Fight Club Author Chuck Palahniuk on Life, Death and Finding Meaning In Your Life

If the raw nature of the human experience makes you even a little uncomfortable, this episode will be a treat to buckle up for. Chuck PALAHNIUK, well known author for the Fight Club, Guts and many more, takes you through a journey of highs and lows as he reveals the world through the lens through which he sees the fascination called life.

Order Chuck Palahniuk’s new book, Invention of Sound

SHOW NOTES:

Dark Side | Chuck’s take on types of people not dealing with unresolved darkness [2:42]

Guts | Chuck’s experience publicly reading his book Guts & shedding pretense of looking good [5:06]

One Thing | Chuck explains history without one person and committing to one thing in life [9:50]

Live Forever | Opposing ideals of living forever and doing infinite things or one thing [12:13]

So What | Chuck shares his take on this mantra to not be hindered by someone else’s agenda [19:00]

Choose Your Problem | Chuck explains the power of inventing your own major problem [22:18]

Invention of Sound | Chuck explores the commodification of human experience [25:03]

Henry Kissinger | Chuck recalls the game he played and shares why emotional pain is so hard [35:26]

Universal | The effect owning your shame and saying it happened can have to freeing others [40:31]

Self Soothing | How vulnerable truths are self serving and allowing Chuck to process [49:59]

Broken Silence | Chuck defined the tension of silence and the power it can give to narrative [54:10]

Break the Rules | Chuck breaks down not wasting life and having the guts to go too far [57:18]

Unique Characters | Chuck explains the importance of community and despicable nature [1:02:41]

Too Far | Chuck shares his shock about Fight Clubs impact and changing culture [1:06:36]

Hospice Volunteer | How Chuck came to accept death and found joy in not dying [1:13:44]

Accepting Shadows | Chuck on the comfort of accepting the shadows know they exist [1:19:59]

Dominate | Navigating people’s urge to dominate and be right, trolling for an epiphany [1:23:48]

Master Storyteller | Chuck reveals the power of elicited emotion and burning “failed” stories [1:27:50]

Chuck’s Dad | Chuck recounts the murder of his father and the fate that led to his death [1:33:48]

Self Comforting Storied | Chuck explains why these stories are emotionally exhausting [1:40:28]

Storytelling | How the repetition of a story without emotion through workshop is a therapy [1:46:47]

QUOTES:

“....you talk about how we human beings are meaning making machines. We are also looking good machines, and we are machines that just spend all of our time trying not to be dominated, and trying to look good” [5:17]

“by focusing on one thing, I've got a bigger life than I ever, ever could have imagined for myself.” [12:07]

“It's so often the broken way in which you depict something that establishes your authority” [55:15]

And so every book is only something you can do at a certain point in your life. And if you pass that point, without having done that thing, you always look back and think Why was I so gutless? [57:56]

“unless you go to the too far you're kind of wasting your life, in my opinion.” [59:35]

“I'm much more compelled by a character who is corrupt, but is just trying to do the right thing. Even if it's kind of a despicable thing. But it's the only right thing that the character can think of doing. “ [1:02:50]

“...the other thing about sort of working the vein of the extreme, is that if you can lodge yourself in people's memory, whether or not they like you the first time, if they remember you, people change and the culture changes.” [1:07:20]

“I am this constant, sort of gathering this harvesting, of human experience, and then organizing, that experience and presenting it in a narrative, so that the experience has a context.” [1:30:35]

“...getting back to zero, getting back to sort of empty and meaningless so that you can start the next project without being too attached to the previous project.” [1:32:31]

“So in lieu of fixing somebody, I always kind of strive to kind of present them with something that is going to make them excited about living. Blah blah blah” [1:54:34]

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