Infants on Thrones

Glenn Ostlund's Psychology Today ProfileWhat happens when a data scientist, a trauma-informed mental health counselor, and a dude who really REALLY likes Batman and the '80s BMX movie Rad start questioning the nature of reality?In this episode of Infants on Thrones, Jake, Glenn, and Tom explore life, death, identity, and the strange ways our experiences shape who we become. Jake opens up about his extraordinary experience surviving a 2018 cardiac arrest, spending 75 minutes without oxygen to his brain, losing an entire month of memories, and having to relearn how to do things most of us take for granted. He reflects on how his recovery transformed his personal and professional life and inspired his ongoing essay, Death of a Data Scientist.Along the way, the three revisit their Mormon missionary days, the origins of Brother Jake, and the curious power of nostalgia. Why do certain movies, stories, and memories stay with us? And how do our experiences shape not only what we believe, but who we believe ourselves to be?It's a classic Infants on Thrones conversation filled with vulnerability, curiosity, irreverent humor, philosophical detours, and a surprising number of pearls.No testimonies required. No final answers guaranteed. Just three Infants questioning everything—including each other.

Glenn Ostlund's Psychology Today ProfileTom, Jake, and Glenn dive into the world of superheroes, debating the best Superman, Batman, and the brilliance of HBO’s Lanterns. Then Tom confesses his guilty pleasure: AI-generated music. Is artificial intelligence expanding human creativity or slowly replacing it? The conversation explores the future of art, education, and human connection before landing on the fascinating topic of learned helplessness—and what happens when we stop exercising the abilities we once relied on.

Glenn Ostlund's Psychology Today ProfileTom Perry and Brother Jake return to Infants on Thrones to join Glenn in an old-school conversation about Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos, and Nathan Fielder’s documentary You Can See Everything.Drawing parallels between Mormon missionary zeal and Holmes’ convictions, Glenn, Tom, and Jake explore belief, self-deception, cognitive dissonance, and the stories we tell ourselves about other people.Through the lenses of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), cognitive defusion, and Anil Seth’s concept of controlled hallucination, they consider a deceptively simple question: How much can we really know about another person’s experience—or even our own?

Glenn Ostlund's Psychology Today ProfileWhat happens when a spiritual teaching moves through personality, money, sexuality, celebrity, institutional power, and the human desire to become somebody?In this episode of Infants on Thrones, we view Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, Joseph Smith, and the religious movements surrounding them through the metaphysical vocabulary of The Ra Contact. Using the Law of One’s distinction between service to others and service to self, we explore how teachings of unity can encourage compassion, freedom, and direct spiritual experience—while also becoming entangled with wealth, hierarchy, prestige, authority, and control.Why does Tolle’s teaching tend to dismantle the seeker’s need to become extraordinary? How can spirituality turn ambition into spiritualized ambition? What happens when Joseph Smith’s radically expansive vision of human divinity becomes an institution organized around priesthood keys and exclusive authority? And how might a scale created to judge spiritual teachers quietly become another source of ego and superiority?The percentages offered in this episode are a playful interpretive device, not measurements found in The Ra Contact. The deeper question is personal:Does a teaching increase compassion without weakening discernment? Does it strengthen boundaries without creating contempt? Does it make authority more necessary—or leave us increasingly free to be present as nobody in particular?

Glenn Ostlund's Psychology Today ProfileIn A Tale of Two Dows, Glenn responds to a message from his father through a story about family, Taoism, a childhood cactus patch, and what he has learned about the nervous system since launching the 28-Day Nervous System Reset Podcast. It’s an invitation to notice thoughts, feelings, and inherited patterns with a little more curiosity—and perhaps discover a little more choice in what happens next.Follow the The 28-Day Nervous System Reset Podcast You can contact Glenn through his Psychology Today profile.

Glenn Ostlund's Psychology Today ProfileGlenn sits down with Mike Steed from Mormons on Mushrooms to discuss The Gene Keys and his experiences with agitation.