Oct 16, 2026 · 30 min · 12 segments
A guided meditation to transcend the ego and widen your circle of connection. Part 3 of a 10-part series on love, connection and transcendence, inspired by Barbara Fredrickson's *Love 2.0* and the…
Raphael ReiterHost
Remember that this series is-- it's about love, but it's also about transcendence.

And I want to be clear about what I mean by that word because it can sound a bit mystical.


She says that when you're afraid, when you're anxious, or when you're angry, your world narrows.

But when you feel good, and especially when you share that good feeling with someone, the opposite happens.

In her studies, people in a positive state saw their best friend as a bigger part of who they were.

We talk about it in my upcoming book, When-- uh, The Foundation of Love, about the Stoics that had an image for this almost two thousand years ago.

A philosopher called Hierocles described each of us at the center of a set of circles.

First yourself, then your family, then your friends, your neighbors, your city, and finally all of humanity.

And he said the work is a good life, is to keep drawing those circles inward, to treat your relatives a bit more like yourself, like strangers, and strangers a little bit more like friends.

I love that it's not about destroying the ego because you still need a sense of self.

You still need to pay your bills and pick up your kids, and you still need to be a steward of your body, your mind, your time, your resources.

Remember that this series is-- it's about love, but it's also about transcendence.

And I want to be clear about what I mean by that word because it can sound a bit mystical.


She says that when you're afraid, when you're anxious, or when you're angry, your world narrows.

But when you feel good, and especially when you share that good feeling with someone, the opposite happens.

In her studies, people in a positive state saw their best friend as a bigger part of who they were.

We talk about it in my upcoming book, When-- uh, The Foundation of Love, about the Stoics that had an image for this almost two thousand years ago.

A philosopher called Hierocles described each of us at the center of a set of circles.

First yourself, then your family, then your friends, your neighbors, your city, and finally all of humanity.

And he said the work is a good life, is to keep drawing those circles inward, to treat your relatives a bit more like yourself, like strangers, and strangers a little bit more like friends.

I love that it's not about destroying the ego because you still need a sense of self.

You still need to pay your bills and pick up your kids, and you still need to be a steward of your body, your mind, your time, your resources.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.