Rainn Wilson On Finding the Sweet Spot

Plus, the wit and wisdom of Neal Brennan

Hello Soul Boom Generation!

This week on the podcast, we’re joined by the master humorist and joke crafter, Neal Brennan. 

Neal, who came to fame for his work on Chappelle’s Show, has since proven himself to be one of the best living comics. But achieving that world-class excellence hasn’t come easy. 

In our pod, Neal pointed out that the people who often change the game are not what we would call "normal." They can be difficult to be around, demanding, and pushy, and they often drive themselves into the ground in pursuit of their grand vision. Neal himself felt that when Chappelle's Show got picked up, he had to abandon therapy and 12-step meetings to focus entirely on the show. He believed that having healthy boundaries would prevent him from creating a great TV show. While I think that's a bit silly (sorry, Neal), it does highlight the struggle of balancing personal health with professional success.

The reality is, achieving excellence often requires sacrifice. However, it doesn’t mean we need to destroy ourselves. Etymologically speaking, the word "sacrifice" itself means “to make sacred.” If our society was healthy, and sacredness was at the core of our lives, we would more easily find that balance. The number of people I have known who have pursued a career in the arts for entirely healthy reasons is small. Steve Carell comes to mind as one of the few who always seem grounded and does his work without it being about himself being loved, but simply about doing great work. I guess what I’m saying is that Steve Carell is the exact opposite of Michael Scott.

If this kind of health and balance is rare, we should understand that it’s part of the collective culture we’ve created. Awareness of mental health issues and the self-sabotage we inflict upon ourselves is a vital first step, even if it’s not the same as a lived solution. Historically, in Western societies, the approach to severe personal issues has been to ask what’s wrong with the person and try to fix them. In Indigenous cultural contexts, the question is more likely to be: What’s the imbalance in our community that is causing this symptom to erupt in this person? When it comes to real and enduring change, at the individual and collective level, we need to take both the individual and their environment into account.

As Shoghi Effendi so beautifully clarifies: “We cannot segregate the human heart from the environment outside us and say that once one of these is reformed everything will be improved. Man is organic with the world. His inner life moulds the environment and is itself also deeply affected by it. The one acts upon the other and every abiding change in the life of man is the result of these mutual reactions.”

Because there is this non-stop dynamic interplay between ourselves and our world, we cannot help but be affected by it. I’ll take a sad person who recognizes there’s something deeply wrong in our world versus the person, who, like the frog oblivious to the boiling water, is blind to the consumerist, materialistic society deadening our souls. As Krishnamurti stated: “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”

But what happens once we see things are not well? If we recognize there is something amiss in the greater world, pain will surely come. And we will try to find remedies so we can cope. Hence the growing popularity of “plant medicine.” While sympathetic to the desire for emotional breakthroughs and healing, I get concerned when I hear about the growing popularity of ayahuasca and other hallucinogens as a quick fix for deep-seated issues. There’s a danger in the contemporary idea that one can achieve instant spiritual enlightenment through these drugs. It’s reminiscent of the enthusiasm for LSD in the ’70s or peyote and magic mushrooms in the ’80s. While there are genuine traditional uses of these substances in Indigenous spiritual practices, their modern, often commercialized, use can be superficial and risky.

Neal’s experience with ayahuasca brings a nuanced perspective to this conversation. Neal shared that he found ayahuasca to be a powerful antidepressant, helping him to become less depressed with each session. He even described how it led him to stop being an atheist after a profound spiritual experience. Neal’s story is a testament to the potential therapeutic benefits of such substances, particularly when other treatments have failed. However, he and I both caution against seeing hallucinogens as a one-size-fits-all solution for spiritual enlightenment or mental health issues.

We found agreement that while there can be therapeutic benefits, there’s also the risk of overuse and the potential for severe negative effects. We’ve both seen individuals who have damaged their minds through excessive use of these substances. I myself have the sad memory of an uncle who fried his brain with LSD. The idea of a spirituality you can buy—where people pay for a pre-planned spiritual experience without any lasting devotion or discipline—can lead to dangerous shortcuts rather than genuine, lasting spiritual growth. Let us remember: change is the goal, not simply coping.

One concrete example of real change is letting go of outworn heroic ideals that no longer serve us. Like the endlessly tortured artist who must torture himself and others to create great work. The Vintage Man, a poem by Hafiz (as rendered by Daniel Ladinsky) makes this point better than I ever could:

The
Difference
Between a good artist
And a great one

Is:

The novice
Will often lay down his tool
Or brush

Then pick up an invisible club
On the mind’s table

And helplessly smash the easels and
Jade.

Whereas the vintage man
No longer hurts himself or anyone

And keeps on
Sculpting
Light.

What a beautiful goal. To stop hurting ourselves and others. To only sculpt light.

My own journey involved years of therapy and spiritual seeking, reading holy texts and meditating. It took time to find the tools to achieve inner peace and balance. This quest for truth and meaning led me to study the Bible, the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, and other significant spiritual writings. And that journey led me to see that at the heart of a healthy spiritual practice is the balance between personal experience and service. Between the inner journey and outward contribution. I learned that true self-care involves both self-improvement and sacrifice for the greater good.

Striving for authentic excellence means hitting that sweet spot between improving ourselves and making a difference in the world around us. Our inner world and the outside world are always in sync, influencing each other all the time. By working on ourselves while also pitching in to make our communities better, we can create a more balanced, healthier world for everyone.

Out of curiosity — how are your efforts at finding that balance coming? Would love to learn about your journey in the comments.

Till next time grasshoppers,

Rainn

PS: We’re just scratching the surface here. If you want to dive deeper, buy the Soul Boom book.

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