The Monday Media Diet with Ari Kuschnir

Ari Kuschnir (AK) is a longtime friend of WITI. He co-founded the esteemed production company m ss ng p eces. We’re happy to have him with us today. -Colin (CJN)

Tell us about yourself.

I was born and raised in Cali, Colombia, in a Jewish context. After high school, I moved to the US and attended film school. It was there that I fell in love with editing and in 2005, I moved to New York and co-founded m ss ng p eces.

In the last few years, I’ve become deeply interested in the intersection of storytelling and metaphysics. It grew out of a grave concern for the future–the birth of my daughter was a catalyst along with my frustration with our culture’s tendency to emphasize problems over solutions and to glorify dystopian futures. So, I’m currently exploring how to apply good metaphysics–a.k.a Wisdom, Natural Laws, or Universal Principles–to the kinds of stories our world desperately needs. I believe “protopian” narratives in mainstream media can help us rapidly envision and create better futures. I’ve been playing with these themes in little movies I make with my 6-year-old daughter, Luna. And there’s more to come.

I also have a deep passion for music. I played drums and had a radio show back in Miami. I still enjoy making playlists and tracking new sounds, especially from Latin America. 

Describe your media diet. 

I like following people from different political and cultural backgrounds on Twitter to gain a broader perspective. It feels to me like being “multi-perspectival” is essential for sanity these days. At the same time, I find it’s good to know where you stand and why you stand for those principles. I have a good system to curate news and keep articles saved in pocket. On IG I try to share wisdom and thought-provoking things daily. 

I also like the Substack app and follow writers that may be controversial or have positions I don’t fully agree with to try and embody what it's like to see the world in that way. I look forward to new pieces from my friends, Daniel Pinchbeck and Jonathan Harris, and my partner, Schuyler Brown, who is doing invaluable work embodying the culture and feeling our bodies so we don’t become spiritual bypassers. Lastly, I appreciate the work of The Stoa & Rebel Wisdom and a lot of the players in what Joe Lightfoot calls “The Liminal Web.” 

What’s the last great book you read?

Two books come to mind and both are spiritual/metaphysical since I’ve been deep in that space. They’re also both channeled works, meaning the content comes from a beyond-human source. 

Thought Forms: A Record of Clairvoyant Investigation by Annie Bessant and CW Leadbetter influenced many mystical artists over the last 100 years and visualizes thoughts, experiences, emotions, and music in beautiful illustrations. It’s a strong foundation for the creation of metaphysical art. 

The Nine Freedoms as channeled by George King is the most far-out thing I’ve come across, as it picks up where a lot of the Hindu, Buddhist, and mystery schools left off (ascension, nirvana, cosmic consciousness) and goes from there into interplanetary existence and beyond in very detailed and specific ways. Since the Freedoms are channeled from cosmic masters, the audio recordings are as trippy as you might imagine.

What are you reading now?

I’ve just started Gabor Mate’s latest, The Myth of Normal, Trauma, Illness, & Healing in a Toxic Culture; He’s been making the rounds on many a podcast, and I think he’s tackling some of the deepest issues our culture needs to address in order to heal. The book addresses our individual and collective sickness at a very deep level and brings forth the idea that all disease starts with unprocessed trauma, grief, and emotions. Look around you, and it’s hard not to agree. Given Gabor's clinical background, he is both mainstream and alternative, so he is able to cross a necessary bridge at this time.

What’s your reading strategy when you pick up a print copy of your favorite publication?

I have to admit I can’t remember the last time I picked up a magazine in physical form.  

Who should everyone be reading that they’re not?

More metaphysics! Timeless classics like the Tao Te Ching & Bhagavad Gita offer practical wisdom and universal principles to live by. Wendell Berry feels more relevant than ever and has a new book. More poetry like Rilke & David Whyte. 

What is the best non-famous app you love on your phone? 

I like my Oura ring app because it lets me know how I’m doing health and wellbeing-wise and how I’ve slept. Brian Eno made this Reflection app a few years ago. It generates infinite ambient music loops, and he changes the parameters each season. The app also generates ever-changing simple visuals. 

Plane or train?

Planes, but whenever I see pictures like this one, I want to take a train journey!

What is one place everyone should visit? 

A holy mountain like Mount Shasta. In our secular, materialistic culture, it's almost considered passé, but for many cultures and thousands of years, there have been sacred mountain pilgrimages. I like the idea of these mountains as spiritual batteries that can nourish you, so I would encourage the skeptic as I was, to take a journey with an open heart to one of these mountains: Mt Fuji, Sinai, Kailash, and Kilimanjaro are well-known, Holdstone Down in the UK and Mt. Baldy outside of LA are lesser known.

Tell us the story of a rabbit hole you fell deep into. 

I’ve been diving deep into the life of George King, who channeled The Nine Freedoms and other cosmic messages for over 40 years, bringing through powerful wisdom, yet he is barely known. He’s like the Nikola Tesla of metaphysics, and like Tesla, I feel he is due for a deeper investigation, so I’m looking into it.

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Thanks for reading,

Noah (NRB) & Colin (CJN) & Ari (AK)

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