Jason Silva
"I think that silliness is sacred. When you allow playfulness and hilarity to overcome you, the world opens you up to new-found possibilities."
Majestic environments on top of the world are his playground and quiet streets are his subjects of contemplation.
Known as both a wonder junkie and a walking philosopher, we sat down with Jason Silva to talk willingness, ‘awe’ and truth.
From a young age, Jason had a sense of excitement towards the world and a hunger for mystery. Expressing his creativity and curiosity through social experiments with friends, he found ways to cut through self-image, arriving straight to the core of essential self. In noticing that there was a seemingly constant battle against jadedness and the hardening of one’s innocence, Jason discovered that altered states of conscious held the answers he was looking for.
After a sense of constriction and having an intuitive feeling that there was in fact a world worth marvelling at, Jason found a way to shake himself from the seemingly inevitable narrowing.
“Intuition was perhaps what led me to find a way to shake myself from that hardening, and I found that liberation in altered states of consciousness.”
When we hear terms such as, ‘under the influence’, we tend to categorize it with a state of unconsciousness or lack of control, however Jason’s relationship to these altered states is not one of inebriation, but rather liberation.
“I see altered states of consciousness not as a state of intoxication, but as an opportunity to free oneself from habitual patterns of the ways in which one sees, thinks and perceives.”
Through exploring these altered states and adjusted realities, Jason found a way to ‘see past the fog’ of once limiting beliefs, to a reality beyond the bounds of growing resigned to a smaller and smaller world as we grew older. In this, a sense of liberation and new-found possibility bloomed.
“You see the world with a heightened freshness and a heightened qualitative intensity, which increases your engagement. That immediately sends your brain spiralling into entertaining new possibilities. The liberation from self, not my essential self, but the liberation from the constricted adult self, and the reconnection with the child, had a powerful impact on me, it imprinted on me.”
With this addiction to freedom, Jason followed his intuition into the possibility of expanding himself and pursuing new possibilities. Using television, social media and auditoriums, Jason has shared new ways of thinking with the world, giving people an opportunity to become unstuck and see life through contrasting lenses.
Breaking the Cycle;
“Very little of our lives is a delightful surprise. We’re in a constant state of vigilance, whether conscious of it or not, and a constant state of anticipation for the next moment.”
How do we in fact break the cycle?
Jason says that the best way to break through our limiting patterns, is by stepping out of our routines and making space for possibility.
“Most people have become imprisoned in their routines. Some of which are very healthy and helpful, like brushing your teeth or taking a shower in the morning. But the creation of space for unstructured meandering and discovery is vital for growth and invention.”
Some ways we can create this space are by;
Taking a different route to work,
Going to see a foreign film,
Trying new restaurants,
Reading an uncommon piece of literature.
“Even the most subtle things can hurl you into new worlds, and who we become in a new world, is children.”
To laugh is to live, to play is to be a child again, and to exist in a state of ‘awe’, is what Jason lives for.
“I think silliness is sacred. I think that in silliness, creativity can sometimes emerge, when you’re willing to play, be silly and allow hilarity to overcome you.”
Awe and Play;
Having been featured on countless podcasts, speaking for Google, TED talks, and through his own personal channels to discuss the state of ‘awe’, there is no better expert on the topic than Jason.
“Astonishment, for me, is such a de-centring and re-centring experience. To have one’s mind blown, to be in a state of captivation, renews your faith in the mystery of life and jolts you from whatever jadedness or complacency you’ve fallen into.”
When looking at a beautiful sunset, or into the eyes of a smiling child, we experience these moments of salience, losing ourselves in pause and awe. Although, to live in a constant state of awe would become exhausting, claims Jason, meaning that obtaining personal balance is vital.
“Awe can be taxing and tiring, so you have to create a relationship of sustainable balance. Humans need rest, and I’m okay with that. What I’m not okay with is a trade-off where you’re never in awe. What I think the problem is for most people, is they’re squeezing every waking hour into being high functioning and efficient individuals, leaving no room to carve out spaces of forgetting and remembering.”
It’s easy to put ourselves in a place of ‘why me’ or ‘this isn’t fair, but Jason states that in remembering ‘every dance has it’s time and purpose’, you open yourself up to the reality that such dance, had its place in changing you, and connecting you to new parts of yourself.
“That has to be true, but it doesn’t feel true until you can connect back to yourself, or with someone else. Once you have that ‘aha’ moment, you realize that what you went through allowed you to live out new possibilities and you’re better for it.”
100% True;
When asked what he knows to be 100% true, Jason left us with;
“The funny thing about truth, is that it comes in many forms, truth can be multiple. There is the truth that exists on the literal grid, but I also believe that there is truth of a deeper sort.
Deeper truths reside in romantic love, the effect that a certain piece of music has on you and the experience one has when watching a film. These truths may be different for everyone, but within each person’s experience, resides their own truth.”
At TrooMe, we believe in standing in one’s own truth, a truth that may look different for everyone. And if anyone is a leading example of truth found in the most unexpected of places, it is Jason Silva.
A modern pioneer, wonder junkie and walking philosopher, leads the way to a dazzling future, of possibilities and play.
May we follow in his footsteps, moving mountains, culture and always remembering to leave space for saying, ‘wow’.