Beyond Labels: Finding Meaning & Purpose w/Faydra Shantel

What happens to your identity when your roles, labels or life circumstances fall away? In this episode, we have on friend of the show Faydra Shantel And we explore the fluid nature of identity... How it forms, evolves, And what actually remains when everything changes. Stories are shared from personal experience through identity, race, gender, sexuality, spiritual practice, relationships and more. We Discuss how identity can be both limiting and liberating, What remains when jobs, roles or belief systems dissolve. The role of spiritual practice in stabilizing your sense of self, why core values may matter more than labels and how to navigate identity transitions without losing yourself.

In this episode we are joined by Dr. Sameet Kumar, a clinical psychologist and researcher, for a wide ranging conversation on how we relate to death, grief and love- both individually and collectively.We explore Dr. Kumar's work on a clinical study using psilocybin with late-stage cancer patients, and what this research reveals about fear, meaning, and psychological suffering at the end of life. We also discuss, grieving mindfully, the difference between individual and collective grief, how modern society sequesters death away from our lives and the cost of that separation.This discussion is not about quick fixes or spiritual platitudes but an honest examination of how human beings, connect, suffer and grow from loss.

What happens when a radical ethical movement becomes an empire endorsed religion in this episode we discuss early Christians As social justice figures, The transition from protoorthodox Christian communities to Evangelicalism And the ideological consequences of patriarchy and institutional power. Using the HIPEE Model and NSPM7 as frameworks, we examine how Christian ideology consolidated, stabilizes and defends itself over time. A major focus in the conversation is Constantine, not as a spiritual moment, but as a structural turning point that reshaped Christianity's Theology, authority and relationship to power. Throughout, we emphasize ideological honesty, naming what Christianity was, what it became, and why these distinctions matter.

Before were fixed and beliefs enforced, christianity was still being argued, imagined and chosen. In this episode we explore the early debates that shaped Christianity. Proto Christian movements, the emergence of orthodoxy, how heresy came to be defined, and what was excluded along the way. We revisit Pagan influences, the Nicene debates, and the deeper question underneath it all, what does it mean to choose belief when multiple paths exist? This is not about arriving at answers but about understanding the moment when Christianity was still up for a debate.

What happens when an ancient faith collides with modern culture, in this episode, we trace the history of Christianity, examine the toxicity that can grow around it, and question what it really means to call oneself a Christian today. We explore the container that holds belief dash its shape, limits, and fractures. We do this, while unpacking competing theologies and the paradox of possibility that emerges when certainty dissolves. This is a conversation about faith, doubt, and the courage to look honestly at what binds us.

Daniel shares His experience from a Meditation retreat. And while it didn't necessarily give him answers it gave him questions... In this episode we share an honest look at how Stillness revealed his attachment to Identity, insight Comm and being "special". This conversation is about ego, vulnerability, and what remains when the story of the self starts to loosen.

In this episode we have on friend of the show Faydra Shantel to discuss a series of 5 personal questions and how inquiry can reveal much about us.

in this episode, we step into the tension between faith and doubt, tradition and evolution, and devotion and toxicity in religious tradition. We examine how religion changes overtime and what happens when living faith hardens into ideology.

In this episode we explore Christianity, orthodoxy, heterodoxy, the Seven Mountain mandate, and the psychology of power. We will examine how belief systems evolve into social structures, how narratives of persecution emerge within dominant groups and how literalism and acceleration is thinking shape modern religious and social movements.

Why do so many people feel emotionally flat, disconnected, or joyless even when life looks “successful” on the outside? In this episode, we explore the Chinese Medicine Fire Element, the Heart, and the growing crisis of mediated happiness, burnout, and flat depression in the modern world.The Heart in Chinese Medicine is more than an organ—it is the home of the Shen (spirit), the center of joy, meaning, connection, and emotional coherence. When the Fire Element is balanced, life feels warm, meaningful, inspired, and alive. When it is disturbed, people may feel chronically numb, restless, depressive, over-stimulated, or trapped in external validation and endless striving.We explore:• Why modern happiness often feels empty and unsatisfying• The difference between pleasure, dopamine, and true joy• How “working for infinity” burns out the Heart• Flat depression and emotional numbness through the Fire Element lens• How the Heart protects itself through withdrawal, shutdown, and over-stimulation• What a balanced Heart actually feels like• How real joy returns when Fire is regulated, not exploitedThis conversation bridges Chinese Medicine, psychology, nervous system regulation, somatic experience, modern culture, and spiritual development—offering a deeper understanding of why so many people feel emotionally exhausted in a world obsessed with stimulation and productivity.