Peter Russell: Meeting Exponential Change with a Quiet Mind

April 7, 2026

Peter Russell: Meeting Exponential Change with a Quiet Mind

Peter Russell — April 7, 2026

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We live in a world accelerating faster than the human mind was built to handle. So what do we do with that?

This week, Tami Simon speaks with Peter Russell—author, speaker, and leading thinker on consciousness and spirituality, with degrees in theoretical physics, psychology, and computer science from Cambridge—about his new book, How to Meditate Without Even Trying, featuring a foreword by Eckhart Tolle. Decades after coining the term “global brain” and predicting the internet, Russell turns his visionary lens on the present moment: a world of staggering technological power and equally staggering stress.

Join Tami and Peter to explore:

From global brain to global mind: how AI represents the next threshold in humanity’s collective evolution
Why exponential change is not going away—and the hidden costs it’s placing on our personal and planetary systems
Forgiving Humanity: why the crises facing our species may be the inevitable result of accelerating development, not human failure
Accepting the possibility of extinction—and how that acceptance can paradoxically free us to live and serve more fully
The shift from “saving the world” to navigating these times with grace, compassion, and groundedness
Why meditation is more necessary now than ever—and how effortlessness, not discipline, is the key
“Letting in” before letting go: a practice for metabolizing emotion and releasing tension at its root
The tension in thinking—and how noticing it during meditation changes how we think outside of it

Whether you’re overwhelmed by the pace of the world or simply looking for a steadier way to move through it, Peter Russell offers both perspective and practice.

Listen now and find your way back to the quiet.

This conversation offers genuine transmission—not just concepts about awakening, but the palpable presence of realized teachers exploring the growing edge of spiritual understanding together. Originally aired on Sounds True One.

Peter Russell earned his master's degree in computer science form Cambridge University, and trained as a meditation teacher in India under the guidance of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He is the author of nine books including The Global Brain, From Science to God, and Waking Up in Time. Russell has consulted with IBM, Apple, American Express, Swedish Telecom, and Shell Oil on a variety of topics including self-development, creativity, stress management, and sustainable environmental practices.

Author photo © Paula Stillman

Posted April 7, 2026

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Meet Your Host: Tami Simon

Founded Sounds True in 1985 as a multimedia publishing house with a mission to disseminate spiritual wisdom. She hosts a popular weekly podcast called Insights at the Edge, where she has interviewed many of today's leading teachers. Tami lives with her wife, Julie M. Kramer, and their two spoodles, Rasberry and Bula, in Boulder, Colorado.

Photo © Jason Elias

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Peter Russell: Meeting Exponential Change with a Quiet...

Peter Russell — April 7, 2026

We live in a world accelerating faster than the human mind was built to handle. So what do we do with that?

Join Tami and Peter to explore:

From global brain to global mind: how AI represents the next threshold in humanity’s collective evolution
Why exponential change is not going away—and the hidden costs it’s placing on our personal and planetary systems
Forgiving Humanity: why the crises facing our species may be the inevitable result of accelerating development, not human failure
Accepting the possibility of extinction—and how that acceptance can paradoxically free us to live and serve more fully
The shift from “saving the world” to navigating these times with grace, compassion, and groundedness
Why meditation is more necessary now than ever—and how effortlessness, not discipline, is the key
“Letting in” before letting go: a practice for metabolizing emotion and releasing tension at its root
The tension in thinking—and how noticing it during meditation changes how we think outside of it

Whether you’re overwhelmed by the pace of the world or simply looking for a steadier way to move through it, Peter Russell offers both perspective and practice.

Listen now and find your way back to the quiet.

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Post Views: 871

Peter Russell: Widespread Awakening

Peter Russell — March 4, 2009

Leading with a recap of the key points in The Global Brain video, Tami Simon and author and revolutionary futurist, Peter Russell, discuss the current planetary crisis and the seeds of potential therein. According to Russell, our current crisis could lead to the widespread awakening of humanity . . . or to a global breakdown. Find out what we can do to shift the tide toward awakening. (42 minutes)

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[ENCORE EPISODE] Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche: “In Lo...

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche — September 1, 2026

A nine-year-old asks his father how to fight his panic attacks. His father says: don’t.

That answer set the course of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche’s life—and, twenty-seven years later, sent him out of his monastery in the middle of the night.

In this encore presentation, Tami Simon speaks with Rinpoche—beloved Tibetan Buddhist teacher in the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages, guiding teacher of the Tergar meditation community, and author of In Love with the World—about the four-and-a-half-year wandering retreat that nearly killed him, and the teaching he calls “adding wood to the fire.”

Raised as a tulku with attendants at his side, he left at 36 with almost no money. Within weeks he was begging for food, sleeping on a train station floor, and severely ill—and when he believed he was dying, he chose not to reach for rescue.

Join Tami and Mingyur Rinpoche to explore:

“Adding wood to the fire”: how obstacles become opportunity, and poison becomes medicine
His father’s teaching on the sky: why no storm can change the nature of awareness
Why banging your head against the wall isn’t courage, and what acceptance actually opens
The bardo as everyday experience: job loss, breakups, falling asleep, and the gaps between
The four steps of the dying practice—offering, dedication, intention, and prayer
Child luminosity meeting mother luminosity, and what he directly experienced that night
Why he titled the book In Love with the World: “If you love the world, world loves you back”

Rinpoche is now partnering with Sounds True on a brand-new course, Wild World, Steady Mind: 21 Days to Embrace Modern Reality with Clarity and Calm, filmed on location at his monastery in Nepal.

Listen now, and find the sky behind the storm. →

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Just One Question | Craig Foster: Why am I Afraid of N...

Craig Foster — July 9, 2026

We’ve all felt it: the excitement of heading out into nature, followed almost immediately by “wow, that’s a lot of bugs” energy. Turns out, that’s not just you being an urban dweller — it’s a genuine evolutionary paradox, and this week’s guest has spent his whole career living inside it.

Craig Foster is the filmmaker and naturalist behind My Octopus Teacher, and in this episode he tackles a question Tami poses about her own experience: why can she melt into a deep, connected feeling about nature from the safety of meditation, but feel completely terrified and separate the moment she’s actually standing in a wilderness with wolves, cougars, or sharks nearby?

Craig’s answer reframes the whole thing. He explains that we’re each carrying millions of years of “wild” memory, hardwired into who we are, while our conscious, modern selves have only had a few generations to adjust to industrial life. The fix isn’t a heroic leap into the deep wild — it’s small, steady reconnection.

A few takeaways from Craig’s answer:

We’re designed for wildness — our discomfort with it is a mismatch, not a flaw
Reconnection starts small: get to know the trees, insects, and animals right around your house
Comfort with the wild builds faster than you’d expect — sometimes in a matter of months
Even one backyard animal can teach you something profound about yourself and the natural world

If this got you thinking about your own relationship with the wild, you’ll want to hear the whole conversation — Craig and Tami go even deeper into what it means to live an amphibious life, split between our tame and wild selves.

Taken from the full Insights at the Edge conversation with Craig Foster. Find the complete interview in this feed or at soundstrue.com.

This episode is sponsored by Omega Institute, a global gathering hub for lifelong learning and spiritual exploration. Omega offers weekend workshops, special events, rest and rejuvenation retreats, professional training, online learning, and more. Discover what calls to you at eomega.org/true.

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Tara Brach: Choosing to Love in Perilous Times

Tara Brach — June 23, 2026

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What if the bravest thing you can do right now is refusing to close your heart?

This week, Tami Simon speaks with Tara Brach—beloved meditation teacher, clinical psychologist, and bestselling author of Radical Acceptance and Trusting the Gold—about her new inner workbook with Sounds True, The Courageous Heart: Choosing to Love in Perilous Times. At a moment when so many people feel pulled between despair and action, Tara offers a grounded path through both.

Join Tami and Tara to explore:

How to stay spiritually engaged—without burning out or spiritually bypassing the reality of suffering
The bodhisattva path as a living practice: what it means to be an “awakening being” in ordinary, everyday life
Why grief is often covered over by anger—and how moving through grief unlocks the capacity for love and action
The RAIN practice (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture) for working with armoring, fear, and excruciating pain in the heart
The shift from head space to heart space—and a brief guided meditation to experience it directly
How aspiration becomes the fuel for the spiritual path—and why Tara “sandwiches” her day with it
The practice of seeing basic goodness in others—including stories of Father Gregory Boyle and John Lewis that illuminate how this changes everything
What to do when you feel alone, disconnected, and uncertain where to start

Whether you’re overwhelmed by current events or searching for a more engaged and openhearted way to meet this moment, Tara Brach offers both the courage and the practical tools to begin.

Listen now and choose to love. →

Enter for a chance to win the Monthly Magic Subscription Journey. It includes 12 months of tea, a loose leaf starter kit, monthly virtual classes, and free shipping worth $673. Learn more at ClubMagicHour.com/TRUE (no purchase required). Get 20% off your first order of Magic Hour tea at ClubMagicHour.com with the code TRUE.

Peter Russell: Meeting Exponential Change with a Quiet Mind

Peter Russell: Meeting Exponential Change with a Quiet Mind

Peter Russell — April 7, 2026

600 Podcasts and Counting…

Meet Your Host: Tami Simon

Products By Author

The 2012 Mind Shift

Also By Author

Peter Russell: Meeting Exponential Change with a Quiet...

Peter Russell: Widespread Awakening

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[ENCORE EPISODE] Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche: “In Lo...

Just One Question | Craig Foster: Why am I Afraid of N...

Tara Brach: Choosing to Love in Perilous Times

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