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Integral [+] Facticity

Last entry 2 November 2026

Podcast1 h 44 min

Josh Summers on Michael Brooks, American Buddhism, & the Next Left

Integral [+] Facticity, episode 8 of 21, with Josh Summers

First published on Acast, 6 July 2022, with show notes on Medium. All 21 episodes

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Episode details
Date
Length
1 h 44 min
Type
PodcastIntegral [+] Facticity, episode 8 of 21
People
Contents
  1. Overview
  2. Description
  3. Original episode
  4. References & Further Reading
Listen to episode 8, 1 h 44 min. The recording is served by Acast.

Overview

A retrospective account of Michael Brooks’s friendship and collaboration with Josh Summers, situated within American Buddhist practice and the Insight Meditation Society. The interview addresses Buddhist identity, mindfulness, non-dual experience and the relationship between contemplative life and political engagement. Brooks’s public commentary, personal history and loss also form part of the discussion.

Description

At a New Year's retreat in 2001, Josh Summers and Michael Brooks found common ground in an unexpected place: their shared interest in Ken Wilber. Two decades later, near the second anniversary of Michael's death, Josh joins me to remember their friendship and the practices that shaped it. A yoga and meditation teacher and Michael's collaborator on The Buddha's Playbook, Josh reflects on their difficult childhoods, the inclusive American Buddhist communities they entered, and why he prefers to call himself a dharma practitioner rather than a Buddhist.

Our conversation follows their work through the Insight Meditation Society, Josh's encounter with Robert Wright, and the mindfulness and behavioural-economics venture he and Michael attempted around 2008–2010. We also consider Wright's Why Buddhism Is True, Michael's critique of Jordan Peterson and concern for alienated young men, non-dual realization, anxiety and rest. Grief runs through the discussion, alongside Josh's phrase “panoramic specificity.”

Original episode

Title as published
Josh Summers on Michael Brooks, American Buddhism, & the Next Left
Published
Length
1 h 44 min
Guest
Josh Summers
Series
Integral [+] Facticity, episode 8 of 21

References & Further Reading