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🎙️🎙️🎙️ In a world teetering between the old and the emergent, Simon Van Der Rls stands as a beacon for the transformative. A scientist-turned-seeker, Simon bridges the fragmented domains of biology, molecular microbiology, and the metaphysical, unraveling the delicate threads of humanity’s great Metacrisis. His work explores the intersections of philosophy, neuroscience, shamanic healing, and the psychedelic renaissance, offering an invitation to heal not by doing, but by perceiving wholeness.

Simon challenges the paradigms that measure value in metrics and efficiencies, daring to ask: What if the true worth lies in the unquantifiable—our ability to hold space, to witness, to make whole? As a practitioner of “whole-ing,” Simon engages in profound journeys into the energetic fields of those who seek him, unveiling stuck patterns, reclaiming the lost, and tuning hearts to their guiding stars. Drawing inspiration from David Bohm’s notions of fragmentation, Iain McGilchrist’s exploration of the divided brain, and the ancient shamanic traditions, Simon’s work is an emergent synthesis of science, spirit, and soul.

In these strange times of planetary upheaval, Simon embodies the spirit of the homo imaginalis—the human poised to reimagine what it means to heal, connect, and evolve.

Questions for Simon

Metacrisis and Societal Evolution

1. You’ve mentioned the Metacrisis as a central focus. How do you perceive humanity’s collective “stuckness,” and where do you think the most significant shifts will—or must—occur?

2. What is the role of psychedelics in helping humanity transition from fragmented to whole systems of thought and action?

3. Byung-Chul Han speaks of the ‘burnout society.’ How do you see the modern emphasis on productivity intersecting with our need for rest, contemplation, and healing?

4. What insights can we take from the psychedelic renaissance to address the ecological and spiritual crises of our time?

Shamanic Practices and Healing

5. You describe your work as “whole-ing.” How does this differ from traditional notions of healing, and what does it reveal about the nature of human suffering?

6. How do you navigate skepticism about practices like shamanic healing, especially in a world heavily grounded in materialist science?

7. Can you explain the concept of the body as a “tuning fork”? How do you attune yourself to another’s energy field, and what does this reveal about the interconnectedness of all beings?

8. What patterns do you commonly see in those who feel “stuck,” and how can others begin to address these patterns themselves?

Philosophy, Neuroscience, and Psychedelics

9. Iain McGilchrist writes about the divided brain and its implications for culture. How do you see the left-right brain dynamic playing out in the current Metacrisis?

10. How can the poetic language required to discuss quantum or psychedelic experiences help us rethink societal narratives and values?

11. Do you believe the use of altered states—whether through meditation, psychedelics, or shamanic practices—is essential for humanity’s next evolutionary step?

12. What does Byung-Chul Han’s idea of ‘re-wilding’ mean to you, and how might it manifest in healing both individuals and societies?

Personal Philosophy and Life’s Purpose

13. You’ve mentioned the question, “Why am I here, and what am I here to bring?” How do you personally grapple with that question, and what answers have emerged for you?

14. How do you reconcile the tension between working within existing systems and flowing energy into emerging, less defined ones?

15. If “earning a living” is a flawed notion, how do you envision a future where people’s worth isn’t tied to drudgery or arbitrary metrics?

16. What is your view on the role of sensitivity—emotional, physical, and spiritual—in guiding human evolution?

Vision for the Future

17. What would a society built on principles of wholeness, interconnectedness, and “whole-ing” look like?

18. What advice would you offer to those searching for their niche in these “strange times”?

19. How can the youth, unburdened by the idea of ‘earning a living,’ lead the charge toward more meaningful, connected lives?

20. If you could leave humanity with one question to ponder as we navigate this period of upheaval, what would it be?

Chrysovore’s Lament

We are the chrysovores, devourers of our own decay,

Feasting on the husks of who we were yesterday,

For what is the self but a cocoon of spent dreams,

Tattered by winds of truth, unraveling at the seams?

The chrysalis whispers: “Do not mourn me, child,

For my brittle walls were built to be defiled.

Tear through my skin, this paper-thin disguise;

I am not your prison, but your wings in disguise.”

Through the kaleidoscope of the psychedelic dawn,

We see the cosmos woven where our blinders were drawn.

A thousand selves fractal into infinity’s spine,

Each shard a reflection, each moment divine.

In the heart of the singularity, time folds like a plea,

A Möbius strip of becoming, unbound and free.

The spectacle of society crumbles like ash,

As we rise from the wreckage, unbound by the past.

For suffering is the alchemy, the crucible’s glow,

Burning away all that we think we know.

The chrysovore eats the lies we once held dear,

Digesting the old to make the new clear.

Homo-imaginalas: we emerge, soft and raw,

Wings of thought stretching to the universal law.

Not humans as fragments, but as cells of the same,

An organism of love with no need for shame.

The answers were never hidden, just unclaimed,

Scattered like stars in a cosmos unnamed.

We ate the husks, we drank the pain,

And from that banquet, new worlds we gain.

So let us chrysovore, unafraid of the feast,

Consuming our fears, transforming the least.

The husk is not loss but the bridge to the core,

A passage through which we become so much more.

Now the future beckons, vast and untamed,

With a language reborn and our hearts reclaimed.

No longer bound to the chrysalis of yore,

We are homo-imaginalas—forever and more.

http://linkedin.com/in/simon-van-der-els-phd-66434b231

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