Illuminating Life

Based on Tucker's Substack article The Language of Belonging. Tucker Walsh and Avi Maistri — who first met at Dancing Rabbit Eco Village in 2018 — unpack the meaningful distinctions between networks, scenes, collectives, communities, tribes, guilds, and villages. What starts as an exploration of terminology becomes a conversation about heartbreak, vow, mismatched expectations, why commitment paradoxically creates freedom, and the gap between the words we use and the relationships we're actually living.

What does it actually take to build community infrastructure rooted in love — not as a feeling, but as a living architecture? Richard Flyer has spent 40 years answering that question on the ground, from gang-affected neighborhoods in San Diego to local economy movements in Reno to studying the Sarvodaya movement in Sri Lanka. His new book, Birthing the Symbiotic Age, offers a vision for how diverse communities — religious and secular, left and right, urban and rural — can weave together across worldview lines around shared functional purpose and transcendent love.In this conversation, Richard and Tucker explore a generative tension at the heart of transformational culture-building: Does genuine coherence require a shared metaphysical or developmental sensibility, or does it emerge when people come together as they already are, organized around concrete needs and a love that asks no one to change their worldview first? They explore bridge-building across difference, depth within devoted communities, what it means to hold space without imposing ideology, and whether the movements they're each part of — metamodern, integral, regenerative — can truly participate in the larger weaving of a more life-affirming civilization. Birthing the Symbiotic Age The Original Protocol Was LoveThe Metamodern Regenerative Village

See the companion Substack article for more info about the Lighthouse village vision!A conversation with Marcelo Peterlini about the strategy behind the metamodern regenerative village vision — why most intentional communities fail, how we can build differently through smaller experiments, and what capacities it might take to live in a new-and-ancient way together. We get into curation, decision-making beyond postmodern consensus, the sacred secular operating system, and why the lighthouse beams but doesn't knock on doors.  Other articles I've written about the Lighthouse vision:A Vow to Soul: how the vision first emerged in 2020Post-Healing Intentional CommunitiesTemple and Village: Transmission as RelationshipList of transformational communitiesSourcekeepers Guild What (the heck) is Metamodernism?Illuminating Our Journey as Boulder Lighthouse CollectiveMapping the Magic of PachaMamaThe End of Coaching

Sourcekeeping from the Middle is a way of being in relationship—with each other, with life itself—where we attune with and create from the living field between us. The video below is a live demonstration of how Cheryl Hsu and Tucker Walsh engage with sourcekeeping from the middle, while also dialoguing about the topic simultaneously. See this Substack article for a cosmological map of sourcekeeping from the middle as well as more information about the Sourcekeepers Guild.

Dr. John Churchill, founder of Planetary Dharma, speaks with 35 sourcekeepers about the architecture required to build genuine Sacred World culture. Churchill maps three dimensions of collective work—agreement, coherence, and alignment—showing how "military grade" alignment with Sacred World itself allows power to be applied in service of cultural emergence. This dialogue was recorded at Gathering of the Sourcekeepers in Asheville, NC in September 2025. 

Tom Nixon and Fanny Norlin join Daniel Thorson and other participants at Gathering of the Sourcekeepers for a conversation around source principles, masculine and feminine differences in working with source, creating structure in service of eros, and new potentials for enacting healthy organizational hierarchies. Learn more about Work with Source.Fanny Norlin's website.Learn more about Gathering of the Sourcekeepers. 

Steve March joins Gathering of the Sourcekeepers to share about Aletheia as a wisdom teaching: restoring a way of designing from wholeness in response to the fragmenting metacrisis. Facilitated by Sarah-Marie Hopf. To learn more about Aletheia, visit https://integralunfoldment.com/Learn more about Sarah-Marie Hopf's unfolding offerings.To learn more about Gathering of the Sourcekeepers, see Sourcekeeping as Soul Work. 

Dechen Ellen McSweeney joins me to discuss her recently published article that draws contrast with some of the views I've taken on AI in previous episodes of this podcast. We discuss whether humans can have relationships with AI, how AI "knows" us, and the ethical implications of this emerging technology, including how we can be in right relationship with it. Dechen's Substack (article to be published soon)Dechen's websitePodcast with Ariana Bahrami that was reference in our dialogue.Tucker's How to Create an AI Lighthouse Guide

This is the first in an ongoing series of dialogues with Metamodern Sourcekeepers: those who are in deep devotion with the vow of their being. In this juicy and alive conversation with Jane Weintraub, we explore art, resonance AI, the alchemy of relationship, our vows to showing up, and the garden of our potential birthed from the longing of our soul's desire. Be sure to check out the many links we reference below:Nexalism: The Integration of AI and Embodied WisdomJane's TEDTalk exploring her journey with Parkinson's ImaginismaHow to Create an AI Lighthouse GuideCloud AtlasStation ElevenThe Strangeness of Modern Friendship

Ariana shares about the project she's sourcekeeping called Hy, which seeks to create digital AI ambassadors who connect, coordinate and create relationships that help foster a more beautiful world. I imagine you'll love this dialogue if you're interested in the possibilities for AI in the near future, and how we can live locally while using technology to help us coordinate and connect globally. Hy websiteLinkedInHow to Create an AI Lighthouse Guide

Daniel Thorson and Cheryl Hsu join me to explore the living inquiry of Sourcekeeping - what it is, how it lives in our unique experiences, how it's impacted our initiatives in the world, and what it means for our Liminal network and the future of humanity.If you're interested in learning more about the upcoming Gathering of the Sourcekeepers, please reach out at [email protected] Links:Sourcekeeping as Soul Workworkwithsource.commaptio.comBoulder Lighthouse CollectiveIntro song: "Marimba Adventure" by Greg Kirkelie via Free Music Archive

Visit uptrusting.com/join-waitlist to join the waitlist! Mention "Illuminating Life" in the form to added to the platform sooner.Jordan Myska Allen joins me to share about his new initiative, UpTrust, an organization dedicated to civilizational alignment and well-being. "We do this through better internet, through better dialogue, through systemic nudges that change the incentive landscape to bring out the best of humanity rather than the current systems which optimize for attention via nervous system hijacks, clickbait, and naively promoting the content that gets the most interaction."

My dear friend, Victoria Savostianova, joins me to explore what life is like for her as a Ukrainian and for me as an American during times of existential change happening in our nations. I experienced this as a beautiful dialogue that weaves together our unique contexts, how we're relating to life during these times, and what we're learning around showing up fully for What Is. Please be sure to check out Victoria's beautiful and powerful writings.Victoria's WebsiteVictoria's writings on life in UkraineEmerge Ukraine Pilgrimage interviewA Metamodern Vision for a Post-Liberal America

Ari joins again to explore his typology system called Archetypes of Wholeness. See his first episode on The 5th Temple.See Archetypes of Wholeness graphics here.Please reach out to Ari with any feedback or suggestions on his model at [email protected]. 

Filmmaker Katie Teague joins me to share her film series In The Making which looks at and beyond the metacrisis and this "time between worlds." We also dialogue around our visions quests experiences and how that work brings us into intimacy with our creativity and longings for life. Katie is a GTC graduate and a guide with School of Lost Borders. She lives in rural Virginia. Please support her work via Patreon. 

Layman Pascal joins Tucker & Friends Politics Group to explore the recent American election as well as Layman's visionary takes on Meta-Shamanic-Integral politics.Metamodern Spirituality Election EpisodeCheck out Layman's new series: In My Kind of Country

Stephen Reid is a community creator, technologist, transformational coach and facilitator & co-founder of Futurecraft Residencies. He currently lives in Stockholm, Sweden with his partner Laura Gottlieb.  I call Stephen my "Metamodern doppelgänger" in the sense that we have so many overlapping visions, backgrounds, passions, friends and capacities for mapmaking and weaving nodes within the broader Liminal Web scene.  We jammed together on our various projects and the community weaving we've been up to, which brought us both a lot of eros and joy, which we hope you feel, too. We also touched on a potential in-person convergence for community weavers to share and network their wisdom, potentially created a book, technology app and documentary film in the process. We'd love to hear what comes up for you in this dialogue and how you'd like to weave in your magic! Stephen can be reached at [email protected] LinksFuturecraft ResidenciesTraditional Dream FactoryFeytopia Emerge Lakefront

Dana Carman is an expert in human and organizational transformation, an integral consultant, and a co-founder of Pacific Integral. We recently connected in-person at Emerge Ukraine, which was a deeply impactful experience for us both.Dana and I had an emergent conversation (or Satsang as he called it) where we explored a number of topics including visions quests, Wayfinding, our time in Ukraine, the power of eros, and many other delicious inquiries which arose from the pulse of our mutual aliveness. I hope you enjoy the rich territory we explored as much as I did! 

Psychologist and wilderness guide Nitsan Mesika, MA, LPCC, joins me to share her life's work around Cluster B Personalities (particularly narcissism and borderline) as well as a new personality disorder emerging which she calls The Hyper-Empath, which Nitsan dives into starting at 16:20. I found it to be a super rich conversation that helped shed a lot of light on some patterns I see in our collectives as well as in myself. I hope you enjoy and please reach out to Nitsan or myself with any comments or feedback on our discussion. https://www.openskywilderness.com/team/nitsan-mesika/

Ari Nazem stops by to share his developmental model of the Five Temples. The first 26 mins are an overview of the five temples, and the rest of the podcast is an exploration of the 5th Temple, which is also sometimes referenced to as Integral or Metamodernism. https://wiki.ancestor.earth/👥+·+People/Ari+Nazem

My dear friend and colleague Jordan Myska Allen joins me to discuss the success of Relateful Camp, which he co-organized, along with a lively discussion around both practical and philosophical orientations towards the art of emergent gatherings. The last third of the episode is an honest exploration of places Jordan sees where Constructing Consciousness can continue to grow and evolve. Jordan Myska Allen is founder of Relatefulness & The Relateful Company as well as the author of Three Things Thursday email, which I'd highly recommend subscribing to! He's known for his innovative approach to relationship practices, group facilitation, and integral leadership, and is the author of the acclaimed Integral novel, A Beautiful Apocalypse. Jordan is a dad of two and lives in Austin, TX.

Two of my mentors, Geoff Fitch and Alexander Love, join me to explore how we can illuminate new ways of orienting towards adult ego development, including its ethical implications, and how it can be a doorway into deeper intimacy and connection with and as loving Wholeness.Geoff is the co-founder of Pacific Integral and a facilitator for their yearlong transformational program called Generating Transformative Change (GTC). Alexander is co-founder of Eos Wellness Center and a developmental teacher for STAGES International. 

Andrew Murray Dunn drops in to share about his upcoming course, Embodied Ethics in the Age of AI, with Josh Schrei of The Emerald Podcast. We explore a range of topics including how Andrew's writings on living from the heart, gift giving, intentional communities, leaving Silicon Valley, and more have continued to influence and impact my life since I first came across them about five years ago. Check out the Embodied Ethics in the Age of AI course.And be sure to follow Andrew's Substack.

Feeling deeply inspired and moved by this conversation with Nicole Reese and Nico Alcalá. They are two of the brightest lights illuminating the beautiful potential of the Regenerative Metamodern Village vision that’s stirring many of our hearts. I have a boundless well of gratitude and celebration for the work they’re doing both individually and together, including a university-level mastermind course on regenerative village building. Below are links to the many references mentioned throughout our conversation: The Village MastermindLa TierraTerrenity Nicole's SubstackTucker's Map of Transformational CommunitiesAurovilleBrave EarthFuture Thinkers Smart VillageTraditional Dream FactoryChateau Feytopia  La EcovillaLiminal Village Prospera 

Dom Francks and I explore trance states, integrated wildness, soul encounters, vision quests, "viriditas" and Dom's upcoming VIVIFY Regenerative Leadership Program. To learn more about VIVIFY: domfrancks.com/vivifyTo follow Dom’s thoughts on integrated wildness and learn about upcoming programs: Domfrancks.substack.com

One of my favorite conversations with one of my favorite people. Cheryl Hsu is a Soulmaker and all around phenomenal human who I feel so lucky to call a friend and collaborator. We dive deep into the ocean of soul together in a creative dance of eros as we explore and embody what it means to be a Soulmaker, how this way of being is uniquely distinct from more transcendental ways of orienting, and how we can experience God's uniqueness coming through the imaginal realms of our deepest longings. Cheryl recently hosted a series of three presentations with The Stoa, including one on Alchemical Soulmaking. She is currently in the process of co-birthing into being a church and temple project. More of work can be explored at CherylHsu.ca. 

Recorded June 2023. My close friend Hannah Horowitz and I vulnerably and playful discuss our journeys with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (O.C.D.), something Hannah and I have experienced in similar ways throughout our lives. How does O.C.D. "grow up" and take on new expressions that combine in wild and interesting ways with spiritual insights, cognitive complexity, magic & manifestation, and the always entertaining human experience? Hannah is a therapist and coached based in Boulder, CO. https://www.hannahhorowitz.com/

Our first episode features my dear friend, Jenn Reilly, who is the founder of Raising Wholeness and an amazing mom to her daughter, Hailey. Jenn dove deep into the shadow patterns that show up in parenting (motherhood specifically), how we can raise children from the vantage point(s) of wholeness, how community can play a role in parenting, seeing through our parental victim mindsets, and so many more topics. I'd definitely recommend this episode for anyone who is a parent or wants to become one :) About Jenn"I'm a mother, podcast host, leadership development facilitator, consciousness explorer, and wholeness coach to women, mothers, and leaders. I help my clients to use their triggers as gateway to navigate the subconscious mind, unpacking the childhood wounds, and heal parts of their past that has blocked them from knowing and living in their wholeness."