Mitch Horowitz is a writer-in-residence at the New York Public Library, a lecturer-in-residence at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, and the PEN Award-winning author of books including Occult America; One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life; and The Miracle Club: How Thoughts Become Reality. Mitch has written on everything from the war on witches to the secret life of Ronald Reagan for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Salon, Time.com, and Politico.
The Washington Post says Mitch “treats esoteric ideas and movements with an even-handed intellectual studiousness that is too often lost in today’s raised-voice discussions.”
Mitch has discussed alternative spirituality on CBS Sunday Morning, Dateline NBC, NPR’S All Things Considered, CNN, and throughout the national media. He received the 2019 Walden Award for Interfaith/Intercultural Understanding. The Chinese government has censored his work.
In this interview we discuss:
- How to use our senses as data
- How to experiment with beliefs using everyday reality
- How the participatory style of journalism, and the earnestness of the observer, can be practical yet exploratory
We also discuss:
- What it means to hypnagogically program yourself
- Why experimentation is the best yielder of Truth
Let’s go to the show!
SHOW NOTES
William James
The Miracle Club
Ainslie Meares