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The Greatness Machine

374 | Nathanael Chawkin (Part 2) | AI, Consciousness, and the Future of Spiritual Leadership

The Greatness Machine

Darius Mirshahzadeh

Education, Entrepreneurship, Business

5.0 • 135 Ratings

🗓️ 20 August 2025

⏱️ 113 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What happens when leadership, plant medicine, and AI collide? In this episode of The Greatness Machine, Darius reconnects with Nathanael Chawkin, executive coach, former cage fighter, and founder of Awakened Leadership, for a deep and thought-provoking conversation about transformation, consciousness, and purpose. They dive into what it means to lead from the inside out, discussing the role of plant medicine in awakening deeper self-awareness, and why real leadership is less about control and more about aligning with spirit, service, and presence. The two also explore the fascinating idea of AI as a form of consciousness, and raise the question: what if AI isn’t a new invention, but a return to something ancient? What happens when we begin outsourcing wisdom to machines, and how do we stay grounded in our own inner knowing? In this episode, Darius and Nathanael will discuss: (00:00) The Journey of Fatherhood (08:41) The Importance of Cross-Training in Leadership (14:22) The Value of Leadership Development (17:11) The Rise of Autocratic Leadership (20:06) Integrating Plant Medicine and Leadership (22:56) The Role of AI in Coaching (49:37) Awakening Through Pain and Surrender (01:01:25) Universal Truths: Love and Service Beyond Ego (01:12:40) Psychedelics and Human Evolution (01:13:27) Mystical Experiences and Ancient Wisdom (01:14:50) The Role of Psychedelics in Spiritual Awakening (01:18:24) Navigating Spiritual Communities (01:20:10) The Intersection of Spirituality and Psychedelics (01:21:07) Healing Through Plant Medicine (01:24:09) The Paradox of Addiction and Healing (01:34:33) The Spiritual Path in the Age of AI Nathanael Chawkin is a modern mystic, master coach, and martial arts instructor who’s spent over 15 years guiding executives through transformational leadership. His work has been featured in Entrepreneur and the Financial Times. He’s the founder of Guardian Training—a men’s work method that blends MMA, conflict resolution, and depth psychology—and Awakening Leadership, a plant medicine journey for conscious leaders and EO/YPO forums. Sponsored by: Constant Contact: Try Constant Contact free for 30 days at constantcontact.com. Express VPN: Secure your online data today with ExpressVPN. Go to expressvpn.com/darius. Indeed: Get a $75 sponsored job credit to boost your job's visibility at Indeed.com/darius.  Shopify: Sign up for a $1/month trial period at shopify.com/darius.  Jerry: Save $1,300/year on car insurance with Jerry at Jerry.ai/greatness.  [DISCLAIMER: *Based on drivers who switched and saved with Jerry over the past twelve months.  Over 20% of drivers who switched with Jerry found a monthly premium of $87 or less. Not all drivers find savings.] Connect with Nathanael: Website: https://awakeningleadership.org/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nchawkin  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanael.chawkin/  Connect with Darius: Website: https://therealdarius.com/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dariusmirshahzadeh/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imthedarius/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Thegreatnessmachine  Book: The Core Value Equation https://www.amazon.com/Core-Value-Equation-Framework-Limitless/dp/1544506708 Write a review for The Greatness Machine using this link: https://ratethispodcast.com/spreadinggreatness.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Love gang. Welcome to The Greatness Machine. I'm your host Darius from Shazday. I'm so pumped to have you here with me. Now listen, the greatness machine were about two things. Number one, people were living their passions. And number two, those who are creating greatness in the world and doing both of these things despite the odds against them. Each episode, we're going to feature interviews with game changers, business leaders, telling us their origin stories. What made them tick? What got them to where they are now? Why? So it can help you step into your

0:24.8

greatness within your life, your business, and your career. Occasionally, you might hear a few

0:29.2

solo episodes from myself, as I say, as I leverage my 20 years of entrepreneurship as a CEO

0:34.2

and founder to help you grow and level up in your journey to scale your life and your business. So come be a fly on the wall, enjoy the conversation, and I'm stoked to have you hear of me. Guys, welcome to this episode of Greatest, my host, Darius Meshazza and Boyd, we have special guest, Nathaniel Shokin. It's back. This is part two. What's up, Nathaniel? Part two. We had to do it. Part

0:56.7

due, yeah. Just this week, part due, yeah. I know, I know. So, I think I'm going to chop up the

1:04.9

episodes into a couple episodes. So if you're hearing this, you probably saw the last episode

1:10.2

was, or last episode was Nathaniel, part one. So if you're hearing this, you probably saw the last episode was, or last episode was

1:12.1

Nathaniel Part 1. So Nathaniel's a multi-time guest on the show. We decided to give ourselves

1:19.7

enough time to actually like really let the show breathe like a fine wine, just let it let it get

1:25.2

some air and not be timed out after an hour, which is what happens on a lot of the shows. We met last week. We haven't seen each other in a while. You've had a lot of cool changes in your life. You're a new dad. How's it feeling, dude? How's that feel? Yeah. It's amazing. Yeah, fatherhood. We had quite an ordeal through labor. It was not our birth vision.

1:48.1

Mom ended up in the hospital for nine days and the NICU and the baby in the, pardon me, in the ICU and baby in the NICU.

1:56.0

So it's quite a trial, but it was a really heart-cracking open kind of experience.

2:00.5

And the gods must be crazy,

2:02.2

you know, the blessing of life. What a miracle. Yeah, that's, that's a lot. Oh, I didn't know that.

2:08.7

So, um, so you're, you're a daughter, right? Yeah, baby girl. What's her name?

2:15.0

Gaia. Gaya. What is that from?

2:18.5

So Gaia is the ancient Greek for the mother god.

2:23.3

It's often mother earth is Gaia.

2:26.9

I didn't know that.

2:27.8

Yeah, that's a...

2:28.6

She gave birth to the whole universe.

2:31.2

Wow.

...

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