”Understanding we are all spirits having a human experience” - Rachel Astarte

Rachel started the show with a really interesting value; "understanding we are all spirits having a human experience." This was interesting because I have heard phrases like this before, but rarely do we get to dig into what it means and its implications. Given Rachel's background as an author ("Celebrating Solitude: How to Develop and Honor Your Highest Self"), holistic psychotherapist, and transformational life coach she brought a lot of in depth thinking on the topic. She was more than game to work through my logical approach to trying to understand a really spiritual topic.

The entire conversation was insightful as we worked through the implications of her value, but maybe the biggest take away was Rachel's view that we are all going through a human experience to learn as much as possible about existence and the universe, so that we could use our collective knowledge to get to a better world. There is so much to unpack in that, not least of which is, what is the "better" world we are working towards and how do we know that is actually our intended purpose? Interestingly, as you start to press on it, it starts to sound a lot like organized religion. We can't ever fully understand it, but there is a plan, and we should have faith that it will work out.

All of this made for a fascinating discussion where we explored the reason for human suffering, the limitations of formalized religions, the apparent randomness of the universe, as well as more practical issues--like what does all of this mean for our every day lives? It is one thing to believe that we are spirits working towards an improved collective consciousness, but what does that mean for you on a random Monday morning in July? Rachel's ability to discuss big picture philosophical topics but also their every day implications made her a really great guest to have on.