Now administering third-eyed drops.

Greetings and welcome to the Mind Meld. Michael Philip here.

I hope you've been finding time to keep the wonder alive.

Keep that vital, novel, energy flowing.

Honestly, it ebbs and flows for me, my friends.

It ebbs and it flows despite what you might hear from me on the show.

And I suppose that is one of the reasons that I'm actually grateful for this thing

because when I sit in this chair and I yammer into the microphone,

I'm kind of coerced into going there.

You know, even if I did just finish a soul eroding DMV trip

or step in guide dog vomit at Target or something,

this chair takes me there.

So let us go there together to a place where dogs you aren't even allowed to pet.

Don't puke in a place you don't even want to be.

And this week, let's do it via the majesty of the self-similar yet always novel

evolution of our minds and really this planet at large.

Yes, that is hugely grandiose, but it is an endlessly fascinating topic

and it's one that may be more tied in than we typically think

that relationship between mind and evolution.

Maybe not if you listen to this podcast because if you do,

you've probably at least entertained the sort of pan-psychist idea

that mind is a fundamental part of reality.

...