Show Notes
We need to start prepping our minds for death.
Welcome to a train-your-brain special, diving into new research plans from our very own Dr Mark Miller.
Mark outlines exactly why uncertainty and danger are incredibly beneficial for the predictive mind - training us to be better-equipped when we encounter sickness, injury and death itself.
Because if you want to be really good at reducing uncertainty over a long time - surrounding yourself with short-term uncertainty is exactly the way to do it!
Sharing anecdotes on horror movies, pandemics, public speaking and the common cold, Mark unveils the contemplative paths to embracing uncertainty and shares the preface for exciting, pioneering research on our inner complexities.
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This podcast has a single purpose: to help its listeners integrate the practical lessons of contemplative life. If you enjoyed the episode and you’re interested in finding out more, check out ‘Training For Humanity’ - M3CS’s exclusive short courses, including Mindfulness for Wellbeing and Peak Performance, as well as Maintaining a Mindful Life.
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More from The Contemplative Science Podcast
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Why do people across cultures report encounters with spirits, deities, ancestors, demons, angels, or other seemingly independent beings? And how might the science of predictive processing and active inference help us understand these experiences without simply dismissing them as “mere hallucinations”? In this episode, I speak with Zach Buck about spiritual entities, psychedelic experiences, and the predictive mind. We explore why the brain may sometimes model invisible agents as real presences, especially in altered states of consciousness, ritual contexts, contemplative practice, and emotionally charged moments. Rather than reducing these experiences to pathology or treating them uncritically as literal encounters, Zach offers a middle path: an active inference account that asks how perception, culture, expectation, embodiment, and uncertainty work together to shape experiences of spiritual agency.
In this conversation, Humanistic Integrative Psychotherapeutic Counsellor Nicholas Buscall and I explore why establishing a “good view”—a clear, grounded orientation to what meditation is (and isn’t)—can make practice safer, steadier, and more transformative. We talk about how meditation training can drift into confusion or unhelpful striving, and how a therapist’s perspective and regular check-ins can help you track your development, notice red flags early, and keep practice aligned with well-being, values, and real-world functioning.