Shebbie's Live Life Library: Stealing Fire
“Don’t ask what the world needs now, ask what makes you come alive. What the world needs is more of us who have come alive.” - Norman Thurman
FROM THE BACK COVER:
“It's The biggest revolution you've never heard of, and it's hiding in plain sight. Over the past decade, Silicon Valley executives like Eric Schmidt and Elon Musk, special operaors like the Navy SEALs and the Green Berets, and maverick scientists like Sasha Shulgin and Amy Cuddy have turned everything we thought we knew about high performance upside down, harnessing rare and controversial states of consciousness to solve critical challenges and outperform the competition.
Today, this revolution is spreading to the mainstream, fueling a trillion-dollar underground economy and forcing us to rethink how we can all lead richer, more productive, more satisfying lives. Driven by four accelerating forces--psychology, neurobiology, technology, and pharmacology--we are gaining access to and insights about some of the most contested and misunderstood terrain in history. Stealing Fire is a provocative examination of what's actually possible, a guidebook for anyone who wants to radically upgrade their life.”
BOOK REVIEW:
Stealing Fire is one of those "hard to put down" books that you catch yourself referring back to again and again, even once you’ve finished it
If you’re reading this, then you already know I have been on a journey to learn how to do better in my life. And at first glance, Stealing Fire seemed well-aligned with my self-development. However, even I did not expect the authors to enlighten my journey as much as they did. Nor did I expect them to change my life as profoundly as they have. The combined knowledge of "Flow State" and "Ecstasis" shared by Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal within the pages of Stealing Fire (as well as Steven’s previous book The Rise of Superman) have inspired me to learn even more about the power of non-ordinary states of consciousness in peak performance.
Prometheus Brings Fire To Mankind (1817) by Heinrich Füger
The book begins with a history lesson of humanity's obsession with “altered states of consciousness”, dating back as far as Plato and continuing well into the present day. The concept is that by altering our state of consciousness, one is able to receive “new knowledge” that otherwise isn't available in our normal lives. In other words: one is able to steal fire from the gods like Prometheus in Greek mythology. The book’s title, Stealing Fire, comes from this story. This new knowledge has been what creatives, thought-leaders, artists, writers, musicians, philosophers, world problem-solvers, and extreme adventure sports athletes have sought since the dawn of time. The history of altered states of consciousness, and its controversies, opened my eyes to a whole new world I didn't know existed. Most stories I had heard led me to believe that Burning Man was a town in the middle of the desert where the rich went to party. From the book, I soon learned that a great deal of creative output and global problem solving originates there each year, and I gained a greater appreciation for the use of these unusual approaches.
From psychedelics to technology, various methods have been used by the elite to access realms of information in altered states of consciousness. This experience, termed by Kotler and Wheal as “Ecstasis,” is characterized by feelings of being outside of oneself. The authors use the acronym S.T.E.R. (Selflessness, Timelessness, Effortlessness, and Richness) to describe the characteristics of operating at peak performance in a Flow State. However, if not careful, there are downsides to S.T.E.R., which the authors discuss in detail.While I was certainly intrigued to read how Ecstasis was achieved throughout history, I was even more amazed by it’s continued use in the present. The authors focus on four forces of Ecstasis -Psychology, Neurobiology, Pharmacology, and Technology- to give us a good picture of how people are "stealing fire" today in significant ways. I was most interested in reading the psychology chapter, where they shed light on many of the mysteries of human behavior. I have always longed for answers regarding religion and understanding the role neuroscience plays within it. The information in the book gave me peace of mind and helped me learn why society and culture has had such a grip on me. There is much to be said about knowledge; it can give you the freedom to think for yourself.
Burning Man 2017
Now to be clear: I have no desire to experiment with many of the methods mentioned in this book for achieving non-ordinary states of consciousness. However, what does interest me is the approach Steven and Jamie offer to accessing Flow State and Ecstasis for peak performance. Through their Flow Genome Project, they have been studying, teaching, and coaching people all over the world on how to biohack their neurobiology for higher performance. They’ve learned that the key to getting into a Flow State is understanding the six neurochemicals released in the body through various activities. In the book, you'll find many incredible stories of the elite performers they have worked with, from Silicon Valley executives to Navy Seals, to extreme sports athletes worldwide.
The Flow Genome Project was founded in 2010.
The chapter on Hedonic Engineering provides a user's manual for achieving Ecstasis with an equation to customize a “Hedonic Calendar” that works best for you. This equation allows you to tailor a schedule of activities ranging from the most extreme to the mildest to suit your desires and needs. Within your timeline, you learn to implement a routine on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual basis to achieve your goals for attaining peak performance.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I had been implementing a Hedonic Calendar of my own and been experiencing Ecstasis for two and a half years during my travels and healing process. We now know that being in Flow State for long periods promotes healing of trauma and that adventure sports are even being used to treat PTSD in veterans with astounding results. I know I came back from my travels cured of PTSD. I distinctly remember dealing with each PTSD moment while out on the ocean. It was painful but got easier with time. It wasn't until reading Stealing Fire that I realized how adventure sports and travel were a real part of healing that trauma. Being in Flow State changes your neurobiology and allows for your body to heal. The more times you are in Flow State, the more healing you experience. What an incredible discovery. How empowering is that?
But life can’t be all Ecstatis. Steven and Jamie acknowledge this, cautioning their reader "not to get bypassed on an ecstatic path over the mundane dissatisfaction of regular life … Ecstasis doesn't absolve us of our humanity. It connects us to it. It's in our brokenness, not in spite of our brokenness that we discover what's possible."
Too often, people get caught up in the lure of Ecstasis and want to simply escape to a better place, leaving devastated relationships in their wake. You can't escape the darkness of the human condition if you're human. Instead, if you come down from the clouds of Ecstasis as a better person, it will show up in your relationship with yourself, your family, friends, and community. At it’s best, Ecstasis makes you a better human all around.
Author Steven Kotler
Author Jamie Wheal
During my two and half year journey of self-discovery by way of adventure travels around the world, I found healing from a life filled with traumas. Being in a constant state of flow changed my neurobiology, providing healing and bringing balance to my mind, body, and soul. I fell passionately in love with life. I couldn't wait to bring home this new experience and share it with those I love. I wanted to contribute to making all things better for family, friends, and humanity through the lessons I learned.
But I didn't know how to express it until I read Stealing Fire and joined the Flow Genome community. My life has profoundly changed when they taught me the language I needed to speak my voice and the words I needed to understand what I had experienced. Their methods for attaining Flow State and Ecstasis, resonated with me because I had already experienced them. The change in my neurbiology because of Flow State healed me, brought me to life, and gave me a passion for living. I'm so grateful.
Credit: Harper Collins Publishing
My review here only scratches the surface. I highly recommend reading Stealing Fire for yourself. This book is rich with inspiring stories of highly successful people and their incredible experiences because of Ecstasis. In writing this book, Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal have offered us a thoughtful approach for performing at our best.
We are all capable of stealing fire. The only question left is: will you?