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  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • LAURA LING: You're a philosopher.

  • You've been described as a Timothy

  • Leary for the viral video age.

  • What sorts of things are you waxing poetic about these days?

  • JASON SILVA: Pretty much every time

  • I stumble upon an idea that captures my imagination,

  • something articulated in a counter intuitive way,

  • a different spin on technology, a different spin

  • on the future of humanity, that kind of gets my motors going

  • really, really fast.

  • LAURA LING: Tell me about your series "Shots of Awe."

  • JASON SILVA: So "Shots of Awe" came from a desire

  • to use media, to use cameras to immortalize inspiration.

  • I refuse to accept that these moments had

  • to be passing moments.

  • I was like no, no, no.

  • I choose to film them, to record them, to capture them.

  • And it was a way of gaining control over these experiences.

  • And I could create an intersubjective communication

  • with somebody else, because I actually

  • got to show you what it was like to be in my head

  • when I had this epiphany.

  • So "Shots of Awe" are philosophical espresso shots,

  • this condensed trailers for ideas.

  • What they hint at is the exception,

  • a vision of something more.

  • LAURA LING: Tell me about your process,

  • your ritual, how you are able to come up

  • with these stream of consciousness riffs?

  • JASON SILVA: I started getting into this idea of flow states

  • because I read this article that talked

  • about doing brain scans on freestyle rappers

  • when they were improvising.

  • And then they did brain scans on them

  • when they were reciting memorized lyrics.

  • And what the studies found, a part

  • of the brain that is responsible for our self-editing, our sense

  • of self-consciousness, that part goes dim during the freestyle.

  • So essentially, you're getting out of your own way.

  • It's like that line in "Black Swan" that

  • say perfection is not just about control,

  • it's also about letting go.

  • So I can have all my notes and my thoughts

  • and my ideas and this and that.

  • But then I go for the walk.

  • I go into the woods.

  • I go to Sea Ranch, California.

  • I go to Big Sur.

  • I go to some park.

  • And just the stroll and the disconnection from distraction

  • gets your brain daydreaming.

  • When you're in daydreaming mode, you

  • start to do a little bit of the lateral thinking.

  • So you start connecting this to that and this.

  • So you start to go through the aha moments.

  • And if you are lucky enough to have the camera around,

  • you're capturing that real time flow.

  • It's creativity happening in real time.

  • I mean it literally feels like channeling.

  • So for me, I figured out how to create my flow state.

  • And the results tend to be these riffs that people really love.

  • And they're like what, there's no script.

  • That was a completely extemporaneous stream

  • of consciousness?

  • I'm normally kind of an introvert and kind of shy

  • in most social situation.

  • But if the conditions are right, like a flame it emerges.

  • We never have a true, accurate rendition of reality

  • because it's all about our perception, our projections,

  • our longings.

  • Our romantic partners are creations

  • and we are the creators.

  • LAURA LING: So you said if you can create that flow state,

  • how do create it?

  • JASON SILVA: I have found that the best way is to take

  • yourself out of context, so a new experience,

  • a new space in a new place so that I transcend what Michael

  • Pollan calls the been there's and done that's of the adult

  • mind/ And I can enter the consciousness of the child.

  • I can be in wonderment.

  • I can be curious about everything

  • around me-- so rest, relaxation, novel spaces, novel

  • environments, disconnection, disconnection

  • from the every day, disconnection

  • from your daily responsibilities,

  • disconnection from your trivialities,

  • just a daydream space, a space to dream,

  • to fuse cognition and dream.

  • LAURA LING: What happens when you don't achieve that flow?

  • JASON SILVA: If it's not working,

  • I become highly anxious.

  • Actually, irritable is probably the best word.

  • I just kind of retreat.

  • I just withdraw.

  • LAURA LING: Can you describe how it feels to be in that state?

  • JASON SILVA: It feels like unbelievable lucidity, instant

  • recall, just this capacity to explain what you're feeling

  • and what you were thinking effortlessly.

  • Do we love the harder?

  • Do we squeeze tighter?

  • You just feel your best, and you perform your best.

  • The minute you choose one thing you've effectively

  • said no to everything else.

  • And there's a gnawing anxiety in realize that you can't possibly

  • have it all.

  • I'm like a reality hacker.

  • I'm like literally hacking my ontological reality.

  • And I'm studying how to trigger certain moods and modalities.

  • I'm literally playing with my consciousness

  • so that I can feel how I want to feel when I want to feel it

  • as often as possible.

  • LAURA LING: How important is this ritual

  • of achieving that flow state?

  • JASON SILVA: Hugely important.

  • You are building the foundations for something

  • magical to happen.

  • The ritual is as important as chopping the wood

  • and making sure it's dry before you light the fire.

  • It's providing the necessary ingredients

  • for you cognitive salad.

  • It's very, very, very, very important.

  • Almost, I would say that it's everything.

  • LAURA LING: I hope you were inspired

  • by Jason Silva's ritual and discover your own flow state.

  • This series is so special to me because I

  • learn something new from every person we future.

  • We have so many more intriguing episodes of rituals coming up,

  • so please, please subscribe to watch them and so much more.

  • And be sure to check out this other episode of rituals

  • to see how this Hollywood stuntman prepares

  • to get lit on fire.

  • JAMES ARMSTRONG: If I'm about to do something

  • and I feel my heart thumping or my hand shaking,

  • then I'll close my eyes and I breathe,

  • [INHALING]

  • JAMES ARMSTRONG: There is no other distraction,

  • no other thought.

  • It's just this absolute pinpoint focus of the task at hand.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

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