Sign up to get the Sloww Sunday newsletter via email for free:👇
Sloww Sunday Newsletter 103 (Apr 24, 2022) — Mini Mind, Awakened Brain, Butterfly Effect, & More
Happy Sunday!
Here’s the latest from Sloww along with the most interesting things I discovered last week.
To respect your time and attention, every newsletter can be read in under 5 minutes. If you enjoy it, please take 5 seconds to forward the email version to some friends and family. 🙏
🆕 New News
🧠 Mini Mind is live!
I’m thrilled to share Sloww’s newest product with you!
You can read the launch announcement here: Introducing “Mini Mind”: 365 Daily Emails of Bite-Size Brain Food
If you’re ready to begin your year-long learning journey👇
So, I went a couple steps further…
🌀 Sloww Stuff
A Mini Guide to Ego Development Theory (EDT)
1. An Introduction to “Ego Development Theory” by Susanne Cook-Greuter (EDT Summary)
3. 🔒 Behind the Scenes: My Ego Development Theory Self-Assessment
Here’s EDT in a nutshell:
🧠 Modern Knowledge
The Awakened Brain (Neuroscience of Spirituality)
53 mins | The Psychology Podcast (YouTube)
Lisa Miller, PhD is a clinical psychology professor, bestselling author, and founder of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute. Her latest book, “The Awakened Brain,” combines cutting-edge science (MRI studies, genetic research, epidemiology, and more) with on-the-ground application to illuminate the surprising science of spirituality. She says humans are universally equipped with a capacity for spirituality and that our brains become more resilient and robust as a result of it.
I’m fascinated by the intersection of science and spirituality, and these books are also on my full reading list:
· “How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain: The New Science of Transformation” by Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman
· “The Science of Enlightenment: How Meditation Works” by Shinzen Young
· “Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment” by Robert Wright
Pair with: What is Spiritual Intelligence? The Twenty-One Skills of “SQ21” by Cindy Wigglesworth (Book Summary)
“Lisa Miller is the leading psychologist of her generation on the benefits of religion and spirituality. She asks, ‘What makes life worth living?,’ and finds evidence-based answers.” — Martin Seligman (Founder of Positive Psychology)
☯️ Timeless Wisdom
Anthony de Mello Spirituality Study
Various Lengths | Tony de Mello
Anyone want to join for an informal Anthony de Mello spirituality study? For 30 mins/day, I’m watching/listening to all his video/audio recordings in the link above. I’m sharing favorite quotes on Twitter, and 🔒highlights in the Sloww Society.
Pair with:
- Seeing through your Programming: “The Way to Love” by Anthony de Mello (Book Summary)
- A Tough Love Approach to Spirituality: “Awareness” by Anthony de Mello (Book Summary)
- 🔒 How to Wake Up with “Awareness” by Anthony de Mello (+ 3 Infographics)
“Spirituality means waking up. Most people, even though they don’t know it, are asleep. They’re born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, they die in their sleep without ever waking up.” — Anthony de Mello
🤯 Mind Expanding
The Real Butterfly Effect
6 mins | Sabine Hossenfelder (YouTube)
The butterfly effect, a phenomenon in chaos theory, continues to fascinate me. Maybe you’ve heard the question, “Can the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?” The short video linked above shares the real meaning of “butterfly effect”—and it’s probably not quite what you think.
“The brief summary is that even in a deterministic system, predictions may only be possible for a finite amount of time—and that is what Lorenz really meant by ‘butterfly effect.'” — Sabine Hossenfelder
💭 Deep Thought
Ego is not the enemy.
Ego is misunderstood—it serves a purpose and is underdeveloped in most. Paradoxically, it seems that a “big ego” is actually a small ego. Instead of ego death, aim for ego development:
“Having a substantial quieting of the ego is strongly related to having a strong, not weak, sense of self and with increased, not weakened, authenticity. Indeed, those with the quietest ego defenses often have the strongest sense of self. As the Buddhist Harvard psychotherapist Jack Engler put it, ‘You have to be somebody before you can be nobody.'” — Scott Barry Kaufman (Transcend)
“Self-actualization paradoxically makes more possible the transcendence of self … The best way to transcend the ego is via having a strong identity.” — Abraham Maslow (Self-Actualization & Transcendence)
“You have to develop a mature ego before you can transcend and let it go.” — Susanne Cook-Greuter (Ego Development Theory)
“To reach the transpersonal, you have to go through the personal.” — Joseph Campbell
“‘Transcending the ego’ thus actually means to transcend but include the ego in a deeper and higher embrace … we do not ‘get rid’ of the small ego, but rather, we inhabit it fully … the ego is not an obstruction to Spirit, but a radiant manifestation of Spirit.” — Ken Wilber (Integral Theory)
💬 Wise Words
We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come.
— Joseph Campbell
Sharing: If you enjoyed this issue, please help grow Sloww by forwarding the email version of this issue to some friends and family. It’s free for them to subscribe here.
Support: Sloww is a one-human labor of love (it’s just me over here 👋). Your support keeps the site ad-free and invests in me while you invest in yourself—a true win-win! There are a few financial and free ways to support.
Feedback: Have something you want to say, or just want to say hi? It’s always greatly appreciated. Just send me an email or reach out socially.
Have an alive week!
Kyle Kowalski
Founder, Sloww
