The More Beautiful World

Book Discussion Video Series

With Scott Noelle & Jeremy Stuart
July/August, 2015

• On our Facebook Page
• In the YouTube comments below each video. (Go to the video your sharing is about, then scroll down to the Comments section.)
• By email: mbw@dailygroove.com
• Please put the relevant chapter number at the beginning of each comment (or in the Subject line if commenting by email), and keep the comments brief. This will help us stay organized and include more viewer comments in the videos.
• Click here to see an example...
  We are especially interested in any perspective, angle, or insight that is unique to you and your life circumstances or experience. For example, the title of Chapter 1, “Separation,” might trigger some readers’ memories of their parents going through a marital separation, so the concept of separation would have a very personal meaning to them. Such a reader might therefore be inspired to share a brief comment like this:

  (Ch.1) When I was 10, I felt that my parents’ separation was the cause of my sadness, but after reading this chapter I realized that their failed marriage was a manifestation of “The Story of Separation,” and my being immersed in that story was at the root of my sadness.

• Go to Scott Noelle’s YouTube channel, click “Subscribe,” then click the subscriptions settings (gear icon) and select “Send me updates.”
• “Like” our Facebook page, then click on “Liked” and select “Get Notifications.”
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Links & Resources

mentioned in the videos

• New to Charles Eisenstein’s work? Here’s my playlist of the best of Charles Eisenstein videos on YouTube.
• Watch Charles Eisenstein’s TED talk about the journey from Separation to Interbeing
• Read or buy the book online: The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible, by Charles Eisenstein
• Rethinking Everything Conference & Retreat
• Class Dismissed, Jeremy's documentary
• The Daily Groove (this website)
• Share your thoughts about Video #1 on YouTube, on Facebook, or via email (please put “Intro” in the subject line).

• Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn: Video intro to Quinn's ideas / Ishmael.org / Ishmael on Amazon.com
• The Continuum Concept, by Jean Liedloff: Video intro to Liedloff's ideas / Continuum-Concept.org / The Continuum Concept on Amazon.com
• The Matrix, Red/Blue Pill scene
• Marianne Williamson's "deepest fear" quote
• Share your thoughts about Chapters 1 through 4 on Facebook or via email (please put “Chapter [number]” in the subject line).
• Meet Scott, Jeremy, and Charles at Rethinking Everything Conference & Retreat, September 4-7, 2015, in Little Rock, Arkansas

• Rattle and Soul — Jeremy’s poetry blog
• Video Slideshow of Rethinking Everything 2010 — Catch a glimpse of Scott looking extremely happy at 4:29.
• The original “Free Hugs” video
• Share your thoughts about Chapters 5 through 10 on Facebook or via email (please put “Chapter [number]” in the subject line).

• Rupert Sheldrake’s website
• Scott’s favorite Rupert Sheldrake videos
• The trailer for Class Dismissed
• Ask and It Is Given by Esther & Jerry Hicks
• Share your thoughts about Chapters 11 through 16 on Facebook or via email (please put “Chapter [number]” in the subject line).

• Recommended book: How To Win By Quitting, by Jerry Stocking
• The Gift of Depression – Scott’s blog post about the potential benefits of mild depression.
• The “More Beautiful World” Poetry Collection
• Share your thoughts about Chapters 17 through 22 on Facebook or via email (please put “Chapter [number]” in the subject line).

• For this episode, Scott interviewed Jeremy with one or two questions for each chapter. Now it's your turn! Tell us your answers...

  Chapter 23: Pain

  (1)  Charles Eisenstein describes how the function of pain is to draw attention to our unmet needs. These include...

  • the need to express one's gifts and do meaningful work,
  • the need to love and be loved,
  • the need to be truly seen and heard, and to see and hear other people,
  • the need for connection to nature,
  • the need to play, explore, and have adventures,
  • the need for emotional intimacy,
  • the need to serve something larger than oneself, and
  • the need sometimes to do absolutely nothing and just be.

  Can you think of an example from your own life, perhaps recently, in which you felt pain because one of these needs was not met?

  (2)  Instead of ending pain by embracing it, giving full attention to it, and letting it reveal the deeper unmet needs that cause it, most people try to medicate pain with superficial pleasures.  What are some of your favorite ways to avoid addressing the root causes of pain?

  Chapter 24: Pleasure

  (3)  Charles wrote, "The deeper the unmet need ... the greater the pleasure in meeting it." Recall some memories of great joy and pleasure, and see if you can identify what deep needs were met.

  (4)  Charles says that hedonism can be subversive because when you give yourself permission to follow your pleasure, you eventually lose interest in the shallow pleasures that are glorified in the Old Story, and you begin to desire the deeper pleasures of Interbeing.  Have you ever experienced that or seen it happen in others?

  Chapter 25: Judgement

  (5)  The habit of negatively judging people depends on a belief system called DISPOSITIONISM, which basically says that people who do bad things are innately bad people.  On the other hand, compassion arises from SITUATIONISM, which essentially says that, "If I were in your shoes — if I had lived through all you've lived through — I might have done exactly what you did."  Can you think of a time when you judged someone and then later forgave them because you gained an understanding of his or her situation? (Include yourself!)

  Chapter 26: Hate

  (6)  Charles wrote: "By refusing to hate, we are committing a kind of betrayal. We are betraying the Story of the World that pits good versus evil." "When we ourselves stand in a different story from blame and hate, we become capable of dislodging others from that place too."  Have you ever hated someone you later grew to like or even love?

  Chapter 27: Righteousness

  (7)  The underlying cause of righteousness, according to Charles, is "an unmet psychological need for self-approval."  What are some things you tend to feel righteous about?

  Your WORD-WATCH Challenge!

  Charles wrote that "we in the West almost universally experience a story as something in which someone or something [bad or evil] must be overcome."  This week, note words and phrases that subtly promote the concept of overcoming evil with force, e.g. "challenge". :)

• Share your thoughts about Chapters 23 through 27 (and/or your answers to the interview questions) on Facebook or via email (please put “Chapter [number]” in the subject line).

• This time Jeremy interviewed Scott. How would YOU have answered Jeremy’s questions?

  Chapter 28: Psychopathy

  Charles Eisenstein wrote: "What if the psychopath isn't someone born without feeling, but rather someone born with an extraordinary capacity for empathy and sensitivity to emotional pain? Unable to endure its intensity, he shuts it off completely."

  Popular media is constantly bombarding us with negative imagery and stories of horror and suffering. Do you think that on some level we are becoming numb and if so then aren't we inadvertently creating a society of psychopaths?

  Chapter 29: Evil

  "When we speak of the dark side of human nature, we are making the dispositionist claim: that we do bad things because there is bad within us."

  Scott Noelle's bio for the Rethinking Everything conference says that he "believes that people are born good — open-hearted, trusting, and full of appreciation for the gift of life..." Do you think we all have a darker side, too? And if so, how do you work with your own dark side?

  Chapter 30: Story

  "When a story is young and hale, it has a kind of immune system that insulates its holders from cognitive dissonance. New data points that don't fit the story are easily discarded. ...[But] when a story grows old, none of these immune responses work as well. Inconsistent data, even when dismissed, leaves a lingering doubt."

  What part of your own story has grown old? What lingering doubts are you left with?

  Chapter 31: Disruption

  "To be a change agent is first, to disrupt the existing Story of The World, and second, to tell a new Story of The World, so that those entering the space between stories have a place to go."

  Can you give us an example of how you have disrupted the existing Story of the World and what New Story are you trying to tell in its place?

  Chapter 32: Miracle

  • "When one is aligned with the purpose of service, acts that seem exceptionally courageous to others are a matter of course.
  • When one experiences the world as abundant, then acts of generosity are natural, since there is no doubt about continued supply.
  • When one sees other people as reflections of oneself, forgiveness becomes second nature, as one realizes "But for the grace of God, so go I.' "

  Can you recall an experience in your life that you could clarify as a miracle?

  Chapter 33: Truth

  "The silence, the stillness, the soil, the water, the body, the eyes, the voice, the song, birth, death, pain, loss. Observe one thing that unifies all the places I listed in which we can find truth: in all of them, what is really happening is that truth is finding us. It comes as a gift."

  What's true for you? Where do you find your truth?

• Share your thoughts about Chapters 28 through 33 on Facebook or via email (please put “Chapter [number]” in the subject line).

• For the final episode, Scott and Jeremy each posed a single question...

  Scott's question:

  As we shift into the Story of Interbeing, one of the healing effects will be to "liberate the marginalized parts of people who have been suppressing their true gifts and passions in order to make a living or be normal." What true gifts and passions of yours are being liberated for you?

  Jeremy's Question:

  Has immersing yourself in this book (and in this video series) given you new insights into how you are making a difference in the world?

• Attend the Rethinking Everything Conference & Retreat in person -OR- check out the new live streaming option!
• Remember to enjoy The “More Beautiful World” Poetry Collection
• Share your thoughts about Chapters 34 through 36 on Facebook or via email (please put “Chapter [number]” in the subject line).