Future Chi
A daoist and a designer explore design, technology, health and wellbeing, and the future of everything. Join Jost Sauer (author, rebel therapist, daoist and expert in traditional Chinese medicine) and Leon Fitzpatrick (industrial and experience designer, educator and futurist), as they discuss health, daoism, design, cars, martial arts, the search for purpose, and the meaning of life. Unplanned, off the cuff, and spontaneous. Welcome to the Future Chi podcast! For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/ For more about Leon: https://www.futurethingy.com/
Episodes
Monday May 01, 2023
Episode 22: Gravity
Monday May 01, 2023
Monday May 01, 2023
It was predicted that the year of the Water Rabbit would be weird, and so far it hasn’t disappointed. 2023 has been a wild ride so far, and with no sign things will return to ‘normal’ anytime soon, now is the time to get grounded. And what better way to do that than by increasing our understanding of gravity.
This week Jost and Leon get heavy but keep it light with a perspective on gravity unlike anything you’ve heard before; from levitating shrines in Cambodia and flying carpets, to the multidirectional gravity-bending powers of martial arts masters and UFOs. Jost goes in depth on the nature of gravity and how - like health - we can’t ignore it or exhaust it, but rather we must tap into it and work with it. Jost also reveals the origins of the term ‘Traditional Chinese Medicine’ (TCM), the difference between the physical and energetic organs, and how health originates in the non-physical or cosmic realm. Jost and Leon also reflect on the need to redefine medicine and health, how the path of least resistance leads to illness, and how what we experience consciously is only one aspect of reality. Leon gets into his love of the movie Interstellar, the shortcomings of trusting the internet, and how to have faith in what you can’t see.
The real world is hard work. While the virtual world, shortcuts, hacks and cheats are increasingly enticing, there’s a reason why we’re here on this planet and why we have a gravitational force that - through resistance - gives us the ability to grow physically, spiritually, and mentally stronger. As Buckminster Fuller said; “don’t fight forces, use them.”
View the Episode Sketch here: https://futurethingy.com/episode-22
For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/
For more about Leon: https://futurethingy.com/
Monday Apr 24, 2023
Episode 21: Intelligence
Monday Apr 24, 2023
Monday Apr 24, 2023
There’s lots of people talking lately about Artificial Intelligence (including us) but there isn’t as much talk about Human Intelligence, so this week we’re getting into why that may be and what it means. The experts will tell you there’s no absolute understanding of intelligence and where it comes from. But what did the Taoists have to say about it? How does traditional Chinese medicine define intelligence and its origins? Does intelligence really live in the brain or is there more to it?
This week Jost and Leon discuss the individual factors that together give rise to intelligence. Jost talks about the correlation between memory, concentration, intellect, and the Kidneys, Spleen and Heart, and their internal network connection that we must keep online. Jost also defines the different types of intelligence - organic, spiritual, energetic - and how emotional intelligence is something that can be imitated but not fabricated. Leon discusses interaction design, how AI will change the very fabric of how we interface with technology, and what cats, Egyptology and architectural engineering have in common. Jost and Leon also chat about pre-natal memory, force fields, and how to follow the infinite path.
If we don’t cultivate the physical we don’t feel good. If we don’t feel good we can’t do good, and we will be susceptible to emotionally unintelligent forces. It’s time to unify our awareness, connect to the cosmos, and follow our hearts (the true seat of the mind).
View the Episode Sketch here: https://www.futurethingy.com/episode-21
For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/
For more about Leon: https://futurethingy.com/
Monday Apr 17, 2023
Episode 20: Progress
Monday Apr 17, 2023
Monday Apr 17, 2023
If we couldn’t control life before then we definitely can’t control it now, but in chaotic times we can - and we must - keep moving forward. Big disruptions bring about big change and while this comes at the cost of the old world, the new world that is emerging will be unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.
The taoists once studied the stars to understand where it all started and where we’ve been, and it’s now up to us to understand where we are and where the trajectory of life on earth is headed. In this episode, Jost and Leon reflect on the nature of progress; how humans are designed to create, how tools have evolved over time, and how we are in fact moving towards perfection. Jost talks about the duality of creation; that everything we design is both simultaneously good and bad - capable of creation or destruction - and that intention matters above all else. Leon talks about animals in hot air balloons, the industrial revolution, and how technological progress has given us an opportunity to look back on what we’ve done and what we can do better. Jost discusses the nature of reality, the incorruptibility of the tao, chi, and yin & yang, and how we are very likely living in a projection. Leon wonders how the world would have been different if Nikola Tesla had been a martial artist.
Jost and Leon also ponder the impact of AI on human progress, if robots can have a consciousness, and how we must anchor technology through our own principles and spiritual practices.
Before we head back to the stars and on to the next planet, we must get down to earth and establish rock-solid foundations. Each day we are not just building upon the past but carving ourselves anew, and with it carving the new world.
View the Episode Sketch here: https://www.futurethingy.com/episode-20
For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/
For more about Leon: https://futurethingy.com/
Tuesday Apr 11, 2023
Episode 19: Invest
Tuesday Apr 11, 2023
Tuesday Apr 11, 2023
A fundamental shift in reality means a fundamental shift in where we put our time, energy, focus, and resources. While the success and investment strategies of the past were based on acquiring intellectual or physical property, the future needs us to add something new to our portfolio. But in uncertain times what are the right investments to make? Can investing in ourselves be of benefit to humanity? How do you ensure a balance of health, wealth, and happiness in this life and the next?
While it's easy to confuse with profiteering and greed, investing in and of itself is an ethical term. In this episode Jost and Leon skip the stock tips and strategies and instead focus on ways of building your internal, spiritual portfolio. Jost talks in depth about the wild west of the publishing world, the years of struggle it takes to write a book, and how developing a product that generates progress in others is a true investment. He also talks about how it’s not our mission to invest solely for profit, and that we must live by a code in order to choose light over dark. Leon talks about finding your people and understanding when it’s time to not invest, but divest instead. Jost and Leon also reflect on investing in something that will serve your next incarnation, the importance of understanding that life is temporary, and how a good life leads to a good death.
Investing in a spiritual practice makes us proactive, helps us to navigate our impulses, and stops us getting bogged down by the mundane. It’s time for us to believe in ourselves, invest in ourselves, and in doing so help build a bright future for our planet.
View the Episode Sketch here: https://www.futurethingy.com/episode-19
For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/
For more about Leon: https://futurethingy.com/
Monday Apr 03, 2023
Episode 18: Pain
Monday Apr 03, 2023
Monday Apr 03, 2023
What is the purpose of pain? What can we learn from engaging with it? Is pain something that can be mastered? How can we better understand pain by cultivating and connecting mind, body, and spirit?
The idea of pain is not to avoid it but to pursue it - and pursue its meaning. Pain is a signal pathway, and it is a path we all must walk down. But how we prepare for that journey, what we take with us and what we can learn along the way makes all the difference. This week Jost and Leon enter the house of pain - and while they do jump around quite a bit - they stick to the topic of how to make it an important part of our physiological and spiritual practice. They discuss the critical connection between mind and body, how to successfully anchor one with the other, and how use that connection to transform the intensity of the day into the calmness of night. Jost talks about traditional Chinese medicine’s elemental cycle, how we are in fact the 5th element, and how the mind and body deal with time travel. Leon talks about the burnout loop of office life, the need to work with your own individual consistency, and how ‘hacks’ are a way of avoiding the discomfort and pain of learning.
Jost and Leon also get into the topic of ghosts, guides and gueis, how unresolved pain can wreak havoc even after death, and what kinds of pranks mischievous souls might play. They also reflect on the nature of teaching, what makes a good student, and why we train. Jost also talks about Taoism’s goal of expanding the physical world with spiritual awareness, how intense pain focuses us, and how resolving pain makes us less reactive to others.
To have a body is to have pain. Pain is an opportunity to focus, connect to the universe, and in doing so find the way. So don’t just pay it forward…pain it forward!
For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/
For more about Leon: https://futurethingy.com/
Monday Mar 27, 2023
Episode 17: AI
Monday Mar 27, 2023
Monday Mar 27, 2023
What makes us draw, sculpt, paint, compose, and build? Where does the desire to create and communicate come from? How does the creative process relate to health? How does the need for self expression benefit our physiological and spiritual evolution?
Inherent in all of us is the desire to express ourselves… but inherent in all of us is also the desire to improve ourselves, to get better at something, and to sharpen our skills. We’re here to evolve, move forward, and move up, but what happens if we hand over to technology and remove ourselves from the process? In this episode Jost and Leon go Palaeolithic cave diving and discuss the 17,000 year old cave paintings at Lascaux and where the desire to create them may have come from. This leads them to ponder the rising role of artificial intelligence in art and design and where it’s all headed. Jost draws parallels between the established methodologies of health and art, how they are both processes that must be created from within, and how our health is being handed over to artificial systems and technological solutions. Leon talks about the rapidly changing tools of design and how focusing on the outcome defeats the purpose of true creation. Jost talks about the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich and how true art allows us to see more than what we’re shown, and Leon wonders if caveman clients were as difficult to deal with as their modern counterparts.
The purpose of health and creativity is to take you further, based on self exploration, self expression, and self cultivation. The tools evolve the process, and the process evolves the tools. So while artificial intelligence is on the up and up, let’s make sure we hone our analogue intelligence too. Back to the drawing board!
For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/
For more about Leon: https://futurethingy.com/
Monday Mar 20, 2023
Episode 16: Adventure
Monday Mar 20, 2023
Monday Mar 20, 2023
We’ve never experienced instability at this level. The reference points on which society is based are crumbling quickly and trust in our institutions is becoming a thing of the past. What lies ahead? As the present becomes increasingly rocky and unpredictable, how do we plan for a future we can’t see?
It’s time for an adventure. While a recurring theme of the podcast is the unknown, unpredictability and spontaneity, this week we go even further down the rabbit hole. While adventures contain many trials and tribulations, challenges, setbacks, tests, and life-or-death decisions, there’s also good news; there’s no such thing as a boring adventure! But how do we prepare? What do we need in our adventure pack? What do we bring along with us, and who - if anyone - can we trust along the way? This week Jost and Leon talk about the sharp rise in distrust after the pandemic, the massive suppression of therapeutics that occurred, and the departure from a model of self-treatment that has left us confused, alienated, and sick. We are now venturing into unknown territory where health is confusing and we can no longer trust the experts we once relied on. This makes it the perfect time to embrace the mystery wholeheartedly, and it turns out there are things we all need to help us start this journey, and keep us going when the going gets tough.
Jost talks about the need for independent medicine and the rise of the rebel healer, and how thousand-year-old herbal formulas are the way of the future. He also talks about the adventure of traditional Chinese medicine and how to discover the treasures that show us how to live. Leon talks about what the movies of John Carpenter have taught us about distrusting aliens, how to go about fighting enemies we can’t quite see, and how we may be living in a ‘choose your own adventure’ novel. Jost and Leon also discuss the definition of evil, how to use the force, and how to fight for what you believe in. If we build ourselves first we become impervious to those who want to control us. So gear up, pick up your swords and shields, and get ready for the adventure ahead. Welcome to the jungle!
For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/
For more about Leon: https://futurethingy.com/
Monday Mar 13, 2023
Episode 15: Spirituality
Monday Mar 13, 2023
Monday Mar 13, 2023
While our physical reality appears absolute, the fundamental nature of reality is spiritual. But what is spirituality and what does it mean to be truly spiritual? How do we define, cultivate, and practice spirituality in this day and age without becoming entangled in ideology?
This week Jost and Leon get spiritual. But instead of lighting candles and chanting they're instead talking about Teslas, V8’s, martial arts, dualistic cats and masterless samurai. In this episode Jost and Leon talk about humour as an essential part of spiritual journey, and how true masters know how to have a good laugh. They also talk about the relationship between being easily offended and the rise of spiritual disconnection, which is in turn making us disconnected from our true selves and our purpose. Jost talks about the necessity of working with - and learning from - nature, and how we are here to enhance what nature has to offer and make the world a better place, and Leon talks about spiritual warriors of feudal Japan and their connection to the wild west.
Jost and Leon also discuss the hypocrisy of the new age, how one might go about walking on water, and how to hand over the burdens of daily life to the universe. They also discuss doctrine vs doing; practicing spirituality instead of treating it as purely a concept, and how it is imperative to feel good first if we are to do good in the world, and be authentically good to each other.
View the Episode Sketch here: https://futurethingy.com/episode-15-spirituality
For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/
Fore more about Leon: https://futurethingy.com/
Monday Mar 06, 2023
Episode 14: Struggle
Monday Mar 06, 2023
Monday Mar 06, 2023
How do we know where to go next when we don’t have a map? If long term plans are a thing of the past, how do we move forward? Many of us have lost our sense of direction and purpose, as well as the ability to set goals and look ahead. With this has come not just a lack of optimism, but also a lack of a fighting spirit and a willingness to embrace struggle as a necessary part of life. But what happens when we lose the will to struggle? What happens when we no longer want to fight for the future?
In this episode Jost and Leon talk about the essentiality of struggle; without struggle we cannot create the new, and without struggle we cannot express ourselves honestly. They discuss wartime innovation, farmers and warriors, and the struggle for identity that has expanded rapidly in recent years. Jost and Leon also talk about an array of potential futures, from a dystopian (but unabashedly fun) Mad Max reality full of V8 Interceptors and freedom - to a dystopian (but totally lame) reality full of automated cubes, holograms and an indifferent artificial intelligence running things. This leads to a discussion on the purpose of the physiological vs the purpose of the spiritual, and the need to make spiritual plans instead of business plans.
Jost talks about the importance of adaptation, of connecting to nature, and the similarities between the sage and the tiger, and Leon talks about the slippery slope of self-driving cars and the proper role of the creative class when it comes to challenging the mainstream and the mundane.
Finally, Jost and Leon reflect on the modern day importance of the Tao Te Ching, and that the tao will always ensure there are warriors that will fight for what’s right.
For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/
For more about Leon: https://www.futurethingy.com/
Tuesday Feb 28, 2023
Episode 13: Hero
Tuesday Feb 28, 2023
Tuesday Feb 28, 2023
What makes a hero? How do we recognise real heroes? Do they still exist? The past few years have put an unprecedented level of challenges in front of us. While many sought the path of least resistance, there are those who decided to not follow the mainstream narrative but rather to stand up, speak up, and become beacons of hope and strength. These are the heroes of the modern age.
This episode delves into all things heroic; the origins of heroes in mythology and comic book lore, and what it really means to be a true hero. Jost and Leon share their personal experience in meeting one of their real-life heroes; Dr Peter McCullough, and the surreal nature of not only attending a data-heavy western medicine conference, but delivering cheers and standing ovations and being left feeling inspired and full of hope. Jost talks about the daoist definition of a hero; someone who walks the untrodden path, who seeks truth, who doesn’t follow the narrative, and who doesn’t seek validation from the mundane world. Leon talks about the influence of superheroes while growing up, and the importance of the hero’s journey in both mythology and real life. Jost points out that we cannot let today’s villains dampen our spirit and extinguish our fire, and that without villains we wouldn't have heroes.
Jost and Leon also discuss the dangers of being stuck in the mundane, without hope, and the importance of the Spleen in building the foundations of the future. Leon talks about Oumuamua - the mysterious interstellar object that once passed through our solar system and the importance of having a vision of the future unhindered by the past. Jost gives us an internal road map on where to go next, and how the time has come for us to all be our own heroes.
For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/
For more about Leon: https://www.futurethingy.com/
Jost Sauer
Jost is a healthy lifestyle expert. He is an author, acupuncturist, and has been a therapist since the 80s.
Jost Sauer was also an ex-addict, dealer and deserter who kickstarted a recovery revolution with his groundbreaking rehab program. Jost pioneered lifestyle medicine for addiction and then adapted this for everyone as the Chi Cycle lifestyle; a health-boosting, fat-burning feel-good day plan.
Jost has treated tens of thousands of people including celebrities, CEOs and athletes, with his Chi Cycle Health System, and offers training and retreats. His passion is to show everyone how to make every day medicinal and magical…
Leon Fitzpatrick
Leon is an industrial, interaction, and experience designer, futurist, illustrator, storyteller, and educator. Leon operates Futurethingy - a design consultancy and change agency that envisions future states - such as products, transportation, cities, and systems - through design and narrative. This future is ethical, sustainable, and optimistic.
Leon studied industrial design at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. At Motorola Inc. in Chicago he designed products and concepts, produced videos, and was an eco-design lead. At design consultancy MINIMAL Leon designed products and concepts, produced videos, and art directed for clients such as Microsoft, Xbox, Nike, and Dell. Leon has extensive international experience as an independent consultant, working with the US automotive industry for several years on rapid prototyping, empirical research and vision projects for electric and autonomous vehicles, and the future of mobility.