How To Tickle Yourself Podcast

Religion & Spirituality
Health & Fitness
Education

Why do we exist? What are we supposed to do while we’re here? What is the nature of reality and what is the Self? How to Tickle Yourself is a podcast about the miracle of existence. It’s about spirituality, self-realization, and most of all - the joy of being a seeker. It’s where self-help meets philosophy, where we use the spark of inquiry to light your mind on fire. Learn how to tickle yourself, and you will discover your true purpose. And once you find that, the rest will take care of itself.

Season 1 is carved into 16 episodes, crafted to fit together like a 16-piece puzzle. We use controversy, storytelling, word origins, lyrics, writing, and ancient wisdom to explore each weekly topic. There’s even an actual puzzle to solve while you contemplate the most difficult puzzles of all, the puzzles of reality and the self. Join us each week as we put one more piece of the puzzle in place. Brought to you by Storic Media, How to Tickle Yourself was created and is hosted by Duff McDonald and Matt McButter, with original theme music by the legendary Paul Reddick and Kyle Ferguson of the Sidemen with Steve Marriner on bass and drums, and in the mixing room.

How To Tickle Yourself - A New Storic Media Podcast

Why do we exist? What are we supposed to do while we’re here? What is the nature of reality and what is the Self? How to Tickle Yourself is a podcast about the miracle of existence. It’s about spirituality, self-realization, and most of all - the joy of being a seeker. It’s where self-help meets philosophy, where we use the spark of inquiry to light your mind on fire. Learn how to tickle yourself, and you will discover your true purpose. And once you find that, the rest will take care of itself.
Season 1 is carved into 16 episodes, crafted to fit together like a 16-piece puzzle. We use controversy, storytelling, word origins, lyrics, writing, and ancient wisdom to explore each weekly topic. There’s even an actual puzzle to solve while you contemplate the most difficult puzzles of all, the puzzles of reality and the self. Join us each week as we put one more piece of the puzzle in place. Brought to you by Storic Media, How to Tickle Yourself was created and is hosted by Duff McDonald and Matt McButter, with original theme music by the legendary Paul Reddick and Kyle Ferguson of the Sidemen.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

1 - THE MOST DIFFICULT PUZZLE OF ALL TIME

Episode 1 of 16 is called The Most Difficult Puzzle of All Time. When you do a cardboard puzzle, you are trying to assemble an image. So what would be the most difficult puzzle of all time? That would be grasping reality itself. Every single puzzle you have ever done in your life is just a warmup for the big kahuna, the one that, when assembled, answers the question Who Am I?
Hosted by Duff McDonald and Matt McButter
Theme music by Paul Reddick and Kyle Ferguson
Featuring Music from Chris Zabriskie
More info at StoricMedia.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

2 - THE PRECISION PARADOX

We keep trying to count our way to enlightenment. The experts tell us to evaluate each other based on the numbers that can be assigned to us: Our annual sales performance, our IQ, or our influencer rating. While it obviously makes sense to incorporate selective measurement into the decisions we make, it doesn’t make sense to overweight those things we can easily measure while underweighting those that we can’t—particularly those things that make us human, such as our level of awareness or our attitude. In other words, our state of mind.
The journey to self-discovery is not a calculation. When you ask, Is this my Self? Who is having this experience? Who am I? The answer to those questions is not a number.
Hosted by Duff McDonald and Matt McButter
Theme music by Paul Reddick and Kyle Ferguson
Featuring Music from Chris Zabriskie
More info at StoricMedia.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

3 - THE ALTAR AT WHICH YOU PRAY

Pray at the altar of capitalism and you will find efficiency. Pray at the altar of science and you will find precision. Pray at the altar of the Self and you will find Grace - gentility, affability, elegance, ease, benevolence, and beauty. I know which altar I pray at. Which is yours?
Hosted by Duff McDonald and Matt McButter
Theme music by Paul Reddick and Kyle Ferguson
Featuring Music from Chris Zabriskie
More info at StoricMedia.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

4 - THERE IS NO EQUATION FOR ENLIGHTENMENT

This episode marks the end of our first quartile, which we named The Great Awakening. When you wake up, you haven’t “figured something out.” You have simply emerged from somewhere else, from sleep or perhaps a dream. But there is no equation for waking up. There is no equation for enlightenment. The answer is simply to be.

Hosted by Duff McDonald and Matt McButter
Theme music by Paul Reddick, Kyle Ferguson, and Steve Marriner
Featuring Music from Chris Zabriskie
More info at StoricMedia.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

5 - THE TRAP OF TIME

The place we want to get to is right here, right now, and there are no numbers that can adequately grasp now.
Why is that?
Because now is infinite. It cannot be captured quantitatively. Of all the tools we have created, numbers and mathematics and science are among the most powerful. They can tell us what happened (which doesn’t really matter anymore), or what might happen (which will always be a guess), but they can never tell us what is happening right now. Because as soon as you have started counting, the now that you were talking about is already gone, leaving you counting the past again.
Life is and always will be a stream of surprises. We like time because we like to think that there is a pattern, which makes us hope that we can predict things. But we can’t. We shouldn’t even be trying.
Nisargadaata Maharaj, who we will talk about in this episode, says that when we shake the illusion of time, we can shake the illusion of causality, and let creative freedom take its place.
No one made you do anything. You did what you did. You get to choose, and you get to choose every single instant. You are the creator of your own reality. Time has nothing to do with it, nor does causation. It’s all about freedom.
Just do what you need to do, in the moment, and everything else will follow.

Hosted by Duff McDonald and Matt McButter
Theme music by Paul Reddick, Kyle Ferguson, and Steve Marriner
Featuring Music from Chris Zabriskie
More info at StoricMedia.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

6 - ANALYSIS PARALYSIS

People talk too much about the things that they think. We should spend our time doing things and then tell stories about the things we have done.
Why do you think the happiest people you know aren’t the ones with the most control but the ones who are able to exercise freedom of choice in their lives? The ones who do whatever they want to do? The Quantified Self? Are you kidding me? That’s like sentencing yourself to life in the prison of your own mind.
We should spend less time trying to calculate probabilities. We should spend less time in pursuit of certainty. We should spend less time trying to reduce risk. We should drop the quest for precision, once and for all. We should spend way more of our time embracing uncertainty and taking risks. You don’t need numbers to do either of those. You just need courage.
Hosted by Duff McDonald and Matt McButter
Theme music by Paul Reddick, Kyle Ferguson, and Steve Marriner
Featuring Music from Chris Zabriskie
More info at StoricMedia.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

7 - EINSTEIN WAS WRONG

Einstein used the same tools that all mathematicians and physicists use—numbers. And why wouldn’t he? Because it is mathematics that allowed us to entertain the fantasy that we can predict things—if this, then that. You will recall, however, that mathematics is something that only exists in our minds, and is therefore imaginary. Because our predictions take place in our minds, that means that they are imaginary, too.
In the zone of the intellect, science is useful. And why wouldn’t it be? It is the intellect that created science in the first place. But when we try to transcend the intellect - whether that’s asking why people are the way they are or asking about the nature of Absolute Reality, science is in overreach. It cannot tell us what it means to be human and it cannot tell us what it means to exist, which is another way of saying the nature of reality. For answers to those questions, we need to look inside.
Hosted by Duff McDonald and Matt McButter
Theme music by Paul Reddick, Kyle Ferguson, and Steve Marriner
Featuring Music from Chris Zabriskie
More info at StoricMedia.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

8 - ALWAYS BE WONDERING

To be in a state of wonder is to be open, not closed. You are not narrowing the field. You are trying to see all of it.
There’s a concept in Indian spirituality called sadhana, the path of knowledge, guided by grace. It’s the journey of self-discovery.
“Human language is the attempt to express the truth that is within.” - Vivekananda
If we can stop telling each other the things that we are certain about, and start sharing with each other the things that cause us to exist in a state of wonder, then we will be well on our way.
Hosted by Duff McDonald and Matt McButter
Theme music by Paul Reddick, Kyle Ferguson, and Steve Marriner
Featuring Music from Chris Zabriskie
More info at StoricMedia.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

9 - INFINITE KOMBUCHA

One of the most fascinating things I have come to understand about the nature of reality is that the seeker is the sought. Or, put another way, the seen exists only for the sake of the seer. What does that mean? It means that the act of looking is what causes something to exist. It’s all inside of us. Everything you see is inside of you. If you manage to turn your senses inward, you will find the Self - that is, God. And God is infinite. So the universe, which most of us thinks exists outside of us, is actually inside of us, and it is endless.
One of the ways that I came to understand this was by making kombucha. I know that sounds absurd, but it’s true. When I realized the implications of kombucha being a living drink, I also realized that it contained infinite possibility. The beauty of kombucha is not the wonderful variety of flavors that are available, it is the fact that kombucha can be any flavor you want it to be. That’s a subtle distinction, but it’s an important one. Focus on some particular flavor, and you have made a choice. But focus on the fact that it can be any flavor you want, and you are talking about possibility itself.
Hosted by Duff McDonald and Matt McButter
Theme music by Paul Reddick, Kyle Ferguson, and Steve Marriner
Featuring Music from Chris Zabriskie
More info at StoricMedia.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.