The End Is Just The Beginning

In this final episode of the podcast, Dr. Sally and Dr. Jen take a look back at this project and talk about some of the big takeaways. 

Transcript

1:37  Jen says they published their maiden episode “Who are we?” on January 15 of 2023. They talked about their unique but also similar paths that brought them together. They experienced their own journeys of transformation, then became students of transformation, and are now educators about transformation. They embarked on defining transformation over 26 episodes, looking at the many, various facets of transformation. They started by defining transformation and what it looks, and feels like. Then they moved to the fractal nature of transformation, and introduced one of the beloved mascot of the podcast, ‘the pair of ducks’. Paradox is an essential characteristic of transformation. Then they moved to the holonic nature of transformation in episode four. In subsequent episodes, they explored things like modes of transformation, healing the subject-object split, the flow of ‘merging’ and ‘emerging’. Then they created a mini-series on creativity and transformation, exploring how essential creativity is to the transformative journey. Then they looked at what inhibits, influences or ignites transformation – such as trauma, the meaning crisis, various developmental models, having peak experiences, and working with our unconscious minds, such as  dreamwork, shadow work and multiple intelligences. Following that, they looked at ways to measure transformation, and then finally in episode 25, the future of transformation. They’ve created a holistic container, practical and grounded in a variety of views and lenses, including theorists, artists, and stakeholders within the field of transformation, giving a comprehensive view of this dynamic topic. So today, they’ll highlight some of their essential takeaways from this year of deep learning – about, from and within the flow of transformation. 

6:06  Sally raises a cup in gratitude to the shared journey of the past year. Despite different journeys, they were brought together through synchronicity. Jung was one of the founders of the idea of synchronicity, and suggested the more you get into your own flow, and go deeper into the psyche through therapeutic process, the more the interconnected synchronicities will start showing up. Jen and Sally had both reached the same conclusion - that they needed to really understand this process of transformation, because they both felt like they’d been through the washing machine, tumbling and tumbling, struggling to breathe, and then eventually beginning to surf the waves instead of fighting them - learning how to work with embodied nervous systems to start surfing troubled waters; then learning to actively cultivate deeper transformation. And then Jen heard Sally somewhere on the internet, and contacted her and said, she wasn’t the only geek with a PhD in transformation. How about they co create? And so at that point, they embodied the synthesis they’ve been talking about – a coming together of two parts, into a bigger whole, as they created a podcast on that exact topic. So they feel like they’re part of what they're teaching. They have experienced that pattern, acting out in their own life. When you see that pattern, you begin to trust that the universe is beneficent, even through all the hardships. They feel the universe has their back, and yours, that this whole process is an activation of highest potentials. So here they are celebrating that, possibly as Process Theologists, or Panentheists, believing in the intelligent field that has our best interests at heart. The podcast took a deeply researched dive into multiple fields of study, to show how, despite intense moments of suffering. These can be the deepest learning times, turning carbon into diamond, through intense pressure. There's an old saying of beating swords into plowshares. We need to accept pressure, pain and suffering, as it can also have our best interests at heart. The podcast speaks about the yin and the yang as the core ‘pair of ducks’. ‘Pain and pleasure’ work together, to bring us into the understanding of unity. And when you find that unity - within or amongst you - there's a biofeedback of intense pleasure, despite the pain, so even when you're feeling the pain, there's a background radiation of subliminal joy, that cannot be extinguished. Sally shares some of the story of the three times in her life, she was forced, due to pressures of circumstance, to leave a situation with just a suitcase, when she was 17, 28, and 48. By the third time, she had developed a practice, and a set of frameworks to guide her. She hopes this podcast can be a framework for any one else going through difficult portals too. When we are in the flow, and in connection with that field of intelligence that has our best interests at heart, the synchronicities start popping up everywhere. We are in relationship with the universe, that starts sliding us ‘love notes’ in the form of people, places, opportunity and things. She hopes you can feel flowing through them, to you, from the universe. Because we’re all instruments for that field of intelligence to express itself. 

Jen says they could spend the rest of their lives doing episodes on transformation and never fully cover every aspect.  Super transformations are coming - new angles, new lenses, new opportunities for understanding. So she wants to acknowledge with great humility that they have not been exhaustive, but hopefully somewhat comprehensive, practical and intuitive, in ways that feel applicable, and generative to your specific journey. One takeaway for Jen was dedicating herself to a participatory process –researchers looking ‘at’ something, but also ‘within’ it. They deepened their relationship with each other, with the information, as they too transformed through the entire podcast about transformation. It is important to have relationships where we can co create and explore, learn with each other, and collaborate in really meaningful ways. It is also important to stake your own platform, rather than wait to be given the mic. Take the mic and create your own platform. They took their own voices back into their own hands, not only for their own stories, but for the future, that we all are creating together, that hopefully will be kinder, gentler and more sustainable than we have been. The more they talked about transformation, and the more they researched it, and the deeper they went, the more transformative their lives became. Like the observer effect, they were changing things just by looking at them, and by participating and engaging with the research. Jen describes some micro and macro transformations in her world. We train our eyes and hearts to be aware of these micro and macro transformations. Self awareness is essential to the journey of transformation. 

21:58  Sally points out that Jen just illustrated how to overcome the subject/object split - when awareness shifts from external to internal, or, between the rational and the intuitive. Are you looking ‘at’ something? Or are you ‘in’ the thing. She describes how they navigate the objective and the subjective in the podcast too, looking at the topic from both the inside and outside. Sally describes how her Art and English teachers encouraged both these parts in her. Then she describes what happened to her at 35, that was a deeply intuitive answer to her meditation about her purpose. From then on her perspective on creativity, transformation and evolution began to expand, until the creation of the podcast, looking at transformation as a hyper process, within which we are a creative fractals. Somehow the right teachers, books, experiences and opportunities were provided all along the way. The universe has our best interests at heart, and it's working through us. 

29:31  Jen agrees we stand on the shoulders of so many giants. And this podcast is an outgrowth of all the wisdom, love and knowledge that has been shared with them. It has been filtered through their experiences, so they can share it in novel and practical ways for listeners. There's no more noble purpose in life, then to listen, learn, bear witness to, and be the voice of this river, here on this podcast. The more ‘niche’ your topic, the more views you can potentially have, paradoxically, and that’s been true for us on this show. Turns out based on the feedback, that there are a lot of people who are transformation nerds, just like us, who are looking for these practical tools, and ways to understand and thrive on this journey of transformation. It has been worth the huge learning curve, they hope that it has been equally satisfying for viewers and listeners. They’re looking forward to bringing new content using this medium. If we are curious and determined we can do incredible things. As we enter this era of democratization of voices, those voices that have traditionally been in the margins have a real opportunity. So please let your voice be heard. 

35:03  Sally thanks Jen for her courage, resilience and endurance to be a voice despite, what she lives with and through, the pain, and illness. We are all voices for the river. It’s a responsibility and a gift that we all get, in our very unique ways. That river has multiple tributaries. Sally describes the flow from source, to river, to tributaries, to ocean. That river flows between the two ‘polarity banks’, into diversity, as the unique You, and you bring your gifts, and your voice. The learning for the two of them has not ended. They’ve only just begun. Sally describes possible future projects, including books, and an incubator to facilitate creativity for others, and experiential learning from this curriculum, maybe in person annual retreats. They will try to stay in beginner's mind. Sally then thanks listeners personally for putting the podcast in the top 10 globally. People are thirsty for this kind of information, and frameworks. And they would love to have more personal time with any of their listeners. Follow on their websites, Dr. Jenn peer rich, Dr. Sally Adams Jones. Join their Facebook group “Radical emergence podcast”. Sally says goodbye and hopes the 26 hours together helped alleviate some of the existential angst that folks are feeling right now. Trust in a universe that has your best interests at heart and is optimizing your learning experiences through pleasure and pain.