We spend a lot of time on How God Works talking about how spirituality can offer tools to become better versions of ourselves.  And while learning to be happier, healthier and more resilient are all positive things to strive for, they can also lead us down a different path - an obsession with productivity and self-optimization… which can lead to a culture of trying to grind or life-hack our way through everything. But what if the secret to success lies in doing less, not more? On this episode, we’ll explore the Chinese concept of wu wei, effortless action. We'll talk to Edward Slingerland about how modern cognitive science has proven many early Chinese thinkers right, why wu wei is still relevant today, and how learning how not to try can help us forge a different path toward the good life.

Edward Slingerland is a philosopher, sinologist, and professor in the Departments of Philosophy, Department of Psychology, and Department of East Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia, Canada, where he also directs the Religious History Database. His research areas include Chinese pre-Qin philosophy, religious studies, cognitive linguistics, and ethics. His representative works include Effortless Action: Wu Wei as Conceptual Metaphor and Spiritual Ideal in Early China (2003, Chinese translation published in 2020), Trying Not to Try: Ancient China, Modern Science and the Power of Spontaneity (2014, Chinese translation published in 2018), What Science Offers the Humanities: Integrating Body & Culture (2008), Mind and Body in Early China: Beyond Orientalism and the Myth of Holism (2019).

Thinking is a human superpower. On a daily basis, thinking and planning and effort bring us innumerable benefits. But like all aspects of human behavior, you can sometimes get too much of a good thing. This week, we talk with philosopher Ted Slingerland about techniques to prevent overthinking, and how we can cultivate the under-appreciated skill of letting go. 

Two Psychologists Four Beers ➞

Yoel and Mickey welcome Distinguished Professor of Asian Studies, Edward (Ted) Slingerland from the University of British Columbia to the podcast. Ted discusses what the sciences can offer the humanities, but also how the humanities can enrich science. Ted then discusses his popular book, "Trying Not To Try", where he describes the Chinese concept of Wu-Wei, which can be defined as effortless action or spontaneity and proposes that the ever-striving West could use a lot more of it. Finally, Ted tries in vain to convince Mickey that intoxication is an important, critical part of culture.

Bonus: Did Ted actually say there are downsides to being Dude-like?

MIXED MENTAL ARTS PODCAST ➞

Teds talks with the “Mixed Mental Arts” crew, Bryan Callen and Hunter Maats, about effortless action, virtue ethics, social charisma, how to get a date, intoxication, the social function of religion, and everything in between. And tennis.