pull us away from the present moment
• Jaymee’s practice of looking at things three different ways
• Transforming the polarity that exists inside of ourselves
• Turning even the worst of situations into an opportunity for growth and something beautiful
• ‘The mere eye’ where we hold our sense of self lightly
• Watching out for spiritual bypassing and practicing loving awareness

From This Episode:

Look deeper into Pema Chödrön, the renowned Buddhist nun mentioned by Jaymee and Raghu.

Get a copy of Why We Meditate, a guidebook that will help you not only break free from negative patterns of thought and behavior but radically embrace your very being.

Learn more about Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche through Ram Dass in an episode of Here and Now and in this earlier Mindrolling episode.

About Jaymee Carpenter:

Jaymee Carpenter is a highly revered spiritual teacher and psychospiritual counselor based in Ojai, CA, with a background of 13 years of multi-faceted professional experience in the field of addiction and mental health treatment. He is a 16-year meditation practitioner and teacher within the oldest lineage of Tibetan Buddhism (Nyingma), which is his primary source of his own recovery and mental clarity. Jaymee spent 3 years recently as an apprentice to a Lakota shaman, co-facilitating sweat lodge ceremonies for hundreds of participants on sacred land blessed by His Holiness The Dalai Lama. He is additionally a master-level communicator and storyteller, and one of the world’s great listeners.

Follow Jaymee Carpenter on Instagram and check out his podcast, Love is the Author

“I start to cry. I cry for the normal reasons one cries. Loss, the sadness around not having another chance to say something to her. Then, I’m immediately greeted with how long she lived, all the accomplishments she made in this lifetime, that she studied the way out of the notion of death alongside Chogyam Trungpa…I’m met both with my grief and my teachings.” – Jaymee Carpenter

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Author Andy Chaleff speaks to personal and collective grief, teaching listeners that embracing loss can help us live a more fulfilling life.

Get your copy of Andy’s book, Dying to Live: Finding Life’s Meaning Through Death

This week on Mindrolling, Raghu and Andy have a conversation on:

• Andy’s early experiences with fear, existential dread, and childhood loss
• Andy’s emotional and intellectual process of writing
• Childhood grief, losing a parent, and losing a pet
• Breaking free from a victimhood identity by reframing life’s challenges
• Shifting perspective to see the world with gratitude and compassion
• Processing collective grief in the face of global crises, politics, and inequality
• How to live in love instead of living in fear
• Finding the blessings in difficult circumstances
• The wisdom of Stoicism and learning to “live with death on the shoulder”
• Laughing at the dance between life’s seriousness and absurdity
• Finding the heart-mind in ourselves and providing service to others

About Andy Chaleff:

Andy Chaleff is an author, mentor, and speaker whose life and work are grounded in radical emotional honesty. At eighteen, Andy’s mother was killed by a drunk driver just hours after receiving a deeply personal letter he had written — a soul-baring message he never imagined would be his last to her. That moment became the start of a lifelong inquiry into grief, love, and what it means to live without holding back.

Today, Andy works privately with a select group of clients, from cultural icons to global leaders, offering mentorship rooted in vulnerability, clarity, and deep presence. His work invites people to reconnect with themselves and embrace the parts of life we’re taught to avoid. His books, often called spiritual memoirs, blend raw personal storytelling with existential insight. His newest, Dying to Live, explores how coming to peace with death can open us to the full beauty of life. Originally from California, Andy now lives in Amsterdam, where he directs Amsterdam's Welvaren, a center for coaching and leadership. Check out Andy’s website HERE.

“It’s the recognition of fear that is a prime ingredient. It always goes back to fear of death, or, you can say it a different way, impermanence.” –Andy Chaleff

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